João Félix gives Jorge Jesus a winning start as Portugal beat Wales 1-0
Félix scored after 22 minutes at Alvalade, and Wales managed a single shot all night. Portugal head to Oslo to face Norway on Sunday.
Jorge Jesus has his first win. Portugal beat Wales 1-0 at Alvalade on Thursday night in matchday one of Nations League Group A4, with João Félix scoring after 22 minutes. It was the new head coach’s first competitive game, and at 72 he is the oldest man ever to take the job.
The goal came from a move down the left, with Félix arriving in the middle and placing his shot past Danny Ward. Portugal had more of the initiative and the territory (12 attempts, four corners to none) but hit the target only twice, and the scoreline never got any wider.
”Wales had one shot”
That was the number Jesus wanted to talk about afterwards. “One shot,” he told the Portuguese federation, praising the defensive shape of a squad he had worked with for just three days. He admitted the first fifteen minutes went badly, because he had expected Wales in a 4-3-3 and found them mirroring Portugal’s own 4-4-2, and summed the night up simply: for a first game, “we were good.”
Cristiano Ronaldo started, as the coach had said he would, and forced a save from Ward before the break. He came off with 25 minutes left for Gonçalo Ramos, a change Jesus put down to needing fresh legs to press, not technical quality.
Familiar faces
Jesus had said he wouldn’t “change everything” from the Roberto Martínez era, which ended after the World Cup. His first squad, named on 18 September, leaned on players he knows from other dressing rooms: Félix worked under him at Al Nassr, Rúben Neves and João Cancelo at Al Hilal.
Portugal, defending the title they won in 2025, share top spot with Norway, who beat Denmark. Oslo is exactly where they go next, on Sunday, before a trip to Denmark on 1 October and Norway’s return visit on the 4th.
By Vasco Almada
Image: Armenian World / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
