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 Welcome to the Portuguese League (it’s called Liga ZON Sagres but that poo poo changes every year so we just call it Primeira Liga), the 5th best league in the world and 3rd best last season, according to UEFA, and home to the most controversies you’ll find in a non South American league. This is your chance to get to know future stars so when they inevitably move to Real Madrid/Barcelona/Chelsea/City and United you’ll be able to act like a smug gently caress with your friends. Here are:  The Teams FC Porto   History: Founded in 1893, FC Porto quickly became the biggest club in northern Portugal, and one of the most important in the country; Porto has never been relegated. Historically a consistently successful team, but not at the level of Benfica, Porto’s golden era started when Pinto da Costa became president of the club in 1982. Since then, Porto has established a dominance in the league that has seen them win 10 league trophies in the last 15 seasons, including four in a row from 2005 to 2009, and along the way picked up a few European trophies. In fact, just this season FC Porto finally surpassed Benfica’s record of most trophies won, becoming the most successful club in Portugal. Three men helped in establishing Porto as a Portuguese and European powerhouse: José Mourinho, a former Benfica and Leiria coach, who from 2002 to 2004 won two league titles, one Portuguese Supercup, one Portuguese Cup, one UEFA Cup and one Champions League; Jesualdo Ferreira, who after Mourinho left made sure Porto maintained its control over the league winning 3 league titles in a row (2006-2009); and the man who replaced him, André Villas-Boas, one of Mourinho’s apprentices and former Académica manager, who in 2010 won for Porto one Portuguese Supercup, the league title, the Europa League Cup and the Portuguese Cup. This success had a price: this decade has been filled with accusations of corruption and of enticing referees by several of the club’s elements, including president Pinto da Costa, in what has become known as the Apito Dourado case. I’ll get more into it if people want me to, but this was something Portuguese people were expecting considering how some referees approached Porto matches; it later came out that many of them were bribed by Porto officials with dinners and prostitutes, and it’s possible to listen to the details of these affairs in youtube, since the wiretaps recordings have been made public. Anyway, this case resulted in Pinto da Costa being suspended for two years and Porto being docked 6 points in the 2008-2009 season, while Boavista, the other club involved in the case, was relegated to the 2nd division. Honours: FC Porto has won the Primeira Liga 25 times (second only to Benfica), the Portuguese Cup 20 times, and the Portuguese Supercup a record 18 times. Porto has won the Champions League two times (in 1987 and 2004), the UEFA Cup/Europa League two times (2003 and 2011), the European Cup Winners’ Cup (1983), the European Supercup (1987), and the Intercontinental Cup (1987 and 2004). Current Status: Surprised with Villas-Boas’ sudden departure to Chelsea, and with their 1st choice now coaching Sporting (Domingos Paciência), and their 2nd choice in Braga (Leonardo Jardim), Porto went with continuity by making Vítor Pereira, previously assistant manager, the main man. He won them the Supercup (2-0 vs Vitória Guimarães), but lost the European Supercup to Barcelona. Porto started the league well enough with 4 wins in a row, planting themselves in 1st place, but recent draws with Feirense and Benfica (after leading twice in the match) have seen their rivals Sporting and Benfica getting very close to them. This, partnered with a defeat to Zenit and a home draw with APOEL in the CL has made many Porto fans doubt Pereira’s abilities to replace Villas-Boas, but it’s probably just the team learning to cope with Falcao’s (their top goalscorer) departure to Atlético Madrid. Stadium: Estádio do Dragão, 55,000 seats, in Porto Team:  (Replace Guarín with Belluschi, Cristian Rodriguez with the suspended James Rodríguez and Walter with the injured Kléber). Manager: Vítor Pereira Star: Hulk, player of the season 2010-2011. Otamendi is a promising centre back, with Chelsea target Álvaro Pereira probably the best leftback in the league now that Fábio Coentrão left. In midfield, Moutinho is the motor while Guarín adds some steel to it. James Rodríguez is one of the kids with the most potential in Portugal and will one day be playing for Real Madrid or something, mark my words. And it’ll be interesting to see if Kléber adequately replaces Falcao. Notable Ins: Kléber (Marítimo, 2,4m), Steven Defour (Standard Liège, 6m); Alex Sandro (Santos, 10m, January only), Mangala (Liège, 6,5m) Notable Outs: Falcao (Atlético Madrid, 40m), Ruben Micael (Atlético Madrid, 5m) Captain: Helton You should root for this team if:…you love winning. SL Benfica   History: Born in 1904 in the capital Lisbon, Benfica have until very recently been the most successful club in Portugal, with more league and cup titles than any other club, thanks in part to a period of brilliance in the 60’s in which they won two CLs (thanks Eusébio). However, with Porto’s resurgence in the 80’s Benfica has seen its conquest of trophies dwindle, (although they did win the league in 2009-2010), and in the 90’s and the beginning of the 00’s Benfica was unable to compete with Porto and Sporting, achieving their worst ever position, 6th, in 2000-2001. This decadence was stopped in recent years with Benfica returning to the competition for the title, and with manager Jorge Jesus they won the title in 2009-2010, in a close race against Braga. The following season wasn’t as successful (although they won the League Cup) with Porto returning to 1st and dominating affairs, but better management and more consistency means Benfica are again a force to behold. Honours: 32 Primeira Liga wins (more than any other team), 27 Portuguese Cup wins, and three times winner of the League Cup. They have won the Portuguese Supercup a strangely meager 4 times and the Champions League (or European Cup) two times in 60-61 and 61-62 Current Status: Unlike last season, Benfica have started well and have built quite a momentum, which culminated in a 2-2 in Porto’s stadium, and are level with Porto in 1st place so they’ll be much more of a threat this time. They’re also top of their group in the CL, although nobody expects them to finish above Manchester Utd. Stadium: Estádio da Luz, 65,000 seats, in Lisboa Team:  (Maxi Pereira in for Miguel Victor, Emerson at LB, Nolito and Bruno César keep rotating) Manager: Jorge Jesus Star: Garay and Luisão are two great CBs, Maxi Pereira is probably the best rightback in Portugal, Nolito won’t stop scoring, Manchester United target Nico Gaitán is Benfica’s best player, and Cardozo, although he’s the team’s best scorer every season, isn’t really appreciated by the fans due to his lazy style Notable Ins: Nolito (Barcelona, free), Artur (Braga, free), Bruno César (Corinthians, 5,5m) Notable Outs: Nuno Gomes (Braga, free) Captain: Luisão You should root for this team if:…you want kids to get off your lawn and regularly find yourself thinking “those were the days”. Sporting CP   History: The last of the Big Three, Sporting was founded in 1906 and like their rivals Benfica and Porto has never been relegated; if you take into account all sports, Sporting is the 2nd team in Europe (after Barcelona) with the most titles. Their golden era was in the 40’s and 50’s, when they won 10 out of 18 league titles and the Five Violins shined, although European success only came in the 60’s when Sporting won the Cup Winners Cup beating Manchester Utd 5-0 on the way. However starting in the 60’s Sporting lost its luster in the domestic competitions, and was replaced at the top first by Benfica, and later by Porto. When Sporting won the title in 2000, 18 years had passed since the last triumph in the league; they won it again in 2002. Since 2002 Sporting has been content with 2nd position, allowing Porto to dominate the league, this complacency resulting in a shameful 4th spot in the 2009 season when Braga and Benfica were the main contenders. A new direction was necessary, and the new president Godinho Lopes for the 2011-2012 season promised the necessary change (not before getting punched on election day). Honours: 18 times winners of Primeira Liga, 19 times in the Portuguese Cup, Supercup winners 7 times, UEFA Cup runner-up in 2004-2005 (gently caress CSKA) Current Status: New president, a new manager (Braga’s Domingos Paciência) and 15 new players represented Sporting’s wish to compete for the title once again, but the team took its time to adapt and in the first three games only managed 2 draws and 1 loss. The pressure was on, but a 2-3 comeback at Paços de Ferreira after being down 2-0 seems to have turned things around and Sporting are now on a 8 win run and only 3 points away from 1st place. Sporting are also the first team in history to qualify for the next round in the Europa League after only 3 games, easily top of their group. Stadium: Estádio José Alvalade, 50,000 seats, in Lisboa Team:  (Onyewu and Rodriguez are the usual CB pairing, Insua for Evaldo, Elias in for André Martins, Capel instead of Matias and Wolfswinkel instead of Bojinov). Manager: Domingos Paciência Star: Rui Patrício is the national team’s 23 year old goalkeeper, benching Eduardo. Rinaudo might just be the best defensive midfielder in Portugal, while Elias is the box-to-box midfielder the team has been lacking in recent times. Diego Capel, the former Sevilla winger, is the most dangerous man in the attack while Ricky Van Wolfswinkel has 8 goals in the last 7 matches. Notable Ins: Insúa (Liverpool, free), Fito Rinaudo (Gimnasia, 250k), Elias (Atlético Madrid, 8,5m), Bojinov (Parma, 2,5m), Ricky van Wolfswinkel (Utrecht, 5,5m), Schaars (AZ Alkmaar, 850k), Diego Capel (Sevilla, 3,5m), Jeffrén (Barcelona, 3,750m). Notable Outs: Vukcevic (Blackburn), Hélder Postiga (Zaragoza, 1m), Yannick Djaló (Nice, 4m) Captain: João Pereira You should root for this team if:…you’re one cool dude. Sporting Clube de Braga   History: Founded in 1921, Braga reached the 1st division in 1947 and in the following decades kept dropping in and out of the Primeira Liga until 1975. It is only in the 00’s that Braga becomes of the biggest clubs in the North and the main opponent of the Big Three’s hegemony, with consistent top 6 finishes. This came to a head in the 2009-2010 season, when Braga finished 2nd, their best placement ever, kicking Porto to 3rd and Sporting to 4th. The following season, although Braga dropped down to 4th, the team reached the final of the Europa League beating Benfica in the process, a team that has 10 times their resources. Some people are now saying the Big Three era is over, and there are now the Big Four with Braga’s inclusion, but that’s a bit premature: Braga are yet to win a Primeira Liga title. Braga’s biggest rival is Vitória Guimarães (Derby do Minho, check Guimarães section) and the Big Three, although with Porto it’s more of a friendly rivalry. Honours: 2nd in Primeira Liga 2009-2010, runner-up in Europa League 2010-2011, Intertoto Cup winners in 2008, Portuguese Cup winners in 1966 and runner-up in three other occasions, Portuguese Supercup runner-up in 1982 and 1998. Current Status: With talisman manager Domingos Paciência leaving the club, as well as a few influential players, new coach Leonardo Jardim (former Beira-Mar manager) had the difficult task of rebuilding a team that could again fight for the top spots with meager resources. He’s done well so far in the league, since Braga are only 3 points away from 1st place, but they’ve found it hard to succeed in the Europa League, and are 3rd in their group, behind Birmingham and Brugge. Stadium: Estádio Municipal de Braga, 30,000 seats, in Braga Team:  (replace Lima with Hélder Barbosa) Manager: Leonardo Jardim Star: Hugo Viana is a classy CM, Alan is one of the most dangerous attackers in Portugal, Hélder Barbosa (former Porto player) is in great form and Nuno Gomes still knows how to score. Notable Ins: Notable Outs: Artur (Benfica, free), Sílvio (Atlético Madrid, 8m), Albert Rodríguez (Sporting CP, free), Pizzi (Atlético Madrid, loan with buy option) Captain: Alan You should root for this team if:…you’re into overachievers. C. S. Marítimo   History: One of two teams from the island of Madeira currently playing in the Primeira Liga (the other is Nacional, their biggest rivals), Marítimo was born in 1910 and since then has established a consistent presence in the first division, to the point where it has been considered by the IFFHS the 5th most successful Portuguese team of the century and top 10 is expected every season from them. Honours: 5th place in Primeira Liga 5 times, runner-up in the Portuguese Cup two times. Current Status: Marítimo has been one of the positive surprises of the season, getting 4 victories and only 1 loss in 7 games, and are level with Braga and Sporting at 3rd. For a team whose objective is top 7, this is very good indeed. Stadium: Estádio dos Barreiros, 8,000 seats in Funchal Team:  Manager: Pedro Martins Star: Baba has 5 goals in 7 matches, and Danilo Dias has been one of the standouts of the season so far. Captain: Briguel You should root for this team if:…you shouldn’t, root for Sporting instead. Académica de Coimbra   History: One of the oldest clubs in Portugal, founded in 1876 in Coimbra, city of students (home to one of the oldest universities in the world, 13th century bitches) and created by students from that same university. It’s the only team in Portugal where players sometimes have college degrees. Académica fights relegation every year and normally succeeds; they have been in the 1st division since 2002 but only once have they ended up top 10. Honours: 2nd in Primeira Liga 1966-1967, Portuguese Cup winners in 1938-1939. Current Status: Académica is the other surprise of the season, usually their goal is avoiding relegation and they are regularly close to going down, but this year they are 6th with 4 wins in 7 matches. Maybe top 10 this season? Stadium: Estádio Cidade de Coimbra, 30,000 seats, in Coimbra Team:  Manager: Pedro Emanuel Star: Éder is on fire and has 4 goals in 8 matches and Sissoko is a nifty forward. Captain: Orlando You should root for this team if:…you’re into college girls. SC Beira-Mar   History: I didn’t know any of this, but apparently, Beira-Mar was founded on 1922 by a group of guys who had emigrated to the US and upon their return to Aveiro decided there was a lack of sports associations in the city. Beira-Mar reached the first division 39 years later, but only lasted one season. Since then they’ve been pretty inconsistent, getting relegated quite often, but they haven’t dropped to the third division in a long time, so yay. Their best position ever in the first divison was 6th, in 1990-1991, a record they won’t beat any time soon. Their biggest triumph ever was winning the Portuguese Cup in the 1998-1999 season, beating poo poo team Campomaiorense in the final 1-0. Also of note is that on 23 February 2002, Beira-Mar beat a José Mourinho coached FC Porto 2-3; this was to be Mourinho’s last home defeat for almost a decade, with 150 matches unbeaten after that match. Of course last season his Real Madrid team was beaten by Sporting Gijón at Santiago Bernabéu, ending that record, so Beira-Mar doesn’t even have that to hold on to. Honours: Portuguese Cup winners in 1999, 6th place in Primeira Liga’s 1990-1991 season Current Status: I actually have a bit of a soft spot for Beira-Mar since part of my family resides in Aveiro. They are a pretty bad team though, and will be lucky to get top 10 (they were 13th last season). The team is actually 10th right now, but have won only once (a surprising 0-3 over V. Guimarães), getting by mostly on 0-0’s. Beira-Mar have the best defense in the league (only 2 goals have been scored against them), but also the worst attack (3 goals in 7 games). Stadium: Estádio Municipal de Aveiro, 32,000 seats, in Aveiro. Team:  Manager: Rui Bento Star: None, but I guess Artur is pretty good. Captain: Hugo You should root for this team if: …canals give you boners (Aveiro is called the Venice of Portugal). Gil Vicente FC   History: Founded in 1924 in the small city of Barcelos, and named after the playwright Gil Vicente, the club first got promoted to the first division in 1990-1991. After that they were a consistent first division team, until 2006-2007 when the courts decided they had used an illegally registered player (the Mateus affair as it was called), and relegated them. They won the second division league last season, and are back this year. Honours: The Trophies page in their website is completely empty, which I thought was funny. Clubs usually try to fill those pages with 2nd and 3rd division wins, but Gil Vicente didn’t bother. 5th place in Primeira Liga’s 1999-2000 season. Current Status: Gil Vicente’s goal is to not get relegated again, and they are doing well so far, considering they are 9th and have already played Porto, Braga and Benfica. Stadium: Estádio Cidade de Barcelos, 12,000 seats, in Barcelos. Team:  Manager: Paulo Alves Star: None really, although Roberto was their top scorer last season and centre back Cláudio has 4 goals in 6 matches. Captain: Paulo Arantes You should root for this team if:…you love roosters (Barcelos is all about the roosters). SC Olhanense   History: Founded in 1912, was the first team from the Algarve region (South of Portugal, famous for its beaches) to reach the first division. Dropped down in 1975, and stayed down for 34 years, until in 2009 Olhanense returned to the Primeira Liga. Honours: Runner-up in the Portuguese Cup 1944-1945, 4th place in Primeira Liga’s 1945-1946. War was bringing them down! Current Status: I like Olhanense, it’s a team of meager resources but still plays open and attacking football, unlike many of the smaller teams in the league. Also, compare Olhanense’s and Gil Vicente’swebsites, one of them is cool as gently caress and the other is poo poo. They were 11th last year and will now try to get top 10, especially since they are in 8th right now, with 9 points in 7 games. Stadium: Estádio José Arcanjo, 10,000 seats, in Olhão. Team:  Manager: Daúto Faquirá Star: Wilson Eduardo, a young pacy winger/striker that has been one of the revelations of the season, with 3 goals in 6 matches. Unfortunely for Olhanense, he’s a loan from Sporting CP. Captain: Rui Duarte You should root for this team if:…life’s a beach. Vitória Guimarães SC   History: Vitória Guimarães, founded in 1922, is one of the biggest clubs in Portugal and a regular in the top division (though they have been relegated a couple of times, last time was in the 2005-2006 season). They have never been champions, but they are one of the many teams who have been trying to destroy the Big Three dominance in recent times, achieving a fantastic 3rd place in the 2007-2008 season. Their biggest rivals are Boavista and especially Braga, as the two cities not only are neighbors (the Derby do Minho is what we call the matches between these two) but both are constantly fighting for the spot of Portugal’s 4th biggest team. Braga has been more successful in recent times obviously. By the way, Guimarães is considered the birthplace of Portugal, as it was the centre of Portugal’s fight with Spain for independence back in the 12th century, for various reasons (thus our great king D.Afonso Henriques is on their badge). Honours: Runner-up in the Portuguese Cup an astounding 5 times, never actually winning the cup, 3rd place in Primeira Liga in three different occasions (more recently in 2007-2008). Portuguese Supercup winners in 1988 and runner-up in 2010-2011. Current Status: Guimarães was 5th last season, and they were aiming for 4th this season, but they aren’t doing so hot right now. They started the season with a loss against Porto in the Supercup, and then were thrown out of the Europa League in the playoffs against Atlético Madrid; after that, 2 losses in 3 games for the league meant experienced manager Manuel Machado was fired, and Rui Vitória is in. He hasn’t started well, with 2 losses. Guimarães are in crisis and should be doing a lot better with this squad, let’s see where they end up. Stadium: Estádio D. Afonso Henriques, 30,000 seats, in Guimarães Team:  Manager: Rui Vitória Star: Pedro Mendes is a classy defensive midfielder with a great career, Nuno Assis is a talented nº10 who didn’t make it in the top clubs, Targino and Toscano are dangerous attackers. Edgar is one of the top scorers of the league so far, with 4 goals in 5 matches. Captain: João Alves You should root for this team if:…you’re into underachievers. Rio Ave FC   History: Rio Ave FC was founded in 1939, and had its best period in the 80’s, when it reached the final of the Portuguese Cup and got their best position ever in the league. However it spent most of the 90’s in the second division, and nowadays drops in and out of the first division. One of the most unremarkable clubs in Portuguese football. Honours: 5th place in Primeira Liga’s 1981-1982 season, Runner-up in the 1983-1984 Portuguese Cup. That’s nice I guess. Current Status: Rio Ave finished 8th last season, they had hoped to get top 10 again this year but since right now they have 2 points from 7 games their new objective is to not get relegated. Stadium: Estádio do Rio Ave FC, 12,000 seats, in Vila do Conde. Even their stadium has a boring name. Team:  Manager: Carlos Brito Star: João Tomás is one of the most prolific Portuguese strikers in the last 10 years, but hasn’t been able to make it in the national team and is now too old to join a top team. Captain: Gaspar You should root for this team if:…you want to follow the 2nd division next year. FC Paços de Ferreira   History: Founded in 1950, it’s one of the youngest clubs in Portugal to play in the top division, which it reached in the 90’s. As such, there’s not much of a history, although in recent times Paços has established itself as one of the most dangerous “small” clubs, often stealing points from the top teams. Honours: 6th place in Primeira Liga’s 2006-2007 season, runner-up in the Portuguese Cup 2008-2009, runner-up in the Supercup of the following season, runner-up in the Portuguese League Cup 2010-2011. drat, they’ll never win anything. Current Status: An impressive 7th place in last season’s league means they will be disappointed not to get top 8 this season; their goal is to reach the Europa League. They’ve had a bad start though, with 4 points in 7 games. Stadium: Estádio da Mata Real, 5,000 seats, in Paços de Ferreira Team:  Manager: Luís Miguel Star: Caetano is a dwarf. Seriously, his height is 1.65m, he looks like a child on the pitch. However, he’s also one of the promising Portuguese wingers of recent times, and only 20. Michel, the striker, is also one of Paços’ most dangerous players, reminds me of Yakubu, and has 4 goals in 7 matches. Captain: I honestly have no loving idea. You should root for this team if:…you love scoring goals with your hands. That’s what they did the last time I went to the stadium to watch a Sporting match against them, we ended up losing that game and I felt like poo poo. gently caress Paços. CD Feirense   History: One of the smallest clubs you’ll find in the top division, Feirense was founded in 1918, and reached the Primeira Liga in 1962, although it was immediately relegated, which happened every time it reached the first division. It’s back this year, the first time since 1990. It’s probably going back down. Honours: 14th in Primeira Liga 1962-1963 was their best position, do you think they’ve ever won anything? They haven’t, they’re a poo poo team. Current Status: Feirense are looking to not get relegated, and they’ve started well enough, getting to 11th with 7 points in 7 games. They’ll probably go down though. Stadium: Estádio Marcolino de Castro, 5,000 seats, in Santa Maria da Feira Team:  Manager: Quim Machado Star: Their Player of the Year last season was Paulo Lopes, their GK, so that’s how poo poo they are. Captain: Luciano You should root for this team if:…you’re into underdogs. CD Nacional   History: One of the clubs founded in the island of Madeira in 1910, it is along with Marítimo, their rivals, the biggest team in the region, and nowadays usually competes with Guimarães to be Portugal’s 5th team. A good progress, especially since Nacional first ascended to the first division in 1986, and after a rough 90’s, returned to the top and managed to qualify for European competitions. Honours: 4th place in Primeira Liga’s 2008-2009 season, which is really impressive. Not a good run in the cups. Current Status: Not a good start for Nacional: they are 12th with 7 points in 7 games. They had a tough 1-4 defeat against Guimarães, and a shocker 4-0 against surprising Académica. Ivo Vieira is one of the managers in risk right now. Probably won’t repeat the 6th place from last season. Stadium: Estádio da Madeira, 5,500 seats, in Funchal Team:  Manager: Ivo Vieira Star: Felipe Lopes and Leandro Salino aren’t bad. Captain: Bruno Patacas. You should root for this team if:…you too hated the 90’s. loving boy bands. União de Leiria   History: A very young club, founded in 1966 and that in 1978 reached the first division. Leiria was managed by José Mourinho before he left for Porto and made his name. Honours: 5th in Primeira Liga’s 2002-2003 season, runner-up in the Portuguese Cup of the same season, runner-up in the Supercup the following season Current Status: Leiria were 10th last season, and will try to improve on that, but things didn’t start well. 5 losses in 6 matches meant Pedro Caixinha was out, replaced with famed manager Manuel Cajuda, who shocked the league with a win over Braga in his first match in Leiria. Stadium: Estádio Municipal da Marinha Grande, 6,000 seats, in Marinha Grande Team:  Manager:Manuel Cajuda Star: None. Captain: Marco Soares You should root for this team if:…you love relegation battles and want to follow one this year. Vitória de Setúbal   History: Founded in 1910, it’s Mourinho’s club (he and his father played for the team). I’m sick of this thread, can’t bother to write anything else. Honours: 2nd in Primeira Liga’s 1971-1972 season, 3 times Portuguese Cup winners, winners of the first League Cup, runner-up twice in the Supercup Current Status: Average beginning, Setúbal are 7th and will look to finish in the top 10, they were 12th last season. Stadium: Estádio do Bonfim, 20,000 seats, in Setúbal Team:  Manager: Bruno Ribeiro Star: João Silva is the best scorer with 3 goals in 6 matches, Anderson do Ó is their most solid defender Captain: Ricardo Silva You should root for this team if:…you think you are a special one.
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Oct 22, 2011 23:36
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League Table Jornada 7 (Jornada=Matchday)  I’ll get more into each match in future updates, these ones were played 2 weeks ago. Previous Matchdays       Player of the Month – September  1st. Ricky van Wolfswinkel (Sporting CP) 2. Danilo Dias (Marítimo) 3. Wilson Eduardo (Olhanense) 4. Elias (Sporting CP) 5. Fito Rinaudo (Sporting CP) 6. Diego Capel (Sporting CP) 7. Nuno Gomes (Sp. Braga) 8. Baba (Marítimo) 9. Sissoko (Académica) 10. Diego (Vit. Setúbal) Mean Bean Machine fucked around with this message at 23:40 on Oct 22, 2011 |
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Oct 22, 2011 23:36
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tekz posted:Why was Boavista relegated and not Porto? Officially, because authorities could only prove that Porto had attempted to bribe referees, while they had proof that Boavista had actually succeeded in bribing them. The phone recordings gathered (some of which anyone can listen to) were not accepted in court. Unofficially, because over the last two decades Porto have spread their control over the whole football system in Portugal, something Boavista had only started to do when their former president became President of the League. Also, nobody dared to testify against Porto officials (except Pinto da Costa's ex-wife), since the club has become one of the richest and biggest institutions in Portugal, while Boavista was a 2nd rate team who through corruption (their players were known to tackle recklessly and not get punished for it) managed to get their hands on a title and in the same decade dropped down to the third division, where they now rot away. Mean Bean Machine fucked around with this message at 00:40 on Oct 23, 2011 |
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Oct 23, 2011 00:29
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euroboy posted:Brilliant OP. Well, Hulk obviously would already be out of here if Porto weren't asking for 50m or more, Alvaro Pereira and Guarin will probably leave for bigger teams soon, but the potential is all on James Rodriguez's side, 20 years old and already on the starting 11, he's really good. Moutinho is in bad form right now, good thing Chelsea didn't go for him. Benfica-wise, Nico Gaitán has been scouted regularly by Man Utd and he's great, another great season is all it'll take for him to be scooped up. Witsel is also shaping up to be fantastic, but that's nothing new, he's been talked about for years. Other than that, Man Utd have also confirmed they have been looking at van Wolfswinkel, I think it's too soon to say how good he'll become, but he's fantastic right now, something like 9 goals in 9 matches (league and EL). quote:Which team would you describe as the Stoke City of portugal? Hard to say, since even the crappier teams like to play attacking football with the ball on the ground (except against the big three). I'd say Rio Ave is the closest, with their reliance on their big nº9, João Tomás. Académica maybe, but this year they are actually playing reckless football. edit: maybe you should go for the complete opposite of Stoke, Sporting CP: weak as poo poo pansy players, crap their pants collectively every time there are any setpieces, play with the ball on the ground during the 90 minutes. Mean Bean Machine fucked around with this message at 03:09 on Oct 23, 2011 |
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Oct 23, 2011 03:00
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Jose posted:What happened to Veloso? He's from the same generation as Nani and Moutinho, and it's funny because the one who looked like the worst of the three ends up as one of the best players in the world at Man Utd, Miguel Veloso ended up getting sold for €8m to Genoa when Sporting were in a horrible financial state and he's been pretty average for the Italians, and Moutinho who was Sporting's captain and best player was called a rotten apple by the president of the time and sold for €10m to one of our biggest rivals. Just poo poo management by Sporting all around, at least we got some money for Nani.
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Oct 23, 2011 03:22
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Weaponized Cum posted:I've been following Sporting since they signed Andre Carrillo. He is a pretty good young Peruvian attacker. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they also have Diego Capel from Sevilla. Love that (ex) long haired motherfucker. Carrillo only started to play when Jeffren got injured, but he's been surprisingly great and Jeffren is going to have a hard time stealing his place. Carrillo can be a bit of a ball hogger, but if that means we get more of these plays (vs Setubal), I'm all for it. He also got a fantastic assist in the EL this Thursday, nutmegged an opponent and left the ball for Matias. He's got a great future. Mean Bean Machine fucked around with this message at 03:43 on Oct 23, 2011 |
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Oct 23, 2011 03:41
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Benfica were having a hard time dismantling Beira-Mar's best defense in the league yesterday, until Cardozo got gifted an easy goal by their retarded keeper. gently caress. Porto - Nacional in a bit, hopefully this will be the game where Nacional reverses their horrible form, doubt it though.
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Oct 23, 2011 18:08
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Wish Sporting bought Alan when we had the chance. Porto, Benfica, Braga and Marítimo all won, that means nothing will change at the top of the table. Only Sporting to go, they play Gil Vicente tomorrow.quote:I support Braga. A fine choice. Their matches with Benfica are a lot of fun lately, the players hate each other and there are a lot of red cards. Braga play great football on occasion. quote:Belenenses' stadium has the most gorgeous surroundings you can imagine, it's a stone's throw from the Jerónimos monastery and all the other grotesque monuments on the Belém beach. Support them for aesthetical reasons. A shame about Belenenses, they were the biggest club in Lisbon after Benfica and Sporting but got completely destroyed in the 00's and have been plying away in the 2nd division lately. Nowadays in Lisbon only old people and hipsters "support" Belenenses.
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Oct 24, 2011 01:04
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dj_pain posted:So at the begining of the year Sporting Lisbon got Diego Rubio. So how is he going ? For the little time he was on the senior squad for colo-colo he was playing fantastic (scored at least once every game) but lately I haven't heard anything from him. He had a great pre-season, to the point where he was considered the best of Sporting's new strikers, but a bad start in the league and Wolfswinkel's current form means he hasn't had many chances since then. The fans really like him though, he's definitely better than Bojinov who won't last in this team if he keeps playing the way he's been playing. Now that Sporting's in better form, I can see Rubio getting more chances against weaker teams, the manager has been a little afraid to experiment 'lest he ruin our 8 win run. Nobody expected Rubio to be a starter as soon as he arrived though, he's too young. edit: ugh, I really don't like the manager's options today. He benched Carrillo and is playing Matias Fernandez on the right wing, who tends to drift to the middle allowing our RB João Pereira to attack the way he likes to. The problem is Pereira's crosses are horrible, so there are no deliveries coming from the right wing to the striker and the game is being played mostly on the middle. I think if Carrillo was on we would be up 2 or 3 goals, Gil Vicente's defense is looking flimsy. Mean Bean Machine fucked around with this message at 21:17 on Oct 24, 2011 |
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Oct 24, 2011 14:29
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Mans posted:I guess this is why Domingos is Sporting's coach and Mean Bean Machine is a Something Awful poster Well, three of the goals came after Matias was replaced by Carrillo, and we definitely looked more dangerous with the Peruvian, he got one assist and the other goal was a rebound from one of his plays. I like Matias Fernandez, but sticking him on the wing doesn't seem adequate.
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Oct 24, 2011 23:10
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Ulio posted:Why isn't Pablo Aimar starting for Benfica? He can't handle 90 mins or two games in a row nowadays, but he's still Benfica's best nº10. They save him for the big games. quote:Diego Capel is a beast, by far the best player Sporting has this season. I dunno man, Elias is really good (better be, he cost us 8.5 mil)
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Oct 25, 2011 05:19
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Jornada 8 One of the suprises of the week, Paços de Ferreira who had lost 4 games in a row beat the rising Académica, with goals from Melgarejo and William. Paços made their chances count, while Académica dominated but couldn’t really create any major chances.  Guimarães continue with their horrible form with a 1-0 loss to Olhanense, with the only goal coming from Mateus (penalty), and goalkeeper Fabiano keeping them at bay. For a team who should be fighting for 4th, this season has been a disgrace.  Benfica had a surprisingly tough time defeating Beira-Mar, who have the best defense (and the worst attack) in the league. The only goal was Cardozo’s, after a huge mistake by goalkeeper Rui Rego gifted him an open goal. Cardozo has 6 goals in 7 matches.  Marítimo keep impressing everyone as they stay level on points with Braga and Sporting, and only 3 points away from 1st place. It’s been eight straight matches without a loss, and Baba was again the goalscorer, he has 6 in 8 matches.  In the battle of poo poo teams, Rio Ave got their first win of the season with a 2-0 over União de Leiria, with goals from Vitor Gomes and the inevitable João Tomás. It was the first league loss for Manuel Cajuda, Leiria’s new manager who had promised to the fans that he would avoid relegation “with his hands tied behind his back”.  Porto kicked the blues with a 5-0 over Nacional, in a game where they didn’t play great football but were efficient enough to score five. A routine win for the champions, with goals from Defour (his first for the club), Walter, Sapunaru, a beautiful chip from Hulk and Kléber.  Braga kept on the chase for 1st with an easy win over Feirense, in a game they dominated. Nuno Gomes is the Portuguese with the most goals this season (4 in 8), Alan scored a beauty and Ewerton closed the scoreline.  Not much to say here, Gil Vicente never looked threatening and Sporting’s first goal came naturally: after a corner there was a tussle in the Gil area and the ball ended up in defender Daniel Carriço’s head. Sporting didn’t really dominate until the 2nd half, when the goal started flooding in: van Wolfswinkel continues his great form (5 goals in 7) with the second, converting a penalty, and after that Diego Capel scored the first goal of his career with his head...and then another one. Bojinov also scored two. Sporting hadn’t scored 6 goals in a match for the league in 7 years. Highlights Porto 5 - 0 Nacional Sporting CP 6 - 1 Gil Vicente Alan scores a beauty Paços 2 - 0 Académica League Table  Everything stayed the same at the top of the table, while at the bottom Guimarães is the “lanterna vermelha” (last placed). News The next round’s games of the Portuguese Cup are known, and the big ones is Sporting CP vs Braga. Porto will play Académica and Benfica will go to 2nd division Naval. André Villas-Boas was in town yesterday to receive the Dragão de Ouro (Porto awards) for Manager of the Year. It wasn’t know if he would show up considering how betrayed Porto and its fans felt when he decided to leave, but he did and was well received. Hulk won Footballer of the Year and João Moutinho won Athlete of the Year (makes no sense but it’s Porto so just roll with it or they’ll send someone to beat you up). Apparently Hulk's new hair is for some kind of advertisement and he was paid 50,000 € to do it. Not worth it imo. 
Mean Bean Machine fucked around with this message at 18:46 on Oct 26, 2011 |
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Oct 26, 2011 02:22
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Ivo Vieira, Nacional's manager, has been fired. Called it. He'll be with the team for the next game and then bugger off.
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Oct 27, 2011 23:51
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GravityDaemon posted:This is a little weird. He knows he's getting fired but he's going to manage another game anyway? Im not sure how you guys do it, but when Italian managers get fired they get fired immediately. No, it's not the norm in Portugal either, especially when they already have the next manager lined up. Also, Sporting are getting paid €600,000 to play the Angola national team (yay) and Porto beat Paços de Ferreira 3-0 (nay)
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Oct 29, 2011 05:42
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Once again Benfica played like poo poo for 70 mins and still managed to get the win, gently caress. I can't believe Olhanense were time-wasting when they were 2-1 down, what a disgrace. At least Sporting's Wilson Eduardo keeps being the best thing about that team, no idea why he was loaned out this season.
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Oct 30, 2011 18:32
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I was complaining about Benfica playing like crap and still winning and then Sporting play even worse against Feirense, I hope this is enough for Domingos to forget playing Matias on the right wing, he's a great player but if the tactic doesn't suit him don't try fitting him in it. Still, 3 points are 3 points, and Braga is left behind.
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Oct 30, 2011 23:28
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This week's jornada update won't be up for a while because the Gil Vicente - Marítimo match was suspended (15 mins left) until tomorrow, because the players couldn't see poo poo with the fog in Barcelos.
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Nov 1, 2011 03:26
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Jornada 9 What should have been a routine win for Porto seemed to be turning into a struggle until the 45th minute when Paços, a team that had been defending well and denying Porto any chances, managed to gently caress it up with Melgarejo scoring an own goal after a teammate tried to clear a ball from the area and managed to hit him, with the ball going in. Porto came back for the 2nd half a lot better, with João Moutinho and Kléber (5 in 8 matches) scoring the other two. Hulk played like poo poo and was replaced at the 60th minute, and instead of sitting at the bench decided to leave directly to the dressing rooms. The mood is shifty at Porto right now, and the loss vs APOEL has Vitór Pereira near the abyss.  Braga met an in-form Académica and was unable to get the win, with both teams playing some crap football. Good result for the students, bad result for Braga who see themselves dropping to 4th.  Benfica looked to have the win in the bag with young starlet and former Bolton loanee Rodrigo scoring two in just 13 minutes, but in a manner that keeps repeating this season Benfica couldn’t keep the foot on the pedal for the 90 minutes and soon lost steam, and Sporting loanee Wilson Eduardo (4 in 9) managed to stick one in, after which both teams seemed content with the result.  In Ivo Vieira’s last match at the helm of Nacional, before being replaced by Pedro Caixinha, Nacional scored first by Mateus, and six minutes later made it 2 by Mario Rondón. They managed the win even though they were playing with 10 men after the 38th minute, at which time Douglas scored one for Beira-Mar. Maybe a resurgence for Nacional?  In a battle for maintenance in the top division, Leiria (helmed by Manuel Cajuda who has promised the team will not be relegated) scored first with a Bruno Moraes penalty, after which Setúbal crumbled and let Djaniny score another.  A match between the bottom two was surprisingly fun although it resulted in an unfair scoreline, consequence of a ridiculous penalty at the end of the game for Guimarães, that reignited talk of referee corruption. Ndiaye scored first for Guimarães, with João Tomás tying the game at the 45th minute. The game was won with a Nuno Assis penalty, and Rio Ave are now bottom of the league.  Feirense are a hard team to break down in their own stadium (ask Porto who only managed a draw), and this looked like the match to break Sporting’s run of 10 wins in 10 matches, as it took a Wolfswinkel penalty (soft, but correct decision) at the 64th minute to put Sporting ahead, with Schaars scoring the 2nd with a nice volley. Wolfswinkel has 6 goals in 8 matches and is, along with Cardozo, the best scorer in the league.  This year’s sensation, Marítimo, could only manage a draw vs Gil Vicente, so they along with Braga lost points and dropped from 3rd. League Table  Benfica and Porto are still ahead, and Sporting are alone at 3rd with Braga and Marítimo losing points. News European week: A bad one for Portuguese football, with Porto losing 2-1 to this year's CL surprise APOEL, making it unlikely they'll go through to the next phase since they need wins vs Shaktar in Ukraine and Zenit. Vitór Pereira might not resist Porto's horrible European journey, especially players like Hulk and Guarin seemingly unhappy. Only slightly better were Benfica who allowed Basel to sneak away with 1 point from Estádio da Luz in a 1-1 match, which means they aren't through to the next phase yet. Sporting took their B team to Romania and saw their 10 wins in 10 matches streak end with a 1-0 defeat to Vaslui. Worse than that was Rinaudo's injury. The best DM in the league will be out for at least 3 months and will miss out on the Benfica match, leaving Sporting weakened for the derby. Braga salvaged Portugal's honor with an easy 5-1 over Maribor. Next week, a Braga - Benfica! That should be fun.
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Nov 5, 2011 03:39
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They played Porto and managed a 2-2 draw in Porto's stadium, thus they are ahead on head to head.
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Nov 5, 2011 03:58
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That might be right, I'm not certain and am too lazy to go research it. I'm just going with the ESPN table, but the official league site gives it to Porto. I'd use their league table, but it's tiny.
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Nov 5, 2011 18:34
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Yeah, he won't last long. Braga - Benfica in a bit, if there's a team right now that can beat Benfica it's Braga so that should be a good match.
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Nov 6, 2011 18:19
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First time I've ever seen that happen, ruined the game a bit but the 2nd half was pretty good. drat Rodrigo, I didn't mention him when I was talking about potential stars because I didn't think he'd last long at Benfica considering they gave him no chances, but 4 goals in 3 games and he might soon steal Cardozo's spot. Braga should have won, they were definitely the most dangerous team but didn't take their chances, oh well, Porto, Benfica and Braga all lost points this weekend, that's great for Sporting, only 1 point from 1st place now. The match vs Benfica on the 26th is gonna be major, I'll definitely be at the stadium for that. edit: Marítimo - Académica was the match of the week for sure, happy those two are doing so well, the journey to Madeira to play Marítimo is going to be brutal for the top teams. Mean Bean Machine fucked around with this message at 02:09 on Nov 7, 2011 |
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Nov 7, 2011 02:07
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Interestingly enough, the Guardian has an article on Porto right now http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/nov/10/what-is-eating-fc-porto. It isn't very good though. It first offers up the explanation that the weakness of the league means Porto aren't used to the stronger CL competition, which is obviously bull since that has never been a deterrent for Porto's European success and ignores the fact that the domestic teams are actually a lot better this year (at this point last season Porto were ahead by 10 points over 2nd place, this year they are level with Benfica and only 1 point ahead of Sporting and 3 of Marítimo; and it's not that Porto were so dominant last season, as they had 28 points and they now have 24 at the exact same point of the league). The author then proceeds to say that explanation probably isn't correct, and doesn't offer any other. Porto were caught by surprise with Villas-Boas leaving, and Vitor Pereira was not 1st choice or even 2nd to succeed him, so I'm sure that had a demoralizing effect on the players. A lot of them thought they were gonna leave in the summer (Moutinho, Hulk, Guarin, Alvaro Pereira) and that insecurity, partnered with the Copa America exhaustion and lack of adaptation to the new coach meant they came in late with their preparation. A lot of these players like Hulk, Moutinho and Alvaro Pereira were fundamental last season and nowadays by their own admission they can't carry the team anymore, especially with Falcao, who scored 35% of the team's goals, gone.
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Nov 11, 2011 03:38
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Portuguese Cup this weekend, big match is Sporting CP - Braga. After that, Benfica - Sporting, couldn't get a ticket yet since the 4000 Benfica gave Sporting were sold out in 6 hours, gonna have to dig up something. The update for the last matchday is late as gently caress but I'll edit this post when it's done.
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Nov 16, 2011 21:28
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Terry started the racism and now it's spreading: Jornada 10  Guimarães continue their revival with a win that gets them out of the drop zone. Edgar got a hat-trick, which means he has 7 in 9 and is the 2nd best scorer in the league, with Bruno Teles and Toscano scoring the other two. Melgarejo made it less of a humiliation for Paços, whose manager Luís Miguel was close to getting sacked after the Paços board had a urgent 2 hour reunion; they are now in the drop zone, in 15th place.  The match of the week had Marítimo, overachievers of the season, against Académica, the perennial relegation contenders who have somehow managed to reach 6th place. The match was even, but Marítimo had man of the match Baba, who scored two, including the winner. If he keeps playing like this he won’t stay at Marítimo for long, and apparently there’s already interest from Porto. Sami also scored for Marítimo, while João Real and Marinho scored for the students. The win meant Marítimo took advantage of Braga’s draw and is now 4th, while Académica dropped to 7th.  It’s officially a crisis for Porto. After their surprising defeat to APOEL in the CL and pressure mounting on Vitór Pereira, the team could only manage a draw with Olhanense with Hulk missing a penalty. The confidence is obviously not there anymore, with several players lacking any of the hunger they had last season. Pereira might not last as manager, and Porto are apparently already looking for a replacement.  Feirense continue their inevitable march to relegation with a loss to Beira-Mar, who are only 3 points ahead of the drop zone. Beira-Mar scored twice in the 1st half by Nildo and Artur, while Feirense dominated the 2nd half but were unlucky to only get one (by Carlos Fonseca), missing a penalty.  Even with new manager Pedro Caixinha, Nacional are still disappointing and will be fighting to stay in the top league. A win for Rio Ave means they get a temporary breath of fresh air, but they too are in danger of relegation. Rio Ave were down to 10 men very early with a red card for Éder in the 10th minute, with Claudemir scoring the penalty to put Nacional ahead; but a comeback was on the cards, with Rio Ave making their chances count in the 2nd half, first by the still-not-an-option-for-the-national-team João Tomás (he’s now the Portuguese player with the most goals, 4 in 8) and Atsu scored the winner, after Nacional too were down to 10 (77th minute).  Mid-table battle, Setúbal and Gil Vicente are 8th and 9th, both with 11 points after this insipid draw.  A fixture that usually gives us good matches, this one was marred with controversy (more in News) with the lights going out in Braga’s stadium three times in the first 45 minutes, not allowing any of the teams to manage any momentum in the 1st half, amongst other stuff (check News). Braga scored first with a Lima penalty, with Benfica equalizing by a Rodrigo deflection at the 72nd minute. A draw was a fair result, but it means Benfica couldn’t take 1st place and Braga saw Marítimo dig on 4th.  An horrible run of injuries for Sporting meant Domingos had to play the 4th and 5th CBs, including 18 year old Tiago Ilory, who unsurprisingly hosed up to gift Leiria the equalizer, with Djaniny grabbing the chance. Two goals from Matías Fernandez and one from Wolfswinkel (7 in 9, only Baba is ahead of him) made it one of the hardest wins for Sporting yet, with Leiria close to getting 1 point from the fixture. Highlights Braga 1 - 1 Benfica Marítimo 3 - 2 Académica Paços de Ferreira 1 - 5 Vitória Guimarães League Table  Braga is now behind Marítimo, Sporting was the big winner of the week taking advantage of Porto and Benfica’s draws and getting within 1 point from the top, Paços and Feirense are the bottom two. News It wouldn’t be a match between two rivals without controversy, especially when the match itself is a drag. It started with the three instances of the lights going out in Braga’s stadium, meaning the 1st half of Braga-Benfica ended up taking 80 minutes. Artur, former Braga player and now Benfica’s GK (and apparently a disloyal gently caress) twitted after the game that “when one plays against Braga you play against the team and their off the field tricks”, clarifying later that he was also talking about there being no water in Benfica’s dressing room (although the Braga players had shown him there was no water in their dressing room either). The next day, Braga players Alan and Djamal announced Benfica’s Javi Garcia had called them niggers during the match, with the Spanish quickly denying it. This has been the talk of the week, but the League hasn’t done anything about it yet, especially with the dumb archaic rules that are in place: if Alan can’t prove there were any racist words, he can get suspended; if there is proof Javi Garcia used racist words, the most that can happen is him being fined.   Marítimo’s president has accused Porto representatives of tapping up players Baba and Danilo Dias and manager Pedro Martins as a potential replacement for Vitór Pereira. Although Porto have denied the accusations, the last time Marítimo accused Porto of such a thing was last season when they said Porto had approached the striker Kléber without authorization. Kléber is now a Porto player. The Benfica – Sporting match on the 26th, the Derby de Lisboa, is getting close, and tensions are starting to flare up. Due to Sporting’s current form, the club asked Benfica to offer up 10.000 tickets to sell to Sporting fans, when the norm is for the visiting club to get at most 4.000 tickets in a rivals clash like this one. Benfica unsurprisingly refused, despite the supposedly good relations between the two clubs currently, with Benfica officials thinking of it as a provocation. On Monday the 4.000 Sporting tickets were sold in 5 hours, and Sporting have asked Benfica for an extra 5.000. No answer yet. Portuguese Cup this weekend, the big game is Sporting vs Braga. Player of the Month - October  1st. Ricky van Wolfswinkel (Sporting CP) 2nd. Diego Capel (Sporting CP) 3rd. Baba (Marítimo) Mean Bean Machine fucked around with this message at 15:34 on Nov 17, 2011 |
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Nov 17, 2011 15:21
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Porto lost 3-0 against Académica and were thrown out of the Portuguese Cup, Vitór Pereira might be fired today.
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Nov 20, 2011 05:07
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Well, Kleber looked like he might be a good replacement but even Walter is scoring more goals than him. If you get 40 million for a striker there's no excuse for spending less than 5m on a non established replacement like Kleber, that was just silly. If Pereira gets fired, who do you think you're going for?
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Nov 20, 2011 05:31
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Pereira stays for now, I think that's for the best, wouldn't make much sense to sack a manager when Porto has an all or nothing match vs Shaktar this week. Here are all the Portuguese Cup results, first division teams in bold: Naval – Benfica, 0-1 Moreirense – Lousada, 7-1 Académica – FC Porto, 3-0 São João Ver - Tirsense, 0-3 Leixões - Santa Maria, 1-0 Juventude Évora - Marítimo, 0-1 Tondela - Oliveirense, 0-1 Belenenses - Vizela, 2-0 Alcochetense - Olhanense, 0-0 (2-4 after pens) Mirandela - Gondomar, 1-1 (6-5 after pens) Rio Ave - Torreense, 1-1 (2-3 aet) Estoril - Penafiel, 1-1 (2-1 aet) Ribeira Brava - Sp. Covilhã, 0-0 (5-4 after pens) Paços Ferreira - Nacional, 2-2 (4-5 after pens) Desp. Aves - V. Guimarães, 0-0 (3-2 nas grandes penalidades) Sporting - SC Braga (L), 2-0 SL Benfica, Sporting CP, Académica, Marítimo, Olhanense and Nacional are through. FC Porto, SC Braga, Rio Ave, Paços de Ferreira and Vitória Guimarães are out. Next week: Major CL matches for Porto and Benfica, and a Benfica - Sporting CP with a FC Porto- Braga as an extra, this is going to be great.
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Nov 21, 2011 07:08
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Benfica - Sporting in 5 hours, Benfica's best CB Luisão might or might not be out, they've been saying he's injured all week but I wouldn't be surprised if he shows up on the field tonight. This is the most confident I've been in a Lisboa derby in 3 years, but Sporting's defense is still crap, hopefully Capel can pull something out of his rear end. Mean Bean Machine fucked around with this message at 16:24 on Nov 26, 2011 |
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Nov 26, 2011 16:21
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Don't forget the Madrid derby at 7 pm, although Real will probably destroy Atlético, I think even Falcao is injured. edit: Also, it's 1-1 in the Madeira derby between Marítimo and Nacional with 10 mins to go, fitting that it would be their biggest rivals that would end Marítimo's winning streak. Mean Bean Machine fucked around with this message at 19:39 on Nov 26, 2011 |
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Nov 26, 2011 18:45
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Well, I'm not as disappointed as I thought I would be if we lost. It was an even match and the fair result would have been a draw, which is more than I can say about the matches vs Benfica and Porto of the last few years. Benfica's only goal came from a set-piece, while Elias managed to waste two great chances in front of the keeper. I have to say, we really missed Rinaudo, Carriço and André Santos are two poo poo DMs, it's embarrassing how they were hyped only because they are Portuguese. quote:I forgot that Onyewu aka Gooch was on sporting, anyway I started watching at the 2nd half and like what I saw. Are the rest of the league like this or was it because it was a derby game? Tomorrow there's a Porto vs Braga and they are two of the top teams of the league, so you can see for yourself; but matches between Porto, Benfica, Braga and Sporting are usually pretty great. I thought the match tonight was actually ruined a bit by the Cardozo red card, but red cards are the norm in these matches.
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Nov 27, 2011 02:51
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We didn't set the fir...wait, yes we did. Jornada 11  Académica’s recent elimination of Porto in the Portuguese Cup had no effect on their league form, where they’re going on 5 matches without a win. Zhang scored the only goal of the match early on for Beira-Mar.  In the Madeira Derby, it was a match between two rivals that have been having very different seasons: the usually strong Nacional have been disappointing all season and are 12th, while Marítimo has been the league’s most pleasant surprise, staying close to the Big Three at the top of the table. None of that matters in a derby though, so even though Marítimo scored first by Baba (9 in 11, he’s the top scorer in the league) they soon saw Ruben Ferreira get a red card for a reckless tackle, and had to play 45 mins with 10 players. Nacional tied it up with a Candeias goal and went ahead in the 89th minute thanks to Mario Rondón; however, Nacional managed to screw it up and gave up a penalty in the final minute of the match, with Héldon making it 2-2. A good result for Marítimo, considering the circumstances.  The big match of the week was the Lisboa Derby, with eternal rivals Benfica and Sporting meeting in the Estádio da Luz. An even match for the first 45 minutes, with both teams getting close to the goal, but it was Benfica that got it with a Javi Garcia header from a corner. Benfica started better in the 2nd half, but a Cardozo red card left them with 10 men and having to defend the result against Sporting, who wasted numerous chances to score.  A match that might end up being essential to the maintenance in the top division of one of these teams, it was Feirense that got the win even while playing for 15 minutes with 10 men. Both goals came in the 1st half, by Diogo Rosado and Hélder Castro.  Gil Vicente are doing well, staying away from the bottom teams, while Cajuda will have to do better if Leiria wants to stay up. Hugo Vieira scored two for Gil, with Luís Leal getting the one for Leiria.  In this battle between the two top Northern teams, it was Porto that got the win to stay 1st in the league despite the recent results. Porto dominated the match with Hulk finally shining in the nº9 role, scoring two (one of them a beauty) and offering up the third for Kléber. However, the team fell asleep near the end and allowed Braga to attempt a comeback, Lima scoring the two goals that gave them hope. If the match had 10 more minutes in it, Braga might have stole 1 point.  Olhanense, despite meager resources, are doing great in the league, but could only get a draw against disappointing Paços who are bottom. A crap first half, the match came alive in the 2nd, with Michel scoring first for Paços and André Pinto making it 1-1.  The two Vitórias met up with Guimarães getting an easy win, their goals coming from Toscano (two) and Edgar, who has 8 in 10. After an horrible start to the season, Guimarães are recovering and are already 8th. Highlights Porto 3 - 2 Braga Benfica 1 - 0 Sporting Nacional 2 - 2 Marítimo League Table  Porto and Benfica separated themselves from the pack. News The Benfica-Sporting controversy didn’t end with the match, with the Sporting vice-president accusing Benfica of mistreating Sporting fans by only allowing them in the stadium half an hour after the match had started and piling them in a space that couldn’t hold all of them. The Sporting president also announced he had a tape of Benfica’s president insulting Sporting officials near the dressing rooms, which he was sending to the League, causing Benfica to say they are “reviewing” their relationship with Sporting. After the match, the Sporting fans still in the stadium started a fire on the stands that needed firemen to be put out.  I just noticed how the thread's tag has become eerily prescient. Mean Bean Machine fucked around with this message at 04:16 on Dec 8, 2011 |
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Dec 4, 2011 18:26
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Mans posted:although since it's Sporting we're talking about they're really likely to poo poo the bed against Maritimo or in the Semi-Finals. In the last 10 years Sporting won 3 Taças de Portugal, Benfica won 1. Marítimo will be hard as gently caress since they'd kill for a trophy, but win that match and I think it'll be smooth sailing from there (gently caress, hope this doesn't bite me in the rear end).
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Dec 7, 2011 03:59
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Aimar is pure class, gotta admit I didn't expect him to take Portugal by storm after floundering in La Liga. Him and Luisão are cunts, but they're really good.
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Dec 17, 2011 03:04
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Baabs posted:I was wondering how Elias was doing for Sporting. I was always a fan of his since he was at Corinthians, too bad Atletico let him go He's done well, immediately became a starter for Sporting and scored a goal in his first game. He controls the game fantastically and rarely misses a pass, so people were a bit surprised that Atlético had benched and then let go a player of this caliber. However, I've noticed he is one of those players that are easily affected mentally by what's going on around him, when he's confident he seems like a world beater but when he isn't he looks content with being invisible in matches. He hasn't done as well as Schaars and Rinaudo, but those two have been our best transfers; and I've been a little frustrated with him in the last matches (missed two certain goals vs Benfica, got a red card vs Académica), but really the whole team has suffered from a recent surge of injuries.
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Dec 22, 2011 06:33
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Well there's the football break and I've been away from the computer, but now that I'm back I don't really think it necessary to continue with the weekly updates, not enough activity/interest in the thread.
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Dec 28, 2011 14:26
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Reviving the thread with some transfer news: Danilo, a great young fullback from Santos has finally joined Porto (Santos had asked to have him another 6 months for a cut in the transfer fee) while Walter, their backup ST has joined Cruzeiro on a loan. That leaves Porto with only Kleber and Hulk as strikers, they need to get another on the market but everyone thought they would do so in the summer and they didn't, so... Genoa's Ribas has joined Sporting on loan with an option to buy, he was needed since Bojinov has proven the flop everyone thought he would be and Wolfswinkel is dropping on form. Don't know much about him, he didn't really get a chance in Serie A so who knows; also joining is Xandão a big young CB from São Paulo on a loan, everyone says he's great but why then was he on the bench? We'll see, but we did need another CB. Also possibly joining Sporting is Dudu Cearense, an ok midfielder from Brazil; and PSV's Labyad, who seems like a great prospect but might only join in the summer while we need some creativity in the attack at the moment.
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Jan 4, 2012 18:59
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Sporting - Porto tonight, I can see us stealing the win honestly, we've been good at home lately.
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Jan 7, 2012 17:38
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That cover is so bad it's good again. Anyway, HT and Sporting are playing well though Porto can score at any time, I do love how Hulk has missed like 3 of his backheel passes and the commentators still jizz every time he touches the ball.
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Jan 7, 2012 22:14
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He's doing really well, a bit slow but has an amazing cross, better than a lot of midfielders around. He has been consistent too, even relegates Capel to the bench sometimes and goes up as as LW and does well there too. One of our better buys. That turned out to be pretty crappy, both teams couldn't finish or hold the ball for poo poo. I like that we can play head to head with Porto now but I don't like potentially being behind Benfica by 8 points. Porto seemed to be pretty happy with the point, even wasting time at the end, the cunts.
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Jan 8, 2012 03:11
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