Coach wants Portugal “at the highest level” against Netherlands
For the coach, a thrashing record set by the English on Monday (8-0) showed the “maximum demand” of international tournaments, something that Portugal has to show against the Dutch, holders of the trophy and runners-up in the world, in matchday two of group C of Euro2022.
“When mistakes happen, opposing teams score goals. Yesterday [segunda-feira], Norway, it seems to me that it was there. At the slightest mistake by Norway, England, due to their quality, have achieved goalscoring opportunities and then it is difficult to get out of situations”, she said, in a press conference.
The Portuguese team, he stressed, has “to keep up with this level of demand” and will have to “be at the highest level”.
Neto argued that it was “positional errors” and not nervousness that would allow Switzerland to take the lead in the first game against Portugal in the opening five minutes, so we have to avoid those mistakes and fight for possession against the Netherlands.
“We know it’s not easy, but the longer we get to have the ball, the fewer chances to score and the less times the Netherlands come to our midfield,” he said.
Portugal has all the Dutch players available, Dutch goalkeeper3, Sar van Veenendaal, with a shoulder injury, Jackie Groen, infected with the coronavirus, and central defender Aniek Nouwen, who suffered a sprain in Saturday’s game against Sweden
Neto devalued as ‘low’ no, with a very large international experience, anticipating competitive countries, especially with talented players.
“Captain” of the selection, Ana Borges, also against that “it will be a completely Swiss game” different from the one that was Portuguese.
A 32-year-old Sporting forward is the most experienced player on the team, having equaled the 145 caps of record holder Carla Couto. It was also the most used by Francisco Neto in the qualifying phase for Euro2022, a course that, at the beginning of his career, recognized to be “unthinkable”.
“When we want to play, we confess that we don’t have the idea that we can arrive, nor do we want to play football, presumably to be a game for Portugal.”
The match between Portugal and the Netherlands, from group C of the Women’s European Football Championship, is scheduled for 20:00, at Leigh Sports Village, in Wigan & Leigh, in the Manchester region, England.
In the first, Portugal drew with Switzerland (1-1) and the Netherlands drew with Sweden (1-1), but, despite all the teams being equal on points, Portugal heads the ‘poule’ thanks to a disciplinary criterion .
The 2022 Women’s European Championships held from July 6th to 31st in England.