hero did not come to Portugal because there was no ″money to pay for the trip″
Federation president asks for support and guarantees that Portugal will not go to the World Cup just to sing the anthem.
The president of the Portuguese Rugby Federation, Carlos Amado da Silva, said this Saturday that the National Team will go to the France 2023 World Cup with the aim of “winning at least one game” and “not just singing the anthem”.
“This team has one objective: not just sing the anthem for France. It will do more than sing the anthem, it will want to win at least one game”, facilitated Carlos Amado da Silva, upon arrival in Lisbon, one day after Portugal guaranteed qualification in the final repechage tournament.
The manager stressed, however, that the statement “has nothing to demerit in relation to what happened in the past”, with the team that played in the World Cup France’2007, which, he stressed, “has an extraordinary value”, positioning itself before focus on requirement.
“The issue is that we have better working conditions as well.
In that sense, he admitted that he had the notion that “there are difficulties for everyone”, but recalled that “those who work and have results must be rewarded” to ensure adequate preparation for the selection before the World Cup. “In this country it’s… They give it later. No! They have to give it before, to prepare ourselves. I want us to have a preparation at the same level as the others. The United States spent three months in South Africa, all concentrated, with the best professionals in the world, and what do we do? We got together 15 days before eating bananas”, vented the federative leader.
Moreover, the president of the FPR faced the financial difficulties of the organization to bring the entire working group back to Portugal, after guaranteeing qualification.
The coach Patrice Lagisquet and the Portuguese-descendant players, including Samuel Soares, author of the penalty kick that earned the match ball qualification, flew directly to Paris and did not have the opportunity to be received at the airport by about a hundred people who were waiting the arrival of the team. “He didn’t come to celebrate with us because he didn’t have the money to pay for a trip to come. This is ridiculous. They wanted to change the tickets and there was no possibility of doing so”, he lamented.
Regarding the performance of the team that guaranteed qualification for França2023, Amado da Silva recalled that he had “fantastic progress”: “three years ago I was in the third division [europeia] and now we’re at the Worlds.” “Was it last minute? Well, it was! They forget that we also lost to Romania here [em Lisboa] and I’ve been to the World Cup [se tivéssemos ganho esse jogo]🇧🇷 Sport is like that. We won and we won very well, playing very beautiful rugby”, concluded Amado da Silva.
The Portuguese rugby team secured, on Friday, qualification for the Rugby World Cup France 2023, after drawing with the United States (16-16), thanks to a tribute received by Samuel Marques in the last match of the tournament playoff final, in Dubai.
This is only the second time that Portugal will compete in the Rugby World Cup, after the unique and historic participation, in 2007, also in France.
The Portuguese team will be part of Group C of the World Cup, with Wales, Australia, Fiji and Georgia.
The 2023 Rugby World Cup takes place in France from 8 September to 28 October.