Portugal play their first game of the Women’s World Cup today against the Netherlands in Dunedin, New Zealand in a decider despite being from the first round of Group E.
At 19:30 local time (8:30 a.m. in Lisbon), the formation led by Francisco Neto finally realizes the “dream” after a month of training that included friendlies with England (0-0), Ukraine (2-0) and Norway (1-2), the latter without an official character.
Forsythe Barr Stadium will be the venue for the historic meeting of the Portuguese women’s team, which, after qualifying in which they had to play 13 games, managed to qualify for the 2023 World Cup after two appearances in the European Championships (2017 and 2022).
Ahead of the Quinas rookie will be the 2017 world title runner-up and European champion, considered by many as the favorite, having won seven of the previous eight duels against the Portuguese, losing only one.
However, if they want to advance beyond the group stage and reach the round of 16, Portugal need to be able to score, even for the presence of the two-time world title qualifier (triumphs in 2015 and 2019) in the USA group.
In the event of a triumph, the Portuguese team will take a huge step towards an “eighth”, which can be recorded even in the second round against Vietnam on Thursday, and by drawing will leave everything open in terms of qualification.
On the contrary, defeat would drastically reduce the chances of qualification, only for the first two classified.
As for the “eleven”, the biggest doubts are whether to use in a friendly match with England (0:0) young forward Kick Nazareth, 20 years old, who was injured on July 1 (0:0), but the owner of the gate is also unclear (Patricia Morais or Ines Pereira) and even the tactical scheme.
Either way, defenders Ana Borges, Carol Costa, Diana Gomez and Catarina Amado, midfielders Dolores Silva, Andrea Norton and Tatiana Pinto, and forwards Jessica Silva and Diana Silva are likely to be involved.
The ninth meeting between Portugal and the Netherlands in the first round of Group E is scheduled for Sunday, at 19:30 local time (8:30 am in Lisbon), at the Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand, under the refereeing of Ukrainian Katerina Monzul.
The group is led by the two-time US champions who beat Vietnam 3-0 on Saturday, with Sophia Smith in the spotlight, with two goals (14 and 45+7 minutes) and an assist, with Lindsey Horan rounding out the score (77) in Oakland.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.