Defender Pepe admitted this Thursday that he had trouble sleeping during his injury due to fear of missing out on the fourth World Cup of his career, but assured that he was in the best conditions to work with the national team.
After suffering an injury in FC Porto training in early October, the 39-year-old central veteran was out of competition for several weeks, which at the time raised doubts about his ability to compete in the final. .
“When I got injured, I didn’t sleep. I wanted to recover as quickly as possible so that I can be here to compete in another World Cup in my career and contribute to my national team. It’s been a long way to be here. but now it’s time to look ahead,” he said at a press conference ahead of the game against South Korea on Friday.
Moreover, the central defender thanked the contribution of the medical services of FC Porto and the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) to his recovery and, given the persistence of questions about his physical condition, was peremptory.
“If I’m here in the national team, it’s because I’m ready to play,” said the defender, who didn’t start on his debut with Ghana but ended up starting against Uruguay. due to Danilo Pereira’s injury.
After participating in the 2010, 2014 and 2018 World Cups, Pepe said he wanted to “enjoy to the fullest” his fourth World Cup presence, without revealing if it would be the last he would play at, and praised the new generation. Portuguese centre-backs, including António Silva and Ruben Dias, who are also part of the squad.
“I am honored to be able to play football. We have great players. I hope that Antonio can naturally follow his path, as Ruben Diaz did when he went to Russia for the World Championships. [em 2018, com 21 anos]🇧🇷 I want to wish Antonio good luck, because it will be our luck too. That he can play and help Portugal,” he said.
Portugal and South Korea will face each other on Friday, starting at 18:00 local time (15:00 Lisbon), at the Education City stadium in Doha, in the match of the third round of the group H Mundial 2022, which will last until December 18 in Qatar .
The Kinas team, who qualified for the round of 16 with a 2-0 victory over Uruguay, leads the group with six points, three more than Ghana, second and five more than the South Koreans coached by Paulo Bento and the Uruguayans, who simultaneously oppose the Ghanaians.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.