Portugal prepared for war of nerves
Thursday, 17 June 2004 16:15Portugal are preparing for neighbours Spain to conduct a war of nerves before Sunday's showdown. Portugal must take all three points from the Group A game to reach the quarter-finals, adding extra tension to a fixture they have not won since 1981.
"We know Spain will make comments about Portugal and about referees but we are ready for this," said midfielder Tiago. "We're just concentrating on playing a good match and beating Spain.
"I think they will want to put pressure on the referee but I think that at this level, the referee will not be affected. On Sunday, we will see who is the best."
Anders Frisk of Sweden will referee the game in Lisbon after taking charge of the Group D match between arch-rivals Germany and the Netherlands which ended 1-1 on Tuesday.
Portugal are third in Group A with three points, one less than Greece and Spain. The Greeks' 2-1 win over Portugal means they will qualify if the two teams finish level on points.
Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who pulled stalwarts Rui Costa and Fernando Couto out of the starting line-up on Thursday, has not given any clues about his team for Sunday.
The Brazilian World Cup winner said on Wednesday night he would decide on the line-up after studying videos of Spain's two games.
"Spain are a very strong team but so are we," said Portugal midfielder Costinha. "We can't afford to think about revenge and about rivalry. We have to think about playing our own game as well as we can. We need to play with personality."
Filed by Aidan O'Doherty
