Portuguese Football in English
Hungary 0-3 Portugal
Portugal beat Hungary 3-0 at Puskás Aréna to get their 2020 UEFA European Championship campaign off to a winning start.
The Seleção had to wait until the 83rd minute to take the lead through Raphaël Guerreiro’s deflected strike, Cristiano Ronaldo scoring two late goals to seal the deal.
Diogo Dalot called up as replacement
Portugal’s preparations for Euro 2020 have suffered a blow with the news that first-choice right-back João Cancelo has had to pull out of the tournament two days before the Seleção’s first match against Hungary after testing positive for Covid-19.
It is a huge personal blow for Cancelo, who has just played the best campaign of his career, having been voted into the official English Premier League team of the season. It is also a setback for Portugal. Cancelo was an important component of the team as exemplified by his man-of-the-match display in the final pre-tournament friendly against Israel on Wednesday.
Under-21 right-back Diogo Dalot has been called up as replacement. Dalot has never played for the senior team, but has been a staple in Portugal’s youth teams, racking up 71 caps for the Seleção at the various under-age levels.
Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo gave a terrific interview in the latest edition of the FPF 360 magazine, which was distributed to journalists at the Portugal-Israel friendly match on Wednesday evening.
The figurehead of the Seleção talked about his own and the squad’s shared ambition to add more glory to recent conquests by Portugal, and his hopes and expectations going into the tournament.
PortuGOAL transcribes a translated and abridged version of the interview.
“I’m going into this Euro as if it was my first. I’m as motivated or even more so than in 2004, which was my first European Championship. We are the reigning champions and we are again one of the teams who are contenders to lift the trophy.”
It was from a place of immeasurable faith that Fernando Santos, a day away from Portugal’s potentially fateful clash against Hungary in the Euro 2016 group stage, declared to the world that he’d only return home on July 11th under jubilant circumstances, bidding to take Portugal all the way amongst the threat of an early dash home from the tournament.
In a moment of pure prophecy, Santos’ heralding speech took his 23-man squad from the jaws of elimination to the promised land, defeating hosts France to conquer European football for the first time in Portugal’s history. Nobody believed the veteran of management back then, maybe not even himself, but his words, replicated again ahead of yet another affair with Hungary, carry a different weight coming into this summer’s action.
The wealth in talent that Santos holds within his 26-man squad, coupled with an additional international honour in the UEFA Nations League in 2019, sees Portugal stand, even in a very challenging group next to World Cup-winning France & Germany, as one of the favourites for the European centrepiece.
But who will form part of the recipe in the Seleção’s attempts to defend their title as European champions? PortuGOAL reviews the options we’re likely to see out in the red and green of Portugal.
In the third of our series looking at Portugal’s Group F opponents at Euro 2020, we call on the expertise of French football writer Jeremy Smith.
Jeremy breaks down the vital information surrounding France, none other than the current World Champions and many people’s favourites to lift the European Championship crown in one month from now.
