A Happy Saint Martinho’s day podcast! We have no idea who Martinho was, but we’re happy to eat copious amounts of roasted chestnuts washed down with Água Pé (”Foot Water”) in his honour.
Probably drinking one glass too many as we speak is Paulo Bento, who doesn’t have to wake up for work tomorrow after resigning from his job as manager of Sporting Clube de Portugal last Friday. His exit did little to give his team the kick up the a*** they require and it was business as usual away to Rio Ave where they had to settle for a point after throwing away a two goal lead. Braga also dropped points this weekend, losing their first game of the season away to Guimarães in the Minho derby. Finally in part 1, Porto lose away to an impressive Marítimo.
In the second part of the podcast we talk about Paços’ impressive victory against Belenenses and Leixões’ mad game against Nacional in which the referee had a crisis of confidence and then some. Finally, the plaudits come rolling in again for Benfica, who were involved in one of the most entertaining games of the season in their tension filled, last-minute 1-0 win over Naval.
Finally, in part 3 we focus on the upcoming World Cup play-off between Portugal and Bosnia-Herzegovina. There will be no Cristaino Ronaldo, who has a dodgy ankle, meaning that hopes are not as high as they once were.
Because of the international games we’ll have a break next week and will be back in two weeks’ time for a Selecção/Taça round up.
Thanks for listening,
Steve and Phil
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Martinho is St. Martin of Tours. Not only is he one of Europe’s more famous saints, he’s the patron saint of wine/winemakers!
Great podcast once again.
You mentioned that without Cardoso Benfica had a hard time scoring against Naval. Gome couldn’t provide the same threat.
I’m a big fan of Keirrison, who I think has the potential to be a top player. I know he isn’t getting much playing time. Do you have any idea why?
Thanks Jack! That’s cleared that up!
And thanks for the kind comment, Gordon. I’ve seen Keirrison on a few occasions now, and as you say, he isn’t getting much playing time, but you’d think that with training and all, he’d be getting some understanding with his team-mates. Apparently not … he just seems a bit lost. Disappointing. (Or, if you don’t like Benfica very much, then good news!).
Phil
I think Keirrison is at the wrong club, Barcelona would’ve been better loaning him to a team like Guimarães or Setúbal for him to get games and be in a Portuguese speaking environment. He’s just too much like a lot of other players in Portugal from what I’ve seen so far.
Hey guys,
I’m going to be in Lisbon in mid December and wanted to catch the Benfica-Porto classico. I went to the SLB site but only socios can buy tickets in advance. How likely is it that I can purchase tickets a couple of days before the game from the box office. Do you think it will sell out way in advance. Is my only hope through scalpers?
thanks
and…I’m having trouble downloading from itunes again.
thanks for the great podcast
Hi daniel, this fixture hasn’t sold out for the last couple of years but I’d say it’ll almost certainly be sold out this year – the fact that tickets are only available to sócios goes some way to demonstrating Benfica’s confidence in this. By and large, scalpers don’t exist in Portugal.
How many tickets do you need and where would you want to sit?
There should be no problems with iTunes and I just checked our stats which show regular downloads using iTunes, so hopefully it was just a glitch but if it persists could you let us know.
Thanks for your response. I figured they are expecting to sell out the way Benfica are playing this year. I’m from California and a big Benfica supporter and have only watched pre-season games at the luz since I can usually only visit during the summer. So, I’m looking forward to my first league game – a classico.
Couple of summers ago I did buy one of those 3month prepaid socio kits but it didn’t make sense renewing my membership since I live abroad.
I’m looking to buy 3 tickets in any section. If you have any recommendations on how I can buy the tickets please let me know!
I’ve never paid attention to the non 3 grande teams in the liga but through your podcast, I’ve been learning so much about the whole league. If time permits I’m going to try to catch the Setubal-Maritimo game that same weekend.
oh and Itunes is working fine now.
I agree, Steve – should be a sell-out this year, except perhaps for the top-price seats.
I must say, though, that I’ve seen ’scalpers’ (or ‘touts’ in UK English) working at the Luz … especially around the ticket windows on the Colombo shopping centre side.
(Do those windows still exist, though? – I always go in through Alto dos Moinhos – the other side of the ground – these days).
Phil
The Colombo ticket office is open on match days, the main ticket office is the one under the walkway to the Eusébio statue and it is open all the time.
If it were just one ticket I could probably buy it for you because sócios are allowed one guest, but 3 tickets is impossible I’m afraid – from a financial perspective as well as logistical! But keep checking the SLB site, there’s a good chance they’ll go on general sale.
The Setúbal game will be great, don’t go just for the game, make sure you eat some “Chocos Fritos” (fried cuttlefish) in one of the restaurants in the town. They also have some places where you pay a set price (about €12) and they just keep filling your plate with various types of sealife that’s just come off the grill. You can also take the ferry over to Troia, which is beautiful – I’m a big fan of the area in general.
Great tips Steve! If I can’t get tickets to the classico, I will catch the Setubal game and the CL game with AEK. Again thanks so much for all your suggestions.
Daniel, if you are considering using a scalper there’s a better option. Buy 2 Sócio Kits, and then you can buy 3 sócio tickets. Cheaper and easier than using scalpers in my opinion.
Carlos Carvalhal is the new manager of Sporting:
http://www.abola.pt/nnh/ver.aspx?id=182992
On the TV today they said he won a total of 2 games during his time in charge at Marítimo, I could swear he won at least 3, but he certainly drew an awful lot of games.
€5 says he’ll be out before Christmas.
Yes … it’ll all end in tears.
Phil
Could not think of a worse choice, Bettencourt is looking more like a clown day by day
I say Vilas Boas will be at Porto next season where he will be a success.
Sporting are now officially a joke
Yes, the actions of a desperate man who has made an utter idiot of himself. He himself must know this is a poor appointment, seeing as the news was leaked out without a press conference after the Portugal game so it would somehow pass by unnoticed.
I honestly feel sorry for Sporting fans, Carvalhal can get results, but the type of football he favours is not going to get fans rushing back to Alvalade anytime soon.
Quick question for you Benfica socios. If I buy the Benfica socio kit, http://www.slbenfica.pt/Loja/ProductDetail.asp?item=0403&mark=01 would I be able to purchase socio tickets right away? Also after buying one kit, I can purchase a total of 2 tickets?
thanks again.
Tonight’s the night.
C’mon Portugal!!
Daniel,
I’m 99% sure that you can purchase the tickets right away, but only if you buy the sócio kits at the stadium. This way you would get both sócio cards immediately and could purchase the tickets right away. If you order online I don’t know how that works, to be honest… It is not enough to just buy the kit, you need to fill out the paperwork and actually become a sócio. Try sending them an email.
Each sócio can buy 2 tickets, one for himself and the other for a guest.
Predictions:
Bosnia 1-1 PORTUGAL
France 2-0 Ireland
Slovenia 0-1 Russia
Ukraine 2-1 Greece
Looking forward to the game, nervous already!!!
When you receive the Benfica sócio kit, there is a temporary sócio card which has your sócio number on it and you can use that number to buy tickets. I remember I bought my kit at the local post office and I bought tickets for the Champions League game against Lille (great winning header by Miccoli in the last minute!) with the temporary card.
You fill in the forms and send them off, a few weeks later you get the real card and Benfica start taking €12 from your bank account each month (that’s the important part!).
I’ve often wondered about sócio fees and whether it’s possible to stop paying them. If I went to live abroad for a couple of years, would I be allowed to suspend my membership of Benfica or is that just not the done thing?
Phil, are you watching the game in Estádio? I’m not feeling 100% today (went to a birthday party last night and drank a bit too much vinho tinto) but might go there if I’m feeling better.
Well done Portugal. An impressive performance and definitely the best game I’ve ever seen Meireles play for the selecção. However, B&H were bloody awful and their fans and FA a disgrace.
btw – great predictions Nuno!
You hit the nail on the head there, Steve … I wanted to like Bosnia, but they were just hateful. And, in the end, useless on the pitch.
But … the important thing is …
PORTUGAL ARE THROUGH!
YESSSSSS!
(Phil)
Hey Steve – you must have been rubbing your eyes in disbelief and wondering if Raul Meirelles had been replaced by aliens, from the negative comments you’ve been making about him recently. Do you think he listens to your Pod casts? Watched the game in the Sport cafe in London among hordes of Ukranians, Bosnians, French and Irish, but the biggest cheer of the night was from the handful of portuguese fans when Meirelles scored. Get In!!!!!!!!!!
Leadership in the face of pressure, seconds 2:57-4:05 of this video, Eduardo for Captain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMcVdJ-gCaU
Those sneaky Bosnians … it was the 33 rpm version of the anthem played on a 45 rpm turntable.
This was also the moment when Liedson should have been bursting his lungs.
(Phil)
Yes, very disappointed with Liedson there, if you’re not going to sing, at least hold your head up.
Meireles’ change of form comes at exactly the same time as last season, when he was useless up until the end of November and suddenly found his form again for the rest of the season. I think Tiago helped him out a lot in the game, he (Tiago) was constantly available for to receive the ball (but rarely given it!) and this gave a lot of space for Meireles to use.
Mark, one thing this Portuguese team don’t lack is leaders. It’s surprising to see Simão or Ronaldo as captain when you have Bruno Alves or Eduardo in the team. I hope public pressure will force Queiroz to choose Alves as the captain for SA 2010 because if you have to pin point one player whose performances took Portgual to the finals, it would be his.
On the subject of Simão, o Record are reporting that he could be on his way back to Benfica if they sell Di Maria – I really hope this is true.