13 July 2007, by Marco Pereira

FIFA World Youth Cup: Portugal exit tournament in disgrace

Portugal 0-1 Chile

Portugal were a shambles of a team and were justly eliminated from the FIFA U20 World Cup as they lost 1-0 to Chile last night. A goal on the stroke of half time by Vidal was enough to send the Portuguese packing, but not before they were reduced to nine men at the end of the match.

If anyone had the misfortune to attend the match or watch it on television, they would have witnessed one of the poorest displays of football by a Portuguese team ever. Jose Couceiro’s men played so badly that they did not register their first shot on target until the 89th minute of the game. When the referee thankfully brought an end to proceedings, Portugal had amassed just 32% of the game’s ball possession.

Portugal were flat from the onset and managed to keep it that way until the final whistle. The team had difficulty in containing Chile’s Sanchez throughout, who looked to be the spark for the South American’s attack. Sanchez almost fooled Rui Patricio in the 12th minute with a free kick, but the Portuguese keeper was alert to the danger and made the save.

Patricio saves the day

Chile captain Isla then had an opportunity to put the South Americans one up, but missed badly from close range. In the 33rd minute, Patricio was forced to come up big as Medina was left all alone in the six yard box and his header forced the Portuguese stopper to deflect the ball onto the post and out for a corner.

Just before the break Chile were awarded a free kick 35 metres out and Isla chipped the ball into the Portuguese box. It was flicked on by Medina to the unmarked Vidal who pushed the ball into the net to make it 1-0 to Chile. A staggering statistic at the end of the first half were the shots on goal as Chile registered 12 to Portugal’s zero.

Players lose their heads

The second half proved more of the same for the Portuguese as they just could not get going. In the 90th minute Mano took exception to some unsportsmanlike behaviour by Vidal and Currimilla who appeared to kick out at Coentrao on the ground. Mano shoved Sepulveda and the Chilean went down in a heap leaving the referee with no choice but to brandish the red card to the Portuguese right-back.

Zequinha then came racing forward and snatched the card from the referee’s hand. As a result, the Portuguese forward was also sent off and subsequently escorted off the field in tears.

The referee was not done yet, as Chilean goalscorer Vidal went from hero to villain as he was shown a second yellow card and subsequent red for time wasting and also left the pitch in hysterics.

A lot of questions will be asked of the players’ fortitude and attitude, but the majority of the criticism will surely be aimed at Jose Couceiro. The Portuguese coach has led the cream of the crop that Portugal has had to offer at U21 and U20 levels in the past month and has failed miserably on both occasions.

Jose Couceiro, Portugal coach

“The worst moments were in the first half. We were afraid of the ball and could not string two or three passes together. We did not press at all and allowed Chile to play. To make matters worse, we could not attack.”

“In the second half we began to play with more confidence and started to press. We evened the game a bit more and could have scored.”

Portugal:
Rui Patricio, Mano, Joao Pedro, Paulo Renato, Antunes, Nuno Coelho (Guedes, 70), Pele (Zezinando, 46), Feliciano Condesso, Bruno Pereirinha (Andre Marques, 81), Fabio Coentrao, Zequinha
Yellow Cards: Pele (29), Nuno Coelho (39), F.Condesso (69)
Red Cards: Mano (90), Zequinha (90)

Chile:
Toselli, Suarez, Isla, Larrondo, Medel, Sanchez (Cortes, 76), Currimilla, Medina (Grondona, 63), Vidal, Martinez, Vidangossy (Sepulveda, 86)
Yellow Cards: Sanchez (51), Vidal (60 & 94), Cortes (88)
Red Cards: Vidal (94)

Goals:
[0-1] Vidal, 45