Daniel Chaves: “Very proud, but we do not like moral victories” | OneFootball

Daniel Chaves left the Portuguese Cup final with a defeat to Benfica at the Estádio Nacional in Jamor, but without lowering his standards. The coach of FC Porto’s women’s football team spoke about his pride in the competitiveness his side showed, explained what held the team back in attack, and reinforced an idea that ran through the entire press conference: at the Dragão, moral victories are not enough. In the end, he summed up that mindset and assured: “we don’t want moral victories.”

In the aftermath of the match, in a final and on Porto’s debut on this stage, Daniel Chaves remained faithful to a way of seeing the game that does not hide behind the context. The coach acknowledged the value of the team’s response, but always steered the conversation back to ambition, on a night when FC Porto measured both what it had done and what it still wants to become.

Asked about FC Porto’s first appearance at Jamor, the coach began by highlighting the team’s competitive response against a more demanding opponent. He did so without dramatizing the defeat and without giving up praising what he had seen on the pitch.

“It is impossible to look at this game and not use the word pride. We managed to be competitive,” he said. “To play against a European-level team and lose 2-0, with two goals from set pieces, says a lot about our organization. I’m proud of my team and of what we did.”

It was an emotional portrait, but also a technical one. Daniel Chaves wanted to underline that, in his analysis, the result did not erase the team’s structure or competitive discipline, opening the door to a more concrete reading of what was missing in the final third.

When the conversation turned to the difficulty in turning promising moves into goals, the coach got straight to the point and then developed his explanation. Between the distance to goal, the haste in decision-making and the accumulated fatigue, he described an attack that found ways through, but did not always find clarity.

“What we lacked was putting the ball in the back of the net. Obviously, when we are forced to stay in deeper areas and when we recovered the ball we were still some way from goal, then we tried to do things too quickly, and when we managed to move the ball better to get further up the pitch, we found spaces, we caused problems, but we lacked composure and awareness, also because of the fatigue of getting there,” he explained. “We could have slowed the game down more often when we reached advanced areas, but the truth is that we kept getting there, we also created danger, we were bold in trying, at times, to press higher. That was basically it.”

The feeling remains of a team that understood where it could hurt the opponent, but did not always have the lungs or the cool head to turn that intent into real damage. And from that line between competing well and winning, the conversation moved to the issue that marked the night most strongly.

Asked about the club’s next objectives, Daniel Chaves rejected any complacent reading of the journey so far. The coach spoke of ambition in its purest form and also referred to the move that opened the scoring.

“The next objective is the same as today’s objective: to win. FC Porto plays to win titles, we do not like moral victories, we do not want to cling to anything,” he stressed. “The truth is that we started the game already behind and the move is subjective. The player does not touch the ball, but she interferes with the goalkeeper’s action. Conceding a goal after five minutes changes a lot. We don’t want moral victories, FC Porto is here to win titles.”

The message was as clear as it was repeated: pride, yes; comfort, no. And within that demanding tone, Daniel Chaves also framed the way the team had to adapt to a less familiar kind of game.

Faced with the idea of an FC Porto side pushed into a deeper block, the coach rejected any reading of fear and preferred to speak of adaptation. His explanation centered on the opponent’s build-up play and the need to look for other areas and other solutions.

“It ended up being different. Benfica rely heavily on the goalkeeper’s quality in build-up, which limits us from playing with a higher block. It’s not because it’s Benfica, we are not intimidated, but having one extra player helps make up for the others’ difficulties,” he analyzed. “We had to adapt to that. Strategically, we tried to exploit other areas, because the opponent had adjusted to our positioning. We tried to replicate the opponent’s technical quality in training, we tried to explain to the players where we could go and where we wanted to get to.”

More than a concession, the description sounds like a practical reading of a match that forced changes to routine patterns. The coach wanted to make it clear that the plan was not surrender, but adjustment, and that naturally linked to what lies ahead with the rise in competitive level.

When he looked ahead to entering Liga BPI, Daniel Chaves acknowledged the change in dimension, but did not alter a single line of his ambitious message. In his view, the competitive step up does not change the identity with which the team presents itself.

“Obviously Liga BPI is more competitive than what we have had over the last two years, in which we were adapting to the reality of the competition we were in. Next year it will also be different, the quality of the opponents is also high, we know there are several clubs investing heavily in Liga BPI, but we will go in as we have gone in until today,” he guaranteed. “Whether in the third, second or first division, as we saw in the Cup last year and this year, when FC Porto steps onto the pitch it is to win and to lift titles. That is why I say we do not want moral victories. We want to make the squad more competitive and adapt to the difficulties we will face next season.”

The tone remained unchanged: respect for the difficulty, no lowering of the bar. It is that balance between realism and competitive hunger that also helps explain how he read the team’s transformation after the break.

On the difference between the two halves, the coach pointed to inexperience, early nerves and the strong way the opponent usually starts games. He then highlighted tactical adjustments and, above all, the change in attitude.

“It was easy to predict that the start of the first half, for us, because of some inexperience, both individual and collective, in this type of game, and also because of some early nervousness, was something the opponent could take advantage of. We know Benfica are very strong in the first 20/25 minutes, we knew beforehand that we had to try to hold on in the opening minutes, but we ended up conceding a goal that opened the game up,” he described. “In the second half we tried to adjust one thing or another tactically, we understood where Benfica would have more or fewer difficulties and we tried to exploit that. We also understood where the opponent wanted to get to, but what changed was the boldness and courage we showed in the second half to get higher up the pitch and press the opponent.”

In this explanation, Daniel Chaves sketched almost two teams in the same match: one more weighed down by the moment, the other freer to contest it. That need to respond and adapt also came through when he justified an individual selection in the starting eleven.

Asked about choosing Crista Ferreira to defend the right flank, the coach placed the decision within the logic of the work built over the course of the season. He spoke about familiarity with the position, freshness and attacking ability.

“Cristina’s adaptation is basically what we had been doing throughout the season, she ended up being the player most used to the position. Caroline has done her job, but we needed another solution there, with a more attacking capacity, also because of the greater experience she has,” he explained. “It was also to freshen up that position, because of Cristina’s adaptability and also because of the competitive edge she brought us.”

Even in the details of the selection, the message remained consistent with the whole night: preparation, adjustment and the search for competitiveness. And, already away from the tactical and emotional tension of the final, there was still room for a brief and lighter note.

Faced with a more relaxed question about Ivan Baptista, Daniel Chaves closed the press conference with a short, good-humored line.

“We have time to arrange it, I don’t need to reach a final to meet up with him.”.

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