It's really unfair that there's a forcefield around the goal that is preventing Portigal from putting anything near it. Good lord... And there's Leao with a dreadful giveaway that leads to a 2v1.
Absurd result and one goal from two matches for a loaded Portugal squad. This kind of review is why there are people (not me) who will never think VAR is a good thing. It's a goal.
Someone should write this book: Not Clinical in Front of Goal: The Story of A Selecao das Quinas This team better play like its ass is on fire against SA, was inches from losing 4-0.
Should have won. We would have won that game even with mediocre finishing. Our finishing was just abysmal. It wouldn't be a Portuguese youth team if that wasn't the case, though. Getting sick of this ****. When will it end?
I thought we played better against Argentina than we did against Korea. Frustrating to watch a team create so many chances and play with some nice build up, but than just become toothless in the final third. However, I do feel like they are probably growing and if that's the case we should have a pretty straightforward win over South Africa.
I think the top 2 (12 places) plus 4 of the 6, 3rd placed sides go through. Besides Jota. I was not impressed with anyone.
I was not expecting a loss against this Argentina. Portugal has players already sort of established at great clubs, and has won the under17 and under19 Euro cups. On the other hand this Argentinian squad doesn't seem to be promised a future as bright as previous generations. Before the competition started, I had concerns hiding in the back of my mind regarding these players' commitment to actually winning the tournament, rather than aiming for an early exit to make sure they don't miss the pre-season at their respective clubs. Let's hope this was only an accident, because this team is capable of much better than that.
Portugal was better against Argentina all things considered, but the thing that bugs/worries me is that against two teams with different levels of quality and different defensive tactics, Portugal had lots of possessions and shots yet created few very good scoring opportunities (seen with our own eyes and in the expected goal numbers below). Against a back five, Portugal struggled in the final third and only got a goal from a breakaway counter. In an end-to-end match against Argentina, Portugal didn't really produce any obvious "Oh, we should've score there!" moments. The one I remember most vividly wasn't even a shot, actually, it was Jota fizzing a pass across goal that an unmarked Leao just couldn't get a toe on. If anyone here is interested in modern stats like expected goals (xG), there's a Twitter account I follow - @11tegen11 - that's posting a pass map and expected goal plot for each U-20 match. The xG for the first match were 1.37 for Portugal and 0.30 for S. Korea, on nine shots apiece. The xG for the second match were 1.35 (on 17 shots) for Portugal and 1.97 (on 11 shots) for Argentina. Obviously the latter xG number had a lot to do with Argentina's two best chances (each converted) coming from shots within a couple yards of the goal.
Yeah, 16 of the 24 teams advance from group play, so it's the top two from each group and the top four third-place teams (out of six). Portugal is currently behind Poland, Ecuador and Nigeria in the third-place standings and would remain behind all three with a draw. A draw would only be good enough to advance if A) South Korea loses to Argentina, in which case Portugal would finish second in the group, or B) whoever finishes third in Group E having three points or four points and a worse goal differential (there are a lot of pemutations that could make that the case between Mali, Panama and Saudi Arabia; these matches will be through by the time Portugal kicks off). As of right now Portugal just needs to win to control its own destiny.
Passing is still dreadful. Anybody else already mentally prepared for this to be 1-0 or 1-1 another 50 minutes from now? If Portugal can't find a second goal with all the space Leao is getting in the penalty area...
We still don’t look anywhere near good enough to be a threat to win this tournament. Very toothless. No sense of urgency or directness.
And a tremendous number of giveaways under negligible pressure. Vinagre does a really good job getting to the point where he can provide a key/dangerous pass to the front of the goal...then fires off a turd like he's suddenly kicking with my weak foot. A second looked likely for a couple minutes, but for the third consecutive match the opponent has a ton of space after winning the ball back. Portugal's fortunate South Africa is equally as impatient.
Sluggish and clueless...These players don't look anything like those who won the under-19 Euro cup last year. Continuing like this, I'm not see them achieving anything worth writing home about. Gedson's been awful. Florentino, so-so. Rafael Leão ineffective. Jota, selfishly going nowhere. The only good surprise has been Nuno Santos.
This is retarded, it's time FIFA change those rules awarding penalties for involuntary handballs that ending having an arbitrary impact on the result.