Bino Maçães names nine new faces in Portugal U19 squad
Portugal U19 coach Bino Maçães calls up nine uncapped players, including Ivory Coast-born refugee Chris Grombahi, for a Braga tournament against Holland, Denmark and Austria.
Bino Maçães named nine uncapped players in his first squad list as Portugal Under-19 head coach, ahead of a preparation tournament in Braga against Holland, Denmark and Austria.
The most notable inclusion is Chris Grombahi, an 18-year-old forward born in Ivory Coast who arrived in Portugal as a refugee with his mother. He was recruited by Sporting after two seasons playing for Alta de Lisboa.
The other newcomers are Gil Neves (Colónia), Cardoso Varela, Duarte Cunha and Martim Chelmik (FC Porto), Afonso Semedo (Parma), Rodrigo Real (Rio Ave), João Lomba (Sp. Braga) and Alex Tverdohlebov (Sporting). Cunha, also 18, has scored twice for FC Porto B since joining in February.
The rest of the squad is made up of Bernardo Lima, Eduardo Ferreira, Mateus Mide and Salvador Gomes (FC Porto), Jordan Arnolin (Estoril), José Neto, Rafael Quintas, Stevan Manuel and Tomás Soares (Benfica), Gabriel Dbouk and Romário Cunha (Sp. Braga), André Machado and Diego Coxi (Sporting), and Tomás Rodrigues (V.Guimarães).
Arnolin's call-up follows his rise at club level: the 18-year-old defender has been edging into Estoril's matchday plans under Vasco Matos after impressing off the bench.
The squad travels to the Minho region on Monday to prepare for the games against Holland on 30 September, then Denmark and Austria on 3 and 6 October respectively.
About this article
Prepared by the editorial team with the help of algorithms, based on the sources listed