11th April 2023, International Friendly
Estadio Dom Afonso Henriques in Guimareaes
Stephen (@stephenjbaker) follows his review of the Cymru – Northern Ireland game, with a look at the away draw against Portugal.
Five days after the great 4-1 win in Cardiff against Northern Ireland, Cymru travelled to mainland Europe to take on Portugal. With no disrespect to Northern Ireland, this game at least on paper, was a much tougher prospect. World Cup qualifiers Portugal are 21st in the FIFA World Rankings (Cymru are 31st).
Gemma Grainger kept to the same starting eleven from the match in Cardiff, including Jess Fishlock earning her 141st Cap for Cymru! Portugal on the other hand made eleven changes from their defeat to Japan on Good Friday.
The match started as it did against Northern Ireland with Cymru taking control of the midfield for the first twenty minutes, Portugal didn’t really come to life until the 21st minute when Marques Rodrigues shot from outside the box striking Olivia Clark’s crossbar.
The following minute Portugal broke through the Cymru midfield with a diagonal ball to Emcarnacao who sprinted into the box only to be stopped with a goal saving tackle by Gemma Evans.
It took Cymru until the 38th minute to have a chance of note. A cross by Hannah Cain was punched away by the Portuguese keeper just before the incoming Rachel Rowe had a chance to put her head to it.
It was five minutes into the second half when Portugal broke the deadlock. After good work in the centre circle by Nazareth, she put a great ball through to Emcarnacao who run five yards to edge of the penalty area. There she cut inside Esther Morgan and unleashed a shot from the right hand side of the box where ‘D’ meets the penalty area. Her shot passed the outstretched right hand of Olivia Clark into the bottom left hand corner. The crowd of 11,055 went wild.
Cymru battled on for the rest of the second half and despite looking tired they kept in the game. Then in the 73rd minute, Rachel Rowe scored a spectacular equaliser.
A corner from Angharad James was cleared on the second attempt to just outside the box. Rachel Rowe, from a standing position, sent a right footed volley looping over everyone and into the opposite side of the goal. A stunning goal that will be replayed over everyone’s twitter feeds tonight.
Cymru saw the rest of the match out to end it 1-1 with no real drama despite, a second yellow card for Sophie Ingle in the 94th minute. A great result away against a World Cup team 10 places above Cymru. Overall, a great week for Gemma Grainger and the team, with two different types of pleasing performances.
The next date in the diary is May 2nd where the Nations League draw will take place with Cymru being in one of the top groups. Exciting times ahead.
Portugal 1 – 1 Cymru
(HT 0-0)
Velosa Encanacao (50’) Rowe (73’)
- Cymru
- 12 Olivia Clark
- 5 Rhiannon Roberts
- 14 Hayley Ladd
- 3 Gemma Evans
- 18 Easter Morgan
- 8 Angharad James
- 4 Sophie Ingle (C) (Red Card 90+4)
- 10 Jess Fishlock
- 7 Ceri Holland
- 11 Hannah Cain
- 13 Rachel Rowe (Ff Morgan 86’)
- Portugal
- 12 Morais
- 2 Amado
- 4 Rebelo (C)
- 19 Gomes
- 3 Alves (Borges 30’)
- 13 Figueira Pinto
- 8 Norton (Marques 68’)
- 24 Marques Rodrigues (Ferreira Pinto 57’)
- 20 Nazareth (Abreu Silva 74’)
- 23 Emcarnacao (Dias 67’)
- 18 Mendes (Manjenje Silva 57’)