On Thursday, Portugal defeated Nigeria led by Portuguese Jose Peseiro 4-0 in the only preparation game for the World Cup in Qatar, which starts on Sunday. In Alvalade, Fernando Santos’ team had a good first half, in which they scored twice, and finished in beauty, with a final point in which they scored two more goals, with the coach experimenting with a new scheme with more internal play and great mobility on midfield and in which he “sponsored” two new internationals. There were good indications and hardly anyone remembered Cristiano Ronaldo’s absence.
For this unreleased game the national team manager promoted the debut of the young central defender António Silva, and then the starter, in an eleven that mixed some unquestionable starters such as Rúben Dias, Bruno Fernandes and Bernado Silva with options that the coach certainly wanted to observe, both individually and as a team .
Faced with an African opponent – as will be the first of the World Cup, Ghana, who left an important warning by also beating Switzerland (who even beat Portugal this year) 2-0 yesterday -, the national team took to the field and started to a very successful first half, with a lot of mobility from the midfielders, the inside play and the depth provided by the two full-backs, Dalot and Nuno Mendes. With João Félix on the left and Bruno Fernandes leaning more to the right, with more freedom, Otávio and Bernardo Silva alternated in the offensive and defensive missions, along with William Carvalho🇧🇷 And despite the slow pace of the first few minutes, the truth is that it didn’t take Portugal long to reach the goal, after two shots in which he threatened to score, from João Félix (who missed the shot after a pass from Bernardo) and Bruno Fernandes (a skilful ball that went close to the post). In the ninth minute, an extraordinary pass from Atlético Madrid striker Diogo Dalot cleared who, standing at the bottom, waited for the right moment to make the ball available to his Manchester United team-mate to make it 1-0 to make.
Facing a low-intensity opponent that rarely caused major problems for the national defense (only in the 31st minute he got a shot in the frame, by Moses, which captain Rui Patrício held without any problems), the Portuguese team created good moves and some chances to extend the score. . In the end, what happened in the 35th minute, after a penalty kick penalized an arm on the ball by a Nigerian defender, after Bernardo’s cross: from the 11 meters, Bruno Fernandes revived the “little jump” and did not forgive, he added his 11th goal in the team of the quinas (third brace). And before the break he could have scored the hat-trick, after another superb pass from Félix, but he shot wide of goalkeeper Uzoho.
final in beauty
With his mission accomplished, the “red devil” midfielder was among those substituted at half-time, as were Rúben Dias, Bernardo Silva and Nuno Mendes, before the additions of João Mário, Pepe (now wearing the armband) , Vitinha and Raphael warrior. Sticking to my system, the truth is that the second half was much less interesting and it was with Gonçalo Ramos on the pitch (second debut of the night, coming on for André Silva in the 66th minute) that the match really took off.
Chukweze could have pulled one back for the Super Eagles, in a move where he fooled António Silva (in his only mistake) and was only stopped by an excellent spot from Rui Patrício (71′). Portugal then woke up and also threatened, twice by João Félix – in the first inning only a great save by Uzoho prevented the right goal. Ricardo Horta replaced the “worker” Otávio and Nigeria had a great opportunity to make it 2-1 after an unnecessary push from Dalot to an opponent in the penalty area. Emmanuel Dennis, however, failed to fool Rui Patrício, who deflected the ball towards the post (81′). From fear to defeat, it was then a small leap: thanks to two great moves of the Portuguese attack, Gonçalo Ramos and João Mário were able to increase the score to 4-0, the first to pass
Guerreiro (82′), the second after a cross from Félix that Ramos deflected with a back heel. It was a nice finish, before the departure, this Friday, to Qatar.
Source: DN
