Pedro Neto and Fabio Silva will both hope to be involved for Portugal under-21s once again on Sunday as they face England in the UEFA Euro U21s quarter-final.
The pair were both involved in Portugal’s final group stage victory over Belgium on Tuesday, while Dexter Lembikisa and Boubacar Traore have also been in action during the last two days for Jamaica and Mali under-23s respectively.
It’s been a mixed bag of results for the Wolves quartet, but wolves.co.uk rounds up the latest batch of international matches involving Julen Lopetegui’s men.
Pedro Neto, Fabio Silva | Portugal U21 2-1 Belgium U21
Having picked up just a single point from their opening two group stage fixtures in the 2023 UEFA European Under-23 Championships, Portugal knew they needed a positive result against Belgium in their latest outing, while also relying on hosts Georgia to earn at least a draw against the Netherlands in the other Group A contest. Neto and Silva were in from the start on Tuesday evening, with the pair combining for their country’s first effort on target, with Silva testing the Belgium keeper’s reflexes after Neto’s shot rebounded into his path. After being denied again, Silva played an instrumental role in Portugal taking the lead when his cross into the box found Joao Neves who hammered his volley high into the top corner. Silva came off on 68 minutes, just moments after Belgium had equalised, but the Portuguese got the result they needed when a late penalty handed them the chance to snatch a 2-1 win.
With the news of Georgia’s 1-1 draw with Netherlands, it meant Portugal finished second in the group behind the tournament hosts to set up a quarter-final meeting against Group C winners England on Sunday (5pm kick-off).
😁✌🏼 pic.twitter.com/ZVw9wN6f7d
— Fábio Silva⚡️🇵🇹 (@Silva_Fabio) June 28, 2023
Dexter Lembikisa | Jamaica 4-1 Trinidad and Tobago
After starting the 1-1 draw with the USA in Jamaica’s opening match of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, Lembikisa had to settle for a place on the bench from the off in the Group A meeting with Trinidad and Tobago. The Reggae Boyz made a quick start to their second group match, as Everton’s Demarai Gray and Aston Villa’s Leon Bailey both found the net inside the opening 20 minutes. Gray added a second before the break, in which Lembikisa was introduced in place of Kemar Lawrence, but moments after his introduction Trinidad struck one back. But Lembikisa helped secure Jamaica’s first win of the competition as he fed the ball to Dujuan Richards who lashed a long-range effort which took a heavy deflection on its way into the net.
Jamaica will bring their group stages to a close in the early hours of Monday morning (12am kick-off) against Saint Kitts and Nevis, knowing a place in the knockout stages will be confirmed if they better Trindad’s result against the US.
Boubacar Traore | Egypt U23 1-0 Mali U23
Wolves midfielder Traore got another 90 minutes under his belt with Mali under-23s as he captained his country in their second group match of the U23 Africa Cup of Nations. However, he was unable to stop Mali from falling to a single goal defeat to Egypt, after Ibrahim Adel put the opposition ahead with 10 minutes on the clock in Morocco. Having been unable to get back on level terms throughout the first-half, Mali’s task became even more difficult when Traore’s central midfield partner Mamady Diambou was dismissed on 56 minutes. Mali peppered the Egypt goal with chances, but they were unable to earn a point.
Traore will be hoping Mali can get back to winning ways on Saturday evening (9pm kick-off) as three points against current group leaders Niger will secure their spot in the semi-finals.
