Sérgio Ferreira: Energy and focus must match our ambition | OneFootball

After the draw in the Azores (1-1) in the opening round, FC Porto’s under-19 team will, for the first time in this Champion Qualification phase of the National Junior A Championship, play as the home team: the 2nd round puts them up against Rio Ave FC (Saturday, 3:00 pm, Porto Canal), at the Estádio de Pedroso.

Coach Sérgio Ferreira wants the Dragons to be “competent” in their “role, mission, and ambition, which is to win,” noting that on the other side will be “a good team, with a good approach.” Center-back Filipe Sousa, for his part, assured that the Porto squad “remains confident” and is “doing everything” to get back to winning ways.

Sérgio FerreiraOpponent’s Approaches“Teams renew themselves, grow, evolve, and always look for something different against us. Strategically, teams invest a lot in matches against us, so we have to be prepared for everything that is standard and everything that is circumstantial, but we also have to know how to respond to the conflict between our idea and Rio Ave FC’s idea. The team knows our approach, our pattern, but we also know we need to have a big toolkit and game dimension. Rio Ave FC is a good team, with a good approach, so it’s up to us to be competent in our role, mission, and ambition, which is to win.”

The draw in the Azores“We should have been much more competent and we couldn’t have conceded the goal the way we did. We can’t allow dangerous approaches like we did due to our own mistakes, but it’s important to highlight that there were other things we couldn’t control. We played against a team that gave up playing, something they hadn’t done in the last 18 games. It was a team that just defended and waited for our mistake, in addition to bad weather conditions and a difficult pitch to play on. The biggest beneficiary was always the opposing team, who never wanted to play. Despite everything, we still managed to create chances to score. We need to understand why we couldn’t bring home all three points and do so with maximum energy, which is what we need for the next game. Our energy and focus have to be at their peak, just like our ambition.”

At home or away, it’s always challenging“All games are challenging, at home or away, especially since other teams defend a bit more against us. We have to find the right paths and create the right advantages to find the goal. These kids need a lot of support, as our thirst for victory is untouchable and we face Rio Ave FC to win.”

Filipe SousaFocused on getting back to winning“The group remains confident and we’ve been working to correct the result from the first game. We want to get back to positive results and we’re doing everything to be well prepared for the match.”

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