Seabra warns FC Porto: “We’ll be ready to compete” | OneFootball

Arouca are preparing for a maximum-difficulty trip to the Estádio do Dragão, where they will face FC Porto this Sunday in the league. Although both teams have won their first two matches, Vasco Seabra gives the national champions the edge. Even so, the coach wants a brave team, true to its identity and capable of matching Porto’s intensity. “We will have the conditions to compete, but we have to be at the highest level of demand.”

The winning start to the league campaign has not changed Vasco Seabra’s assessment of the challenge awaiting Arouca. Against Francesco Farioli and an FC Porto side boosted by winning the Super Cup, the Arouca coach wants a team capable of expressing itself both with and without the ball, knowing that the game will require courage, organisation and the ability to keep up with the opponent’s tempo.

In the preview, Seabra openly acknowledged the difficulty of visiting the national champions. The reference to the work of Francesco Farioli set the tone for an analysis marked by respect and caution.

“We expect an extremely difficult match, against the national champions, a team that is extremely well coached, with Francesco Farioli having more than proven credentials from what he did last season and this one, with the Super Cup victory,” the coach began by highlighting.

Recognising FC Porto’s status as favourites does not mean, however, that Arouca will give up their ambition. Seabra sees no reason to change the team’s principles because of the quality of the opposition.

“We have to go in with our usual personality, regardless of the opponent. We have to have our mentality and our way of being and carrying ourselves, to have the courage to press, have the ball and challenge ourselves to score,” he said.

The coach also showed confidence in the group’s ability to put that strategy into practice.

“We are confident and humble about our team and our identity.”

The intention, therefore, goes far beyond simply trying to avoid defeat. Arouca want to compete in the match, maintaining humility but also the determination to measure themselves against an opponent of the highest level.

When addressing FC Porto’s main dangers, Vasco Seabra highlighted the Dragons’ intensity and direct style. The first priority was stated plainly:

“It is to stop them scoring in our goal,” he summed up.

He then explained how he intends to combine pressing with the need to protect the spaces behind the defence.

“FC Porto play with extremely high intensity, with combinations that are very difficult to stop because of their directness and the way they try to wear us down. We have to know how to press, without just waiting, and understand the moments when we have to trigger the press and look at FC Porto’s space in behind, without trying to give away certain spaces,” he summed up. “It’s a game of cat and mouse.”

For the Arouca coach, the match will be decided by the ability to read each moment: press when possible and protect space when the context demands it.

Seabra ended the preview by asking for total commitment from his players. Despite the opponent’s individual quality, he believes Arouca have the tools and motivation to compete, as long as they follow the plan with maximum concentration.

“They have excellent players, but we have excellent players too and very motivated people who know they have to give 100 per cent of themselves to come out on top.”

In conclusion, he again reinforced the idea he wants to take to the Dragão:

“We will have the conditions to compete, but we have to be at the highest level of demand.”

It is with that balance between respect for FC Porto’s strength and confidence in their own identity that Arouca approach the match, looking to show that they too can impose their mark on the pitch.

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