"Historic! Portugal beats Cameroon and guarantees unprecedented qualification for the women's football World Cup. Congratulations on the huge achievement!”, said Costa on Twitter.
The President of the Assembly of the Republic, Augusto Santos Silva, also congratulated the Portuguese women's football team on its qualification, "for the first time, for the final phase of the world cup".
“A great achievement for Portuguese sport and for equality in sport!”, declared Santos Silva on Twitter.
The Portuguese women's football team has qualified for the 2023 World Cup, beating Cameroon by 2-1, in the final of Group A of the Intercontinental Play-off, in Hamilton, New Zealand.
A penalty scored by Carole Costa, at 90+4 minutes, sealed the unprecedented Portuguese qualification, after, at 89 minutes, the Cameroonian Ajara Nchout had cancelled out Portugal's initial goal, scored by Diana Gomes, at 22 minutes.
Francisco Neto's team joins Group E the runners-up Netherlands (July 23), Vietnam (27) and the holders of the trophy United States (August 1), from July 20 to September 20 August in Australia and New Zealand.