Boss calls up four Sporting players, but star misses out injured | OneFootball

The Portugal women’s national team call-up once again highlights the presence of four Sporting players, at a time when the squad is preparing for its next qualification challenges. Despite the strong green-and-white representation, there is also one absence to note: Telma Encarnação.

The Clube de Alvalade player was left out due to injury, after already missing the last training camp. Even so, Sporting still has a significant presence in the squad, with players such as Beatriz Fonseca, Andreia Bravo, Carolina Santiago and Ana Capeta, on loan at Juventus, included among the options.

Head coach Francisco Neto justified the selections by backing the continuity of the group, explaining: “These are the 25 players who make the most sense to us at this stage,” adding also that “a lot of very good work is being done in Portugal”. The coach also pointed out that the absent players are still recovering, which affected his options for this stage.

Portugal remains top of Group B3 and is now preparing for two away matches. The team will face Latvia in Riga on April 14 and Slovakia in Presov four days later, with the aim of maintaining its strong competitive form.

Squad list: Goalkeepers: Inês Pereira (Deportivo), Rute Costa (Torreense) and Sierra Cota-Yarde (Toronto); Defenders: Bárbara Lopes (Torreense), Beatriz Fonseca (Sporting), Carole Costa (Benfica), Carolina Correia (Torreense), Catarina Amado (Benfica), Daniela Areia Santos (Valadares Gaia), Diana Gomes (Benfica) and Joana Marchão (Servette); Midfielders: Andreia Bravo (Sporting), Andreia Jacinto (Real Sociedad), Andreia Faria (Al Nassr), Dolores Silva (Levante), Fátima Pinto (Strasbourg), Francisca Nazareth (Barcelona), Nádia Bravo (Braga), Pauleta (Benfica) and Tatiana Pinto (Juventus); Forwards: Ana Capeta (Juventus), Carolina Santiago (Sporting), Diana Silva (Benfica), Jéssica Silva (Al Hilal) and Lúcia Alves (Benfica).

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.