Hosts New Zealand are out
of the FIFA U-20 World Cup but only after giving Portugal a major
fright at Hamilton's Waikato Stadium.
The Europeans were
ultimately worthy winners and sealed a 2-1 victory and a place in the
quarter-finals thanks to a wonderful late goal by Gelson Martins. The
Junior All Whites fought bravely, though, and had threatened a shock win
of their own after Stuart Holthusen had cancelled out Raphael
Guzzo's first-half opener.
Darren Bazeley's team had made a
positive start, playing at a high tempo and forcing the Portuguese back,
but the superior class of their opponents soon began to tell. With 17
minutes played, the hosts needed Alex Rufer to keep the scoreline blank
Tomas found space at a corner and attempted a clever flick towards goal.
Rony Lopes missed a golden chance soon after, firing wide from a
promising position inside the box after Riquicho's cross was deflected
into his path. But a goal looked to be coming and, sure enough, Portugal
made the breakthrough on 24 minutes. Guzzo was the scorer, collecting a
pass from Rafa on the left, turning his marker inside the box and
bending a right-foot shot into the bottom-right corner for his first
goal of the tournament.
Helio Sousa's side were good value for
their lead and should have doubled it just after the hour-mark when
Andre Silva wasted a terrific opportunity. The normally deadly No9 was
just six yards out when he met Guzzo's header across the face of goal,
but he somehow diverted the ball over when it seemed certain the net
would bulge.
New Zealand looked to be focused on damage
limitation at this stage but then, on 64 minutes and completely against
the run of play, they found an equaliser. Monty Patterson bustled his
way through the heart of the Portugal defence, benefited from a couple
of lucky ricochets, and when the ball fell to substitute Stuart
Holthusen, he made no mistake with a shot through the legs of Andre
Moreira. With a delighted crowd roaring them on, Bazeley's side now had
the bit between their teeth, and the goalscorer missed a good chance to
cement his hero status, tugging a right foot shot well wide from an
unmarked position.
But Portugal slowly recovered their composure
and, with three minutes remaining, silenced the Waikato Stadium with a
fantastic winning goal. Gelson Martins claimed it, dancing past a couple
of weak challenges before curling a brilliant outside-of-the-foot
finish just inside the left-hand post from 20 yards.
It was a
goal worthy of winning any match and left Portugal to look forward to a
quarter-final against either Brazil or Uruguay.
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