Portugal v Nigeria
Portugal have a very solid record in this competition and with two wins and two other top 3 placings are the most decorated team on show, in the absence of Brazil and Argentina. They arrive with one of the older squads, with 9 players aged 20 and almost all are with big name clubs, 13 are either at the top three Portuguese sides or with Barcelona and they have been together for a long time, with the core of the squad (9 players) having played at the European U19 Championships last year.
Nigeria will doubtless have a few hidden gems amongst their group, but with such a young squad having gone to the Confederations Cup, it makes you wonder what was left for this and five of their players are aged 17 or younger, which makes them short of experience at this level and all but three (with lower level european sides), play domestic football. They did not win a game at the recent Toulon tounament (losing 2-1 to Portugal... who eased off and replaced three players after going two up) and were described by supporters as their worst ever U20 team. They were comprehensively outplayed by Egypt at the African Championships, where they also lost to Mali and look the weakest of the African teams.
Portugal -0.25 ball
Portugal have a very solid record in this competition and with two wins and two other top 3 placings are the most decorated team on show, in the absence of Brazil and Argentina. They arrive with one of the older squads, with 9 players aged 20 and almost all are with big name clubs, 13 are either at the top three Portuguese sides or with Barcelona and they have been together for a long time, with the core of the squad (9 players) having played at the European U19 Championships last year.
Nigeria will doubtless have a few hidden gems amongst their group, but with such a young squad having gone to the Confederations Cup, it makes you wonder what was left for this and five of their players are aged 17 or younger, which makes them short of experience at this level and all but three (with lower level european sides), play domestic football. They did not win a game at the recent Toulon tounament (losing 2-1 to Portugal... who eased off and replaced three players after going two up) and were described by supporters as their worst ever U20 team. They were comprehensively outplayed by Egypt at the African Championships, where they also lost to Mali and look the weakest of the African teams.
Portugal -0.25 ball
