Pia praises preparation and says that the team is “ready” for the Cup

After leading the Brazilian women’s soccer team in yet another training game, the technician Pia Sundhage made a positive assessment of his team’s preparation for the World Cup, which starts on Thursday, in Australia and New Zealand. The coach stated that the team is “ready” for the World Cup.

“We had a great preparation period, with a lot of training and we tried our best to have many 11 against 11 clashes. The players are tired. Now we are ready to start this World Cup”, said the Swedish coach, who led the last national team’s training game before the debut.

The Brazilians faced the under-15 men’s team from Queensland, at the Royal Pines field, on the Gold Coast, where the national team has been based. The press could not follow the entire activity. Only the first of three 30-minute halves, in which Pia had her starters on the field, could be observed. At this point, the match was scoreless.

Pia makes changes to the selection’s starting lineup: see lineup

Regarding the starting lineup that he had been training, Pia made only one change. He put Geyse in place of Bia Zaneratto in the offensive sector.

The team had Lelê; Antonia, Rafaelle, Kathellen, Tamires; Luana, Ary Borges, Kerolin, Adriana; Geyse and Debinha. Striker Marta was not on the field at the beginning of the activity, as was the case in the training game with China, last week.

The main player of the national team should start the World Cup on the bench. And she can gain space in the team during the course of the competition. Since she landed on Australian soil, Marta has been spared most of her more intense activities. Pia’s goal is to have the striker in top form throughout the Cup.

“We did a preparation taking into account that the players were playing in different leagues in the world, some in the United States, Europe and Brazil, they came from different places. Now they are all in the same place and on the same page. And that’s the real reason for us to be here and the players did an incredible job”, evaluated Pia.

The Brazilian delegation has been in Australia since the 4th and accumulated 14 days of work at the Royal Pines field, on the Gold Coast. On Tuesday, it will be time to change locations. The team will travel to Brisbane, where they will be concentrated until their debut in the World Cup, on the 24th, against Panama.