Tottenham midfielder João Palhinha has reflected on Portugal’s 1-1 draw with Hungary. He expressed frustration over the missed opportunity to secure qualification for the 2026 World Cup but also highlighted the quality of the opponent.
As relayed by A Bola, the Tottenham midfielder said the team should have killed the game earlier and maintained better concentration in the second half.
“When you’re winning by the minimum margin against strong teams, it’s always a risk. We need to analyse and improve these aspects of concentration. I think we dropped the block too much, which wasn’t necessary. We lacked some pressing in the second half to stop them playing so comfortably. I don’t know if it was fatigue or something else, but we stopped doing that,” he explained to SportTV.
Palhinha, who came on in the second half, admitted the team left the pitch disappointed but remains confident qualification will come soon. “With this draw we’re not happy at all. Our goal was to qualify at home, but we have another camp in November and we’re sure we’ll get there. I believe this happened for a reason. Even if we’d scored three or four, there would still be things to improve,” he said.
Tottenham player’s leadership is growing
When speaking to RTP, the Tottenham midfielder also addressed the public’s expectations around Portugal’s performances. “I know people at home always want us to win by three, four, five goals, and they often underestimate these kinds of teams, but there’s a lot of quality there too. Obviously, we have the capacity to respond differently and get another result,” Palhinha added.
He acknowledged Hungary’s physical strength and called for Portugal to control games better in future. “Maybe they were a team with greater physical power, but I think we should have kept the ball, played our game, and stayed focused until the end. Still, we need to take the positives from this draw and move forward.”
Palhinha remains in strong form for Tottenham and Portugal, having featured in 14 matches across all competitions this season, with two goals and one assist. His leadership and consistency continue to make him a key presence both for Spurs and for Roberto Martínez’s squad.
