Bento knows Portugal must appease their restless natives

Published on 02/06/2012 02:02

Portugal coach Paulo Bento says morale in the camp remains high amid the fallout from his side’s disappointing goalless draw with Macedonia in their Euro 2012 warm-up last weekend.

Angry home fans greeted the final whistle of Saturday’s listless outing in Lisbon with boos and whistles, the result marking the second game in succession that Portugal had failed to find the net following February’s stalemate with Poland. The barren run has raised question marks over Portugal’s chances heading to Poland and Ukraine, particularly given the strength of their group-stage opponents – Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark. Bento’s side contest their final warm-up against Turkey tonight, and the coach is confident his players will prove their worth.

“There were no problems with players’ attitude and that makes us calm,” Bento said. “We will try harder tomorrow, knowing that Turkey will play differently. We want to improve every game, we want to win. I am an optimist by nature but there is concern for the game with Macedonia. Tomorrow we will have a different game, we want to win and therefore we have to score.”

Bento has rubbished claims that Portugal’s Euro hopes rest solely with Cristiano Ronaldo, who is coming off the back of a stellar title-winning season with Real Madrid. “We’re not putting pressure on him to solve all our problems, but we hope he’ll help us to solve some of them,” Bento said. “We want a team that plays well. We don’t want Ronaldo to have to do everything.”

Croatia coach Slaven Bilic believes his side’s match against Norway in Oslo will provide his players with the ideal preparation for their first Group C game against the Republic of Ireland on 10 June. “We couldn’t have a better warm-up for the match against Ireland,” Bilic said. “Norway are something like Ireland, they’re two teams very similar in their style of play and team ability. The match in Oslo will show us where we are a week before our first match.”

Elsewhere today, co-hosts Poland face Andorra, while tomorrow Spain continue their build-up to the defence of their title against China in Seville.