Portugal beat Finland to qualify for the European Women’s Under-17 Championship

Portugal’s women’s under-17 football team secured qualification for the European Championship on Tuesday after beating Finland 3-1 in the third round of Group A2 elite qualifying round.

In the game at the Cidade do Futebol stadium in Oeiras, after defeating Iceland and Kosovo in the first two rounds with scores of 1-0 in both games, the Portuguese began to increase their lead through Melanie Florentino (22). Elena Todoschenko (30) equalized the score in favor of the Scandinavians, but in the second half, Matilda Navet (66) and Carolina Simões (76) decided the match for Portugal from the penalty spot.

With this triumph, Portugal wins the European Championship qualifying group with nine points, three more than its current rivals, guaranteeing qualification for the competition in Sweden in May.

Portugal, who will enter the final phase of the tournament for the third time after 2014 and 2019, started the match strongly and kept Finland in their zone for the first five minutes, with the entire game played out in the Finnish midfield. .

In the 13th minute, Matilda Navet crossed the post and the ball almost hit the Nordic goal, which happened a few minutes later, in the 22nd minute, Melanie Florentino. After another rebound of the Portuguese ball with superiority in attack, the forward shot with his left foot, the ball went under the body of the Finnish goalkeeper.

The goal justified the result, but Finland reacted quickly and got the score back on the scoreboard in the 30th minute thanks to Elena Todoschenko after a corner kick that Portugal was unable to mitigate, leaving the second goal at the mercy of the Nordics.

Even before the rest, Portugal almost gave the Finns a goal back from a corner kick, but the series of rebounds that preceded the Portuguese goal was made by the hand of a Portuguese player, and the score was 2:1.

Realizing that a goal from Finland could make the qualifying score very difficult, as a draw would have given the Nordics an advantage, Portugal approached the second half more cautiously and went through the toughest stage of the game, with Finland controlling the game from midfield.

But in the 66th minute, an exemplary collective performance from Portugal put the Portuguese team back on the scoreboard. Matilda Vaz flew in from the left, left the Finnish flank behind and crossed into the penalty area: Melanie was late to hit the first post, but Nave made no mistake and made the score 2-1.

The goal calmed Portugal down and ten minutes later, on 76, there was a goal of calm in the form of a penalty, won by Matilda Vaz and converted by Carolina Simões with an undefended strike that took Portugal into the European Championship.