Portugal defeated Vietnam at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. The Portuguese women had no trouble with the Vietnamese in Hamilton and missed the opportunity to score even more goals.
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The Portuguese women, who narrowly lost to the Oranje Lionesses on Sunday, had to win the second group stage match in the World Cup to maintain a realistic chance of advancing to the next round.
Portugal got off to a strong start on Thursday morning, with two goals from Telma Encarnação and Francisca Nazareth in the 7th and 21st minutes. Vietnam's goal seemed like a shooting gallery at times, but the 21st-ranked team in the world failed to go into halftime with a larger lead.
The pattern didn't change in the second half. Andreia Cinto and Joana Marchão hit the crossbar twice more, but Portugal couldn't get the ball past the Vietnamese goalkeeper again, resulting in a final score of 2-0. In this match, the Portugal women's team recorded 29 shots.
In the Netherlands' group, Vietnam is now eliminated. Portugal is chasing the United States and the Netherlands, but they are aware that they still have to face the United States in the last match. Portugal needs to win against the world's number one team to advance to the round of 16 or draw and hope that the Netherlands loses to Vietnam. However, given the match's context against Portugal, that scenario doesn't seem very realistic.
Updated: 03:53, 27 Jul 2023
