Gonçalo Feio on Dragão trip: “Humility isn’t a lack of belief” | OneFootball

After the draw with Gil Vicente, Tondela travel this Sunday to league leaders FC Porto with the aim of picking up important points in the fight to stay up. In the build-up to the match, coach Gonçalo Feio acknowledged the opponent’s superiority, but showed confidence in a positive result for the yellow-and-greens.

“Obviously FC Porto are the favourites, but it is a football match and one of the basic principles of sport is competing and, with all humility, knowing how to recognise the merit, ability, quality and favouritism of the opponent we are going to face. It is a game of maximum difficulty against a great team and we have to leave the pitch with an image that allows our fans, the region, the city and the club to feel proud, competing for the points, which we know will be difficult, and taking another step in our mission,” said the coach, who considered the week of work positive despite the demanding context.

“In the situation we are in, we have to prepare the team to win matches, because draws will not be enough. From there, the way we are trying to prepare and help the team grow is complex. We have to be a competent team, with and without the ball, and create moments where we can be dangerous, create goalscoring chances, playing closer to the opposition goal. To think about getting something positive against a team as strong as FC Porto, our preparation and execution have to be very thorough and we have to be ready for moments of suffering in a low block, to defend the finishing areas and the box very well,” he explained.

“I do not want to be misunderstood, but we cannot confuse humility with a lack of confidence, belief or desire. We work very hard every day to deliver in the most beautiful moments in football, because it is only in matches that we can earn points. We go there with a lot of respect for the opponent, but also with belief, because what I see in training gives my team confidence. We will compete with confidence in the weapons we have and knowing that the team believes in the game plan. By carrying it out, each of our players will be closer to reaching his potential and we will be closer to the result we want,” he concluded.

Tondela face FC Porto this Sunday at 8:30pm.

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