Portugal women beat Czechia 2-1 to quality for Euro 2025 | OneFootball

Four in a row! The female Seleção today beat Czechia 2-1 away in the second leg of the Euro 2025 playoff for a 3-2 aggregate victory and qualification for a FOURTH major tournament in a row. It is progress few would have considered possible a decade ago.

After making it to Euro 2017, Euro 2022 and World Cup 2023, Portugal have taken another step in their affirmation towards becoming one of the top nations in women’s football.

Diana Silva was the hero of the hour, forcing an own goal by Aneta Dedinová to give the visitors the lead then scoring the winner in the 76th minute.

In between Katerina Svitková equalised from the penalty spot, but Portugal’s superior technical quality made them deserving winners over the two legs of the playoff.

Czechia 1-2 Portugal (aggregate score: 2-3)

Francisco Neto insisted on a back three again for the second leg of the playoff of access for the Women’s Euro 2025 against Czechia. Jéssica Silva started on the bench as Diana Silva made her way into the starting eleven in one of the most important matches in the history of Portugal’s women’s team.

The decision to bench Jéssica was a risky one, but it made sense: Jéssica was too focused on the wing in the first leg, when the secret to victory against Czechia is in midfield. Starting Diana Silva is a gamble on playing through the midfield and finding space between the lines.

However, the main problem from the first leg appeared to be the same. With disadvantages in the midfield because of playing with a back three, Portugal always seemed a bit lost, with only Kika Nazareth playing between the lines. Not the best decision made by coach Francisco Neto.

Portugal fans make themselves heard

The Portugal supporters were loud all game! The Erasmus programme doing wonders for women’s football!

Long shots were a viable option for Portugal this game, something that was missing in the first leg. Portugal are clearly the better team and realized they had to take advantage of it. Jacinto threatened first with a shot from distance with eight minutes played.

The decisive moment as Diana Silva steers in a left-foot volley from Joana Marchão’s superbly delivered free kick. Photo: André Sanano/FPF

Still Portugal were gambling on crosses. That was also a questionable decision, since the Czechia team is much stronger that the “Navegadoras”.

But it was from a cross that Portugal scored. An amazing run by Joana Marchão, who crossed into the box and Diana Silva attacked the near post to try and head in. Silva failed to make a clean connection but the unfortunate Aneta Dedinová knocked the ball into her own net and Portugal had one foot in the Euros with 13 minutes played!

Portugal happy to play on the counter

After the goal, Portugal took advantage of the poor technical ability of the Czechia team. Instead of having possession, the Navegadoras left the ball to the opposition, playing on the counter attack. A risky but correct decision, since Czechia always seemed more comfortable playing without the ball. Also, if Czechia didn’t have the ball, they couldn’t take advantage of their clear advantage in physicality. Kika Nazareth remained as the main character, since she was the element of connection between the midfield and the attackers on the counter attack.

The counter attack was a great idea. In the 28th minute Diana Silva was through on goal but her shot went wide. Portugal remained the more dangerous team even though they were not calling the shots since the goal.

After an attempted cross into Portugal’s box, the Czechia players asked for a penalty. The referee went to the monitor and decided to award a spot kick to Czechia after Ana Capeta was harshly deemed to have handled the ball. The hosts tied the game.

Until the end of the first half the game was played with a lot of duels in the midfield, which was not favourable for the Navegadoras because of the numbers advantage for Czechia.

Diana Silva, Kika and Diana Gomes are ecstatic as they celebrate the all-important winning goal. Photo: André Sanano/FPF

Tight and tense battle

The second half started like the first one ended, with a very tie up game in midfield. The three centre backs tactic was doing more damage than good things for Portugal’s aspirations of going to the Euros. Czechia took advantage of it and were looking more dangerous than the Navegadoras, playing with much more will to win the match. Lack of passion and effort was visible at the start of the second half.

Andreia Norton was the first player to come off the bench, yet the problems persisted: a numerical disadvantage in midfield.

Portugal finally produced some attacking plays in the middle of the second half with Catarina Amado playing a huge role in attacking down the right wing. A clear improvement in comparison to the first leg.

Diana strikes

Czechia seemed to tire badly after the 75th minute, constantly resorting to fouls, with Portugal becoming more and more dangerous. And it finally happened: from a Joana Marchão free kick, Diana Silva scored with a fine finish to put Portugal back in front! Portugal again had one foot and a half in the Euros.

Jéssica Silva came on in the final minutes. Portugal dropped back holding onto their advantage and gambling on the counter attack. Jéssica could have killed the match in the 90th minute but failed to finish a quick break when a goal seemed certain.

Heart-stopping moment

There was a final scare in stoppage time when Katerina Svitková sent a terrific volley on the turn hurtling towards the Portuguese net, it smacked the bar, came down and hit Seleção goalkeeper Patrícia Morais but did not bounce into the net.

IT IS OVER! PORTUGAL ARE IN THE WOMEN’S EURO 2025! CONGRATULIATIONS NAVEGADORAS, YOU MADE US ALL PROUD!

Portugal women celebrate in front of the Portuguese fans in Teplice, Czechia, after winning the Euro 2025 playoff. Photo: André Sanano/FPF

Positives and negatives

+ Joana Marchão. What a game from the left-back. Two assists and perfect balance between attack and defence. A magical left foot that showed Portugal the way to the Euros!

- Francisco Neto. Gambled too much for such an important game. Could’ve gone wrong for Portugal. Three centre backs never worked throughout both games.

+ Katerina Svitková. The most dangerous player from Czechia. Outplayed both Jacinto and Norton. Deserved more.

- Gabriela Slajsová. Maybe this is because of the absolute masterclass by Joana Marchão, but Slajsová never looked like keeping up with the pace of the game, always felt very off.