Going into the game, the Qantas Young Socceroos were without Terry Antonis after the Sydney FC midfielder was withdrawn following his head injury against the Wellington Phoenix, but were bolstered by the late addition of England-based defender Curtis Good.

The Young Socceroos had the first opportunity of the match when Jamie Maclaren found some space inside the box, but his resulting shot was comfortably saved by the Portuguese goal keeper, Rafael Veloso.

For the first quarter of the match, the Young Socceroos dominated possession and forced the hosts to turn over.

Portugal had a chance in the 36th minute when André Gomes tried his luck with a powerful shot from outside the box, but keeper Paul Izzo was up to the task and made an easy save.

Two minutes later, the Young Socceroos had their best chance of the half when Jackson Irvine won the ball in midfield with a good tackle and then laid off to Adam Taggart who was running towards goal.

Taggart then found himself with a one-on-one opportunity with the Veloso but his shot to the keepers right went wide of the target.

The opening goal came just after the hour mark following a series of blunders for the Young Socceroos. 

Portugal’s Betinho had the ball in central position bearing down on goal when Connor Chapman made a tackle on the edge of the box that the referee judged to be a last man challenge and consequently red-carded Chapman. 

From Portugal’s resulting free-kick, Adam Taggart was judged to have handled ball in the wall, giving the host nation a penalty.

Portugal’s captain João Mário made no mistake with his attempt sending Izzo the wrong way in the process to give his team the lead.

Taggart made amends five minutes later when he received a great through ball from Curtis Good inside the Portuguese box and then converted his one-on-one opportunity with a great left foot strike to level the scores.

With the match seemingly destined to end in a draw, Portuguese substitute Tó-Ze crossed into th Young Socceroos penalty area where he found Aladjé to score the winner deep into additional time.

Coach Paul Okon was disappointed to lose the match in such a fashion, but was very proud of how his team played as a whole.

“Today’s game was against a world class opponent. We had a game plan which the players executed to perfection which was really pleasing,” said Okon.

“Against teams like Portugal you have to take your opportunities and we created two very good chances in the first half and should have been leading 2-0 at half time.

“Connor Chapman’s red card left us with 10 men for nearly 30 minutes we continued to play good attacking football and Adam Taggart’s great goal was a reward for the whole effort of the team.

“While it was disappointing to concede a goal in the final minute of extra time it does not take away from an outstanding performance from the whole team.

“We look forward to the second match against Portugal on Sunday."

The Young Socceroos will again face Portugal U20s on Sunday at the National Stadium in Lisbon.

Match Details

Portugal U-20 National Team    2 (João Mário 61’ (pen), Aladjé 90+3’)
Qantas Young Socceroos         1 (Adam Taggart 66’)

Portugal line-up: Rafael VELOSO (gk), Pedro ALMEIDA, VENANCIO, James FERREIRA, KIKO (ALADJÉ 67 '), Here AUGUSTINE (João CARLOS, 76'), João MÁRIO (c) (CAFU, 76 '), André GOMES (Tó-Ze 66 '), Esgaio RICARDO, Ricardo PEREIRA (Piqueti, 67'), Valek (Michael PINTO, 82 ').
Substitutes not used: José Sá, Elton Monteiro, Thomas Babo.
Yellow cards: André Gomes 63', Ricardo Esgaio 73'
Coach: Edgar Borges.

Qantas Young Socceroos Line-up: Paul IZZO (gk), Tom KING (Corey BROWN 71’), Connor CHAPMAN, Curtis GOOD (c), Jamie MACLAREN, Jackson IRVINE (Daniel PETKOVSKI 63’), Corey GAMEIRO, Ryan EDWARDS, Reece CAIRA (Hayden MORTON 79’), Joshua BRILLANTE, Adam TAGGART
Substitutes Not Used: Mustafa AMINI, Alex BAIRD (gk), Travis COOPER, Ben GARUCCIO, Jason GERIA, Liam JACOB (gk), Luke O’DEA, Mitchell OXBORROW, Ryan WILLIAMS,
Yellow Cards: Jackson Irvine 15 ', Corey Gameiro 19', Adam Taggart 60', Jamie Maclaren 75', Paul Izzo 85'
Red Cards: Connor Chapman 58’