“It’s a great game to test our youngsters’ ability” | OneFootball

After securing their place and following “one last game of great effort”, the B team travels to Alcochete to face Sporting B (Saturday, 3:30pm, Sporting TV), in a classic clash that João Brandão sees as “a great game to test the youngsters’ ability”. Matchday 33 of the Segunda Liga “is the ideal time to test the players’ readiness and new dynamics”, which is why the coach expects to see “players who, regardless of their age and the level they represent, will be serving FC Porto in the B team, so the mental side has to be there, along with great ambition and determination”.

Abdu Cassamá, who came on in Penafiel and became the second-youngest player ever to feature in the Second Division, says that “the team is happy, confident and prepared” for a duel in which “the ambition is to achieve the same result as in the first half of the season”. Going through his first steps in the “always difficult professional context”, the 15-year-old forward thanked everyone “for the trust” and said that he is “working to live up to it”.

João Brandão

A test for the youngsters“We expect a difficult game against a team that had a good first half of the season, somewhat the opposite of what happened with us, as we had a better second half of the season. It is always a great game to test the ability of our youngsters and, if throughout the season we have had an average age of around 19, in this game we are going to lower it even further, because this is the ideal time to test our players’ readiness and new dynamics, somewhat similar to what we have already done recently. We want to test new defensive, attacking and structural dynamics, and it will be a good test for our abilities and for what we want to bring to the game.”

The mindset needed to win“With determination, with FC Porto’s values and with ambition, regardless of the players who take to the pitch. They will be the players wearing the FC Porto badge and that represents a history of values, of great ambition, of great determination, and of contesting every ball as if it were the last of our lives and of the game. That is how the team has prepared throughout the week, even though it has been an unusual week in terms of preparation, still with many traces of what the last game was like. I want to say a word for the players who finished the last game through great effort, not only João Teixeira, but also Trafim Melnichenka, Luís Gomes and Gonçalo Ribeiro. They came off battered, but they wanted to stay and stand up for the team. Those are the values I want to see in this team in the next game.”

The growth demanded by professional football“We usually associate FC Porto academy players very strongly with young players who have individual talent in attacking moments, with the technical side and not so much with the mental, physical and tactical side. I want to see players who, regardless of their age and the level they represent, will be serving FC Porto in the B team, so the mental side has to be there, along with great ambition and determination. The tactical side also has to be there because the demands of the Segunda Liga require it. It is important for us to be complete and to understand the game in depth, whether in attacking or defensive moments, in set-piece situations or in transition. Then, physically, we know it is a high-intensity game; in the Segunda Liga it is always like that, and this will be no exception.”

Abdu Cassamá

Full focus on the derby“The atmosphere has been good. The team is happy, confident and we are ready for the game.”

A clear objective“Our ambition is always to win. In the first half of the season, we won 2-1 here, now we want to go there and get the same result, which is victory.”

Second-youngest player to feature in the Segunda Liga“It is always difficult to play in a professional context, but I am thankful for the trust and I am working to live up to it. The team has treated me well, they helped me settle in more quickly.”

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