SOCCER-EURO/ARMENIA PORTUGAL Armenian and Portuguese national teams train ahead of Euro qualifier

Record ID: 150993

  • Title: SOCCER-EURO/ARMENIA PORTUGAL Armenian and Portuguese national teams train ahead of Euro qualifier
  • Date: 12th June 2015
  • Summary: YEREVAN, ARMENIA (JUNE 12, 2015) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF ARMENIAN TEAM TRAINING NEWS CONFERENCE BY ARMENIAN NATIONAL TEAM COACH SARGIS HOVSEPYAN NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Armenian) ARMENIAN NATIONAL TEAM COACH SARGIS HOVSEPYAN SAYING: "We understand that stars have come here; not one, not two, but many and we will try to solve these
  • Embargoed: 27th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Armenia
  • Country: Armenia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAB011MFBF0YZYG7EWD9HUD5IGC
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Portugal and Armenia trained in Yerevan on Friday (June 12) ahead of their EURO 2016 qualifying Group I second leg on Saturday.
    Portugal won the first leg in November 1-0. They have won their three most recent qualifiers and top the group with nine points; Denmark and Albania have seven each and Serbia and Armenia one each.
    Armenia coach Sargis Hovsepyan said on Friday that there is still everything to play for.
    "We understand that stars have come here; not one, not two, but many and we will try to solve these problems. We understand that it will be very hard. I wouldn't like to talk about it now because there is no sense in opening all our cards beforehand, but I can assure you that it is possible to play against any soccer player: we just have to find his weak spots," said Hovsepyan.
    Portugal's coach, Fenrnado Santos, said Armenia caused them plenty of problems in the first leg and he was expecting more this time around.
    "We prepared in the best way possible. We are aware of the difficulties that we will face. It's an opponent that has caused us many problems during the first match in Faro. This match for them is practically a final and they will give us problems. I'm expecting a different team. This Armenian squad is a team with players of quality; a team playing in counter-attacks; a team that has evolved maintaining the same philosophy as when they played against Portugal with a 5-4-1.
    "Last match with Albania they played in 4-3-3, a completely different team, much more offensive. They started the match against Albania in a very offensive way and they scored. It was a team that tried to play equal-to-equal with Albania until they had an expulsion, then they started to have difficulties. So I alerted (my) players to that and I showed them some videos and I also tried to know better their new coach, his work and with that I think we are prepared to face a tough opponent. But we are prepared," said Santos.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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