BLOG - 2014 European Under-17 Championship: Scotland 0-2 Portugal - Match Report

Scotland 0-2 Portugal - Group B, Matchday One

Portugal began their championships by going top of their group as they beat a tough Scotland team who went down to two goals in which goalkeeping error played a large part.

Portugal dominated the ball for the majority of the first half, with the Scottish happy to contain them sitting deep behind the ball while the Portuguese looked for openings. Sanches dropped in beside Neves to probe while the attacking players freely rotated ahead of them trying to pull the Scottish out of their set defensive shape.

Sanches showed some skilful flicks early on and after 18 minutes he nutmegged Ballantyne and hit a shot which although, aimed at the middle of goal, moved in the air and bounced just in front of goalkeeper McCrorie, who could only shovel it into the top corner. Further chances for Portugal followed when Silva was well denied by McCrorie after being played in by Fereira and Diogo Goncalves showed some nice skills, first with an overhead kick that went wide and then a flick over the defender's head before a scuffed shot.

Despite those opportunities Portugal didn't make the most of their possession and suffered a scare when their keeper came into no-man's land for a cross, from which the Scottish took encouragement and came forward trying to get more balls in from wide. Cameron soon found Wright, who headed over the bar from six yards.

Those were the best chances in the first half of what was a tactical game largely played out in midfield skirmishes. Neither side were overly testing the others' defence, with the Portuguese often overly hesitant when given the chance to attack the full-back and the quality of their final pass lacking.

The second half featured a tactical change from Scotland as they moved to a diamond midfield from their earlier 4-2-3-1. Looking to put more pressure on the Portuguese possession with the extra man they successfully disrupted the their opponents' passing but created few chances for themselves until the final 10 minutes when, with the arrival of Calvin Miller on the right-wing, they moved back to a 4-2-3-1 and committed men forward on the attack, which in turn created spaces for the Portuguese to go into. A few minutes after saving brilliantly at close range from Pedro Delgado as Portugal countered, McCrorie was at fault for the goal which clinched the Portuguese win. He came out of his goal to sweep up another counter but his weak kick out fell straight to substitute winger Luis Mata who guided the ball past the stranded goalkeeper from 40 yards.

With thanks to Samuel King, who you can follow on twitter @KingSRV