THEAfter returning to victories at Estoril Praia (3-1), the Minho team, 10th ranked, with 11 points, receives the ‘Tricolor’ team, 12th, with 10, which continues to be “very competent and strong at all times of the game”, despite the defeats recorded in the three previous rounds.
“At a statistical level, it is the strongest team on the counterattack, but it is not a team that only plays on the counterattack. It is a team with different dynamics under construction. We have to have the ability to interpret. Despite having quality advanced players, we see a team that rarely gets disorganized. It will be a very tactical game”, he said, in the preview conference.
The 37-year-old coach, however, rejected that the game will be “closed”, in the sense that “there will be fearful teams”, but admitted that the team coached by Pepa could give Moreira de Cónegos’ men a lot of work in order to create scoring opportunities.
“Good teams are seen when they force the opponent to do a lot to be able to attack. I put good teams at that level. We are too. There is the condition of playing at home, where the lack of space makes the game more closed than in other stadiums. We want to do the best we can to give joy to our fans”, he added.
Confident that Moreirense is on the “right path”, the ‘helmsman’ highlighted that his players are focused on “increasing consistency within each game”, with the notion that they were not the “worst” when they went through a cycle of three games without winning, with one of them dictating the elimination of the Portuguese Cup, against AVS (1-0), nor “are they the best now”.
Vasco Botelho da Costa stated that the team from Guimarães is still “very far from being a finished product” and that “there are no guaranteed places” among the starters, regarding the return of captain Maracás to the options, after serving a suspension game in the previous round, in which Gilberto Batista, 22 years old, and Kevyn Monteiro, 21 years old, formed the axis of the defense.
“Of course, (Maracas) is a very important player for us. What Gil (Batista) and Kevyn (Monteiro) did had already been demonstrated in the first round. When I say that we have good and different solutions, Moreirense wins”, he pointed out.
Moreirense, 10th in the Portuguese First League, with 11 points, receives Estrela da Amadora, 12th, with 10, in a match scheduled for Saturday, at 3:30 pm, at the Estádio Comendador Joaquim de Almeida Freitas, in Moreira de Cónegos, in the municipality of Guimarães, with refereeing by João Pinheiro, from the Braga association.
