The Portuguese soccer coach, Fernando Santos, explained this Saturday that the absences of Ronaldo, Moutinho and Guerreiro in the match with Switzerland, on the fourth day of Group A2 of the League of Nations, are due to management.
The ‘captain’ Cristiano Ronaldo, the midfielder João Moutinho and the defender Raphaël Guerreiro will not travel this afternoon with the rest of the delegation to Geneva, Switzerland, and the forward and the left back did not attend this morning’s training either.
“It’s a normal management issue, thought through throughout this journey and these games we played. It didn’t make much sense for 26 players to travel to Switzerland, when only 23 can go to the bench,” said Portuguese coach Fernando Santos.
At a press conference prior to the match, held in the main auditorium of the Cidade do Futebol, in Oeiras, the coach warned of a possible Swiss reaction to the heavy defeat suffered at the Estádio José Alvalade, in Lisbon, by 4-0, with discovery did not win points in the three days played in the group.
“It is an anomalous result compared to what the clashes between Switzerland and Portugal have been in recent years. Switzerland is one of the teams that has grown the most in the last 10 years. It has very good quality, players of a very high level, organized and very consistent”, he praised.
In this way, Fernando Santos recalled that, in the following duel against Spain, in which he was defeated 1-0, the Swiss “already corrected in some way” the errors shown in the visit to Portugal, with influence in the change of Shakiri’s position. , the step from attacking midfielder in the game with the Portuguese to right back with the Spanish.
“A team that suffers a defeat that is not normal always arrives at this game with a huge desire to say that what happened does not correspond to reality. Let’s hope for a very strong Switzerland, with the desire to beat Portugal”, warned the coach.
Returning to the changes in the team and the management carried out, Fernando Santos confirmed that, in the absence of Raphaël Guerreiro, Nuno Mendes will be the starter, as he had already said, after the game with the Czech Republic, that Rui Patrício would be the starter in goal. , making room for more than three changes, including Cristiano Ronaldo.
“The quality of the players is not at stake. All have fully responded. Reaching the end of a season and being here with this joy gives me total peace of mind and the Portuguese are very proud”, said the coach, who has been in charge for 100 games.
After three of the six matchdays, Portugal leads the group with seven points, ahead of Spain with five, the Czech Republic with four and Switzerland with no points.
The second game of the ‘poule’ between Portugal and Switzerland is scheduled for Sunday, at 20:45 (19:45 in Lisbon), in Geneva, with the referee in charge of Croatian Fran Jovic.
The final phase of the third edition of the League of Nations will be played between June 14 and 18, 2023, with the presence of the winners of the four League A groups, while the last of each of the groups are relegated to League B from the recent continental competition. .
Source: Observadora
