Portuguese coach Fernando Santos celebrated victory behind Switzerland (6-1) to reach the quarter-finals of the 2022 Qatar World Cup and, despite his team’s demonstration, was cautious in a match with Cristiano Ronaldo coming on as a substitute.
“I have already explained and I will not explain again, they are different players,” the coach said of Cristiano and Gonçalo Ramos, author of three of his team’s six goals.
“It was because of game characteristics, they are different players. Dalot also came in, Cancelo came out… It has to do with what I thought about the dynamics of the game. Issue? I have already answered that question. No problem, we’ve been friends for years. Everything has been arranged down to the last detail and he has set the example of a true captain,” said the Portuguese coach.
Fernando Santos praised his players’ play, but preferred to be cautious. “It wasn’t a perfect match, but it was a very successful evening. There was attitude, concentration at every moment of the game. It was a great game, but now the most important thing is to get both feet on the ground. It was great, but there are still three games to go and we have the next one in four days,” he said.
Portugal will meet Morocco in the quarterfinals, which Spain eliminated on penalties. “It is not worth making predictions. I well remember the difficulties we had during the 2018 World Cup in Russia”, when Portugal could only beat the Moroccan team 1-0 in the group stage with a goal from Cristiano Ronaldo.
Source: El heraldo
I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.
