The coaches of the teams that will compete in the four-way final of the Portuguese Roller Hockey Cup today expressed their expectations of winning a competition that will be decided in detail, Saturday and Sunday, in Barcelos.
On the eve of the match between FC Porto and Oliveirense, scheduled for 12:00 on Saturday, and the clash between Benfica and Óquei de Barcelos, scheduled for 16:30, the coaches set “maximum expectations” in lifting the trophy and succeeding. to Sporting de Tomar, winner in 2022/23.
Coach of FC Porto, leader of the championship and holder of the Champions League, Spaniard Ricardo Ares highlighted that his team must first focus on the semi-final and devalued this season’s record against Oliveira de Azeméis’ team, with the which won one championship game (5-4) and lost another (5-0).
“In these types of games, details will be vital. These results are past. What matters is competing better in the present. The four teams know each other very well in terms of their game models. We will try to design the best possible plan to reach the final”, said the Galician coach, during the press conference held at the Pavilhão Municipal de Barcelos, stage of the ‘final four’.
Fellow Spaniard Edo Bosch said that Oliveirense, the team that last won the Portuguese Cup in the 2018/19 season, hopes to “raise the pin in a historic pavilion” and also considered that the “details will make the difference” , against an opponent who last won the competition in the 2021/22 season.
“I expect a balanced game. The last game for the championship was very balanced. I hope tomorrow [sábado] be equal. We hope to be more accurate and focused [em relação ao jogo anterior, disputado em 09 de março] to achieve victory”, said the Catalan coach.
The second semi-final will pit teams that have faced each other three times in the last month and a half, with Óquei de Barcelos winning both games for the quarter-finals of the Champions League (4-2 and 5-1) and Benfica triumphing in Minho last Saturday, for the championship (4-1).
Prepared for “a special pavilion”, usually home to Óquei, the Benfica coach envisaged an “extremely difficult” game against “an opponent of excellence”, which the ‘eagles’ want to win to continue ‘nurturing’ the hope of building a trophy that has eluded them since the 2014/15 season.
“Tomorrow’s game is crucial. It’s the one we have to focus on. Everything else doesn’t matter. It will be extremely difficult for both teams and decisive. And it will almost certainly be different from the other three”, highlighted Nuno Resende.
Rui Neto considered, in turn, that details such as balls hit the post or the goalkeepers’ inspiration can decide matches that are expected to be level, between four clubs that aspire to win the Portuguese Cup, and rejected favoritism for playing in Barcelos.
“We are certainly not favorites. [Os adeptos] They can help the team in less good moments, but I don’t believe they will be decisive. The teams here are more than used to playing in adverse environments. But they can help balance things out in terms of favoritism”, said the coach of a club that last won the competition in 2003/04.
