Injured, Olympique Lyonnais goalkeeper Anthony Lopes will miss the play-offs of the 2022 World Cup with the Portugal team, already weakened by a series of packages before receiving Turkey Thursday in Porto, announced the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) . Lopes was “considered unfit” and then replaced by Wolverhampton goalkeeper José Sa, the FPF said, without further details, in a press release published Monday evening on its website.
This is the third package with the Seleçao following veteran defender Pepe, who tested positive for Covid-19, and Ruben Neves, injured this weekend with his Wolverhampton club. “We shouldn’t give too much importance to those who are not there. (…) We have confidence in all those who have been called up to replace them,” reacted Liverpool striker Diogo Jota on Tuesday in press conference.
Pepe remained in the group which gathered near Lisbon on Monday but was placed in solitary confinement for an unspecified period, then Lille central defender Tiago Djalo was called in as reinforcements when he was due to join the team. under 21 years old. Midfielder Ruben Neves was replaced by debutant Vitinha, a 22-year-old creative very prominent this season at FC Porto and regularly present in the Espoirs selection.
At the time of completing the list of players summoned, coach Fernando Santos was already faced with several absences of weight, due to injury, including Manchester City defender Ruben Dias, Wolverhampton side Nelson Semedo, or even the midfielder of Lille. Renato Sanches.
If Cristiano Ronaldo’s teammates manage to win once morest Turkey on Thursday, they will host next Tuesday, once more at the Dragon Stadium, the winner of the semi-final between Italy and North Macedonia.
“We know we have talent. If we manage to have a good team spirit we will be able to overcome these obstacles”, commented Jota. Since 2000, Portugal have participated in all international competitions, their last failure dating back to qualifying for the 1998 World Cup. (AFP)