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The original was posted on /r/soccer by /u/NeroRomanusAugustus on 2026-02-13 23:33:43+00:00.
Article:
Former national team coach visited a school in Torre de Moncorvo and reminisced about his achievements with Portugal.
Former national team coach Fernando Santos expressed his wish on Thursday that “Portugal can be world champions” this summer, at the World Cup to be held in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
“A player from FC Porto [João Pinto], many years ago, said that predictions should only be made at the end of the game. Now, I and all Portuguese people have one wish: that Portugal can be world champions,” said Fernando Santos, during a lecture he gave today at the Dr. Ramiro Salgado School Group in Torre de Moncorvo, in the Bragança district.
Fernando Santos, who led Portugal to victory in the European Championship in 2016 and the Nations League in 2019, believes in the potential of the national team, but warns of the quality of their opponents.
“Woe to us if we didn’t believe. We have the conditions for it, naturally. We’ve been pursuing this dream for years, but we know that others do too. I’m sure our players will do everything to make it happen, and I and all Portuguese people are obviously confident. Now, nobody is sure what will happen, but we believe it’s possible, yes,” he said in statements to the Lusa news agency.
Fernando Santos gave his testimony of life and faith as part of an initiative called “University Students in Torre de Moncorvo,” organized by Father Sérgio Pêra.
When asked which teams he considers favorites to win the next World Cup, Fernando Santos refused to name names, but said that Portugal is among the potential winners.
“It’s always the same [teams]. The World Cup is a little different, it’s also exposed to those two or three that don’t belong to Europe, but most are the main European teams, yes. Portugal is among them,” he emphasized.
The former national team coach was questioned by students from this school group in the southern district of Bragança about the role that faith in God played in his life and, particularly, in winning Euro 2016 and in the decision to bring Éder [scorer of the decisive goal] on in the final against France.
“God doesn’t worry about those things. It was clearly a tactical issue. It seemed important to me that we had someone up front with the ability to hold the ball and allow the team to breathe. God helped me a lot, but it was on an emotional level. He gave me calm, tranquility, he never let me get down. When they criticized us for only drawing, it was very important because it gave me the necessary tranquility,” he stressed.
Fernando Santos emphasized that “if that were the case, the Vatican would always be champions.” “We’d put the priests to play, the Pope would be the coach, and they would always be champions,” he laughed.
The former coach of FC Porto, Benfica, and Sporting, among other clubs, however, recalled an episode that marked him on the day of the final, July 10, 2016.
“That day I went to mass in the morning and, in the Gospel, there was a phrase that said: be simple as doves and, inside, be like serpents. I thought that was the key to the game and, in the pre-match talk, that’s what I told the players. It helped me to convey the message I wanted to convey,” he said.
Fernando Santos also recalled a decision that marked him as Sporting’s coach in 2003, which was to put Cristiano Ronaldo on the field against Manchester United in the inaugural game of the José Alvalade Stadium in Lisbon.
“Unfortunately for me, I put him in to play at the stadium’s inauguration and he left. I remember telling him that with the ability and determination he had, he would be the best in the world. For me, it was a huge source of pride, after a few years, for him to be the best in the world,” he said.
The former national team coach, who led Portugal in the last two World Cups and left the national team after Qatar 2022, was also asked who he considers to be the better player, Messi or Ronaldo.
“Geniuses are not comparable. Do you like Beethoven or Mozart more? They are geniuses by nature. You may prefer Messi’s style or Ronaldo’s. When it’s like that, we can only go one way, which is to see what they have done in terms of titles. And that’s where Cristiano wins,” he argued.