Ukraine Stun Portugal With A Big Victory in Viseu
Ukraine defeated the reigning World Champions Portugal 6-3 at their home. This win will be a huge morale-booster ahead of the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2024.
Portugal played their last game in the International Futsal Tournament against Ukraine on Sunday. To their surprise, Ukraine dominated the game right from the beginning and won it 6-3 in the end. The friendly matches were scheduled as warm-up fixtures ahead of the World Cup in Uzbekistan next month.
In the first half of the game, Portugal could not score any goals despite putting all the pressure and creating so many close chances. Ukraine, on the other hand, managed to score three goals in the first half. Portugal did manage to press hard in the second half and score three goals but also conceded three more in the process, with the scoresheet reading 6-3 at the end of the game.
Melnyk, Shoturma, Cherniavskyi, and Mykytiuk were the goal scorers for Ukraine. Shoturma bagged a brace and played a key part in Ukraine’s important victory.
Portugal’s Fábio Cecílio got his 125th cap in the game against Ukraine and made it memorable by scoring a brace. Lúcio Rocha scored the third goal for Portugal. It was the 200th cap for João Matos and the 50th cap for Zicky Te, but they couldn’t make it memorable, unfortunately.
Portugal’s next stop will be Rio Maior, where they’ll play duels against Paraguay on September 2 and September 4. Ukraine will tour Bosnia and Herzegovina for a couple of more friendly fixtures to finalize their World Cup preparations. They will be playing Bosnia and Herzegovina on August 28 and will be up against Libya on August 30.
Ukraine will then head to Kazakhstan on September 1 to acclimatize to the conditions and time zone in Uzbekistan where the World Cup will get underway on September 14. Ukraine will play their first World Cup game against Argentina on September 15 in Tashkent.
Portugal’s World Cup campaign will begin on September 16 against Panama. They will also play Tajikistan and Morocco in Group E on September 19 and September 22 respectively.
