Dan Gaspar

Dan Gaspar will be blogging for sportsnet.ca during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa while serving as goalkeeper coach for Team Portugal.

A tough injury blow with the loss of Nani (left).

Portugal team member Dan Gaspar writes on how teams must overcome injuries.

MAGALIESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA -- It was a bittersweet day for Team Portugal on Tuesday.

Despite winning our final preparation match, 3-0 against Mozambique, we received difficult news when we learned that Nani's injury will keep him out of the World Cup.

Nani was obviously an integral member of the team, not only on the field but off of it as well. He's a player who was in good form, coming off a strong season with Manchester United and he will be missed. He was very focused and excited about participating in this tournament and he showed that every day in training. I believe that the World Cup would have highlighted his skills and his spirit to play, but unfortunately it wasn't meant to be. I am sad for him personally, and so is the team.

His passion for the game will also be missed. However, the team has a lot of quality and we have to march on without him. Our theme within the team is “We are national gladiators” and we will get through this together.

We lost a quality player in Nani but other teams have suffered with injuries as well and that's life in football. Injuries can have a significant impact on a short tournament like the World Cup. We're talking about 23 world class players on your roster so no matter who you lose, it's always significant. You try to plan for these things as a coaching staff by having two quality players at every position so that you can move forward in these situations.

It's tremendously important to have other players step up now. We saw that against Mozambique with both Danny and Hugo Almeida contributing goals in a positive result. Anytime you don't concede goals and score three, no matter who the opponent is, it's an accomplishment.

I don't think we could be heading into the opening match with Ivory Coast in a better state of mind. The team confidence is high. In the last two games, we've scored six goals and have improved every single minute. We're heading into the tournament with a lot of optimism and confidence and that's important at this stage of our preparation. Every single day, we're trying to build towards that peak performance so that we're ready for the start of the tournament.

We've been in South Africa a few days now and the reception for the Portuguese team has been phenomenal. The Portuguese community is the one of the largest ethnic communities in South Africa and they've been very impressive. I've never seen so much green and red and so many variations of costumes in support. And it's important for the players to feel that pride and honour. They came here expecting a positive response, but I don't think they could have imagined such an overwhelming reaction. The players respond to that kind of spirit and support.

My meeting with Nelson Mandela years ago.

Of course, this isn’t my first venture into South Africa. Back in 2000 when Carlos Queiroz was manager of the Bafana Bafana, I had the honour of working with the national team in preparation for the African Nation's Cup. In addition to the incredible natural beauty and power of the country, there were two profound memories from my visits that impacted my life.

The first occurred before a match against World Cup and European champion, France. The team got a special visit in the locker room from a Witch Doctor named Muti. Wearing a tribal costume, Muti began chanting and spreading white powder and what appeared to be small bone chips around the room.

After Muti left the room, the players began singing their tribal battle song. It is impossible to share with you in words the spirit that was created in that room. It was such a special environment and the team went out to earn a 0-0 draw with France.

The second and most profound memory was my visit to Nelson Mandela's compound. Listening to Mandela speak of his journey to freedom after 29 years in prison was amazing. We shook hands afterwards and I can still feel the power of his handshake to this day.

Whenever I am faced with what I perceive as a problem, I reflect back to that handshake and realize that my problems are miniscule compared to what he went through.

Ten years later, I return to South Africa to participate in the World Cup with Portugal and I hope that we are all lucky enough to witness the power of another special moment: Mandela, at the age of 91, kicking it all off.

Dan Gaspar is the head coach of the University of Hartford men's soccer team and founder of the Star Goalkeeper Academy. Watch for Gaspar's blogs throughout the World Cup as he provides a perspective of what it's like to be on the pitch and in the clubhouse as part of the coaching staff with Team Portugal in South Africa.