Portugal is ready to play in the semi-finals of the World Cup. More: Portugal is eager to do even better.
This is guaranteed by Jorge Braz, national selector, who claims that everyone who is part of the structure is prepared to continue writing history.
In the semi-finals, Portugal will face Kazakhstan, next Thursday (18 hours), and Jorge Braz shares the chances of success. Because favorites, he argues, there aren’t.
“Being in the semi-finals means continuing on the path we’ve outlined. But there is still a lot of work ahead of us and this is not where we want to stay. Favorites? At this stage of a World Cup there are no favourites. There will be two very strong semi-finals [n.d.r.: Brasil e Argentina lutam pela outra vaga na final, em partida agendada para as 18 horas desta quarta-feira] and we have to do our job. We’re just worried about ourselves. What I can guarantee is that we are totally within our objective, which is very clear! I feel everyone imbued with that same spirit, as I felt since the day of the call. We have gigantic will and ambition.”
Pany Varela and soul
With the competition moving fast towards the end and even after five games (two of them with extra time, against Serbia, in the round of 16, and against Spain, in the quarter-finals), there is no fatigue to scare the players Portuguese.
Pany Varela, the player chosen to, along with Jorge Braz, speak to journalists this Tuesday, at the press conference previewing the game against Kazakhstan, underlines the tremendous desire of the group to continue on the path of victories. “What matters is the desire to win. Tiredness is secondary. When the legs weigh a little more, we will have our soul. And the fantastic support we’ve felt from the Portuguese fans. We know we are not where we want to be yet and we are going for more. We are going to be Portugal and I believe we can win», underlined number 11 of the Seleção.
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