Fernando Santos revealed this Wednesday that Cristiano Ronaldo has not trained due to a “stomach upset” and will miss Thursday’s preparation match with Nigeria at the José Alvalade Stadium (6.45pm). The national coach also rejected the idea of forcing CR7 into the starting line-up and argued that the controversial interview he gave to Piers Morgan has no influence on the selection. “This matter has nothing to do with us or with the national team. It was the player, the man who decided to give an interview. He is not talking about the national team, it is a very personal interview and we have to respect it.” “It has to do with tolerance. No, I didn’t see anyone in the national team say anything,” the technician replied.
When asked if the captain had informed him of the interview, the coach replied: “I didn’t have to inquire. Isn’t he free? What does this have to do with the selection? How does it affect? What interests me is what is said inside, about preparing for Qatar, it doesn’t affect us at all . We have to respect his decision. I don’t know why we should do this… it doesn’t affect me at all.”
The Portuguese team will arrive at the 2022 World Cup as the one with the most minutes in their legs. Is this good or bad considering the league is played in the middle of a season? “It means there’s some fatigue built up. We’ve already talked about it. You have to manage it well. In July there are players who go with rhythm, others without rhythm. In the middle it’s almost the same, some with a longer pause… Cancellation everyone has the most minutes Now until the 24th [dia do jogo com o Gana] we will arrange all these things so that everyone is well,” the national coach replied.
About Nigeria as an opponent…”It is not common for European teams to compete against different continents and Portugal will face three different ones during the World Cup. The African ones have to do with their intrinsic football culture. We have more customs with South Americans that we have dealt with many times before. Ghana has this matrix, it has changed a lot, there are many players in Europe. But from experience we know that later, when they are among them, it always comes, it is almost impossible that it does not come, that which is culturally intrinsic. Very fast players, very talented. Otherwise yes. I don’t know how the team will be on the field tomorrow. Plays 4-3-3, 3-5-2. They are different, but there wasn’t a very wide range of selections available. Peseiro also showed willingness to play in Portugal, so it was a good choice,” he defended.
Fernando Santos called Benfica’s António Silva ahead of the World Cup and said he had “complete faith” in the 19-year-old: “He knows that if he was called up, it’s because I believe in him. I’ve seen a lot of his games “. There was a vacancy for central defender. It was different from other teams, where I took center backs who could play as fullbacks. In this squad, I decided from the start that I would take four central defenders. I almost certainly had three: Danilo, Pepe and Rúben Dias. In the end, the choice fell on him. Did it when he arrived at Benfica, where he wouldn’t be in the starting line-up,” said the engineer,revealing that he will have some playing time “to feel the weight of the shirt”. Pepe will also play to “improve the competitive level”.
Source: DN
