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31/08/03
Boavista went (provisionally) to the top of the SuperLiga Saturday with a 1-0 win over Vitória de Guimarães. It was a dire game of football, with containment and the accompanying fouls being the
order of the day. Boavista got the result via a penalty ten minutes into the second half when Flávio Meireles handled in the area. The Vitória defender saw a second yellow and Ricardo Sousa
scored from the spot. Vitória coach Ignácio complained about the referee (that he didn't give another penalty for a foul on Fangueiro) and about the ball-boys, who unsportingly took their time to return balls. But neither side, on the football played, deserved to win. There were just 6,000 fans at the Bessa to witness the proceedings, and there is no reason to suppose that any more will be atteacted to the next game if all they can expect is the stuff on show this evening.
Earlier in the evening, Sporting Braga did deserve their 2-0 win at Moreirense. Paulo Sérgio
got the first in the first minute of the game, flicking in a ball dropped by ´keeper João, and full-back Jorge Luíz
got the second ten minutes into the second half. On the day that he learned that he had been re-called to the Portuguese national squad, Braga's ´keeper Quim was sent off in the dying minutes for dangerous play.
30/08/03
The opening game of Day 3 of the SuperLiga was postponed Friday. The floodlights at Gil Vicente's Estádio Adelino Ribeiro Novo failed before the game against Paços de Ferreira
. It will be played on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the game between Belenenses and Estrela da Amadora, called off on the first day, has been re-scheduled for September 7th.
26/08/03
Boavista got their first win of the season Monday by beating Beira-Mar away 2-0. Ricardo Sousa, previously of Beira-Mar and son of their coach, was the hero of the victory with a goal on
35 minutes and a corner which Ricardo Silva headed home on 42.
FC Porto lost their first points at the weekend in a 1-1 draw at newly promoted Estrela da Amadora. Benni McCarthy put FCP in front on the hour but Júlio César
equalised ten minutes later.
Benfica dispatched theoretically tricky Vitoria de Guimaraes 2-0. Zahovic put the Eagles in front just before the break with a penalty, and Hungarian striker Feher
settled it on the counter attack ten minutes from time.
Sporting found the goal four times against Belenenses through Rochemback, Lourenço and Toñito (2), but the visitors managed to pull back twice with goals from Sousa and
Leonardo.
In other games at the weekend, Dário scored twice to give Académica a good win at Uniao de Leiria. Dutch centre-back Van der Gaag got the only goal to give Marítimo the points at
18/08/03
A not-particularly-impressive FC Porto got off to a good start in the defence of their title Sunday with a 2-0 win over difficult Sporting Braga. Benni McCarthy
got the first on 23 minutes, following up a Nuno Valente free-kick that ´keeper Quim couldn't hold. Ten minutes from time, Derlei
took a long pass from sub Jankauskas, strode on and crashed the ball home for the final score.
Earlier just across town, Boavista and Benfica had slogged out a battle of a game to no avail: no-goals and the spoils shared, Boavista winning 5-3 on yellow cards ... (See match reports)
Newly promoted Alverca had a great start, beating Gil Vicente 1-0 away. Rodolfo Lima got the only goal on 50 minutes after Gil 'keeper Paulo Jorge had cleared badly.
Madeiran side Nacional also got three points at home to Paços de Ferreira thanks to a goal after two mniutes from Rossato, a direct red for Paços' Pedrinha on 36 and a clincher twenty minutes
from time by Serginho.
Neighbours Marítimo also won, but by a single goal at home to Beira-Mar, a penalty from last year´s top scorer for the club, the Brazilian Gaúcho. The penalty was for a foul on Kenedy, returning
after a long suspension for failing a drugs test at the 2002 World Cup.
Moreirense won by the same score at home to newly-promoted Rio Ave. Lito got the only goal ten minutes from time, taking advantage of a bad back-pass by Valente.
17/08/03
Sporting scraped a 2-1 win over lively Académica Saturday to chalk up their first three points of the season. Académica were in front on 52 minutes, Dionattan
knocking home a cross from the left by Dário. Sporting never said die, however, and came back with a bundled close-range goal from Lourenço after Silva had headed against the bar, and captain Beto
got the winner inside added time at the end of the game, chesting down a Tello corner at the back post and lashing the ball into the roof of the net.
16/08/03
Friday has been a day for all those involved in the first caso of the season (the sudden suspension of all games involving Estrela da Amadora and Naval) to deny responsibility for events.
Belenenses, who were to have played Estrela in the opening game of the SuperLiga Friday, have asked for all SuperLiga games to be suspended while a decision is taken on the Estrela/Naval
question (see below).
The prices for what has become the opening game of the season, Académica against Sporting, are sure to come in for a lot of criticism. The cheapest seat for travelling fans is a whopping 60 euros ...
behind the goal. The Académica administration explain away the price hike by saying that if the Liga had allowed the switch of games (away to Sporting Day 1, home to Sporting Day 18 - when the 30,000-seater Coimbra municipal stadium would be available), then there wouldn't have been a need to hike the prices. The game will be played in the 7,500-seater stadium at
Taveiro - borrowed while the Coimbra Municipal Stadium is being finished.
15/08/03
The SuperLiga match between Belenenses and Estrela da Amadora, set to kick off the new season Friday, has been postponed. All matches involving Estrela in the SuperLiga have been suspended, as have those of
Naval in the Liga de Honra (second division). Naval protested that their last game of the season in the then-called Segunda Divisão, against already promoted Rio Ave, was not the regulation 90
minutes due to a pitch invasion by Rio Ave fans. The 'result' of the game was 0-0, while Estrela won 3-2 at Portimonense. If Naval had won, they would have been promoted in place of Estrela. Two months later, and on
the eve of the new season, comes the decision of the Liga, based on a directive by the Council of Justice of the Portuguese Football Federation.
09/08/03
Académica are asking to postpone their home game with Benifica
from the end of August to the end of October so as to take advbantage of the new 30,000-seater Municipal Stadium which is being built in Coimbra (for EURO 2004) and will be ready by then.
02/08/03
The Liga voted in General Assembly Friday to reduce the number of clubs in the Superliga and Divisão de Honra to 16
(from the current 18). The change will take effect as from the 2005/06 season.
29/07/03
Académica want to rearrange their opening home game against Sporting. As their stadium is still under construction for EURO 2004, Académica originally wanted to simply swap the order of the ir games
with Sporting - a tremendous crowd-puller - and play the away game (at Sporting) first. The Liga did not allow this. Now Académica are considering the idea of postponing the home game against Sporting until their stadium is finished. If this is not possible, they will have to play the game in the municipal stadium at nearby Taveiro, with a much reduced capacity.
18/07/03
Referees will be allocated directly to SuperLiga
games next season. This is in contrast to the random draw of the last couple of seasons, very unpopular, especially with the big clubs, who believed that they would sometimes have a referee who was not up to the job.
The Liga also ruled a ceiling on the price of tickets: 60 euros (£40) for SuperLiga games, with the minimum price being 5 euros. Prices in the Divisão de Honra (Second Division) are 30
and two.
16/07/03
The draw took place in the Estoril casino near Lisbon Tuesday for the season 2003/2004 fixtures. The first day's highlight is a clash between Boavista and Benfica. The first day:
Marítimo-Beira Mar
Moreirense-Rio Ave
V. Guimarães-União de Leiria
Nacional-Paços de Ferreira
Académica-Sporting
Gil Vicente-Alverca
Belenenses-Estrela da Amadora
Boavista-Benfica
F. C. Porto-Sporting de Braga
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