Fernando Santos is confident Portugal can deal with the pressure of competing inside the World Cup qualifying play-offs.
The Selecao face Turkey in the 'Path C' semi-finals in Porto on Thursday, with the winner of that tie set to take on Italy or North Macedonia subsequent Tuesday. Portugal had been made to do things the tough way after dropping 2-1 to Serbia in November, which means they missed out on automated qualification at their fighters' cost.
However, Santos insists the winner-takes-all nature of this week's play-offs can help get the high-quality out of his gamers, having prevailed in previous finals at some point of his stewardship. "What has happened has constantly been a fine sign," he stated at Wednesday's pre-fit news conference. "In the 2 previous finals we've performed, we received both. In those decisive games we've given a positive response, except in the ultimate game [against Serbia]. The gamers are skilled and will not be cast off."
"We fought hard in those previous finals to make 11 million human beings happy. Tomorrow, in this next 'final', we want to do so once more."
