Defender Pepe confessed this Thursday that it was difficult for him to sleep during the time he was injured, for fear of missing the fourth World Cup of his career, but he assured that he is in the best conditions to serve the national team.
After injuring himself in FC Porto training at the beginning of October, the 39-year-old centre-back veteran was out of competition for several weeks, at which point doubts arose as to whether he would be fit to participate in the final. .
“When I got injured, I didn’t sleep. I wanted to recover as quickly as possible, so that I could be here to compete in another World Cup in my career and contribute to my national team. It’s been a long road to be here. , but now it’s time to look ahead,” she said, at a press conference, in anticipation of the match with South Korea, on Friday.
In addition, the central defender thanked the contribution of the medical services of FC Porto and the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) in the recovery and, given the insistence on questions about his physical condition, was peremptory.
“If I’m here, in the national team, it’s because I’m ready to play,” said the defender, who didn’t start his debut for Ghana, but ended up starting against Uruguay due to an injury to Danilo Pereira.
After participating in the 2010, 2014 and 2018 World Cups, Pepe said he wanted to “enjoy the most” of his fourth presence in a World Cup, without revealing if it will be the last one he will play, and praised the new generation. of Portuguese central defenders, including António Silva and Rúben Dias, who are also part of the team.
“I am privileged to be able to play football. We have great players. I hope António can follow his path naturally, as Rúben Dias did when he went to the World Cup in Russia. [em 2018, com 21 anos]🇧🇷 I want to wish António the best of luck, because it will also be our luck. That he can play and help Portugal,” he said.
Portugal and South Korea will meet on Friday, starting at 6:00 p.m. local time (3:00 p.m. in Lisbon), at the Education City Stadium, in Doha, in a match corresponding to the third day of Group H of the World Cup in Russia 2022, which runs through December 18 in Qatar.
The ‘quinas’ team, which secured qualification for the round of 16 with a 2-0 win over Uruguay, leads the group with six points, three more than Ghana, second, and five more than the South Koreans, trained by Paulo Bento, and the Uruguayans, who, in turn, face the Ghanaians.
Source: TSF
