Portuguese Cup: Four to conquer the queen

FC Porto, Oliveirense, OC Barcelos and Benfica, this weekend, in the Final Four of the competition. Coaches talk about balance and the importance of details. And they are unanimous in their ambition to conquer

Without the winner of the 2022/23 edition of the Portuguese Cup, SC Tomar, or the defeated finalist, Sporting, in competition, the Final Four of the queen of roller hockey meets in competition, this weekend in Barcelos, the host Óquei Clube, Benfica, the record holder for this trophy, with 16 wins, the reigning national champion FC Porto, and Oliveirense. In this order and pairing, the semi-finals will take place today, and the final tomorrow, at the Municipal Pavilion of that Minho city.

The Dragons’ Spanish coach, Ricardo Ares, assumes that the Portuguese Cup «is always an important objective in every season» and states that his team’s «expectations» for the Final Four are «maximum» and that to the same superlative degree are “the focus and ambition of lifting the cup”.

His Spanish counterpart and compatriot from Oliveirense, Edo Bosch, calls him ‘mug’ and confirms common aspirations. «We want to be the ones to win the cup, but first we will have to beat a team as strong as FC Porto. We all know our opponents’ game models, but we will certainly try something, from a tactical point of view, that could favor us. In two clashes with FC Porto, we have one victory and one defeat. Results that reflect the balance that has existed between our teams and we hope to be better than FC Porto in this third game». declares the Catalan coach of the Oliveira de Azeméis team.

The second match of this four-way final pits OC Barcelos against Benfica, this Saturday, at 4:30 pm, in the third duel in just over two weeks. After the 5-1 rout of the Minho team over the Lisbon team, in Luz, in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, on the 11th, the eagles were one attempt away from returning the defeat to the roosters in their home stadium, beating them by 4-1 in the most recent round of the national championship.

Nuno Resende, Benfica coach, recalls the history to launch the new game. «Victories give confidence, defeats give growth. Even though we won the last game, an important victory to get out of the negative cycle, and all the things we did well in that game, there are still others [coisas] that we have to improve, to become stronger. It wasn’t because we beat them that our confidence levels were sky high, no! Certainly they will also be more alert, playing at home, in front of their fans. For our part, we will be prepared and strong to win this semi-final». The Reds’ coach insists on keeping OC Barcelos’ exclusion from the Champions League Final Four in his speech. «For our team it was a disappointment and we really want to be in the final of the Portuguese Cup, first, and then win it, also for our fans who have been unsurpassable. It is an extremely important competition», concludes Nuno Resende.

For his part, Rui Neto, coach of the Barcelona hosts, considers that «it will be the details that can make all the differences, because balance will dominate» and wishes for sportsmanship. «May they be three great hockey games and take place with the best fair play».