Portugal 1-1 Wales: Rowe's spectacular volley earns Wales a draw

A ten-player Wales fought back to earn a 1-1 draw against Portugal in front of a five-figure crowd in Guimarães

Portugal 1-1 Wales: Rowe's spectacular volley earns Wales a draw
(Photo by Octavio Passos/Getty Images)
george-rees-julian
By George Rees-Julian

Guts, resilience and steel. That's what Wales showed as they fought back to earn an unlikely 1-1 draw against Portugal in Guimarães.

The hosts dominated much of the game, with Telma Encarnação handing them the lead five minutes into the second half before Rachel Rowe equalised in spectacular fashion.

A half-cleared corner fell to the Reading midfielder, who struck the ball with a first-time outside-of-the-foot volley, which looped over the Portugal defence and into the bottom corner.

A poorly timed tackle from Sophie Ingle saw the Cymru captain shown a second yellow card with two minutes left on the clock. 

  • Story of the Match

This was to be the latest test for a Wales side who have routinely faced national sides with experience of playing at major international tournaments under Gemma Grainger.

Their opposition, Portugal, booked their place at this summer’s World Cup with a last-gasp 2-1 win over Cameroon in the inter-confederation playoffs in February.

Gemma Grainger named a totally unchanged side from the team that thrashed Northern Ireland 4-1 on Thursday evening.

Cymru was once again without young stars Carrie Jones and Lily Woodham who were both forced to withdraw from the squad with injuries.

Portugal, however, ripped up the teamsheet from their 2-1 loss to Japan, making 11 changes, as their coach Francisco Neto explores squad depth ahead of their World Cup debut.

Wales saw some joy early on thanks to their high press which caused the opposition problems, much like it did in Cardiff four days previously against Northern Ireland.

That was until the 20th minute when Ana Route's long-range piledriver came cannoning back off the crossbar.

That chance seemed to wake up the Portuguese players - and the over 11,000 fans inside the Estádio D. Afonso Henriques - as they turned the tide on the game.

A pass straight from Patricia Morais caught the Wales defence napping allowing Encarnação in behind, but a last-ditch tackle from Gemma Evans prevented her shot from testing Oliva Clark.

An injury to Lúcia Alves forced Portugal into an early change midway through the first half, with Ana Borges brought on in her place.

The intensity with which Wales started the first half was missing at the start of the second.

Portugal continued to dictate the game and with 50 minutes on the clock they made their dominance pay by taking the lead.

Telma Encarnação cut in from the right wing, leaving Esther Morgan in her trail, before firing a low-drive left-footed shot through the legs of Evans and past an outstretched Clark. 

The Marítimo forward attempted to double her side's lead with a spectacular overhead kick at 59 minutes, but her effort never really tested the Wales goalkeeper.

 

With 18 minutes left of the game, and Portugal still in control, Wales fired back with a spectacular equaliser, completely against the run of play. 

Angharad James' corner was only cleared to the edge of the box, where Rowe was in place to send the ball back towards the goal with a looping first-time volley, with the outside of her foot. 

Morais scrambled across the goalline in an attempt to prevent a spectacular equaliser, but it was in vain. Cue wild celebrations from the Wales players. 

It took until the 85th minute for Grainger to make Wales' first change of the game, introducing Ffion Morgan for the goalscorer Rowe as the visitors looked to score an unlikely winner. 

They would however have to close out the game with 10 players after their captain, Sophie Ingle, was shown a second yellow card for a late challenge to Fátima Pinto in injury time.

This result means Wales have maintained their unbeaten start to 2023, and now haven't tasted defeat for six games.

  • Player of the match - Rachel Rowe

It always feels unfair when a goalscorer is handed Player of the Match, just for putting the ball in the back of the net, but that wasn't the case for Rachel Rowe.

The 30-year-old has taken her opportunity higher up the pitch in her stride, once again causing the most problems for the opposition defence.

Oh, and that equaliser is worth the nod of Player of the Match itself.