Returning after a two-week hiatus, the footballportugal podcast is back to keep you informed about all the happenings in Portuguese football over the past 7 days.
In part one we’ll focus on the Liga. There’s no change at the top, with all three Grandes winning. The best game of the weekend was at the Estadio Dom Afonso Henriques in Guimarães, where Sporting made a last-gasp recovery to win 1-2 against Vitória. Nuno Assis, who was once on Sporting’s books, was really impressive for Guimarães but it was ‘The Ninja’ Derlei who turned it round for Sporting, literally putting the ‘fight’ into ‘fight back’ in the process. Both Porto and Benfica had comfortable victories at Académica and Vitória de Setúbal respectively. The only news to report from Benfica’s stroll in the park was the sight of Rui Costa smoking cigarettes on the touchline. At the bottom of the table, Trofense look to be even deeper in trouble after losing 2-1 at Rio Ave, and Belenenses climb out of the relegation zone after drawing 1-1 away at Maritimo. This was Maritimo’s fifth 1-1 draw in a row – not the greatest of starts for their new-ish manager, Carlos Carvalhal.
In part two we concentrate of the city of fortified red wine, Porto. FC Porto were deservedly knocked out of the Champions League by Manchester United in midweek, and for the second year in succession they’re left regretting not having finished the tie in the first leg. We also concentrate on the worsening fortunes of Boavista, who are now bottom of the Liga de Honra. Hundreds of Boavisteiros marched from Estádio da Bessa to City Hall in Porto on Friday afternoon to get some media and political attention for their plight. The future looks horribly grim for the Axadrezados.
Thanks for all the comments over the last couple of weeks, even when there wasn’t a podcast to listen to. Do keep them coming.
Thanks for listening,
Steve and Phil
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I think the place with the good francescinha’s is either cafe majestic (on Santa Catarina) or the restaurant called “O Piolho”.
- Marco (A Portista and Tripeiro in Montreal)
Thanks for that info Marco. I’ve just had a flick through the Porto section in the “Rough Guide to Portugal” and there they say the best place to get them is called “Capa Negra” on Rua do Campo Alegre.
Interestingly, the guide says the quality of francescinhas vary greatly and a good one should contain real sausages rather than hot-dog sausages.
Welcome back chaps.
Went to Guimarães v Sporting and Rio Ave v Trofense this weekend. First one, 15 Euro for a ticket, good atmosphere like you said, Vitoria were really unlucky. The referee did favour Sporting, not sure what Paulo Bento was moaning about.
For Rio Ave, Fábio Coentrão (the local hero) was a class above despite going off the pitch on a stretcher twice. Trofense looked doomed. 10 Euro a ticket here, that’d explain the antiquated Rio Ave FC sharabang.
Nice Spizz reference, not sure if anyone else got it though.
A colleague from Porto tells me that her favourite ‘francesinha’ can be savoured at a place called Cufra in the Boavista area.
I’ll take her word for it!
Re Francesinha: the secret is in the sauce.
Good to have you back Steve (and Phil who never left)! Great podcast as usual. Just a quick comment on the Porto segment to say that Leixões is the current 2nd team in Porto. Leixões is to Porto as (Estrela da) Amadora is to Lisbon. Also you didn’t mention the moribund but historic Salgueiros, who walked the current Boavista path a few years back.
Also could you comment sometime on the interest shown by the Grandes on joining either an European Superleague or similarly to the Old Firm in Britain try to join the Spanish league? Benfica certainly seems interested…
Finally, will anyone buy that guy Néné already? Or is it going to be this summer’s mexican soap opera? Better still, will you taking bets on who will be the Summer’s protracted transfer?
Ah yes the francesinha….memories of a unique culinary experience in Oporto a couple of years back! Just shuddering at the thought of ordering my girlfriend one as she’s not an experienced traveller and had difficulty finding good food in Lisbon. In porto i ordered a francesinha on my first day at a kind of neighbourhood cafe and despite the confusion as to how these different types of food could be put together by anyone sober i actually enjoyed it!
Anyway, on to the football – great podcast as usual – i’m gonna miss you guys over the summer – do you do a monthly edition to keep us up to date? Glad that you agree that Benfica play too slowly, Steve. I thought it was just me coming from 100 mph Premier League football but when i saw them Benfica never moved Academicas defenders out of position or got round the back as the build up was far too slow. Academica sat in, waited for the inevitable break down in possession and broke effectively. Refereeing decisions can be used to excuse the result by the seemingly-not-bothered Quique but the lack of pace in passing meant they were reliant on set pieces for chances.
Keep up the good work fellas
Ste
Thanks for posting guys and thanks for the praise, it’s very much appreciated!
With regards to the European Super League, I read a lot about this when I was back in the UK. Benfica couldn’t hope to be in the first division of the league with only one place being given to Portugal. I doubt Benfiquistas would be happy playing in a league below Porto, I just can’t see the whole thing happening.
With regards to Nené, I stick by what I said that Benfica are being used, yet again, by agents to act as a stepping stone to generate bids from more successful clubs. Robinho and Maxi Lopes being previous examples of this practice who spring to mind.
Ste, Benfica’s off the ball movement has been poor of late but Nuno Gomes is very good at this and gives the attack more dimension. The one player who was great off the ball was Freddy Adu, he had a natural gift of losing his marker and knowing where the ball was going to end up in the box. A real pity he wasn’t given more time.
Thanks again for a very informative and entertaining podcast.
A question for Phil regarding his beloved BFC.
Would it not be better to accept the inevitable and simply agree to relegation to the II Liga and regroup there for a couple of seasons rather than trying to do the financially impossible ?
Banruptcy is staring the professional futebol section of Boavista in the face .But hope lives on just look at Farense and Salgueiros 08 !
Good luck to Boavista but the real culprits (the father and son ex-presidentes amongst others) will leave the mess to the fans as usual !
You may be right, Donal … starting over with a clean sheet might be a solution for Boavista. But when I think about clubs like Alverca and Campomaiorense who have disappeared without trace (for other reasons) … I don’t want that to happen to Boavista.
Nor do I like to think of a club that won the title in 2001 (!!!) playing amateur football in the third tier or below.
Let’s see what the end of the season brings.
Cheers
Phil