The Portugeezer : Nacional

Porto set early pace as rivals struggle

Sergio Santos — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 11:19:00 GMT

In a second round of fixtures with very few goals – an embarrassing total of 10 – there were a few interesting results.

Benfica went to Nacional to redeem themselves after their shocking home collapse in the opening round, but left Madeira with another 2-1 defeat.

The Eagles now have the same number of losses they had last season. Roberto was once again one the culprits as stated in my previous post, but credit should not be taken from the resilient Islanders.

Nacional played very positively with a rather dynamic midfield trio. Luiz Alberto looked like Yaya Touré bossing the engine room, while Rene Mihelic and Diego Barcellos provided the creative spark behind their attacking threat.

Despite Benfica never really being in control of the match, the first half was a fairly evenly matched contest. After the break though, Nacional improved and scored through Luiz Alberto and Orlando Sá. Carlos Martins would score a late consolation goal for the visitors, but it was too late to salvage a draw.

Porto continue to quietly flex their muscles in the early stages of the championship. They entertained recently promoted Beira-Mar at home and strolled to an easy 3-0 victory.

Colombian predator Radamel Falcao netted a brace to move top of the League goalscoring charts, with Argentinean playmaker Fernando Belluschi scoring the other goal from a stunning free-kick.

Falcao moved top of the goalscoring charts

Without even pushing too hard, the Dragons ooze confidence and have already seen their three title rivals drop points. A dream start for young André Villas-Boas who could barely be in a better position to manage his players.

Sporting were made to sweat by Marítimo before clinching their first three points of the season. The Lions – who were exposed at home in the Europa League match against Danish side Brondby – wanted to change their fortunes in front of their own supporters and Paulo Sergio switch to a 4-3-3 formation with a midfield trio of Maniche, André Santos and Spaniard Zapater.

Upfront, Sérgio decided to field quicksilver Djaló and flamboyant Vukcevic alongside Liédson, but the first half the match was even with opportunities for both teams.
The Lions seemed more determined to win after the break, but they would only claim their victory in the 89th minute when Liédson was tripped in the box. Chilean playmaker Matias Fernández made no mistake and gave the team an invaluable morale-boosting result.

The match was marred though by an incident involving Joao Pereira. The Sporting right-back sustained a skull fracture after accidently clashing with teammate Rui Patricio. He was rushed to the hospital shortly after, but Sporting doctors already said he’s recovering well.

Goal of the round

Fernando Belluschi struck an amazing free-kick that gave Beira-Mar keeper no chance and virtually killed off the match. The former Olympiacos midfielder has grown since last year and looks a more comfortable player on the pitch. He had scored a good goal against Genk and will be please to be on the scoresheet once again.

Talking points

On the 1st of August, Benfica manager Jorge Jesus said that it would be very difficult to stop this Benfica side. Three weeks later and that bold prophecy was confirmed in a way; the only thing he didn’t expect was that it would actually be very difficult to stop them losing.

Benfica are currently struggling and Roberto is the laughing stock of Portuguese football, but it is Rui Costa and Jorge Jesus who have every reason to feel responsible.
They failed to do their homework in the summer and are now left with one week to do the one thing they were neglected to do over the past three months: sign the right players for a reasonable price.

With the dream of reaching the group stages of the Champions League so near, Braga decided to make a few changes in the starting XI – resting Alan, Paulo César, Rodríguez and Vandinho – and were unlucky not to get away with more than a goalless draw. Even though they went to Setúbal to win, their minds were a little further south - in Sevilla, to be accurate.

The match against the Spanish side will be one of, if not the most important match of their history and everyone will give the proverbial 110% to achieve what could very well be one of European football’s biggest giant killings in recent history.

Now that Sevilla have sold Frenchman Sebastien Squillaci to Arsenal, it may be a good time to use the pace of attacking trio Matheus, Alan and Paulo César to wreak havoc in their backline.

It will be a very entertaining match and one every football lover should tune in.

Good luck for the Arsenalistas and may their dream run continue!

ROUND 2 RESULTS Fri Aug 20 Académica 1-1 Olhanense Sat Aug 21 Nacional 2-1 Benfica, Vitória Setúbal 0-0 Braga Sun Aug 22: Porto 3-0 Beira-Mar, Leiria 0-0 Paços Ferreira, Sporting 1-0 Marítimo, Portimonense 0-1 Naval Mon Aug 23 Vitória Guimarães 0-0 Rio Ave.

FourFourTwo.com: More to read...
Portugal: News * Stats * The Portugeezer
FFT.com: Features * News * Interviews * Home
Interact: Twitter * Facebook * Forums

Lisbon neighbours off to a bad start

Sergio Santos — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:18:00 GMT

The 2010/11 season may have just started but its opening weekend already offered a few surprises. There were four away successes, but the highlights of the round were defeats for both Benfica and Sporting.

Braga were the first team to play and they looked as solid as last season. Granted, it was against new boys Portimonense, but they have done well in the transfer market and they seem to have kept their dominant attitude to matches.

Thumbs up to Matheus for breaking the deadlock and being a threat throughout the match and to signing Leandro Salino for scoring a goal on his debut.

Porto had to fight harder than they had thought to seal a late 0-1 victory at Naval. The Dragons produced a relatively average first half, but improved after the break with the introduction of Columbian midfielder Freddy Guarín.

Unlike the match against Benfica where Varela was on fire, this time it was Hulk who upped his game a notch, creating some opportunities and scoring the 84th minute penalty that won the game.

Sporting and Benfica were dealt an early blow in their title quest as they were both deservingly beaten.

Playing at Mata Real is never easy and the home side, Paços de Ferreira, proved once again why. Relying on their never-say-die attitude and young talent David Simão and Caeteno, the team known as ‘the Beavers’ showed no fear of going forward and were eventually rewarded in the second half with a goal from Venezuelan striker Rondon.

Sporting had enough opportunities to at least claim a draw, but their forwards must have worn the wrong boots and the closest they came was hitting the bar through Helder Postiga.

The biggest upset of the weekend however was Académica 1-2 win at Estádio da Luz. The Eagles were determined to start their title defence in style, but were dismantled by an organized and resilient side who had studied their lesson at home.

If Benfica were a major threat from dead balls last year, this year they seem to fear them and it is probably due to lack of trust in goalkeeper Roberto.

It was therefore no surprise when Académica scored from a free-kick in the first half. New boy Franco Jara – who once again came off the bench – scored an equalizer, but despite playing against 10 men, Benfica would concede a second goal in the last minute and raise early question marks as to whether they’ll be able to reproduce last year’s levels of performance.

Goal of the round

It’s always better to start in style, right? Here’s the situation: Benfica, current title holders, are playing at home in front of 49,000 supporters and at 1-1 they’re pushing for a victory in the dying minutes. Substitute Laionel then decides to hit a wonder strike to silence an entire stadium and give the Students a famous victory. Cloud number nine for Academica and the 24-year old Brazilian striker!

Talking points

Sporting need to sort out their problems upfront; if the Lions possessed someone with half Liedson’s goalscoring prowess, they would have claimed another result. The Brazilian-turned-Portuguese striker is not getting any younger, and both Yannick Djalo and Postiga couldn’t hit the ground if they fell off a ladder.

That issue can be minimized with someone like Simon Vukcevic. There are not many players like the Montenegrin in the Portuguese League and while he may have a short temperament he also seems to be an ugly duckling type of figure at the club. His talent alone would justify his presence on the starting XI and the reason to include Jaime Valdes ahead of him is unknown to the Portugeezer

Benfica manager Jorge Jesus bemoaned bad luck for the home loss, but shouldn’t he just admit he made some mistakes? The Portugeezer admires his man crush on Cesar Peixoto, but including him on the starting XI won’t take him far. Peixoto is a utility man, a squad player to be mostly used as a sub.

The ‘new’ 4-3-3 formation is not the problem: the problem is not having the right players for such formation; Peixoto is not a winger, Saviola cannot open up defences if pushed to the wings and Amorim cannot link-up with the frontline like Ramires used to do!

There is a surplus of players in certain positions and a deficit in others, which certainly doesn’t bode well for the Eagles. With two weeks before the transfer window closes, can the Eagles find the missing piece(s) in their jigsaw?

RESULTS Fri Aug 13 Braga 3-1 Portimonense; Sat Aug 14 Marítimo 0-1 Vitória Setúbal, Naval 0-1 Porto, Paços Ferreira 1-0 Sporting; Sun Aug 15 Rio Ave 0-1 Nacional, Beira-Mar 0-0 Leiria, Benfica 1-2 Académica; Mon Aug 16 Olhanense 0-0 Vitória Guimarães.

Porto starting new season on a high

Sergio Santos — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 10:46:00 GMT

Enough of pre-season matches and never-ending debates on whether this or that team is stronger than last year. The start of the ‘exciting-at-times’ Liga Zon Sagres is upon us, so it’s finally time to get down to the real business - predictions!

Despite the imminent start of the new league season, the Portuguese media are currently more interested in Manchester United forking out €9 million for yet another youngster from Portugal.

Having previously signed much-heralded starlets such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani and Anderson, the Red Devils this time went one further and picked up a virtual unknown.

Tiago Correia – commonly known as Bebé, which, perhaps predictably, means 'baby' in Portuguese – had only moved to Vitoria Guimaraes five weeks before on a free transfer. That’s ridiculously speedy rise through the game is quite a fitting for a boy who once lived on the streets and represented Portugal in the Homeless World Cup just two years ago.

Congratulations and good luck to him, but we’ll analyze this deal in more depth at a later stage, because right now we have a new season starting!

Braga v Portimonense

New boys Portimonense would have wished for an easier start than a visit to in-form Braga. The Algarvian side are arguably one of the weakest teams of the competition and will take some time to settle into top flight. Braga has too much experience and firepower to let this one slip away. Braga stroll to easy win.

Marítimo v Setúbal

Mitchell Van der Gaag has done remarkably well at Maritimo as a manager, and judging by how his side have played in pre-season and in the Europa League qualifying stages, they seem capable of emulating last season results. Setubal, on the other hand, have lost key men Helder Barbosa and Keita over the summer, and therefore might lack some quality upfront. Home win.

Naval v Porto

The Dragons start their domestic campaign on a high after a morale-boosting victory against arch-rivals Benfica and, quite frankly, they should have no problems beating Naval. Watch out for a good old battering and for new Porto coach André Villas-Boas‘ honeymoon period to continue. Definitely a Porto win.

Paços de Ferreira v Sporting

Mata Real (Paços de Ferreira stadium) is traditionally a tricky turf for any side, and Paulo Sérgio’s men will have to prove they are up for the task. Last year, the Lions were held to a goalless draw and there’s no reason to believe the change in direction promoted by Costinha and Bettencourt has yet to inject the necessary spark. A 1-1 draw in what will be the first of many tests for this enigmatic Sporting side.

Rio Ave v Nacional

Carlos Brito – the perennial Rio Ave manager – has conducted some quite shrewd business this summer. Bringing in the likes of Fábio Felicio, Tiago Pinto, Bruno China, Braga and Joao Tomas has increased both the depth and the quality of the squad. Considering how consistent they are at home, they’ll beat a Nacional side that will need to prove they can be as hard to beat without their former coach, Manuel Machado. Narrow home win.

Beira-Mar v Uniao de Leiria

Newcomers Beira-Mar host Leiria and the sheer excitement of playing the first match of the season at home will give them an extra edge. The Portugeezer sees some goals in this match, but it ultimately ending in an entertaining draw.

Benfica v Académica

The Eagles will have to show something different if they want to woo their supporters. An almost packed Estádio da Luz will give the players some extra motivation, although they shouldn’t really need it as they have more than enough quality to see off the Students. Comfortable win for Benfica.

Olhanense v Guimaraes

Guimaraes lost a few important players such as Desmarets and Andrezinho and will travel to the south of the country to face Olhanense, who have managed to make some interesting additions to their squad. The ‘home factor’ could play a key role here and the Algarvian side will manage to get their first three points of the season. Narrow home win.

What do you think? Do you expect any surprises in the opening day?

FourFourTwo.com: More to read...
Portugal: News * Stats * The Portugeezer
FFT.com: Blogs * News * Interviews * Home
Join in: Twitter * Facebook * Forums