June 11: The eagles' diary in the World Cup

Rúben Dias, Raúl, Salvio, Seferovic, Zivkovic and Ebuehi are the players from Sport Lisboa e Benfica who are present in the competition, wearing and defending the colors of their respective countries. As of Monday, the Official Site will tell you our eagles day-to-day…

The young centre-back Rúben Dias is one of the 23 athletes at Fernando Santos' disposal. The Portugal national team, European Champion in 2016, is in Russia since Saturday and has been preparing the start of the competition, scheduled for Friday, June 15, against the "Spanish Armada".

The Portuguese national team has Krotov, in Moscow, has its head-quarter.

This Monday Fernando Santos led a morning training session, with the usual 15 minutes open to the Press, where, as on the day before, the focus and the good mood prevailed.

Manuel Fernandes, a player nurtured at Sport Lisboa e Benfica and who now plays at Lokomotiv, was the one who spoke to the journalists.

"Our goal will be to win every group match and then we will see what we will do next. We hope to rely on the support from the Russian people", he said,

The Argentina national team is also in Russia since Saturday and Salvio is one of the players under Sampaoli. "The Alviceleste" has Moscow as its base and chose the region of Bronnitsy.

The training session have been twice a day and this Monday was not the exception. At Bronnitsy Training Centre, the morning was marked by the physical and tactical exercises.

Alongside Salvio are two former eagles, Dí Maria and Enzo Pérez, with the midfielder from River Plate being called-up by Sampaoli to replace the injured Lanzini.

“I am very happy to play my second World Cup”, said Enzo to the journalists.

The Nigerian national team, with Ebuehi, is one of the teams that landed at Russia this Monday. The National team coach Gernot Rohr will have Stavropol as headquarters, in the region of Essentuki.

Who also arrived at Russian soil this Monday were the national teams of Switzerland, Serbia and Mexico… with benfiquistas on board! And, curiously, fate gathered two more benfiquistas: Seferovic, who represents the color of the Swiss national team , and Zivkovic, who plays for Serbia, which rosters also includes Luka Jovic, a forward loaned by the eagles to Eintracht Frankfurt.

Under the motto “Nothing holds us back”, the Mexico national team, where the forward Raúl is integrated, arrived at the World's biggest country and stay in Moscow, in the district of Khimki.

Text: Sónia Antunes

Pics: FPF / Twitter of the national teams of Nigeria, Serbia and Argentina