INTERNATIONAL: Portugal has what it takes to win their World Cup playoff semi-final against Turkey, their coach Fernando Santos said on Wednesday (March 23).

Portugal play Turkey in Porto on Thursday (March 24), with the winner facing either Italy or North Macedonia in the Path C final on March 29, with one of the last three spots for European teams at the World Cup in Qatar up for grabs.

The World Cup is scheduled to begin in November.

“The two finals we’ve been in, we won. In qualifiers, decisive matches, and finals, Portugal always has had a positive response, with the exception of the last match (against Serbia). We didn’t get in the last match. That’s our responsibility, but I think this is a positive factor and not a negative one. The players have a lot of experience and will take a positive influence from it,” Santos told a news conference.

Portugal, who won 2016 Euros and the Nations League in 2019, dropped into the World Cup playoffs after losing their final group stage qualifier to Serbia in November, conceding in the dying minutes.

Portugal will be without their two first-choice center-backs on Thursday after Pepe tested positive for COVID-19 and joined Ruben Dias (who has a hamstring injury) on the sidelines.

It is unclear if Pepe could return for next week's potential playoff final if Portugal gets past Turkey, which Santos admitted are a formidable opponent.

“They (Turkey) are a team that is aggressive and very competitive. And we have to at least match them as far as passion, gumption, going after the match, and concentration because we will be facing a team with all of that. So, we need to be equally as strong, not more, we’d prefer more, but at least equally as strong,” Santos said.