Nuno Dias assumes Sporting’s goal of winning the Portuguese Cup

NIn the quarter-finals, which are played on Wednesday, the ‘green and whites’ face Belenenses, “a team that is going through a delicate moment in the League” and wants to “take advantage of it to create a positive moment”, so the ‘lions’ have to “be very focused and intense” to move forward.

“The objectives will always be to win the competition, knowing that we will have many difficulties, especially because our opponents will also want to win, and always looking at one round at a time”, pointed out Nuno Dias, speaking to the press office of the Portuguese Federation of football.

For Belenenses, it is “a feeling of responsibility, but above all, of pride for returning to the big stages” of futsal, admitted the coach, Tiago Guelho, aware of the difficulties that await the team against the current runner-up in the championship.

“We are going to play against, if not the best, one of the best teams in the world. Now, that doesn’t take away any ambition to achieve a very positive result and game” against Sporting, commented the coach of the ‘blues’.

The team that comes out on top in the match between ‘lions’ and ‘blues’ will face, in the semi-finals, the winner of the match between Leões de Porto Salvo and Dinamo Sanjoanense, the only representative of the II Futsal League at this stage of the season. Portugal Cup.

For the coach of the Leões de Porto Salvo, Cláudio Moreira, being in the ‘final eight’, in Sines, “is part of the objectives defined at the beginning of the season”, but his players will have to be “ambitious and humble” to be able to “win the next opponent.”

As for Bruno Guimarães, his work group “deserved to be in the ‘final eight’ of the Portuguese Cup”, a “very deserved bonus” for the work group which is now in Sines to “enjoy it to the fullest”, but also with “the ambition to fight for passage to the semi-finals”.

In the other ‘key’ of the quarter-finals, the current leader of the championship, Sporting de Braga, faces Rio Ave and also assumes the objective of winning the trophy, but the coach warned that, to do so, it will be necessary to be ” at the maximum limits of quality, sacrifice and constant overcoming”.

“The feeling is that the first objective has been achieved and our aspirations are clear and objective: win the first game to continue in the competition and then do everything we can to stay until the last day and be the last to leave the pavilion”, defined Joel Rocha .

For Rio Ave, Carlos Loureiro recalled that Sporting de Braga “in recent years has become very close to Sporting and Benfica”, which “says everything about its quality and ambition”.

“We will have to have an absolutely incredible day and take advantage of a less good day from our opponent to qualify. The favoritism is all on the other side, but we will fight with our weapons to continue making history”, assured the Vila-Condenses coach .

The team that wins will face the winner of the meeting between Ferreira do Zêzere and Caxinas, two teams that admit to having achieved “an objective” with their presence in Sines but do not reject the ambition of going even further.

Ricardo Lobão, coach of Ferreira do Zêzere, guaranteed that the team is “motivated and prepared to compete for a place in the semi-finals”, while Nuno Silva, coach of Caxinas, promised “responsibility and ambition” in the first match of the eight-a-side final be “present in the semi-final”.

The ‘final eight’ of the Portuguese Futsal Cup will be played between Wednesday and Saturday, at the Pavilhão Multiusos in Sines.

All quarter-final matches take place on Wednesday, with Ferreira do Zêzere and Caxinas facing each other at 11:00, before Leões de Porto Salvo and Dínamo Sanjoanense take to the court, starting at 2:00 p.m. .

At 17:00 Rio Ave and Sporting de Braga face each other, while Belenenses-Sporting ends the first day, starting at 20:00.

The semi-finals are scheduled for Friday and the final will take place on Saturday.

Without Benfica in the competition, Sporting, who eliminated the ‘reds’ in the round of 16, are looking to add their 10th title in the Portuguese Cup to distance themselves from their rival, who last year won the eighth trophy in their history. .

All the other finalists, with the exception of Belenenses, holder of a trophy, are present in Sines to try for their first title in the competition.

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