Posted in Portugal, World Cup Qualifier

WCQ SUMMARY: Portugal 1-0 Azerbaijan

   March 24, 2021

Portugal produced a lukewarm display in their opening World Cup qualifier at home to Azerbaijan on Wednesday but still won 1-0 in Turin.

Maksim Medvedev fumbled the ball into his own net after a mix-up with goalkeeper Mahammadaliyev to break s scoreless deadlock in the 37th minute of a World Cup Qualifier moved to Juventus’ stadium due to COVID-19 restrictions on travel to Portugal.

Portugal dominated ball possession but could not break down Azerbaijan despite having 29 attempts on goal, 14 on target.

Wednesday, March 24, 2021 – Turin, Italy (Portugal is home, due to restrictions)

PORTUGAL 1-0 AZERBAIJAN

PORTUGAL (4-3-3): Lopes, Cancelo, Coutinho Meneses Duarte, Ruben Dias, Tavares Mendes, Bernardo Silva (Oliveira 88), Joao Moutinho (Bruno Fernandes 45), Neves (Alves Palhinha Gonçalves at 88), Neto (Ferreira Silva 63), Andre Silva (Sequeira 75), Cristiano Ronaldo

AZERBAIJAN (4-4-1-1): Mahammadaliyev, Medvedev, Huseynov, Badalov, Krivotsyuk, Huseynov (Nurievat 45), Mahmudov (Isaevat 85), Mustafayev (Ibrahimliat 45), Salahli, Emreli (Alasgarovat 85), Ghorbani (Seydaevat 85),

Scoring: Medvedev (37 own goal)

QUOTES
Fernando Santos
“In the first half, we always controlled the match. We could have built up a little better, but we created situations to score. I don’t know if Azerbaijan passed the midfield. The game was under control. We needed to improve the finishing, but we ended up winning – with an own goal, but maybe we deserved to have scored more.”
“In the second half, the team wasn’t inspired, missed many passes and with little variation. Azerbaijan started to believe, found space to go out and play, and we allowed 3 or 4 approaches to our goal. The team improved with the arrival of João Félix. There was better circulation and one of the best moves was João’s final chance. It was very important to win, we knew that these matches are always difficult. Of course, I expected to win with another performance.”
Domingos Duarte: “We’re happy with the result, it was important to win. It’s not easy when at the back you do little, you must stay focused. We just want to win every game.”
Palhinha: “I am very proud, very happy. Any player aspires to represent 🇵🇹. I don’t think the game was easy. Nowadays, there are no easy matches. They were an opponent who played too deep and it is not easy to score goals. We have the habit of underestimating some teams by their name. The most important thing was to start with a victory. Now we recover, analyse what we have done, and be 200 percent against Serbia.”

SQUAD LIST

GK: Jose Sa, Rui Silva, Anthony Lopes

D: Cédric Soares, João Cancelo, Domingos Duarte, José Fonte, Luis Neto, Rúben Dias, Nuno Mendes, Raphael Guerreiro

M: Danilo, Palhinha, Rúben Neves, Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, João Moutinho, Renato Sanches, Sérgio Oliveira

F: André Silva, Cristiano Ronaldo, Diogo Jota, João Félix, Pedro Neto, Rafa

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Author: Administrator