By Amy Tennery
AUCKLAND (Reuters) – Only the woodwork stood between Portugal and soccer immortality at the Women’s World Cup on Tuesday, but manager Francisco Neto said he was still proud of his players who exit the tournament after their goalless draw with the United States.
The four-times winners U.S. reached the knockout stages after holding off the debutants, as they spurned several chances to score at Auckland’s Eden Park.
With the minutes ticking away in the affair, striker Ana Capeta took a shot and 42,958 fans held their breath as they watched the ball ricochet off the post and leave a tearful Portugal team to wonder what could have been.
Had it gone in, it would have handed the Americans their first group-stage exit and marked an extraordinary upset in a tournament that has been filled with surprising results. Instead, Portugal were packing their bags.
“When Ana shoot I was thinking it will be (a) goal and what Vlatko will do and what I have to do to stop (him),” Portugal coach Neto told reporters.
“I truly believed that the goal will be in that moment and I was starting to think ‘What can I do to help my players if you are winning 1-0?'”
Portugal leave New Zealand with their heads held high after a credible first appearance at the tournament. They lost 1-0 to 2019 finalists the Netherlands in their opener before beating Vietnam 2-0.
“What I said to the girls – I was very proud,” said Neto. “Of course they are very sad because we have huge expectation on ourselves… they felt it was probably the first team in the world that will eliminate the U.S. in this stage, round. It was a huge opportunity for us.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in Auckland; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
