Porto (AP) – Portugal’s football veteran João Moutinho warned his compatriots before the playoff final in the World Cup qualifiers on Tuesday against North Macedonia against the role of favorites.
“We can’t be too confident,” said the 35-year-old midfielder in Porto. After all, the outsider knocked out European champions Italy in the semifinals. “Maybe we won’t have many chances to score because they defend very well. We saw that against Italy,” emphasized the Wolverhampton Wanderers professional, who is usually a regular in coach Fernando Santos’ team.
Moutinho admitted that his team around star striker Cristiano Ronaldo (37) was the favorite in the Estádio do Dragão. “We have players whose quality just has to be at the World Cup. But that’s not enough, we have to show that we’re better on the pitch.” Nowadays, “anyone can beat anyone,” explained the 143-time international
The 2016 European champions defeated Turkey, coached by Stefan Kuntz, 3-1 in Porto in the semifinals on Thursday. Underdogs North Macedonia beat Italy 1-0 in Palermo thanks to an added-time goal from Aleksandar Trajkovski. The Seleção around Ronaldo, Moutinho and Diogo Jota want to participate in Qatar (November 21 to December 18) for the sixth time in a row and for the eighth time in a World Cup finals. North Macedonia has never managed to qualify for the World Cup.