For soccer fans the Portugal 0-0 Albania was a surprise. For Portugal fans, they saw it as embarrassing, a bad game, asking why Almeida stays in the starting lineup so long and other questions.
What do the Portugal players say after the embarrassing draw? Only three players stopped to talk with the journalists. I would have preferred the big names, the starting 11 players to answer questions like Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani, Quaresma, and Pepe. These interviews were in the 'flash interview/ mixed zone' area where journalists wait for the players to come out of the dressing room and interview them.
Video of interview with Almeida, Nuno Gomes, Raul Meireles, and Quim in Portuguese with English translation. (Entrevista com Hugo Almeida, Nuno Gomes, Raul Meireles, Quim em video em português).
Journalist: What do you think happened? What did the national team fail to do, to change the game?
00:00 Hugo Almeida, 'You saw what I saw. We created good goal opportunities but the goals were missing. Their goalkeeper was really good. He saved shots by Nani, Cristiano Ronaldo and other players. Like I said, these things happen. Now chin up and think about the next games.'
00:38- Nuno Gomes 'Yes, obviously, we're sad because of this draw. It wasn't the result we wanted. We tried from beginning to end to score a goal. The ball wouldn't go in. I think it's one of those games that even if we played longer the ball still wouldn't go in. We had good shots. That's football.'
00:55- Raul Meireles- 'We all worked for a win. We did everything we can to win but we couldn't. We need to get the points away that we couldn't get at home.'
01:19- Quim (gk) 'I think that we thought the goal would come sooner or later. When we felt it was hard, we couldn't get it because we didn't have the necessary will, and with the nerves like that it was hard.'
01:26- Hugo Almeida ' We didn't count on just getting one point. We wanted 3 points.'
01:32- Nuno Gomes 'We have to, without a doubt, look for the points away, victories away to put Portugal in the top of the table.'
01:49 Hugo Almeida 'The stadium was full. Thank you very much. I have to say to them to keep supporting us because we're doing everything to get a victory. We know we didn't need this draw, very well.'
The only big name facing the press was Nuno Gomes. I appreciated that because they're also talking to the fans not just the reporters there.
What did you like of the video, statements?