Coach Francisco Neto said Tuesday that Portugal will take charge of Thursday’s meeting with Vietnam, in Hamilton, on the second day of Group E of the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
“Above all we need is to be a Portugal that dominates with the ball, a Portugal that manages to establish itself in the last third, a Portugal that manages to have an offensive dynamic that allows many people to reach the area, with many shots,” explained the Portuguese coach, in a preview of the match.
For Francisco Neto, Portugal will have to play their game, “try to attack deep, try to have the ball, recognize spaces, have free players, have good dynamics and look for finishing zones.”
This will be the offensive ‘recipe’, but Francisco Neto said that he expects “a very complicated game”, in which the formation of the ‘corners’ has to be, at all times, very balanced.
“Both with the United States and in particular with Germany and New Zealand, Vietnam has always had very dangerous situations in its transitions. It is their great strength, it is Vietnam’s great offensive strength,” he explained.
The Portuguese coach explained that, when they win the ball, Vietnam “‘parts’ the team and normally explores depth with four very aggressive and technically gifted players.”
“We always have to be balanced and respect our opponent as much as possible, because this is a World Cup match and whoever is here has to have quality. You have to be very careful at that moment, when we lose the ball and when Vietnam gets it back, ”he reinforced.
After the ‘x-ray’ that he did, the coach also presented Vietnam as “a team that defends with many players, with all the players behind the ball.”
“They always play with one more player in defensive coverage, in what is usually called a libero, which always takes away a lot of depth. They have a lot of physical availability to squeeze the ball and what happens, above all, is that there are spaces, but they close quickly, ”he explained.
With more or less difficulty, the truth is that only victory matters, after the 1-0 defeat against the Netherlands, on Sunday, in Dunedin, where the coach highlighted the Portuguese growth in the second half, in which, he recalled, he came to dominate.
“Although the result would have been different, these two games had to be faced in the same way. What has changed is that our margin of error is less, there is not much margin of error, ”he acknowledged.
But nothing is over: “There are six points at stake and we have to go after our points, to be able to do what we dream of, which is to go to the next phase, but, for now, our focus is on the game with Vietnam, and then, as we said from the beginning, reach the last game depending only on ourselves and see what our competition is against the world champions”.
To take a step in that direction, Portugal will play at the same venue where, just over five months ago, on February 22, they sealed their passport to the 2023 World Cup, beating Cameroon 2-1.
“We already laugh a little here as a structure. There are those who say that you should not go back to where you were happy, there are those who say that there are not two without three, because it is our third game there. Above all, happy to be able to play one more game in the World Cup, very proud that once again we can hear the anthem sung in a great competition, ”he said.
The Hamilton is like the home of the Portuguese in New Zealand: “It is a stadium that we know well, which can be considered our home here. So we are going to try to take advantage of that advantage that we have. As we are going to play at home, we are going to try to be powerful and dominant”.
Attentive to the sporting phenomenon, Francisco Neto finally gave a word to the Portuguese swimmer Diogo Ribeiro, silver medalist in the 50-meter butterfly at the World Swimming Championships, which takes place in Fukuoka, Japan.
“I take this opportunity to congratulate Diogo [Ribeiro] for the silver medal. We are all very proud here (…) He has had an incredible career and we are also here to support all the Portuguese ”, he underlined.
After the defeat against the Netherlands, Portugal will play on Thursday, at 19:30 (08:30 in Lisbon), in Hamilton, against Vietnam, which debuted with a 3-0 defeat against the United States.
To continue in the race towards the round of 16, a prize for the top two finishers in each group, Francisco Neto’s men need to beat the Asians, in a clash between newcomers, on the second day of Group E.
On the same day, at 1:00 p.m. (02:00 a.m. in Lisbon), in Wellington, the United States will face the Netherlands, in a rematch of the 2019 final, then won by the Americans, who won 2-0.
Source: TSF
