Norway is a sleeping giant, but it is still a giant in women’s football. Therefore, today’s victory (3-2) is most likely the most relevant in the history of the Portuguese women’s team, next to the victories against Scotland. (2-1) at the 2017 European Championship and against Vietnam (2-0) at the 2023 World Cup.

To say in today’s match that Portugal (19th in the FIFA rankings) and Norway (13th) came out with everything would be an understatement. Just three minutes into the match, a violent clash between Inês Pereira and Sophie Haug saw both players removed from the match early. The Portuguese goalkeeper seemed to lose consciousness for a few seconds, but left the field herself – she suffered trauma. The Norwegian attacker left with a face full of blood and went to hospital with a suspected broken nose.

The Portuguese goal was then handed over to Patrícia Morais, who conceded a goal in the 32nd minute. A beautiful performance by Frida Maanum, who shot in an arc from outside the penalty area and with no chance of defense for the national goalkeeper., who shot in an arc from outside the penalty area and with no chance of defense for the national goalkeeper.

Also indefensible was Andreia Jacinto’s shot, which tied the match in the 37th minute. The Portuguese took advantage of some confusion in the Norwegian area and shot into Mikalsen’s goal with her right foot. The draw would straighten out the scoreboard and give Francisco Neto’s team the morale to look for more.

The Portuguese team’s attacking attacks caused instability in the Nordic defense, which made the mistake of bringing down Diana Silva in the small area in the 42nd minute. Carole Costa was called upon to take the penalty and did not advance the corners, much to the delight of the 6,132 spectators present in the stands of the Estádio Cidade de Barcelos. The author of the penalty that put Portugal in the 2023 World Cup, where she stood out for the victory against Vietnam (2-0) and the draw with the USA (0-0), in addition to the defeat with the minimum margin against the Netherlands (1- 0) thus wrote history again.

Capeta almost remains…

The navigators therefore reached halftime with a lead. Credit to the Portuguese team for immediately reacting to the deficit and achieving an impressive performance in just six minutes. In the second half, Patrícia Morais even stopped (and it must be said, spectacularly) a shot from Elisabeth Terland, but in the second half it was actually beaten by the Norwegian, after a lost ball in the Portuguese midfield.

The Portuguese coach had warned that the team would not reveal its DNA by playing against Norway, one of the five teams that have become world champions, and paid dearly for it. Not because of what he did well offensively, but because of the physical duels he lost in midfield and the Scandinavians advanced towards the Portuguese goal. Portugal thus conceded the equalizer.

Ana Capeta was close to making it 3-2, just as she had come close to scoring against France, who won only 1-0 in the first round of the Nations League (and would later win 2-0) and close a goal against the USA in the World Cup (the shot hit the post and prevented Portugal from making history and qualifying for the round of 16.

Shortly afterwards, Harviken brought down Catarina Amado in the penalty area and the match judge again pointed to the eleven meter mark and Carole put the navigators ahead again and kept the first three points in the Nations League until the end. on the day the coach achieved 126 matches and 50 corner victories.

In a grouping where the first goes to the last four, the second continues in League A, the third goes to the relegation play-off and the fourth goes to League B, Portugal added three points and moved to second place in Group A2, behind France (they won 1-0 in Austria), who are six in total, and ahead of the Norwegians and Austrians, both with one point each.

The next matches will take place at the end of October, with Portugal facing Austria twice: on the 27th in Altach and on the 31st in Póvoa de Varzim.