By Melody Gross 
In Portugal, football is no longer just for men. On Wednesday, the women’s national team ensured, for the first time in history, the presence in the World Cup.
With the painfully dramatic victory (2-1) over Cameroon, V.I hem Transcontinental, the national team knows that it will be in the 2023 World Cup, scheduled for July-August, in New Zealand.
In a practically empty stadium – but under the staring gaze of Samuel Eto’o, the current president of the Cameroonian FA – Portugal, winning on a penalty kick at 90+4, took another step towards legitimizing the growth of women’s football, a way that it no longer only thrives on the male side.
In Hamilton, at 8:30 am in mainland Portugal, there was a hard-fought ceremony, smiles, tears, and the conclusion of a process that had already taken several years. Since 1981, the first match for the national team, and on February 22, 2023, the day of qualifying for the World Cup, a lot has been done. But it’s been done well, done seriously, maybe only in the last decade. Finally, Portugal will swim in the adult pool.
for history!!! ?? Portugal participate in the World Cup for the first time! Pride, navigator! #VesteBandeira pic.twitter.com/lBQRFNOM9h
– Portugal (@selecaoportugal) February 22, 2023
Where did this come from?
There is a trajectory that allows us to predict that Portugal will not be an option.”One hit wonder” [uma só “música” de sucesso].
The gradual growth of the national team was merely an extension of the path taken, generally, via the female side of a traditionally strong style in the country, but based almost entirely on the male side.
Clubs such as Sporting, Sp. Braga and Benfica entered the sport, the league gained more teams, media attention and a strong sponsor, national players began to be “exported” and foreign talent began to arrive. Then the results came.
In terms of media coverage, with stadium attendances increasing (the last Benfica-Sporting match was 15,000 people) and the number of practitioners doubling in ten years – already 12,000 federations, according to Burdata. On the sporting front, with the European Championship in 2017 and a repeat of the European Championship in 2022, along with some interesting moments from national clubs at the European level.
Despite this growth, Portugal lacked a special moment in terms of selections. And here he is. The greatest ever.
Given the good news, the lesser quality now follows. Portugal already knows they will be part of World Cup Group E, which means something as simple as having to face world champions, the United States, and vice-champions, the Netherlands. In theory, the greatest potential for happiness would come from a duel with Vietnam.
Torture is promised, but it is for a few months. Today is the day of celebration.
How did you start?
In Hamilton, in New Zealand’s North Island, the Portugal match seemed doomed from the start. Cameroon’s national team showed clear limitations from the first minute, not only on a technical level, but above all in terms of organisation.
The action without the ball was utterly chaotic and hostage to individual references and Portugal found space everywhere: between lines, width and depth. It is not uncommon for a football team to make space in all of these places on the field.
With a 4x4x2 diamond with an attacking header by Kika Nazareth, Portugal’s match only lacked the ability to put a Benfica player into play, because it is Kika’s talented feet that will always leave the greatest ‘perfume’.
Although the massive Cameroonian ‘population’ in the central area makes it difficult for Kika to operate up front, as she so loves, the Portugal No. 20, nevertheless, manages to be the centerpiece of the attack.
He headed in the post at 2′, in a corner, and hit a free-kick at 22′, again at the post, with a successful reload, for 1-0, back from the feet of Diana Gomez’s centre, before being so helpless. .
Despite their clear superiority throughout the match, Portugal were having some difficulty creating real danger in a positional attack. The most effective solution was always (and was easy to do) the highest pressure Cameroonians and then explore the breadth or depth.
The “Silvas”, Diana and Jessica, created many imbalances of pace and were frequently stopped for fouls by opponents with little shyness in the use of physical contact and fouls.
At 41, there was a missed chance by Jessica, in transition, and another by Carroll, at 44, and despite not being a ‘fest’ for missed goals, the game actually justified a bigger difference on the scoreboard.
How did it end?
Portugal came back from the break to win the match. Kika and Diana Silva had good finishing moves, and Andrea Norton invented a shot that took the third ball to the Cameroonian goal post.
It was at this point in the game that Kika was able to enter the game and football in Portugal gained some clarity, particularly in decision-making and in a greater range of solutions – space exploration preserved, but now also with more ability to connect. I play inside with Kika’s technique Feathered not only the speed of the attackers.
Kika was again close to goal in the 65th minute, after a solo move by Jessica Silva, and in the 70th minute, isolated by Diana Silva.
With two more chances wasted, Kika ended up on the bench, curiously at which point she was most capable in the game and at which point she would give Cameroon (even) more space between the lines.
Coach Francisco Neto wanted to give the team more ability in duels and physical freshness, with two players in midfield, and Portugal assumed that the rest of the match would be done on the basis of transfers and reduce positional risks.
But that was the plan. In practice, it was different. In the 84th minute, the Portugal national team was stuck in an incomprehensible situation at that stage of the match, and the result was: out of position and defense with only three players. Cameroon’s transfer led to a goal, but Portugal could breathe a sigh of relief: there was an offside.
Was intimidation what the national team needed to not get stuck in this kind of adventure until party time? In theory, yes. But the team was a complete loser, physically at a loss and unable to keep the Cameroonians, who were much more powerful with and without the ball. In the 89th minute, Nachot had space on the edge of the area and, with a sparse Portuguese cool, shot 1-1.
Already in extra time, Andrea Jacinto’s shot was cut off with his arm and there was a penalty kick. Carroll converts the kick and Portugal goes to the World Cup.
However, it was evident to all that in a World Cup, defensive mayhem and panic similar to this, at an advantage on the scoreboard, might not end in smiles.