Nigeria friendly perfect preparation for Portugal’s World Cup opener, says Martinez

Roberto Martinez believes Portugal’s friendly against Nigeria will be good preparation for their World Cup opener against DR Congo.

Portugal face Nigeria on Wednesday before travelling to the United States for the World Cup, with their campaign getting underway on June 17.

This will be Martinez’s third World Cup as a head coach – he guided Belgium to a third-place finish in 2018 before being knocked out in the group stages in 2022.

Indeed, he has won 70% of his matches at the World Cup (7/10). Only Tele Santana (80%), Didier Deschamps (74%) and Joachim Low (71%) have a better win rate among head coaches with 10+ games at the tournament.

Nigeria could pose a similar threat as DR Congo, with the latter defeating the Super Eagles on penalties to reach the final round of the World Cup play-offs.

And Martinez had a similar view, though insisted his starting 11 against Nigeria would not reflect the line-up for their World Cup opener.

When asked if his starting 11 against Nigeria would be the same for the World Cup opener, Martinez responded: “No. In the first game [USA], there weren’t five or six players, plus Diogo Costa.

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“We continue, it’s the last preparation game before the World Cup, but our focus is individual, trying to recover and give minutes to the players who need it.

“Our first objective is to get the players on the plane to Miami prepared for the World Cup. That’s the number one objective.

“Against Nigeria, we have an opportunity to work on aspects that are similar to the strengths that DR Congo also has.

“It’s a different African team, with a lot of tactical flexibility. It’s a demanding opponent, it’s another test to prepare our group. There are many games where we haven’t worked with a starting eleven.

“Portugal’s strength is the commitment of all the players. My responsibility and that of the coaching staff is to prepare the players to help the team and that when they are on the pitch they use their talent and their attitude to win games for Portugal.”