Midfielder Samuel Costa ensured this Wednesday that Portugal’s under-21s will fulfill their commitments to prepare for the matches against Romania and Norway as if they were European Championship matches.
“We want to use these two games to prepare for participation in the European Championship. This is a good opportunity for players to continue working together and get to know each other better. For us, it’s like they’re ‘official’ games, that’s our mentality,” assured the player, who plays for the Spanish “Almeria”.
Samuel Costa was part of the Portuguese entourage that traveled this Wednesday to Romania, where he will play a local colleague on Friday, and ensured that despite the short preparation time, the group is already quite cohesive.
“We are doing very well. We had three training sessions, but the players have known each other for a long time. We need to keep growing and improving our chemistry,” the midfielder said.
Samuel Costa noted that this group has “a lot of qualities”, showing himself convinced that this will be reflected in the performance of the team.
“This is one of the highest quality bands I have ever been in. But more importantly, it’s the ability to use those characteristics to play together and make beautiful things. That’s what these games are for, to get to know each other. better and know how we can develop,” the defensive midfielder analyzed.
Although Samuel Costa has only played once for the Under-21s at this level, he believes in his ability to “help the group” and get more minutes in the game.
“I am here 100% to help my teammates in whatever it takes and I also try to learn. I am proud to defend the national team, whether in official matches or in friendly matches,” he said.
Before leaving for Romania, the team also had a training session this morning in Povoa de Varzim, where they are concentrated, in a training session already involving goalkeeper Celton Biay from Vitoria de Guimarães, who has been working with the main selection in the last two days.
The coaches of the national coach Rui Jorge will play this Friday (17:00) in Romania, in Bucharest, at the Steaua stadium, and on Saturday they will return to Portugal, where on Tuesday in Povoa de Varzim they will have a new challenge against Norway ( 19:00). )
These two games are part of the preparations for Euro 2023, which will take place from June in Romania and Georgia.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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