Sports 15 September 2026

Portugal beat Costa Rica 3-0 and reach a U-20 Women's World Cup last 16 for the first time

Anna Marques scored in the 7th and 58th minutes and Carolina Tristao in the 34th. It is Portugal's first ever win at this level, and Spain are next, on Wednesday in Katowice.

Portugal went into their third Group E game needing a win, and got one: 3-0 against Costa Rica at Arena Sosnowiec in southern Poland. Anna Marques headed in after seven minutes, Carolina Tristao beat two defenders and finished into the bottom corner on 34, and Marques added her second on 58 from a scramble inside the box.

It was Portugal’s first ever win at a U-20 Women’s World Cup, in a tournament that is also their first ever appearance at the level. Four days ago we wrote that Marisa Gomes’s side had taken their first point in the competition by drawing with Colombia. The point turned into qualification.

How the group fell

An opening defeat to North Korea left little room, and the Colombia draw left less. Sunday’s three points, plus Colombia losing 3-0 to the North Koreans the same day, put Portugal second in Group E. Costa Rica finished with three defeats in three and no points.

Going through automatically spared the squad the wait on best-third-placed permutations, which is usually where debut runs end.

Spain are next

The last 16 brings Spain, who won Group F, on Wednesday in Katowice, a few kilometres from Sosnowiec. FIFA’s list of qualified and eliminated teams confirms the tie.

It is a hard draw and there is no point pretending otherwise: Spain are the reigning senior world champions and their youth sides have been winning everything for a decade. But a team that arrived at this tournament without a single point leaves it with a line in the record books, and the last 16 is a bonus on top. In the same month the Liga BPI kicked off with 236 professional players, it is worth noticing where this generation came from.

By Vasco Almada

Image: official FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Poland 2026 logo, FIFA (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Sports 19 September 2026

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Sports 14 September 2026

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Sports 11 September 2026

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