“We came here, I think with Qatar, with the youngest team of the tournament. We want to be competitive for the Euro 19 that we will play on July. This kind of competition give to the players more maturity.” On June 5th, the Portugal U19 head coach Helio Sousa wasn’t worried about the ninth place clinched by his side at the Maurice Revello Tournament 2018 and preferred to retain the displays produced by his young players against older opponents.
This frustrating result has maybe hurt the pride of this golden generation as these same players wrote one of the most brilliant pages of the Portuguese football one month after their appearance at the Toulon Tournament.
Portugal clinched on this Sunday the Euro U19 title after beating Italy (4.3 a.e.t) in a thrilling final. This is the first time that a same generation win both Euro U17 (earned in 2016) and Euro U19 titles.
Also, this is the first European Championship U19 won by the Seleçao after three finals lost in 2003, 2014 and 2017.
The Portuguese national team reached this success thanks to an impressive offensive line symbolized by the duo Joao Filipe-Trincao. The Benfica attacking midfielder and the Braga player, who both took part in the Maurice Revello Tournament this summer, have finished as the top scorers of the Euro U19 with five goals netted.
These two players have been logically praised for their performances but other youngsters like the left-back Ruben Vinagre (Wolverhampton) as well as the midfielder Domingos Quina (West Ham) distinguished themselves.
All these players look to have great future ahead of them. They have now a same goal : shine during the upcoming World Cup U20 held in Poland on May 2019.
Amayes Brahmi