Portugal wins the Junior World Cup

The Portugal national team was crowned champion of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, in the Qatari capital, Doha, following its valuable 1-0 victory over the Austria national team, today, in the final match of the competition.
At Khalifa International Stadium, Anisio Cabral played the starring role in the match, after scoring Portugal’s only goal in the 32nd minute, giving his country its first title in the tournament, the last edition of which took place with the participation of 48 teams for the first time.
It is noteworthy that the Italian national team won the bronze medal in the tournament, after defeating the Brazilian national team on penalties in the match to determine the third place team earlier today.
This was Cabral’s seventh goal in his career in the current tournament, but he remained in second place on the scorers list, one goal behind leader Johannes Moser.
While Portugal has previously won the U-20 World Cup twice, specifically in 1989 and 1991, Austria has never won any FIFA competition in any age category.
The Portuguese national team joined the list of winners of the Junior World Cup, the first edition of which was held in China in 1985, where it became the 11th team to win the title.
Nigeria holds the record for the number of times it has won the tournament, with 5 titles, one title ahead of Brazil, which is in second place, while Ghana and Mexico have only two titles, and Germany, France, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, England, and the former Soviet Union have won the tournament once.
The offensive initiative came from the Portuguese national team, which almost opened the scoring early in the third minute through Dorati Cunha, who received the ball from Matheus Mede, and shot a creeping shot from the right of the penalty area, but it passed near the right post.
Cunha scored a goal for Portugal in the 12th minute, but it was quickly canceled because he pushed Florian Hoffmann, the Austrian national team defender, before scoring the goal.
Only one minute had passed, until the Austrian national team missed the opportunity to open the scoring, when the ball was prepared for Hasan Deshko, who found himself alone in the goal, but he recklessly shot into the body of Romario Cunha, the Portuguese goalkeeper, to bounce back to Johannes Moser, who shot from inside the area, but the ball collided with the defense and went to a corner that was not exploited.
Portugal responded with a shot from outside the area by Rafael Quintas in the 19th minute, but the ball went in the middle of the goal and reached the arms of Daniel Bosch, the Austrian goalkeeper, followed by a shot from the left of the area by Anício Cabral, which passed wide of the goal in the 24th minute.
The 32nd minute witnessed the lead goal for Portugal through Anisio Cabral, who received a cross pass from the right side by Duarte Cunha, so the ball passed everyone and reached Cabral, who was directly in front of the goal, who had no difficulty in depositing the ball into the empty net.
The pace of the match calmed down during the remaining time of the first half, as the Austrian national team players possessed the ball in order to equalize, but without the slightest effectiveness on goal.
The second half began with an intense attack by the Austrian national team, which won a direct free kick in the 48th minute, executed by Deshko, who put the ball to the left of Romario Cunha, who ably converted it into a corner kick that resulted in nothing.
Nicholas Josipovic shot from the edge of the area in the 51st minute, but the ball went easily to Kunha, who also caught a shot from outside the area by Vasilije Markovic in the next minute.
Over time, the Portuguese national team returned to its offensive activity again, as Mateus Mede headed in a header in the 61st minute from a follow-up to a cross pass from the right side, but he put the ball next to the left post.
Jose Neto missed a goal to increase Portugal’s lead in the 67th minute, after he followed a cross pass from the right side, but the defense was unable to clear it, so the ball was prepared for him, and he shot from the left of the area, without harassment from anyone, but he put it far from the left post.
Joao Aragão missed another opportunity for Portugal, after receiving a cross pass from the left side in the 77th minute, and shot from the edge of the area, but he put the ball out of the field.
On the other hand, Ivani Ndikwe followed a cross pass from the left side in the 81st minute, hitting a header, but the Portuguese goalkeeper pushed the ball away with his fingertips for a corner kick that did not yield anything new.
The right post prevented the Austrian national team from scoring the equalizer, after it blocked a low shot from outside the area by Daniel Frauscher in the 85th minute.
Both teams exchanged possession of the ball during the remaining time of the match in an attempt to score the net to no avail, so the match ended with Portugal winning the title for the first time.