footballportugal

19/09/02

Sporting 1-3 Partizan (UEFA CUP First Round, first leg)

Sporting: Tiago, Hugo, Beto, Quiroga, César Prates (Danny), Paulo Bento, Rui Jorge (Tello), Pedro Barbosa (Ronaldo), Toñito, Quaresma, Niculae

Partizan: Radakovic, Ognjanovic, Savic, Bajic, Miskovic, Duljaj, Trobok, Ilic (Rusmir), Iliev (Cakar), Vukic, Delibasic (Stojanoski)

Man of the Match: Vukic (Partizan)

It was a wet night, after a series of wet days; there's a crisis; and Sporting lost 0-4 at the weekend. No more reasons needed to explain away the meagre 12,000 crowd for this UEFA Cup game, except perhaps that Partizan are not the biggest draw on the UEFA circuit either. Those Sporting fans who stayed away missed a treat for the eyes, however, and it didn't come from their own team.

Alvalade is looking a bit threadbare these days. Almost a quarter of the ground is now stripped of seats, awaiting demolition to make way for the new stadium that's already peeking over the West Stand. Sporting's three main fan claques, Juventude Leonina, Torcida Verde and Directivo Ultras XXI have had to move behind the same goal. Juve Leo had a special giant banner, in Serbo-Croat, for the Partizan contingent: "The NATO bombs did not destroy our friendship. Welcome to our home." In the event, both teams took them at their word: Sporting were terribly accommodating, and Partizan made themselves comfy from the off.

However much it might be argued that they played on Sporting's inadequacies, this was a superb Partizan side. They did not come to Alvalade to defend, and even when they were 3-1 up and might have been expected to take their foot off the gas, they had at least five men forward for their vicious counter-attacks. Their game was full of lucid fighting spirit, organised, cohesive, at times inspired, with split-second one-touch passing and the finding of spaces where none apparently existed. All of the things, in fact, that Sporting lacked on the night, and indeed lacked at the weekend.

Defenders of Sporting's failings  have pointed to the exit at the end of last season of influential players like André Cruz, Phil Babb and Hugo Viana, and the forced absences, for different reasons, of João Pinto and Mário Jardel. But even allowing something for this, their perfomance against Partizan was very, very weak. The three-man defence of Hugo, Beto and Quiroga had all sorts of trouble dealing with the likes of Delibasic, Iliev and the superb Vukic. The midfield was in the pocket of the also superb Ilic, who ran things for Partizan, and when Sporting had the ball and were looking for openings, they either didn't exist or Partizan had eight or nine men behind the ball and had closed down the spaces.

Players who might, on another occasion, have unlocked the puzzle were off song: PedroBarbosa, a shadow of his occasionally thrilling self, Ricardo Quaresma, too interested in showing off his little shimmies to be effective, striker Niculae, a prisoner of the Partizan blockade and forced to come ever deeper, and Toñito, who scored Sporting's goal but missed a handful of sitters.

Sporting President Dias da Cunha cited bad luck as one of the main factors in the defeat. There was something to this for the first Partizan goal on 12 minutes, a corner by Vukic deflected by Hugo past his own keeper. Full credit to Sporting; they came back pluckily and equalised on 25, Paulo Bento putting a long ball through to Spanish forward Toñito who had the nerve to pick his spot and plant the ball past Radakovic.

Sporting fans sensed a turnaround, but the feeling didn't last long. Ten minutes later, Partizan were back in front with a typically venomous counter-attack that had Trobok breaking down the right, making no fuss of his crisp cross in (take note Quaresma!) and Delibasic beating Hugo to the ball to hit it past Tiago. Sporting had a good chance to restore equality on the stroke of half-time, but Toñito could only glance his header wide from Perdo Barbosa's cross.

It was already looking dismal for Sporting, with Partizan scoring two away goals, but they might have hoped to be able to have a go at them now. No such luck; Partizan were there to run up a cricket score if possible, and in the second half that looked on the cards as they continued with their modern, crisp, thoughtful football. Sporting's best chances came from dead ball situations, but even then they couldn't quite get it right; within a ten minute period, César Prates and Beto (twice) from the same spot to the left of goal lifted their free-kicks over.

It was Partizan, still coming forward, who looked the most likely to score from open play, and so they did on 80 minutes. Miskovic made room for himself near the goal-line on the left and crossed for Iliev once again to be faster than the Sporting defenders and knock the ball home.

It was the signal for the Sporting fans to stream out of the ground, wet and deflated. But there were enough left at the end to give their team a sound booing as they left the field. In May there were hundreds of thousands on the streets of Lisbon to celebrate their title. How times have changed.

13/09/02

Académica 0-1 Boavista (SuperLiga, Day 3)

Académica: Pedro Roma, Nuno Luís, Raúl Oliveira, Tonel, Tixier, Binho (Marinescu), Lucas, André, Roberto, Valeri (Marcelo), Dário

Boavista: Ricardo, Rui Oscar, Saúl, Jorge Silva, Erwin, Ico, Ávalos, José Pedro (Pedro Santos), Bosingwa, Cafú (Duda), Silva (Martelinho)

Man of the Match: Ricardo (Boavista)

Boavista needed a victory Friday. Even though there have only been three games in the new season, the team had been playing so badly, and results had been so poor in the Liga (a draw at Setúbal, a home defeat to FC Porto) that it had become a psycholigical imperative to win at Académica, who were also in dire need of a result after two defeats in their first season up after promotion.

The fact is that Boavista did indeed get the three points, but coach Jaime Pacheco will not be entirely convinced, and nor will Boavista supporters. It was a game where what some might call a freak goal, after less than a minute, was enough to seal the victory for the team from Porto.

Within the first minute, the always lively Bosingwa had been brought down to the right of the Académica goal. The young Portuguese U-21 international took the kick himself and curled it perfectly towards the back post for Silva, whose strength beat the local defenders and he headed in.

Stronger teams might have wanted to build on this early advantage, but this season's Boavista don't look that strong. As in earlier games, they don't seem to have much connected play, possibly missing the influence of injured playmaker Erwin Sanchez. Indeed, Académica did not let the early goal shake them and came back confidently. After just four minutes, they were within a whisker of drawing level when a firmly struck cross by Lucas from the right was intercepted by Boavista's captain Jorge Silva, but he could only deflect it onto Ricardo's bar.

After 19 minutes it was almost the same scenario as Lucas crossed again and Jorge Silva intercepted, this time deflecting the ball against the near post. Académica were looking the more dangerous side, and their captain, impressive Mozambiquean striker Dário, came close when he was put through by Valeri on 29 minutes, but his low shot was held safely by Ricardo.

The second half began in the same way, with Académica looking the more likely to score. A quarter of an hour in, André and Ricardo produced the best moment of the night: the Académica midfielder cut inside on the right and unleashed an seemingly unstoppable shot that was looping towards the top right-hand corner of Ricardo's goal, but the Portuguese international somehow rose, swivelled and tipped the ball over.

The miss knocked the stuffing out of Académica and appeared to wake Boavista up a little, the best chances falling to them in the rest of  the second half: on 66 minutes, Pedro Roma pushed a shot round the near post after substitute Duda had been put through by fellow substitute Pedro Santos; On 79, Bosingwa took another free from the right, but Duda glanced his header wide; and five minutes from time, Duda again cut in from the left and poked a shot just the wrong side of the near post.

Académica are looking a useful side but are not getting the breaks, and this was their third goal-less defeat in three games. They got the ball in the net in the second half through Dário, but it was rightly disallowed for off-side. As for Boavista, well, this was a slight improvement on their last performance against Porto, but they will still have to lift it a couple of notches higher if they are to challenge for this year's title.

02/09/02

Boavista 0-1 FC Porto (SuperLiga, Day 2)

Boavista: Ricardo, Bosingwa, Paulo Turra (Martelinho), Éder, Mário Loja, Jorge Silva, Ico, Pedro Santos (Goulart), Jorge Couto (Cafú), Duda, Luíz Cláudio

FC Porto: Nuno, Secretário, Pedro Emanuel, Jorge Costa, Nuno Valente, Costinha, Paulo Ferreira, Maniche (Tiago), Deco (Ricardo Carvalho), Derlei, Jankauskas (Hélder Postiga)

Man of the Match: Deco (FC Porto)

It seemed that Boavista went into this game with blood on their mind and a rush of blood to the head. For just about the whole of the first half they created next to nothing in terms of constructive football, preferring instead to try to knock the stuffing out of their local rivals: by minute 25, the fouls-committed tally was 15-1 to Boavista. By the end of the game, the home side's foul count was into the forties. It would be fair, then, to suggest that on the night, a team, which on paper has enough flair to beat the best if they concentrate on the ball and building play, was its own worst enemy.

For the first half, FC Porto were the diametric opposite, finding spaces and combinations when not hacked down, and in Deco they had a playmaker of great vision and skill. It is indicative of his influence on this Porto side that as he tired and disappeared from the game during the second half, so their play became fuzzier and Boavista began to turn the tide, in terms of pressure at least, if not of inspiration.

He was the focus for most of the dangerous moments created by Porto in that first half. On 22, he singlehandedly launched a counter attack that had 'goal' written all over it ... until he passed to Derlei, whose cross went wildly out of play. Then a minute later, the nearest Porto had come to a goal: Paul Ferreira crossed from the right and Deco beat Ricardo to the ball, but his header went narrowly wide. On the half hour, one of his specialist inswinging corners almost crept in at the near post, with Ricardo in trouble.

Then into added time, the goal: the inevitable Deco it was who fired in a low, swinging free kick from 25 metres. Ricardo got down well to it but could only push it away to the right of the goal. Jorge Costa was sharper than any of the Boavista defenders and latched on to it, turning and crossing for Costinha to steam in, beat Jorge Silva to the ball and head past Ricardo. Boavista were shocked into action and produced, incredibly, their first really objective attack of the half, with Bosingwa, their best player, crossing from the right to the far post for Éder to head against the woodwork. Porto cleared their lines and the danger had passed.

The second half was much the same story as the first, although Boavista managed to reverse the roles slightly, as was no more than their duty in front of their own crowd. They were managing to construct some fairly dangerous moves down the right, with Duda and Bosingwa working well together, but when the ball got anywhere near the Porto goal, young Nuno, replacing Baía and making his début, was impeccable tidying up, as was former Boavista central defender Pedro Emanuel - how Boavista miss him!

Porto appeared to be easing up and defending the result, but there was always the danger that Boavista, however ineffectual, could sneak something. On 65, in fact, they had a double penalty appeal turned down for an alleged foul by Jorge Costa and a handball by Pedro Emanuel. But it was a night for Boavista to make their own luck and not wait for refereeing decisions. They didn't, and lady luck was having nothing to do with them on 74 when Duda swung in a cross that beat all the defenders but that Goulart saw too late and headed wide.

That was the last real chance of the game, but there was still time for a lot of niggling fouls and more: three minutes into added time, Derlei and Éder were sent off for fighting in the Boavista penalty area after Deco had put a black mark against his own name for a nasty foul on Bosingwa.

Boavista had let their hearts rule their heads and neglected their best option to win this match, with the (legal) pressing and passing game that won them the title just the season before last. On the strength of what they showed in this game, and against Vitória de Setúbal on the opening day (1-1) they can do no more than hope for a mid-table place. FC Porto shone in patches, and with Deco fit and in form, they can play some excellent football. Coach José Mourinho will be worried, however, with the way they let a markedly inferior Boavista back into the game here.

01/09/02

Sporting 2-1 Santa Clara (SuperLiga, Day 2)

Sporting: Tiago, Beto, Quiroga, Contreras, Rui Jorge, Paulo Bento, Ricardo Fernandes, Pedro Barbosa (César Prates), Quaresma (Rui Bento), Kutusov (Toñito), Niculae

Santa Clara: Jorge Silva, Lito, Aldo, Sérgio Nunes, Pedro Henriques, Sandro (Vítor Vieira), Paiva, Vouzela (Miner), Figueiredo (Bruno Ribeiro), João Pedro, Ceará

Man of the Match: Ceará (Santa Clara)

Sporting had terrible trouble getting their act together against a very organised  Santa Clara. In fact, at times it was difficult to tell who were the Portuguese Champions and which was the team whose season's ambition it is to avoid the drop. With the exception of a purple patch towards the end of the first half, Sporting were woeful; Santa Clara were more aggressive, almost always first to the ball, and the number of misplaced passes from Sporting, especially by the back three, was bordering on the embarrassing.

From the off, it seemed that former Sporting coach Manuel Fernandes had done his homework while Laszlo Bölöni had not. The Sporting coach had planned for three central defenders plus left wing-half Rui Jorge as fireman, but Santa Clara played with the excellent, strong, mobile Ceará more or less alone up front, helped wide by João Pedro. It was the former Salgueiros player who provided the first scare of the game as early as the second minute, almost reaching a through ball but just having it tipped off his feet by a desperate Tiago. A minute later, full-back Pedro Henriques shot a free-kick just wide. And on five minutes, Vouzela got to the line and cut back for Tiago to cut out with difficulty.

The first quarter of an hour finished with Sandro going on a long run from deep, through a permissive Sporting midfield but shooting too soon, allowing Tiago to save easily. This was illustrative of Santa Clara's main problem: lack of coolness with the final ball or shot.

Sporting finally started to wake up. Quiroga headed goalwards on 17, but Sandro headed off the line. A minute later Pedro Barbosa came close with another header. Then on 20, Kutosov and Niculae played a one-two with the Romanian shooting well and Jorge Silva saving solidly. Niculae was dangerous again on the half-hour, shooting after good work by Quaresma but the inevitable Jorge Silva saving. Yet again, the Romanian striker, five minutes from half-time, shot on the swivel but this time over. Finally, two minutes from the break, Sporting got what they just about deserved from their pressure in the last part of the first half. Beto, who is becoming something of a specialist, curled in a free-kick from 25 metres out.

Five minutes into the second period, Santa Clara were given something to grab onto. Ceará passed two defender wide on the left and cut into the penalty area. Quiroga, who, unusually, had a stinker throughout, bundled him over, and João Pedro gave Tiago no chance with a perfect penalty into the top left-hand corner. The half was becoming a mirror image of the first half, with Santa Clara once again much sharper and quicker in midfield, but found wanting with the crucial final pass. Then on 15 minutes, Quaresma dribbled into the penalty area inviting a touch. Sandro obliged and Pedro Barbosa saved a weak performance with a neat goal from the spot.

This was the cue for Bölöni to shut up shop, much to the displeasure of the 20,000 fans at Alvalade. He brought on Rui Bento (a defensive midfielder)  to replace the popular Quaresma and Sporting invited Santa Clara to come at them. They did, but once again, too oftten the final ball was poor, and by this stage tired legs couldn't connect with through balls, João Pedro in particular guilty of failing to latch onto some good passes. But the last quarter of an hour was all Santa Clara. Bruno Ribeiro tested Tiago with a 30-metre drive on 33 minutes, the Azores side claimed a penalty for handball by Ricardo Fenandes on the stroke of time, and a Pedro Henriques cross from the left three minutes into added time was met by João Pedro with a great chance to score, but he blasted over from five metres.

Sporting were booed off the pitch at the end. They got the result, but the manner of them getting it is not what Sportinguistas want and expect. Bölöni has three weeks before the next home game, against Varzim, to work on the simple things, like passing, pressing and a return to last season's dynamism, almost completely lacking this evening. Santa Clara, on the other hand, can look to the future with some hope after a globally impressive display, but for a certain lack of incisiveness near goal.