Fernando Santos announced on Thursday the 26 players who will represent Portugal at this year’s World Cup, which is being played in Qatar, and he is confident that the team can return home as world champions.
“What can this team give? They can be world champions. I believe it”, considers the national coach. This being an objective, “there can be no minimum services”, he guarantees.
Fernando Santos points to a favorite team to win the tournament: “It’s like in the national championships. Who is the favourite? It’s the previous winner, in this case France. Then there is a list of candidates that Portugal is part of.”
As for the elections, the technician highlighted the difficulty “until the last day”, but assured that the calls “were always made based on observations”.
António Silva is one of the novelties in the national team’s call-up and one of the doubts was whether this call could mean Danilo’s rise on the field. “I take four centre-backs. (…) If during a game I have to play in another position? Of course I do, because others can start on the right and end up in the center”, he explains.
The 26 Portuguese representatives came from a pre-convened list delivered to FIFA several days ago. “Justice and injustice always go hand in hand. I respect all the players and I believe in all the 55 shortlisted and these were my choices”, justifies the national coach.
The subject of Cristiano Ronaldo did not miss the press conference and the national coach reiterates that he started “in the last four games” and that he is “hungry” to be world champion.
On Pepe and his recent limitations, the coach says he was told there were no players out of shape.
Asked about the tactics that will be used during the World Cup, Fernando Santos says that it is necessary “to understand, at this time, the best way to empower the players.”
Lamenting that the team will not have the usual recovery time before the big competitions, Fernando Santos points to physical overload as a possible problem in the competition.
Contrary to what happened in Euro 2020, played in 2021 due to the pandemic, the 26 players summoned will be able to be part of the game sheet, as Fernando Santos once again applauds when recalling the difficulties he had during the Euro Cup to choose to three. players to be on the bench.
Rafa was once again the subject of the national team, after his resignation, and Fernando Santos was asked if there was a possibility of the Benfica athlete returning to the competition. The coach referred to an interview given a few days ago to SportTV, where he revealed that he was available to speak with the player, and declined to comment on it again.
In the elections of Fernando Santos, the debut of António Silva, Benfica’s central defender, and the calls of Gonçalo Ramos (Benfica) and José Sá (Wolverhampton) who, despite having been called up before, never got to play with corners at chest.
Diogo Jota and Pedro Neto were dropped from the last call-up for the Nations League matches due to injury, as well as Tiago Djaló and Mário Rui by choice.
Meet the 26 summoned for the 2022 World Cup:
Goalie: Diogo Costa, Rui Patricio and Jose Sa
Defenses: Dalot, Cancelo, Nuno Mendes, Raphaël Guerreiro, Danilo, Rúben Dias, Pepe and António Silva
Averages: William, Palhinha, Bernardo Silva, Rúben Neves, Bruno Fernandes, Vitinha, Otávio, João Mário and Matheus Nunes
Advanced: Cristiano Ronaldo, Rafael Leão, André Silva, Gonçalo Ramos, Ricardo Horta and João Félix
CHECK EVERYTHING ABOUT THE 2022 WORLD CUP HERE
Source: TSF
