Road Trip - Cymru 25

Portugal U19 2-2 Turkey U19 (UEFA European U19 Championships Qualifiers)

It's the first match of a marathon week in Wales, a game on Wednesday morning in Connah's Quay followed by one on Wednesday night in Bangor, then back again to Caernarfon on Friday for some Welsh Premier league football action, stopping over for a visit to Connahs Quay again and Rhyl on Saturday for more internationals, then Tuesday night I'm back at the Deeside to round off an U19 Elite round of UEFA qualifications.

Wales are hosts of this four team elite round group stage, they play England tonight whilst Portugal and Türkiye kick this group stage format off, by Saturday night I'll be fluent in all four languages and am hoping to widen my credentials of international football's next generation within these upcoming seven days. 

It's an early one, I'm leaving Nottingham at 7am, dropping the dog off at the in laws and across the A50 to Stoke, up the M6 and across the M56 in glorious sunlight, crossing the Welsh border and more impressively, passing the stunning Flintshire Bridge next to the huge and rather ugly Tata Steel plant for 10am, pulling up outside Deeside College before walking over to the home of Connah's Quay Nomads which is within the campus grounds.

The Venue

It's an athletics track, just one large stand, you can probably view the action from an elevated position above the hedgerow outside, but I get in the queue where there's a small number of scouts ahead of the turnstiles opening, some groundhoppers ask a lady how much to get in, '£3 cash' they're told, 'we don't accept card'. 

My names not down as the man on the gate tells the bloke in front "I've got 26 pages of scouts to let in". I ask "if I can't pay cash where's the nearest cash machine" and he replies "don't worry about it, just go in". I'll remember to bring six pound sterling on Saturday to sort him out. 

Inside this sun blessed arena is greenery, the hedge tops and trees sparkle around the pitch perimeter wrapped in red running track, the houses add backdrop across the way, to the left the huge cabled structure of the Flintshire Bridge is partially viewable, up in the stand it's elevated but cold in the shade, as a breeze passes through on what should be a warm spring day. 

The Game

By now the stand is full of scouts as one I recognise passes around the team sheets, some random ground hopping football fans are joined by some college kids who take up the empty spaces, the national anthems are sung and action is under way, slow paced, Portugal passing between their back four, Turkey not interested in the press. 

It's pretty drab but for a comedic keeper, Demir in net for Turkey has a disaster of a start, kicking one straight to a Portuguese striker who should score but blasts over, he's dropped a routine catch and has kicked two clearances into touch, before a big save from Duarte provides the first highlight of what he's actually quite good at doing. 

Despite having most of the ball, Portugal go into the break finding themselves behind, a long punt catches out their back line and the handy looking centre forward Huseyin Erturk, who plays his football in Belgium at Beveren, is through, he rounds the keeper who brings him down, before calmly dispatching the penalty. 

The Score

At half time I chat to a scout from Stoke who's sat behind me, before sitting down for the second half in anticipation, Portugal make a couple of subs as they look to get back in the game but Turkey are a nuisance on the break, they add a second with just two minutes gone when Korkut slots home from close range.

Portugal aren't out of it though, they immediately reply as Tome causes problems done the left, his low cross is slotted in by Gil Martins and after a half of hardly anything it's all action to begin the second 45, Turkey test Goncalo Ribeiro with a clever Emre Gokay free kick, they look smart on the counter and their number nineteen Erturk is having a right good battle with the Portuguese defenders, he's a proper old-skool number nine but looks like he has some naughty Turkish fire, he gets booked for something he says before being quickly taken off by his coaching staff.

His departure, along with that of captain Efe Akman, means Turkey are a weaker team during the last ten minutes, and it's no surprise when Portugal level, Tome doing well on the left finding Neto who scores with his first touch after coming on as substitute.

Both sides have chances late on but the draw is fair reflection, Portugal better on the ball with patient play,  Turkey better on the break when running at speed, it'll be interesting to see how both do against sterner opposition when they play against England.

The Stars

Turkey's big centre forward Erturk got a lot of love from those watching around me, almost throw back like he competed, fought, tussled, and tried as hard as anyone with a good willing attitude but shown good feet, a good turn of pace, a good eye for creating opportunity, both for himself and others, the next Hakan Sukur? He probably reminded me more of a modern day Mitrovic, he'll throw his body around and wrestle with opponents but has a touch of class, my fear will he be too hot headed for the Premier League?

Another impressing for Turkey, was their golden haired midfield engine Efe Akman who plays his football for Galatasaray. Think Jimmy Bullard, captains armband wrapped around his bicep, always showing for the ball with plenty of energy in the centre of the park.

Of the others, Emre Gokay looked to have talent out wide right, left footed cutting in and feeding passes through in the typical Turkish frame of a Tuncay, Emre Belozoglu, Hakan Calhanoglu type player we've long come to expect, looked to have a decent tool from free kicks too and was a willing runner with the ball at his feet.

Portugal perhaps left a lot to be desired still after largely disappointing me. Defensively they got done too easily, which was annoying as I liked the look of their goalkeeper Goncalo Ribeiro and their centre half Goncalo Oliveira who when on the ball looked to have swagger. He plays for Benfica and is one to watch.

In midfield Gil Martins provided their spark from central forward areas, out wide both Tome who played the whole ninety, and Varela who came on in the second half, shown pace and skill but weren't always making the right decisions. Still perhaps having something to learn.

The Verdict

My first ever youth international match was watching England play Turkey in 1993, when Scholes, Neville, Sol Campbell, Fowler and more lifted the European Championships at U18 level, I don't remember too many Turks going on to make it big from that team but what I have expected since, is a good solid nation of players who can certainly play, they'll mix it with the best regardless of age group and have some stars to watch, surely a country their size will one day reach a major final. They've been close before.

Portugal have always produced and I'm sure from this crop they'll be a few that you'll come to recognise one day, working out who fits where and how is not the job of a scout, but is one for a team of recruiters, but rough diamonds right now, any of these players seen today could go on to have super careers tomorrow.

Portugal: Goncalo Ribeiro, Peixoto, Goncalo Oliveira, Ricardo Ribeiro, Tiago Parente (Martin Cunha 77), Gil Martins (Neto 77), Martim Ferreira, Eduardo Felicissimo (Diego Lobao 46), Rodrigo Duarte (Pereira Varela 65), Nuno Patricio (Gabriel Silva 46), Olivio Tome.

Turkey: Dogukan Demir, Taylan Aydin, Hamza Gureler, Mertcan Ayhan, Bican Tibukoglu (Deniz Ofli 90), Korkut, Efe Akman (Boran Baskan 77), Gokdeniz Gurpuz (Naim Donmez 90), Emirhan Arkutku (Arda Usluoglu 90), Huseyin Erturk (Yalin Dilek 76), Emre Gokay.

11:00am Kick Off. Wednesday 19th March 2025, Deeside Stadium, Connah's Quay (att 200 est).