2022, for the women’s soccer team, has been a real roller coaster. Portugal reclassified for the European Championship after not qualifying, due to the exclusion of Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, they were eliminated in the group stage but their performance was more than positive and secured a place in play off of access to the World Cup by finishing second in the classification. This Thursday, in Vizela, it was time to keep the roller coaster on an upward trajectory.
Against Belgium, the National Team played the first day of a play off complex and slow. In case of victory against the Belgians, Portugal already knew that it would meet Iceland next Tuesday. After that, again in a win scenario, I qualified for a play off intercontinental tournament to be played only in February 2023. All this, however, depended on the result of this Thursday.
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Even so, the decisive tie came in a window of time in which women’s football has been the order of the day, for the best and for the worst reasons. If Kika Nazareth was nominated for the inaugural edition of the Golden Girl award and if Benfica beat Glasgow Rangers to reach the Champions League group stage for the second consecutive season, The allegations of sexual harassment involving the coach and the sports director of Famalicão cast a shadow over the sports universe at the end of last week. And the subject, naturally, was not ignored by anyone in the run-up to the match against Belgium.
“It is a deep sadness. It affects not only football, unfortunately, but also various sectors of our society. We stand in solidarity with all the victims and call on those who have not yet spoken to also have the courage that these girls had to denounce. It is important that you are not afraid to speak up, because this is a sad aspect of our society that needs to be quickly removed. Let’s be attentive to everything that is campaigns, to be on the subject and show our solidarity. One day it is these companions and another day it can be us. I think it is important that there are campaigns, it can give courage to people who have not yet spoken out of fear”, said Dolores, captain of the Portuguese national team, recalling the online platform made available by the Portuguese Football Federation to inform. cases of sexual and moral harassment.
In football there is no room for harassment. ❌ Report it at https://t.co/aUwUB6nECI. pic.twitter.com/dSiBU2K2Of
— Portugal (@selecaoportugal) October 3, 2022
It was in this context that, this Thursday, Portugal played one of the most important games in its history. Francisco Neto’s main surprise came in the goal, where Patrícia Morais started to the detriment of Inês Pereira, The remaining starting eleven being as expected given that Kika Nazareth and Andreia Jacinto were called up but recently returned from injury. Thus, Dolores, Fátima Pinto and Tatiana Pinto occupied the midfield and Jéssica Silva, Andreia Norton and Diana Silva took charge of the offensive sector.
The National Team started better, immediately creating a great opportunity through Jéssica Silva, who shot outside the area after an attack by Diana Silva from the left (5′). Belgium responded through Wullaert, who was isolated after Diana Gomes lost the ball in a prohibited zone. and shot to stop Patrícia Morais (14 ‘), and Portugal ended up going ahead almost half an hour.
Norton recovered in the central corridor, opened in Joana Marchão on the left and the Parma winger crossed into the penalty area, where Diana Silva appeared to deflect to open the scoring (29′). The Belgian team reacted to the disadvantage, advancing down the lines to push Portugal into their own midfield, and ended up winning a penalty for Marchão’s transfer of the ball near the break. In the conversion, Patrícia Morais guessed the side but did not stop Wullaert’s equalizer (40′).
Break! ⏸️ Portugal with a very positive performance, but we still have to score more to win! WE WILL DO IT!# PORBEL | 1-1 | #VesteABandeira #FIFAWWC
— Portugal (@selecaoportugal) October 6, 2022
Portugal came from behind well in the second half, with Fátima Pinto forcing a tight save from Evrard (50′) and Jéssica Silva finishing off a header from Dolores (59′). Belgium moved just over 20 minutes from the end and ended up motivating the most dangerous period for the National Team in the entire match: Van Kerkhoven could not deflect the goal in a shot in which Patrícia Morais went out of frame (70′) and, shortly after, Wullaert beat the Portuguese goalkeeper again but the play was annulled for offside (73′) .
Francisco Neto reacted with a double change, launching Andreia Jacinto and Ana Capeta in the places of Dolores and Jéssica Silva, and Belgium ended up playing with 10 players after Tysiak was sent off, who fouled Diana Silva when the striker was still isolated at the goal. — in a play in which the referee still awarded a penalty, reversing the decision after analyzing the VAR images and considering that the foul occurred outside the area. Shortly after, however, Fátima Pinto rejected the almost certain idea of the extension: Sporting’s left-and-half corner kick appeared at the far post with a header (89′) to give the National Team the historic victory.
With this victory, Portugal qualified for the next phase of the play off access to the world cup, having an appointment with Iceland next Tuesday, also at 6:00 p.m., in Paços de Ferreira. In a victory scenario, a final follows play off Continental scheduled for February 2023.
One more step towards the World Cup! THAT PRIDE!# PORBEL | 2-1 | #VesteABandeira #FIFAWWC pic.twitter.com/aJuJX0e6Rj
— Portugal (@selecaoportugal) October 6, 2022
Source: Observadora
