29 minutes: Fábio Silva, in the transformation of the penalty kick, allows the defense of Stephanos Kittos. The ball was shot into the middle of the goal and the Cypriot goalkeeper, who had stretched to his left, managed to save with his feet.
28 minutes: Yellow card for Michalis Ioannou.
28 minutes: Penalty for Portugal! Michalis Ioannou foul on Fábio Silva inside the area and maximum punishment for the team from the corners.
23 minutes: About halfway through the first part, Portugal wins… and convinces. Gonçalo Ramos opened the active (6′) and Gonçalo Inácio (21′) increased the dispute. The quinas team dominates the game at will, highlighting the luxurious midfield quartet that define, with superlative quality, every moment of the game. Cyprus only once arrived in danger to the national area, worthy, in that circumstance, the attention of Celton Biai.
21 minutes: Portugal’s goal! Fábio Vieira and Gonçalo Inácio’s right corner, header, increases to 2-0.
20 minutes: Konstantinos Sergiou and Michalis Ioannou cross from the right in the center of the area, with a shot at Celton Biai.
18 minutes: Pass from Vitinha to Fábio Silva, who took off at speed, with the ball under control, but, at the edge of the area, ended up being disarmed. The ball was left, however, for Gonçalo Ramos who, with his left foot, shot over.
16 minutes: Fábio Vieira, once again, takes a beautiful cross from the right, but Antreas Karamonolis, attentive, headed back his goalkeeper, preventing Gonçalo Ramos, on his back, from being in the face of the goal.
12 minutes: Cross from the right of Fábio Vieira and Gonçalo Ramos, header, shoots slightly to the left post of goal by Stephanos Kittos.
6 minutes: Portugal’s goal! Crossing by Fábio Vieira, deflection of a Cypriot defender and Gonçalo Ramos, the first shot to count. Great goal by the Portuguese striker, the sixth in this qualifying round. 1-0.
The 4-4-2 losango of Portugal is confirmed, with João Mário (right wing), Eduardo Quaresma and Gonçalo Inácio (centrals) and Nuno Tavares (left wing) to form the defensive quartet, with Tiago Dantas as the most retreating element of the four midfield, Fábio Vieira on the inside right, Vitinha on the inside left and Afonso Sousa on the most offensive vertex of the diamond, on the back of the two strikers, Fábio Silva and Gonçalo Ramos.
Start of match!
As had already happened in Larnaca, last Friday, and due to the absence of Rui Jorge (infected with Covid-19) from the bench of substitutes, Romeu Almeida will be one of the assistants of this Under-21 National Team to lead the team. corners.
It should be remembered that the winners of all nine groups and the best runner-up automatically ensure their presence in the final stage of the 2023 European Championship, with the remaining eight runners-up going to compete in a ‘play-off’.
This Group D, and in addition to Portugal and Cyprus, of course, also include Greece, Iceland, Belarus and Liechtenstein. This Tuesday afternoon, Greece received and beat Iceland, 1-0, while Belarus thrashed Liechtenstein (4-0). With today’s victory, Greece rose to the top of the group, with 14 points from 6 games played. If Portugal wins Cyprus tonight, it will return to first place, adding 15 points and 5 games, in other words, it will still have one game less than the Greeks.
Of the 14 goals already scored by Portugal in this qualifying phase, the highlight goes to Gonçalo Ramos, who has already scored 5 goals. The remaining 9 are divided by Fábio Vieira (3), Fábio Silva (2), Nuno Tavares, André Almeida, Tiago Tomás and Francisco Conceição.
Cyprus, in turn, will also go to the fifth match, and, in the four clashes already held, the Cypriots have already known all three possible results: 0-0 against Greece (away), 6-0 against Liechtenstein (away ), 6-0 against Liechtenstein (home) and 0-1 against Portugal (home). Scores made, two wins, one draw and one defeat, 7 points won, with 12 goals scored and only 1 conceded. In front of Portugal, precisely, last Friday, in Larnaca.
This will be Portugal’s fifth game in this Group D qualifying game for the 2023 UEFA European Championship, which will take place in Romania and Georgia. So far, Rui Jorge’s men (who will not be on the bench in tonight’s match, as he tested positive for Covid-19) have won all the duels in this qualifying phase: 1-0 against Belarus (home), 11-0 to Liechtenstein (home), 1-0 to Iceland (away) and 1-0 to Cyprus (away). Four games, four wins, 14 goals scored and none conceded.
Portugal: Celton Biai; João Mário, Eduardo Quaresma, Gonçalo Inácio, Nuno Tavares, Afonso Sousa, Tiago Dantas, Vitinha (C), Fábio Vieira, Fábio Silva and Gonçalo Ramos.
Substitutes: Gonçalo Tabuaço, Alexandre Penetra, Tomas Handel, Henrique Araújo, Tiago Araújo, Gonçalo Borges, Tomás Tavares, Vítor Oliveira and Francisco Conceição.
Coach: Rui Jorge
Cyprus: Stephanos Kittos; Konstantinos Sergiou, Antreas Karamanolis, Christos Shelis, Nikolaos Panagiotou, Thomas Nikolaou, Andreas Chrysostomou, Michalis Ioannou (C), Ioannis Costi, Giannis Gerolemou and Andreas Katsantonis.
Substitutes: Kyriakou, Paroutis, Charalampous, Ilia, Avraam, Pikis, Eftychides, Michail e Michael.
Coach: Ioannis Okkas
Referee: Kristoffer Karlsson (Sweden)
Assistants: Niklas Nyberg and Marcus Lundgren Klitte
4th referee: Fredrik Klitte
There are already teams!
The Under-21 National Team faces again today (20:15 hours), Cyprus, an opponent that they won on Friday by 1-0, in Larnaca, with a goal by Gonçalo Ramos (15′). You can follow here the events of the match, at the Estádio de São Luís, in Faro, in which the team from the corners is looking for their fifth victory in as many matches in Group 4 in qualifying for the European in the category, in 2023.
Goodnight!
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