Portugal qualified for the quarter-finals of the European Championship after beating Belgium 2-1 thanks to a penalty kick from Thiago Dantas a minute before the end. At a press conference, Portuguese coach Rui Jorge admitted that his team struggled to achieve this result.
“Sometimes we focus more on mistakes,” explained Rui Jorge. “Yes, there was suffering. But I can tell you about the good sides: organization, will, faith, there were good attacks. It’s not easy when you lead, to join, to be able to come back again,” the coach explained. Before this day, Portugal was in a disadvantageous match. “We had to win the game. The players were committed the whole time. There were some individual mistakes, but we had a chance to score again.”
“Maybe it wasn’t our best game, but we wanted to win it and we won,” said Man of the Match Pedro Neto. “The first half against Georgia (loss 2-0) was very good, despite scoring both goals. Against Holland (1-1), we were well organized for part of the match. Today, we were very good with the ball and wanted it all the time. After a kick Penalty, we were very focused on keeping the score.”
Portugal will meet England, who have already secured first place in Group C, in the quarter-finals on Sunday.
