Rafa Silva yesterday announced his “unavailability” to continue to represent the national team. In a statement, the 29-year-old Benfica player announced that he had informed national coach Fernando Santos and the Portuguese Football Federation of his decision, justified by “personal reasons”.
The footballer, European champion and winner of the League of Nations, said in the statement that his reasons are “respected by everyone” as it is “a fair and correct decision at this point in his career”.
“I have represented the national teams 40 times, helped to win Euro 2016 and the League of Nations and I will always be on the front row to support the team of all of us. Nations League and the 2022 World Cup,” added Rafa Silva ready. the explanation.
The player’s decision came as a surprise, as he was back in Fernando Santos’ roster more than 10 months after the last phone call. In a note published on its official website, the Portuguese Football Federation said it respected the Benfica winger’s decision, recalling that “he has witnessed the national team’s two greatest achievements”, so in that sense he left a certainty behind: “Rafa will be one of us forever and is a creditor of our recognition and gratitude.”
In the main team, the player made 25 appearances after attending the 2014 World Cup, Euro 2016, Nations League, 2018 and Euro 2020. He made his debut on March 5, 2014 in a friendly against Cameroon, wearing the jersey for the last time of the corners on September 4, 2021, in a friendly against Qatar.
About a year ago, Rafa Silva was fired from the team due to injury, right on the eve of the clashes with Rep. Ireland and Serbia, deciding qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup. Portugal did not qualify directly in the end, as they drew in Dublin and lost in Luz to the Serbs, and in the wake of this disappointment, news emerged that some “inconvenience” reported selection structure for Rafa. At the time, the Record newspaper quoted FPF sources as saying the athlete was “not fully committed to the work of the corner team”, something that would not help “his complicated personality”.
It is true that Rafa Silva, when announcing the retirement from the roster, never commented on this situation, but it will certainly be something that could have been the basis of the decision, even because the structure of the FPF made the news and did not come in defense of the player. The only one to guarantee “everything was calm” at Rafa was national team coach Fernando Santos, who gave an interview to TVI a few days after the defeat to the Serbs in which he guaranteed that the existence of problems with the Benfica player was “totally false”. “He will be called up again without a doubt. He was not at 100% and that is why he was excluded,” said the national coach, who has now actually recalled the winger for the Nations League games with the Czech Republic, on Saturday, and with Spain (September 27). ), but Rafa announced his unavailability.
Source: DN
