For Pedro Neto, being at Mundial2026 “is a source of pride and a childhood dream”, after missing Mundial2022 due to injury. Therefore, now he wants to “take advantage and help bring the trophy to Portugal” and give this final joy to Cristiano Ronaldo, who at 41 years old could be playing in the last football World Cup.
Colombia is a team where “the key word is resilience”, a characteristic that, according to the player, can also apply to the Portuguese group and therefore the duel on the third round of Group K will be very balanced.
With four points, Portugal will have to beat the Colombian team, leader with six points, if they want to finish the group first. But what really matters is passing and it could be the case that the players go to bed this Thursday with already guaranteed qualification for the round of 32. Here is the scenario in which this could happen: if Ecuador does not beat Germany, Japan beats Sweden and if there is a winner in Paraguay-Australia.
“To be honest, sometimes we look at what would happen if we finished 2nd or 3rd. But with our Portuguese mentality we just want to win and be first”, confessed the Portugal number 18 this Thursday, June 24th, before another training session in Palm Beach.
Pedro Neto also revealed that “the group was happy” with Cristiano Ronaldo’s two goals against Uzbekistan (5-0), not only because he is “obsessed with goals”, but because of what this means for the team after the draw with DR Congo (1-1).
The Portuguese international also said that the group is not afraid of the atmosphere that will be at the Hard Rock stadium, in Miami, in the game on the 27th (00:30, RTP1). “We know that we will face more heat and a stadium with many Colombians, but, above all, we have to be focused on our essence and identity to pass the group in 1st place”, revealed Pedro Neto.
“More comfortable” when playing further to the right, the forward said that he just wants to play and does not look at Francisco Trincão as a rival: “There is no competition, there is a great friendship. It goes back to the time when we shared the van at Sp. Braga. I can’t be around him without laughing. He’s always messing up. It’s this healthy competition we have. We both want to play and we give everything here in the national team.”
isaura.almeida@dn.pt
