Coach says Portugal will be looking for an unprecedented achievement, with great humility.
Roberto Martínez spoke about the United States national team, commented on an opinion from Carlo Ancelotti, and also discussed the favorite teams to win the next World Cup, in a press conference held at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where Portugal will play its second “test” match for the final phase of the 2026 World Cup.
The USA struggled against Belgium (2-5), what was your opinion?
I’ve been working in international football for ten years, and what I’ve learned is that you should never judge teams in March. The reason is that we’ll only be together again five months later, and the last time was in November. It’s a time when players don’t want to get injured because they still have important games with their clubs. I know [Mauricio] Pochettino’s work in the Premier League well; I know how he works. In the game against Belgium, they had a good first half, but in the second half, Belgium’s quality became very efficient, and the final result doesn’t reflect what happened in that game in the best way. But, from my experience, you can’t make harsh judgments about these March games.
The USA faces greater difficulties against European teams.
The issue of matches against European teams is out of context. The question is whether it’s a game in a major tournament or just a preparation game. It’s not possible to compare a friendly game with a qualifying game or even a game in a final stage. It could be a team from Europe, Asia, or Africa; the important thing is to have your own identity, to develop your players with the mentality that the first team needs. Then, having the ability to be flexible is very important in international football. That’s why we’re here; we wanted this experience against CONCACAF teams. We need to be flexible so that our talent can shine. There are fantastic things being done in American soccer, such as the infrastructure, the working conditions, and the clubs competing in major tournaments. They have a fantastic coach; now they just need a bit of luck at the right moment in a major tournament. That can inspire future generations.
From an outsider’s perspective, what’s your view of Pochettino’s work in the US?
It’s difficult to comment, it’s always difficult to talk about a team that didn’t go through the qualifying phase, as is the case with the hosts. It’s a question I can answer better tomorrow, after the game, but from what I’ve seen, they are a quality team, very aggressive, that applies very high pressure. They are a team that plays with confidence, very athletic and with players who can make the difference at any moment, like Pulisic and Balogun, who can create danger at any time. Pochettino created that, a great clarity, an identity and great competitiveness.
Carlo Ancelotti says that the team that will win the World Cup is the one that concedes the fewest goals, not the one that scores the most. Do you agree?
In football, if you score more goals than your opponent, you win the game. It’s a matter of style, it’s a matter of the players you have, it’s a matter of the idea. It’s easy to win a game and keep a clean sheet when you have the ability to score, but if you can score more goals than your opponent, you also have a chance of winning. There are many ways to win games. The important thing is to be very good at what you do.
France and Spain are considered strong favorites. Do you place Portugal in that group?
I’ve said it many times, I think the teams that have already won the World Cup are the ones that can be considered favorites. One of the important things to be a world champion is talent, and another is the psychological barrier of wanting to win a World Cup. It’s a good debate, it’s good to talk about the teams. Everyone will play at least three games, and it will be in those three games that we’ll see who can be champion. There are only eight teams in the world that have already won a World Cup, and I think those are the ones that can be considered contenders when they are in good form. We won a European Championship, we won two Nations Leagues, but our best position in a World Cup was third place in 1966. For us, that would be something that has never been done, so we’re going in with a lot of humility. There’s a lot of talent, there’s a lot of commitment from the players, and now it’s about trying to get the maximum performance from these three games to see what level we’ll be at.