Portuguese Football in English
A superbly executed free kick five minutes from full time gave France a deserved victory over Portugal in Lisbon on Friday night.
The Seleção fought hard but it was the powerful French outfit that were on top for most of the match and created the better chances, Rui Patrício making three sharp saves before being left helpless by Valbuena’s late rocket.
Seleção coach Fernando Santos has announced his squad for the games against France and Albania next week. Miguel Veloso gets a recall after showing good form for Dynamo Kiev in Ukraine, but the rest of the squad reflects the gradual transition to the new generation.
Cédric Soares and Raphael Guerreiro in defence, and midfield options including Adrien Silva, João Mário, André André, Danilo Pereira and Bernardo Silva suggest the Portugal manager is now preparing the team that will represent the nation in the 2016 European Championship next summer.
The extremely positive showings this summer by the Portuguese national teams at the U20 World Cup and the U21 European Championship had Seleção fans the world over buzzing about the potential of Portugal’s next generation of footballing talent. From André Silva and Gelson Martins to Bernardo Silva and William Carvalho, the U20 and U21 players appear poised to take the world by storm as they progress to the senior squad over the next 5-10 years. But are the conditions for player development in place?
In this article, PortuGOAL’s Seleção expert Nathan Motz scrapes away the emotional prejudice in an effort to evaluate the true potential of Portugal’s youth players, what that might mean for the senior side as Portugal’s next generation comes of age, and the crucial decisions facing both clubs and players that can make or break their careers, and ultimately determine the success of the Seleção in the next decade.
Portugal’s U21 squad were unable to make their chances count against Sweden in the final of the European Championship and eventually lost to a well-organised and more determined Swedish side.
However, there were plenty of positives in Portugal’s second-place finish. Players like William Carvalho, Bernardo Silva and José Sá showed the world what they could do and likely took a significant step forward in their careers.
PortuGoal looks at five things we learned from Portugal’s performance at the U21 European Championship.
Two overriding sentiments were evident among the Seleção players and coach Rui Jorge after Portugal’s defeat in the final of the European Championship yesterday: disappointment and pride.
PortuGOAL rounds up the post-match reaction.
