Bruno Fernandes sets out World Cup “dream” ahead of DR Congo opener | OneFootball

Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has shared his lofty World Cup ambitions ahead of Portugal’s opener against DR Congo on Wednesday.

Historical aspirations

Portugal are among the favourites to go all the way at this summer’s World Cup on North American soil.

The Selecao have never won the FIFA World Cup. Their finest performance came in 1966, when they finished third. Eusébio inspired a golden generation to the semi-finals on English soil, where they fell to the hosts before recovering to beat the Soviet Union in the third-place play-off.

Portugal’s most recent World Cup outing, in 2022, came to a halt in the quarter-finals, with Morocco proving to be their undoing.

Fernandes spoke to FIFA in an interview, “The dream is to be world champions. The key is to focus on what we can do to change the fact that Portugal have never won it and become the first side to bring the coveted World Cup back home.”

“We feel good about that. It’s positive for us and it shows there’s confidence in our overall quality and in the calibre of the players representing Portugal right now.”

“We know that we’re a very strong group. We genuinely believe we can have a great World Cup.”

He added, “It fills me with confidence when I look around and see an incredible team willing to do whatever it takes at any moment. It’s not about helping me, but helping everyone reach our final objective.”

Ronaldo factor

Now 41, Cristiano Ronaldo remains Portugal’s figurehead. Fernandes has no doubt that the five-time Ballon d’Or winner will be decisive in his sixth World Cup.

“It’s a huge privilege for us to have Cristiano as a compatriot, a team-mate and a player who can take us closer to winning the World Cup.”

“I think we can always learn from him. He’s shown his resilience throughout his career. He has that winning mentality, he is never satisfied with what he’s achieved, and he always strives for more. Those are all such positive qualities we’ve taken from his career.”

“The fact he’s managed to play for 20 years shows that all of that was, and still is, necessary to perform at the highest level for so long. Those factors go hand in hand with the talent he’s shown over the years. More than anything, I hope he can replicate that with us at the World Cup, helping us as he’s always done, scoring more goals and taking us closer to our objective.”

Portugal’s meeting with DR Congo in Houston kicks off at 6 pm.

Featured image Lars Baron via Getty Images

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