After thrashing Scotland and Sweden in the first two days of the group stage of the U-17 European Championship, Portugal fell to Denmark -which meant that, this Thursday and already in the quarterfinals of the competition that takes place in Israel- faced Spain. The National Team, European champion of the category in 2003 and 2016, beat the Spanish (2-1) and qualified for the semifinals, where they will face France.
Before, the national coach José Lima recognized that this would be “a very complicated game”. “But it will be for us and for them. It is a game in which the losing team is eliminated. We will have to give everything we have but we know we have our chances, despite facing a very strong team. We have played against them, we have managed to create unbalanced situations and that is what we are going to try to do. We have to go to the game very focused, thinking that the game has 90 minutes plus extra time. If we do that, along with what we have prepared, I think we can play the game until the end”, fired the coach, who did not fail to acknowledge that the players were “sad” after the defeat against Denmark.
Spain was lucky and it was anything but bad luck: Portugal has the worst game of the U-17 Euro Cup, loses to Denmark and passes but in second place
Portugal entered the field after France eliminated Germany and the Netherlands pushed Italy — that is, knowing that qualifying for the semi-finals meant a matchup with the French, while the Dutch would face the winners of the match between Serbia and Denmark. In the Israeli city of Netanya, the National Team played with Martim Fernandes, João Muniz, Ussumane Djaló and Afonso Moreira in the starting eleven, the four changes made by José Lima who replaced João Conceição, Luís Gomes, Rafael Luís and Rodrigo Ribeiro.
The Spanish team started better, with a great save by Diogo Fernandes in the first moments (3′), but Portugal managed to get rid of the rival pressure as the minutes went by and even scored the opening goal. Captain Boñar made a monumental mistake, putting the ball into the penalty area when he was trying to delay it to the pressured goalkeeper, and Afonso Moreira took the opportunity to shoot with his left foot towards the goal after going ahead (9 ‘). Spain equalized shortly after, with Boñar redeeming himself with a header after a cross from the left that did not give the Portuguese goalkeeper a chance (17’), and the match was tied at halftime.
• Spain ?????????0️⃣-1️⃣??????? Portugal
• Afonso Moreira (Minute 8)
• #U17EURO pic.twitter.com/PTGNRYCWUP– Juanito (@JuanitoCruz11) May 26, 2022
• Spain ?????????1️⃣-1️⃣????????? Portugal
• Javier Bonar (Minute 16)
• #U17EURO pic.twitter.com/xqtknDwgMV– Juanito (@JuanitoCruz11) May 26, 2022
The National Team had a great opportunity to score early in the second half, with Dinis Rodrigues finishing off the post after a delicious pass from João Veloso (54′), and ended up capitalizing on a clear promotion at the end of the match. play. . Yarek committed a penalty by intercepting a shot by Afonso Moreira with his hand, and Dinis Rodrigues put Portugal ahead again by converting the penalty (63′).
Until the end, the result did not change again. Portugal beat Spain, essentially thanks to a virtually perfect second half and a superlative display from João Veloso, and qualified for the semifinals of the Under-17 European Championship, where they will face France next Sunday.
• Spain ?????????1️⃣-2️⃣????????? Portugal
• Jose Rodrigues (Minute 63)
• #U17EURO pic.twitter.com/PsCcplELLO– Juanito (@JuanitoCruz11) May 26, 2022
????????????????????#ESPxBY | 1-2 | #Let’s go with everything #U17Euro pic.twitter.com/OPF8h1o2yD
— Portugal (@selecaoportugal) May 26, 2022
Source: Observadora
