Portugal U20 2-1 Germany U20: Defending champions lose in U20 Elite League

Germany U20 suffered their first defeat of the U20 Elite League at the hands of the invincible Portugal.

Germany and Portugal won each of their first two games in the competition. The visitors started the evening at the top of the eight-team standings based on goal differential. However, Portugal were the far better side at the early exchange at the Estádio Municipal do Fontelo.

They took the lead inside the first ten minutes with a brilliant piece of play. Lyon’s exciting winger Afonso Moreira provided the assist with the outside of his boot for João Rego’s opening goal.

Including Paris Brunner, who was directly involved in five goals in the first two U20 Elite League games, Germany are missing multiple big names for the two games against Portugal in October’s international break.

As a result, Tim Pfeiffer had to be at his very best to keep Germany U20 in the game. The Basel shot-stopper made a great save when the magnificent Moreira linked up with Rodrigo Ribeiro.

It took a classic striker’s goal to put Hannes Wolf’s side leveled the score. Max Moerstedt, who scored a hat-trick in the U19 Euro semi-final last summer, capped his U20 debut with a superb finish in the 21st minute.

At the other end, Pfeiffer pulled another decent save before the half-time break to deny João Veloso. The hosts hit the woodwork from the resulting corner-kick as Pfeiffer was caught in no man’s land by a deflected effort.

Germany improved after the break with Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Charles Herrmann pulling the strings. However, Portugal nicked it five minutes from time after a quiet half of football.

Substitutes Olivio Tomé and Keyan Varela combined well as the latter scored the decisive goal in his Portugal U20 debut. The two teams will meet again on Monday at Estádio Municipal do Fontelo.