André Silva says Portugal can push on

Confidence is flowing through Portugal after they opened the UEFA European Under-19 Championship with an impressive win against Israel, according to André Silva.

The FC Porto striker scored his team's second goal in Felcsut, his seventh in this season's competition, and acknowledged both the victory and the manner of it had boosted morale. "Winning the first game 3-0 is important and it gives us a lot of confidence," Silva told UEFA.com. "It was a good game against a great team, but we deserved the victory and we're happy with it."

Silva and Marcos Lopes, who scored twice, may have taken the spotlight at the Puskás Akadémia Pancho Aréna, but the former was keen to share the credit after Hélio Sousa's side made it seven wins from as many games in this season's competition. "The most important thing is playing as a team – the collective," he explained. "We know that all teams here are strong because they have made it here, but what's most important is my own team and that we are strong enough ourselves."

Portugal will seek to extend that winning run to eight matches on Tuesday, when hosts Hungary – beaten 3-1 by Austria in their opening game – are the opponents, again in Felcsut. Silva believes the portents for another good result are positive, adding: "[The Israel win] is important because it gives me and my team more confidence. We are in great shape, so let's see how things go from here."

Michael Ohana reacts after Portugal score©Sportsfile

While Portugal were understandably satisfied with their performance, Michael Ohana admitted Israel had been left with plenty of food for thought. "We played well at the start of the second half, but we need to improve if we want to go through," the midfielder said. "We weren't nervous, but we're a bit upset because we should have scored. We just lacked concentration in that part of the game and we paid the price because they're a good quality team."

Israel must regroup swiftly to take on Austria in their second fixture, although according to Ohana one positive is that it is clear where they need to improve. "We need to be more focused and play more as a team," he explained. "We need to play as we played in the elite round. The first ten minutes of the second half is the way we want to play. The coach told us to be focused, to go onto the field and play the way we know how to play."