Andre Andre has finally earned a call to the Seleção after a stellar season thus far for Vitória Guimarães. He is joined by eight other un-capped players.
As promised, Portugal National Team coach Fernando Santos named an additional eleven names for the team’s friendly against Cape Verde, to be played on March 31. Because Portugal faces Serbia on March 29 and then faces Cape Verde just two days later, there is not the FIFA-sanctioned three-day rest period between games. For this reason, those who take the field in the Serbia match will not in the Cape Verde match. Because of this, Santos has called up additional players for the Cape Verde match, and his listing is quite unexpected.
Santos announced that he only chose players from the Portuguese league, going on to state that the players playing outside of Portugal were called for the Serbia match. Santos went on to state that U-21 players may be promoted for the Cape Verde clash, which placates some fans who have been clamoring for the inclusions of the likes of Bernardo Silva, Marcos Lopes, and Ivan Cavaleiro in the team. Of the eleven players he called, only three have been capped before, those being Adrien Silva, Pizzi, and Andre Almeida. Though all three have been capped, all are very inexperienced. Here’s the full list:
Goalkeepers: Marafona (Moreirense)
Defenders: Andre Pinto (Braga), Andre Almeida (Benfica), Tiago Pinto (Rio Ave)
Midfielders: Danilo Pereira (Maritimo), Pizzi (Benfica), Andre Andre (Vitoria Guimaraes), Adrien Silva (Sporting)
Forwards: Ukra (Rio Ave), Lucas Joao (Nacional), Rui Fonte (Belenenses)
Portugal Futbol 