[球員] Da Costa: Portugal deserved better
http://www.uefa.com/competitions/under21/news/kind=1/newsid=554449.html
Da Costa: Portugal deserved better
Friday 22 June 2007
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Defender Manuel da Costa said Portugal "deserved to go the Olympic Games, not
Italy" after a penalty shoot-out defeat in Nijmegen denied them a trip to
Beijing.
Unhappy statistics
The fifth-placed play-off at the UEFA European Under-21 Championship gave
both sides a chance to claw back some pride after disappointing performances
in the group stage here. But Portugal failed to take advantage and despite
having an extra man for the final 15 minutes and 57 per cent of the
possession, they were unable to score with any of their 16 shots on goal as
120 minutes of football ended goalless.
'That's football'
"We knew we would play like this - we need to have the ball," said the PSV
Eindhoven defender. "We showed we deserved to go the Olympic Games, not
Italy. Today, it's the team that deserved it the least that won. Sometimes
it's like this, sometimes it's not. That's football." A 4-3 defeat on
penalties prolonged Portugal's unwanted record of never having eliminated
Italy at U21 level.
Strong finish
Jose Couceiro's team ended the tournament much better than they started it,
beating Israel 4-0 in their final Group A game before facing Italy. "In these
two games we played better than any other team in this competition," said Da
Costa, who missed the end of the match through injury. "If we had played like
this from the start we would have qualified for the Olympics a long time
ago."
Knee injury
Italy were reduced to ten men with Giuseppe Rossi's 74th minute dismissal and
Da Costa was soon a casualty for Portugal, being taken off injured after 85
minutes. "It's the knee injury I suffered from at PSV," he said. "It was
already hurting during the warm-up and I felt it through the whole game. The
medical staff didn't want to take risks but I would have gone on to help my
team-mates."
Rest cure
Now, Da Costa is hoping to earn a place in the Portuguese senior national
team as he looks to put U21 disappointment behind him. "I want to go UEFA
EURO 2008 - that's my goal," he said. "But that will only happen if I play
regularity for my club. I am still young and I can gain experience. This
season I want to be a champion and to go a long way in the UEFA Champions
League." For now, he is hoping for a holiday. "I will now rest, have fun at
the beach with some friends and do what it takes to empty my head before the
new season."
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