60 mins in its 1-0 Zambia We have had way more possession and attacks and it has to be said that even 60 mins in this is the WORST FINISHING I have ever seen in a match. It's comical. If they come out and say they purposely were kicking the ball to the sky or wide of the net I would believe them because to miss that badly that often in one match is totally unbelievable.
now 2-0 Zambia. We should be winning 3 or 4-1. From Peixe's body language and mannerisms all game I can tell he is not the man for this job. I would be full of nerves too if I saw my coach like that all game.
Unlike the past 2 U20 sides I don't see this team going far. Its very pretty football with no finishing ability.
2-1 Final a goal in injury time off a rebound. The sequence that lead to the goal was the 20th and 21st shot and those two shots were the 4th and 5th on target...keep in mind we shot a ton from inside the box many of which with the goal at our mercy.
2-1 loss, two soft goals given up. We missed quite a few chances. Diogo Dalot looks like a great fullback in the making and Ruben Dias is commanding at the back, a great CB. Florentino Luis is a beast of a D-mid, hard to believe he's only 17 Everyone else was average, Jose Gomes was underwhelming. Pedro Rodrigues should replace Gedson in that deeplaying role..and i want to see pedro delgado over Xadas as the #10 Ferro has to start over Fernandes to partner Dias. Fernandes was the obvious weak link, not sure why he started when Ferro has been a constant starter beforehand.
Yes Portugal missed quite a few chances the best falling to Gonçalves on a few occasions. Portugal need to improve considerably, Zambia the African Champions already look likely to progress from the group and were much more efficient today.
I watched the first half of the game. This team looks awful. Diogo Goncalves is clearly an average player, despite having heard plenty about him. Not sure why he's the #7. 20 years old and no signs of even breaking into the Benfica first team, he was trying so hard to be Ronaldo last night.
Jose Gomes no service gets subbed then we start playing the ball into the box Diogo Goncalves to sky it
Dual Zambia and Portugal supporter here. First time I've seen them clash at any level. I was actually expecting more from Portugal but I think they just had a slow start and will come good. I though they were well organised but lacked the usual Portuguese flair and precision. This Zambian team has a lot of self belief and their main strength is their togetherness. The defence is below par so will need to make their attacks count.
I am glad we lost, we have to keep up the tradition of starting off poorly and then trolling everyone in the end.
If you want to watch all the game highlights so far, this is Game One, they are about 2:30 minutes each and we are at Game 12 (about 30 mins in total)
Game 1 Zambia 2 (Chilufya 51', Sakala 76') Portugal 1 (Hélder 91') http://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/matches/round=275960/match=300367072/index.html#nosticky
That Zambia match was just weird, so hopefully it's not representative of how this tournament goes for Portugal. I'm not sure I've seen a half with worse passing and possession than the first half of Portugal-Zambia. Then Portugal looked much better after halftime yet lost anyway. The space Portugal was given in the box should led to a couple more goals, but the finishing was frantic. They were one-timing shots they easily could have taken down and then fired off with plenty of time to spare. I really liked watching Ruben Dias though. Seeing him attack balls in the air and clear them with headers shows he's got more than a little Pepe in him.
Had to turn it off at the end of the first half, felt like I was watching a U-10 scrimmage. The majority of that team looks worthless and won't be anywhere near the Senior NT, aside from the likes of Jose Gomes and Diogo Dalot (the defense for the most part seemed fine) who are still really young. But that #10 that plays for Braga? Not sure how the seemingly worst passer in the team is the #10. Diogo Goncalves should just fly back to Portugal to keep playing in the Segunda Liga. I still can't believe this kid is already 20, from the hype I hear you'd have thought he was 17. The #9, the Swiss kid, turns 20 years old in less than a month yet can only play for Zurich's B team... Moutinho was already captain of Sporting at that age. CR7 already played a Euro final. Rafa Silva was called up to the World Cup at that age, and yet here we are giving time and opportunities to clear scrubs without any hope in the world of making any impact in the future. I understand there is a Euro U21 coming up but Peixe and anyone else involved in this planning can f*ck right off.
This has to be the worst youth Portugal team I have ever seen. Dalot is the only guy that will probably ever make the senior team, or maybe Gomes as well, I mean he's only 18. I think everyone else should be issued a 500 meter restraining order from the senior squad. It could also just be we are cursed in Korea. In true ironic fashion, watch us squeeze a win in the last game and make it all the way to the semi's, surpassing the 2015 team which was literally about 5 times more talented.
I knew this after watching the first half against Zambia. It was so bad I knew I wouldn't waste any more time with this tournament. Terrible overall.
Really poor side. I think all the best U20's are being reserved for the U21? Because it seems like a very diluted side. My question is why did we switch coaches? Helio Sousa had us playing amazing in 2015 and only sheer dumb luck had Brazil beat us in PK's in a game where we had a million chances narrowly go wide. Peixe is not a calming figure reminds me of Antonio Oliveira (minus the petulant crying) where he just looks nervous the entire time. Based on the first 2 games I don't see us beating Iran. Still happy we qualified for the tournament but very dissapointing looking squad. The 2015 squad by the looks of this tournament (big nations struggling vs weaker nations that aren't really impressing) would be run away winners.
I caught the final 35 minutes or so of the Costa Rica match early this morning (4 a.m. start California time) and it was more of the same, though terrible refereeing made it difficult to pass much judgment. The match report claims Portugal had a couple good chances early including a 1v1, and then each team scored a penalty from a foul that appeared to be somewhere between soft and just a horrific decision, so at least that balanced out. Portugal was taking control and had a good 10-minute spell of possession around the hour mark, but then Dias was given a second yellow on another terrible call. He went up for a header around midfield against a much shorter opponent and his forearm grazed the side of the guy's face (did not appear at all intentional or dangerous). From then on Costa Rica had all the possession, but was mostly focused on going down at the slightest touch as if an undeserved one-man advantage wasn't enough. Somehow they were the team to get carded for time wasting in spite of being a man up. Other than that, nothing notable to report. Portugal has to beat Iran to advance, but could still miss out if Costa Rica beats Zambia too. It'd be nice to see this team find a way through its group, but there are so many quality players in the 19-24 range on the U21 and senior teams that this U20 team won't be counted on for much anyway. If it produces a couple guys for depth in a few years that'll do.
ref was pure shit. only saw 2 angles for pens why if they are using video refs should be min 4 camera angles, and never 2 yellow cards for sending off