World Cup 2026: “We’re only coming home with the trophy in our hands!” – Portugal midfielder Rúben Neves | OneFootball

Rúben Neves looked ahead to World Cup 2026 with optimism as Portugal’s training camp ahead of the tournament began today. Photo: FPF

Portugal’s World Cup 2026 training camp officially got underway today at FPF headquarters at Cidade do Futebol, on the outskirts of Lisbon.

Coach Roberto Martínez was able to work with 23 of the 27-man squad, who were split up with some players on the training pitch and others doing physical conditioning in the gym.

The only players absent from the group who will be on the plane bound for the United States in less than two weeks were Vitinha, João Neves, Nuno Mendes and Gonçalo Ramos, who have been given extra time off after playing (and winning) the Champions League final on Saturday.

Almost every day from now until Portugal end their participation in the tournament a player and/or the coach will speak to the press.

Rúben Neves was first up. If the rest of the delegation are as confident as the Al Hilal midfielder, it will be a group bubbling with optimism that attempts to win the nation’s first World Cup.

“Our conviction is that we will return only after 19th July [the day of the World Cup final] and with the trophy in our hands!” said Neves.

It was a throwback to the famous statement made by Portugal coach Fernando Santos at the start of Euro 2016, which proved to be an accurate premonition.

“It’s a very tough tournament, but our goal, being the team that we are, has to be to win it,” added Neves.

“The best Portugal team ever? We lack a little something”

The comments are also a reflection of widespread buoyancy among Portuguese football fans and pundits. Neves was asked whether he agreed with the much-repeated opinion over recent weeks that this was the strongest ever Portugal squad.

“Portugal won Euro 2016, so it’s tough to say this is the best Portugal team of all time. We won the Nations League last year, but to reach that level we need to go a little further.”

Neves, 29, will be playing his second World Cup, and he emphasised the importance of using his experience for the benefit of the younger players.

“My first World Cup was the most nervous I’ve ever been in any competition I’ve played in. At the time, the more experienced players helped me and that’s what I and others intend to do now with the younger players, trying to keep them as calm as possible so they can enjoy this unique experience.”

The Diogo Jota factor

One year ago, the Portuguese football fraternity was rocked by the tragic death of Diogo Jota, Rúben Neves’ best friend in football.

Neves admitted that the burning desire to pay the best tribute possible to Jota with their performance at the 2026 World Cup could bring an added ingredient to the effort.

“We’ve spoken a lot about this and we always say the same thing. Sometimes we need to grab hold of something to give us extra strength. This will be one of the aspects that may give us that extra push in certain moments and could make us achieve what we want to achieve.”

Portugal play two friendly matches on home soil ahead of the journey across the Atlantic Ocean. On Saturday the Seleção take on Chile at Jamor (a stone’s throw from the Cidade do Futebol training camp), and then play Nigeria in Leiria on 10 June.