Wolverhampton Wanderers of England striker, Dare Arokadare’s teammate and goalkeeper, Jose Sá has acknowledged that the upcoming friendly between Nigeria and his country, Portugal, will help them prepare for DR Congo at the World Cup.
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Sports247 reports that, with the team that stopped Nigeria’s ambitions of making it to this year’s Mundial in USA, Canada and Mexico among those Portugal will face in the group stage of the global showpiece, Sá admits Wednesday’s game is timely for his country.
The Wolves’ shot-stopper, who is likely to be in goal against the Super Eagles during the upcoming game at Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa in Leiria, affirmed the importance of playing against Nigeria ahead of their battle with The Leopards.
José Pedro Malheiro de Sá, who was an unused substitute when Seleção das Quinas got a 4-0 win over Nigeria during a similar friendly in November 2002, added that the game will help them build a tactical approach to stop DRC.
This is mostly so because Portugal will play their opening match on June 17th against the team that defeated Nigeria via penalties in the African play-offs, which Sá acknowledged will form a useful focal point for his squad on Wednesday.
He also spoke about Portugal’s first friendly against Chile on Saturday, which will help them prepare for their last match in Group K of the 2026 Mundial against Colombia, after they open against DRC and then face Uzbekistan on June 23rd.
Sá stated in a chat with Portuguese publication, A Bola, “These will be two very important games against Chile and Nigeria to prepare for the World Cup. We are focused on giving our best and preparing well for the first game in the competition.”
