It’s a big fight special on this week’s podcast as we focus on the various battles taking place in Portuguese league football.
Jorge Jesus is the cherry on the cake that nobody is willing to share. The current Braga manager is rumoured to be moving to Benfica at the end of the season, but the speckle-haired manager is refusing to say anything. Other sources are suggesting he is being groomed to be a future manager of FC Porto and there are even suggestions that he will move to Sporting, the team he is allegedly a lifelong supporter of.
At the bottom of the Liga, the fight for relegation will go down to the wire with Belenenses beating fellow relegation fighters Rio Ave and Trofense and Setúbal both losing. If Setúbal and Rio Ave win their games next weekend, they’ll be safe, while Belenenses and Trofense have to win and hope that results go their way in other games.
In the Liga Vitalis, Algarve team Olhanense gain promotion to the top flight. The other place will be decided next week between União de Leiria and Santa Clara. Down at the bottom, Boavista breathe easier with a 1-2 win at Estoril, a game attended by Steve and Phil. The two teams above Boavista, Gondomar and Oliveirense, both lost. So, as long as Boavista beat Sporting Covilhã next week, they’ll be safe.
Please let us know your thoughts on this week’s podcast by leaving a comment on the site.
Thanks for listening,
Steve and Phil
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Hi guys!
Re the unpaid salaries, sometime ago I heard that most Premiership footballers receive their salaries twice a year (i.e. every 6 months) and that is not considered as late payments because it is probably on their contracts, and they get so much money anyway that they’ll never need advancements (or so I think…).
Anyway, just wondering if in Portugal this would apply – I guess not, but – and if so in which clubs.
Phil, I am surprised at your disdain for Jorge Costa when Jaime Pacheco’s Boavista was literally a mean team in their physical approach to the game. Jorge Costa may have been brutish and sometimes unnecessarily violent, but he was a great Captain for the team, someone who commanded respect from both his team players and opposing players, as well as being a good defender.
Steve congratulations on Milwall reaching the playoff final!
Cheers!
Hugo
Thanks for the Millwall acknowledgement Hugo. Sad thing is, I’m not sure if I’ll get to see the final in any of the Lisbon Irish bars because Rangers and Celtic are playing their respective and all important last games of the season at the same time. Apparently I might get lucky if I go to Cascais.
With regards to Jorge Costa, I always liked him, and like I said, I used to drink in the same pub as the official photographer for Charlton Athletic and he used to talk about him all the time. According to him, he was an utter gentleman who would do any charity or community work the club was involved in.
Hugo,
Jorge Costa may have been a gentleman off the pitch, and he may have been a good captain, but he was, and I insist, a thug as a player. I remember well he and his team-mates on occasion chasing referees all over the pitch when they got a bad decision; I remember his body checks (he was not a gifted player, far from it, and was certainly not quick on the turn, so it was the only way he had of stopping nippy forwards); and I remember a certain European game against Milan when he stomped on George Weah’s hand – it looked deliberate. In fact Porto is a bit of a factory for thuggish centre backs: JC, Fernando Couto and Bruno Alves (although the latter can at least play a bit of football, too).
Jaime Pacheco’s Boavista of the turn of the century had a reputation for being caceteiros (hackers), but this reputation was wildly exaggerated and came from people who could not see those Boavista teams of the early noughties as simply great teams, either because they were blind or maybe a little envious. I still get comments about the title-winning team – 2001 – that they were caceteiros, and/or the referees were bought. The truth is, and I’m being objective here, Boavista were the best team that season (coincidentally, all the 3 Grandes were poor at the same time). A couple of presences in the Champions League – the second, in 2001, very honourable – and a UEFA Cup semi-final in 2003 must surely be an indication of their quality at the time.
Steve,
(I found out yesterday that João Tomás is suspended for Boavista’s final game on Sunday, which they really have to win. Bad news! Where are the goals coming from?)
When I wanted to see the Reading v Birmingham game, I went to the Beefeater in Cascais. They had Liverpool v Newcastle on in the main rooms, but they let me watch the Reading game on a small telly in the restaurant section. I’m sure Derek won’t mind putting the Millwall game on there.
Cheers
Phil
Phil,
I really enjoyed those great Boavista years, especially in Europe. Now the same people who branded Boavista’s style of play as violent and vicious were the same people who branded Jorge Costa a thug – the Lisbon Press – because they could not stomach Porto’s Penta-champions, nor Boavista as Champions.
Remember what I said about Sportinguistas whining so much people call them “Calimeros”? Well, they won the League before and after Boavista and one of their complaints was that Porto and Boavista played too aggressively and referees were turning a blind-eye.
Benfica, who by the time Boavista won the League, were on their 7th year not winning it also accused the teams from Porto of being “the System” (i.e. being protected by referees). Later on Sporting, who had stopped winning joined this “system” bandwagon.
Concluding, I understand where you’re coming from re Jorge Costa, but I rate really high, not because of his footballing flair, but because he had a winning mentality that you don’t see in many players and he coupled it with the love for the club and leadership on and off the pitch.
No wonder Co Adriaanse called him Mr Porto and had a tough time getting rid of him.
On a different note just to say sorry about Reading losing the playoffs and Steve Coppell resigning.
To Steve, again, good luck to Milwall this weekend!
Cheers!
Hugo
On the topic of salaries not being paid, I’ve just read in ‘As’ about the players of Uniao Desportiva Rio Maior of the third division, apparently having gone on hunger strike this weekend. Is this serious? Seems awfully extreme if so.
Link: http://www.as.com/futbol/articulo/equipo-portugues-huelga-hambre-atrasos/dasftb/20090523dasdasftb_7/Tes
Great podcast again guys !
It is refreshing to hear so much recently ablout the Liga Vitalis and even the II Liga which gets no english language commentary anywhere else.
I still think that Boavista might be bettr off regrouping in a lower division.
What are the the prospects Phil ? If the unthinkable happens and Boavista do go down is this the end ?
Wow Lodz, haven’t heard anything about that story in Portugal. There was a recent hunger strike by postal workers, but it was fairly half-hearted.
And thanks Donal, I’m pretty sure Phil is in Porto right now, in preparation for tomorrow’s big game. I couldn’t go to Benfica tonight because I was working, but there were some weird gestures from Quique after the match towards the Benfica supporters in the stands.
01.00 – Just back from Porto … disaster. Boavista lost 1-4 to a neat Sporting Covilhã and are relegated, along with Gondomar. Donal – I think it might be the end, given their debts (I heard 80 million euros this week), but may re-group, as you say, in another guise … like Salgueiros. Anyway … not much in the mood for anything apart from bed. Hopefully I’ll be more human for the poddy tomorrow.
Phil
Lodzu … yes – there was a (not very long) hunger strike by the third division Rio Maior players … then they rescinded en bloc … to leave the juniors to fulfill the club’s league commitments at the weekend. They did … and got hammered 15 or 16-1 (depending on which newspaper you read).
Cheers
Phil