At the European Championships, which will take place from 19 January to 6 February, Portugal, the reigning European and world futsal champions, will be part of Group A, along with the Netherlands, the host country, Ukraine and Serbia, which guaranteed qualifications in November. oust Belarus in the qualifying for the playoffs. Jorge Braz announced his roster on Thursday.

A word for the uninvited: “Quality people with great competence, with great human value, but this is also a sign of the work we do to appreciate the Portuguese player. Fortunately, the national coach has more and more headaches. “

Call preparation: “It was one of the most difficult for me, even better for Portuguese futsal. There are many options, there were 16 of them at the World Championships. It’s normal that there will be world champions who won’t. This is a great sign. difficulty. From a human point of view, we are very sorry for the absence of people who are very dear to us, but, above all, they have enormous competence. If they were here, we would be completely confident that they are the 14 that we have chosen and which are the ideal team for the upcoming competition. “

Do you consider the favoritism of Portugal? “Portugal is a clear candidate, it has, as always, many favorites. Everyone remembers very well the difficulty of almost all World Cup matches. Europeans will certainly be just as difficult or even more difficult because of the way they look at us. We are candidates, we want. Take a close look at us and what we want to keep doing. If we do what we did, and if we are Portugal, we will be candidates. We did not start this competition at the top of the mountain, we started at the bottom and we have to climb it all. This is the desire to rise again there, that we are again going into this European world. “

Approach, now without Ricardinho: “Our approach has always been the same. We are a highly qualified team. Ricardinho brought tremendous skills to the team from a collective point of view. If we look at the two competitions we won, you yourself will notice a number of other players who even stood out more than Ricardo. All players will need to understand what it means to act together, what it means to be Portugal. Being Portugal means a lot: organization, mind, emotion. And Ricardo always added all his colleagues. it’s the sense of teamwork that we face in this competition. “

Will Portugal be the target of being killed? “The best way to approach how others are looking at us is to look only at us. We are always very concerned about what comes from outside. And I always say: we must be competent inside, we are as a team. Others, if they look at us as a target to shoot down, it’s because they know we have a team that can win big competitions. This is a problem for them, more for them than for us. Difficulties in the first European game, let’s prepare this game by looking at our skills. If we worry too much about what others are saying and how others are looking at us, we will be distracted. At the moment we are world and European champions. We have to understand the process and climb the mountain. “

Major returns that were absent at the last world championships and the Europeans: “He wants to win, score goals and help. Every time we start a stage or challenge, it must mean the first time. With so many matches, the Cardinal lost two very important moments, but there is a feeling that this is like this is the first time, this is a very good sign. He must have him and all the players. We are facing this European with all the ambition and all the confidence in this world. “