Soccer
Pedro Neto wants his Portugal team-mates to “embrace the dream” of winning the World Cup.
Roberto Martinez’s side defeated Nigeria 2-1 in their final World Cup warm-up game in Leiria on Wednesday.
After Cristiano Ronaldo squandered a golden opportunity, Neto gave Portugal the lead in the 23rd minute with a composed finish into the bottom-right corner before Akor Adams levelled the scoreline before the break.
Portugal had a number of opportunities to restore their lead, but Ronaldo was guilty of missing more glaring chances. Much to the relief of the Al-Nassr striker, Francisco Conceicao netted the winner 15 minutes from time, finding the bottom-left corner with a driven attempt from the right.
And though it was not the most emphatic result, Neto believes Portugal can be full of confidence heading to North America.
The Chelsea winger said: “We come away with good feelings, two games, two wins. That’s what we wanted. We dealt with our processes, things to improve. We are focused on what’s coming to make the dream come true. God willing, we will succeed.
“The objective is to win game by game and reach the end. We have to embrace that dream. The Portuguese people know what we have in the team and we also have to believe, game by game, and do our job.”
In what is good reading for the Portuguese, Opta’s predictive model considers Martinez’s side as fifth favourites to win the World Cup, with a 7.1% chance. The Euro 2016 champions will take on DR Congo in their Group K opener on 17 June.
With just one day to go until the 2026 FIFA World Cup begins, here are the latest Opta supercomputer projections. pic.twitter.com/ZFkssN0L5l
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) June 10, 2026
Diogo Dalot said: “We’re going in with confidence. Arriving at the World Cup with two positive results was what we wanted, but it’s not the most important thing, because we have things to work on and improve.
“We’re happy, confident. We felt the support of the public, which was something we needed, and we’re going to take the country’s flag to the USA to win the World Cup.”
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