The President of the Republic celebrated on Tuesday the victory of the Portuguese soccer team in the round of 16 of the World Cup in Qatar, 6-1, against Switzerland, surrounded by children at the Associação Academia do Johnson, in Amadora.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa watched the game sitting on the floor with dozens of children from Bairro do Zambujal, Bairro da Boavista and Cova da Moura who attend this association, where they carry out sports and cultural activities and have school support.
The head of state told reporters that he wanted to go to the Johnson Academy as a way of “thanks and tribute” to its founder, João Semedo, who died last week, and promised to return more often: “We will all continue the work, because deserves to continue, it’s spectacular to see the atmosphere that exists here”.
The Presidency of the Republic brought a giant screen, flags and scarves of the national team offered by the Portuguese Football Federation and Belém cakes to the association’s facilities.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa spoke to the media before, in the middle and at the end of the match, appearing live on television channels. After the final whistle, he praised the performance of the Portuguese team, “with a great individual level, but with a collective spirit”, and congratulated the win.
“It’s one of the best nights I remember in Portuguese football in a long time,” he exclaimed, hugging some children.
For the President of the Republic, the national coach, Fernando Santos, “did everything right, played with a surprise team, a team without Ronaldo” -who just entered halfway through the second half- that “surprised the opponents”. .
In his opinion, the Portugal team, “playing every game like this, can win the cup.”
The Portuguese soccer team beat Switzerland today with goals from Gonçalo Ramos, who scored a hat-trick, from Pepe, Raphael Guerreiro and Rafael Leão. In the quarterfinals of the World Cup, Qatar will face Morocco.
The head of state traveled to Qatar to watch the debut of the national soccer team live in the 2022 World Cup, against the Ghanaian team, on November 24, and in the following matches, which he watched on television, he also wanted to be visible supporting the Portuguese team.
In the second match of the group stage, on November 28, against the Uruguayan team, he was in Braga, with youngsters, in the third match, against South Korea, on December 2, at the Clube Internacional de Foot- Ball, in Lisbon, and today at the Associação Academia do Johnson, in Amadora, Lisbon district.
This project “takes sport and educates for inclusion, for integration, and even in the most complicated communities in terms of poverty, in terms of school progression,” said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
The President of the Republic, who had already visited the Johnson Academy, considered that João Semedo “worked miracles, he worked miracles”.
Source: TSF
