Portugal, the current runners-up in the tournament after losing the 2021 final against Germany, made their debut on Wednesday in the current edition of the Under-21 Euro Cup with a shock defeat against co-hosts Georgia (2- 0) and now their continuation. was complicated by drawing in Tbilisi against the Netherlands (1-1). The selection led by Rui Jorge was forced to beat Belgium on the final day of group A to advance to the quarterfinals.
Top of the group is Georgia, who also tied against Belgium (2-2) with 4 points. They are followed by Belgium itself and the Netherlands, with 2, and Portugal closes the table with one. On Tuesday, the final day, Portugal face Belgium and the Netherlands against Georgia. All four have options to finish in one of the two places that qualify for the quarterfinals.
Bart Verbruggen, the leading player in the Netherlands’ 0-0 win against Belgium on the first day, he saved a long shot by Pedro Neto in two halves (16′).
It was the first approach with some risk for Portugal, who after four minutes won the prize for its approach to creating chances based on long balls.
André Almeida opened the scoring
Property Pedro Neto, Wolverhampton strikerone of them fought on the bottom line and waited for the arrival of a teammate to place a pass André Almeida, a Valencia player, finishes at the near post in the net (20′).
In goal the game changed. Portugal had control of the ball and managed their advantage well. Only Chrysencio Summerville, shortly before the break, he took a test Celton Blay after penetrating down the left, but his centered shot caused no problems for the Vitoria Guimaraes goalkeeper.
In the second half, except for a long shot from Kenneth Taylor who saved Celton Blai again, Portugal continued to calmly maintain the advantage against an opponent incapable of creating danger, speeding up a game without rhythm, but, after half an hour, the tie arrived.
Brobbey equalized from a corner
This is in a set piece play, in a corner taken by Taylor. Wouter Burger led for the first time and Brian Brobbey (Ajax) stepped up. deflect the ball into the net taking advantage of that fact Nuno Tavares left him in a legal position by remaining in his position (78′).
Portugal was once again forced to find victory by any means, but again showed its lack of resources to develop plays and only Francisco Conceicao, already on discount, disturbed Verbruggen with a low shot near the post saved by the Anderlecht goalkeeper. The runners-up must beat Belgium to continue in the competition.
Georgia level 0-2 against Belgium
In its other group A match, played in Tbilisi, Belgium advanced with two goals from the head of Maxim De Cuyper (15′) and Largie Ramazani (38′), striker for Almería. But after the break the hosts Georgia reacted and leveled the score through Giorgi Tsitaishvili (51′) and Giorgi Guliashvili (87′).
After this result, Georgia, leader with 4 points, is enough with a draw against the Netherlands to get to the quarterfinals, while Belgium, with two, needs to beat Portugal (1) to not depend on the Netherlands (2).
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
