Mateus Fernandes is still waiting for another shot with Portugal’s senior team, but the Tottenham midfielder certainly isn’t treating the U21s as some sort of consolation prize.
As we covered earlier, he 21-year-old missed out on Jorge Jesus’ first senior squad after the World Cup and remains with Luís Freire’s U21s for this international break.
His status there is very different, though. Fernandes is the captain, he’s the man Portugal put forward to speak for the group, and he’s clearly taking the whole thing very seriously.
Portugal face Bulgaria this afternoon and then Gibraltar on September 30. They couldn’t really be in a better position in European Championship qualifying.
They’re top of Group B with 19 points from seven matches, having won six and drawn one. They’ve scored 28 goals and, quite impressively, still haven’t conceded a single one.
Fernandes wants to make sure that run continues.
Captain Fernandes isn’t getting carried away
Speaking before the Bulgaria game, the Tottenham midfielder showed he’s done his homework on what Portugal can expect.
“Bulgaria will rely a lot on counter-attacks. They’ll end up defending and looking to make use of set pieces,” Fernandes said, according to Record.
“We’re prepared to react when we lose the ball, but the most important thing is to focus on ourselves.”
“We’ve conceded zero goals and scored a lot. We know the quality we have, individually and collectively. Everything is ready for tomorrow.”
Very captain-like. And when the conversation moved towards potentially winning the U21 European Championship, Fernandes wasn’t interested in getting too far ahead.
“Our ambitions for the European Championship are about thinking only about what’s immediately ahead of us.”
“Right now we have this game and we’re going to do a good job.”
There’s a good reason for that caution. Portugal discovered at the last tournament that being defensively excellent doesn’t guarantee much once the knockout games arrive.
“At the last European Championship, we were eliminated having conceded only one goal. The level is high in these tournaments and we can’t take anything for granted along the way.”
O Jogo also pick up on that message on Thursday, highlighting Fernandes’ insistence that Portugal need to go “step by step”. First Bulgaria, then Gibraltar. Anything beyond that can wait.
“The last two years have been incredible”
Fernandes also had something to say about his own development, and that’s probably the most interesting part from a Tottenham perspective.
“The last two years have been incredible for me individually, both on and off the pitch,” he said. “I’m developing more and more.”
So for now, the senior team can wait. There’s Bulgaria this afternoon, Gibraltar on September 30 and a captain’s job to do first.
