|
On paper, it would appear that the top-ranked
Americans should have every advantage over the Portugal team
ranked 20 rungs beneath them at Tuesday's showdown at Eden Park.
But a day after Colombia flipped the script to beat twice world
champions Germany 2-1 in stoppage time, U.S. coach Vlatko
Andonovski said he knows better than to take the odds at face
value.
"Rankings mean nothing in the World Cup," he said.
The United States overcame Portugal 1-0 in their last meeting -
a 2021 friendly - but Andonovski sees little comparison between
the two sides today.
"In the last two years, the... Portuguese team have grown so
much and have gotten so much better," he said.
"I don't think what we saw in the 2021 (game) is a clear or real
picture of the team that it is today."
The Americans are on a quest for an unprecedented third
consecutive title but must secure a win or a draw over Portugal
to advance. Failure to do so would mean missing the knockout
stages for the first time in nine World Cup appearances.
While no American fan wants to contemplate that possibility,
Andonovski must.
"It used to be in order for a result like (Germany-Colombia) to
happen, you have to wait sometimes six months or nine months,
and then one team really has to have a bad game and the other
team has to have that the game of their life," he told
reporters.
"Now we see an interesting result every day, every other day,
there's something that everybody's shocked (over)."
He is hoping to improve upon early efforts - a 3-0 win against
Vietnam and a frustrating 1-1 draw versus the Netherlands - with
the winner of Group E to come down to goal difference if the
Americans beat Portugal.
Vietnam also play the Netherlands in Dunedin on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in Auckland; editing by Philippa
Fletcher)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
|
