National Team Friendly

National Stadium
Spectators: 10300 (Terracing: 7725, Seating: 2369, VIP seats: 206) The sun was shining, the grass was green and the audience cheered when Jardel Coluna got the match started through his kick off. A collision led to U21 England getting a freekick after 2 minutes play. Leigh Beverley hit a great ball. U21 England's Pat Jennings proved his good apprehension of play when he, in the 5th minute of the match, managed to save U21 England from getting a goal against them. Armando Aleixo received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 5th minute. Pat Jennings tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. Armando Aleixo might have been able to make a better finish in the 8th minute when he tried to place a hard shot over Pat Jennings. Instead the ball went over the crossbar and out. Armando Aleixo ran back to his position shaking his head. The audience thought a goal was coming when Armando Aleixo got free with Pat Jennings in the 10th minute, but the goalkeeper managed to catch the ball with a huge effort. Daniel Ferreira showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Gaz Brearley in the 19th minute of the match. A collision led to U21 England getting a freekick after 22 minutes play. Gaz Brearley hit a great ball. When the match had gone on for 24 minutes, Jardel Coluna put it in 1-0 from a short distance just to the right of Pat Jennings. If Jardel Coluna had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 26th minute. The ball went over the crossbar and out instead. Pat Jennings showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Jardel Coluna in the 29th minute of the match. 35 minutes had been played when some careless play by U21 Portugal's defense caused the ball to cross the line for a corner. Leigh Beverley was slow to take the kick. During this time U21 England's players had a chance to rest. Daniel Ferreira made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Freddy Hawkins in the 38th minute of play. After a rather tough play, U21 England's Leigh Beverley got a free kick in the 40th minute. Armando Aleixo charged in rather forcefully in the 41st minute of the match, and managed to knock his opponent down. The referee showed Armando Aleixo the yellow card, and asked the players to shake hands before continuing play. After a rather tough play, U21 Portugal's Armando Aleixo got a free kick in the 41st minute. After 42 played minutes U21 Portugal got a freekick which was hit by Filipe Ferreira. In the 46th minute Freddy Hawkins shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Daniel Ferreira saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. No-one was surprised that the home team were leading 1-0 at half-time.

The wind increased when Freddy Hawkins made the kick off in the second half. Pat Jennings showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Jardel Coluna, who was totally free with the ball in the 54th minute. Armando Aleixo received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 56th minute. Pat Jennings tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. Pat Jennings showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Armando Aleixo, who was totally free with the ball in the 60th minute. When João Tomas came up free with the goalie in the 61st minute, the U21 Portugal fans jumped to their feet. But the shot missed the goal by a fraction of an inch, and the fans sat back down disappointed that João Tomas couldn't finish the play. Daniel Ferreira made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Dennis Durkin in the 65th minute of play. In the 67th minute, one of U21 England:s players had the ball in front of the goal but got pushed and fell. The referee felt it was an obvious case and blew a penalty for U21 England. Pat Jennings had in the 68thth minute some difficulties stopping Amadeu Nogueira's well aimed penalty as it nearly passed him on his left side, but he still managed to hold the ball. In the 68th minute, Amadeu Nogueira ran past the defenders and hit a shot which went straight ahead into goal. Pat Jennings was frozen by the shot and now it was 2-0. U21 Portugal's Eduardo Nunes was substituted for Armando Aleixo. U21 Portugal's Romário Balda was substituted for Jardel Coluna. Pat Jennings showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Eduardo Nunes, who was totally free with the ball in the 72nd minute. U21 England's Adrian Pigott was substituted for Hayden Westlake. 74 minutes had been played when some careless play by U21 England's defense caused the ball to cross the line for a corner. Amadeu Nogueira was slow to take the kick. During this time U21 Portugal's players had a chance to rest. A nice corner shot did that Amadeu Nogueira got away a dangerous shot. Despite this Pat Jennings quite easily got ahold of the ball to make the save. Filipe Ferreira kicked well hit freekick during the 78th minute of the match. U21 England's Rueben Fowler shoveled away a really nice long shot in the 78th minute of play. The shot was stopped by Daniel Ferreira but with some difficulty. In the 85th minute, Grant Beaumont hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. U21 England's Pat Jennings played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Romário Balda in the 87th minute of play. U21 Portugal's Eduardo Nunes got a good chance for a goal in the 88th minute, but he totally mistimed the shot and it went over the crossbar. The referee blew his whistle, and the match came to a close. The players exchanged shirts and headed down the tunnel. The U21 Portugal fans cheered their team off the field, for while U21 England had put up a good fight, they were unable to come out of the game with any points to show for their effort.