Fernando Santos has the recipe to beat South Korea (3pm, SIC and Sport TV1), but he preferred to keep secret about the 11 he will pick to finish Group H of the World Cup first, in a game that will see changes expected. due to injuries, player fatigue and management of yellow cards. What is certain is that the coach will bet on the team that gives him “more confidence”, among the 23 players at his disposal and in whom he has “complete confidence”.
Despite making sure he doesn’t stop sleeping with the absence of this or that player, not least because Portugal are already qualified for the round of 16, Santos admitted that he has some (good) headaches to choose who will play, taking into account that it has four yellowish ones. For example, António Silva can play instead of Rúben Dias in the center of the defense, João Palhinha instead of Rúben Neves, Vitinha instead of Bruno Fernandes and André Silva in exchange for João Félix.
And if you want to spice up the duel with the Koreans, Fernando Santos can always turn to Cristiano Ronaldo, who already trained yesterday (after missing Wednesday’s session). 🇧🇷Is there a plan in case Ronaldo doesn’t play? Hell yeah, bad for us if we didn’t. I won’t stop sleeping if a player can’t play. I feel sorry for them. I believe we have a great generation and quality players.” shot, without revealing whether he intends to rest the captain, who is one goal away from equaling Eusébio’s record (nine) and recalled yesterday that “there are no limits for this team” from Portugal.
Without hiding that the goal is to finish the group in first place, Santos reiterated several times that he is not about avoiding Brazil (he also plays today), but to have one more day of rest before the round of 16 . “I understand the question they ask me when they say we want to escape to Brazil first. But neither me nor Tite [selecionador brasileiro] we worry about it. It is important that, if we are in first place, we get another 24 hours of rest,” said the coach, who for the first time since becoming a coach does not need the third game to qualify in a major competition.
Group accounts are simple: Portugal will finish first if they win or draw today, or even if they lose by one goal, as long as Ghana doesn’t win the game against Uruguay by two or more. If it is first, the team on the 6th will play against the second in group G. If it is second, it will play on the 5th against the first classified in group G.
Dalot left or right?
For all this, the selector must resist the temptation to present an all-new elf. Besides not counting on Danilo and Otávio, Nuno Mendes is also absent due to an injury. The PSG winger is actually out of the World Cup – he will stay with the group at his own request and with PSG’s permission – which under normal circumstances, that would mean that Raphaël Guerreiro would be in the starting line-up. But as well as the Dortmund full-back being one of the players Santos would like to rest, retaining the one true left-back for the round of 16 and the rest of the competition is essential.
Using Diogo Dalot or João Cancelo on the left is an option for today, although the Manchester City player is one of those most in need of rest, according to Fernando Santos himself. Which means Dalot will play – whether left or right, it will show soon.
There are four players who risk missing the round of 16 if they play today and see a yellow card: Rúben Dias, Bruno Fernandes, João Félix and Rúben Neves. “Playing every four days is starting to hurt a little. We have one that is tired, so we will have to evaluate it, as well as in the case of the management of the yellow. But I have faith in everyone. I have more confidence”, Santos shot, not forgetting that Korea had two good games: “It’s a team that has a lot of principles from Paulo Bento. The players never give up and fight until the last second. It’s going to be difficult.”
Pepe salad…
Before Santos started working on the recipe to beat the Koreans, Pepe came up with some ingredients: “Sir used this example the other day. We have all the ingredients, but if we don’t put them together and make the salad, there’s no point in just having tomatoes or onions. If we don’t work, we won’t.” respect our opponents, we don’t do what the coach prepares, what good is a lot of quality? The most important thing is that the group knows, whoever is playing, that we have to do our best for the flag.”
Starting the match against Uruguay at the age of 39, nine months and three days, the centre-back became the oldest player to play for the Portugal national team in a World Cup. Something that seemed impossible a month and a half ago, when he was injured during a FC Porto training session and did not play for a month.
“When I got injured I didn’t sleep because I wanted to recover quickly to be able to be at the World Cup and contribute to my national team,” he said, confirming that he is 100%: “If I play in the national team is because I can play I didn’t go to the first game [com o Gana] at the discretion of the coach”.
Pepe recovered in record time and today plays his second World Cup match and even together with the youngest player to ever play for Portugal in a World Cup: António Silva.
Source: DN
