“AND a strong Viseu Academic, with good individuality and who has a well-oriented collective. Therefore, we expect natural difficulties in a I League game, but, obviously, we also have our arguments. (…) In these last two games we gave the appearance of a competitive team and it is this team that will be on the field to face a difficult opponent”, said João Henriques, at a press conference.
Despite the defeat in the last round, against Arouca (1-0), Henriques, 53 years old, saw his team grant “few scoring opportunities to the opponent”, with the priority now being “improving the offensive aspects”, as well as the “criterion and last pass”.
Forecasts point to a day of heavy rain and strong wind on Saturday, something that could “transform the essence of both teams a little”, namely Académico de Viseu, which “plays an associative game” and likes to “have the ball on the ground”.
For João Henriques, the “players will have to adapt quickly” to the weather conditions, which will be the same for both teams.
“As long as the game goes on, the ball can roll and these basic conditions exist for a First League football game, the teams have to adapt”, he noted.
Ulisses Rocha, Wesley Gasolina, Igor Liziero and Filipe Soares continue to recover from their respective injuries and are confirmed absences for this match, according to the coach.
A different situation is that of Léo Santos, who suffered a serious injury against Sporting, and is expected to be out of options until the end of the season.
Nacional, ranked 15th, with seven points, will host on Saturday Académico de Viseu, sixth, with 20, in a match scheduled for 3:30 pm, at the Madeira Stadium, in Funchal, under refereeing by Pedro Ramalho, from the Évora association.
