February, 2009

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footballportugal Podcast – 23/02/09

Monday, February 23rd, 2009

We’re both beginning to believe here at footballportugal that this 2008/09 season of the Portuguese Liga has to be one of the most exciting and competitive for many years. Porto have extended their lead at the top of the table to 4 points over Benfica and Sporting, but their place at the top of the table is by no means secure, the sports papers in Portugal accusing the Dragões of over-reliance on the as-ever excellent Hulk, who put in another superb display against Paços de Ferreira. The Lisbon derby saw Sporting deservedly beat Benfica 3-2, Liedson the man of the match, but all of the Leões played well and they must be hoping for a good result at home against Bayern Munich in the Champions League this Wednesday. One team that is proving themselves in Europe is Sporting Braga, whose 3-0 demolition of Standard Liege left Phil running to the bookies, eager to place £5 of his hard earned cash on the Arsenalistas to win the UEFA Cup. Braga suffered from tired legs the following weekend but still managed to grind out a 1-2 away win against Naval.

In part 2 we report on the problems at Vitória de Guimarães, whose likeable manager, Manuel Cajuda, seems to be under pressure following the 0-1 home defeat to plucky Trofense. One manager whose time is up is Marítimo’s Brazilian Lori Sandri, who, despite guiding the Madeiran team to just outside the UEFA qualification places, is not deemed good enough by the Marítimo president following his team’s 3-1 defeat at Academica.

Along with the reviews of the rest of the weekend’s games, we touch on the main topic of conversation in Portuguese football right now: Liedson’s probable Portuguese naturalisation and the subsequent availability for the Portuguese national team. Will the Brazilian be able to resolve Carlos Queiros’ striker headaches?

Please keep the comments coming, especially your opinions regarding Liedson … and any corrections regarding who Paulo Bento played for in Spain will be gratefully accepted.

Thanks for listening,

Steve and Phil

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footballportugal Podcast – 16/02/09

Monday, February 16th, 2009

There was a spectacular, goal-filled weekend in Portugal this jornada, so we’ve decided to concentrate on the fantastic strikes of Fábio Coentrão for Rio Ave at Porto, Ruben Amorim and Angel Di Maria for Benfica against Paços de Ferreira at the Luz, and last but not least, Fréchaut scoring the goal of the weekend into his own net in Braga’s 0-1 home defeat to Leixões. Rui Borges scored a well-worked team goal to earn Trofense a draw against Naval, coming back from two down. And finally, we report on Diakité’s well-worked elbow to Fábio Rochembach’s head in Sportng’s impressive 1-2 away win at Belenenses. The elbow produced a torrent of blood from Rochembach’s head, the like of which hasn’t been seen since Jack Nicholson screamed “Here’s Johnny!” in The Shining.

In part two we cast our eye over Portugal’s far-from-impressive victory against an ageing Finland side in a friendly game played in the Algarve last Wednesday. Phil’s reluctantly sceptical about Portugal’s chances of qualification for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and with good reason; time is running out to prepare for the big match against Sweden at the Estadio do Dragão on 28th March.

Do keep your comments coming in … and let us know what your favourite fish is, and whether dourada or robalo is bream.

Thanks for listening!

Steve and Phil

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footballportugal Podcast – 09/02/09

Monday, February 9th, 2009

All square at Estádio do Dragão this weekend and Benfica came away from their rival’s stadium thinking what could’ve been if referee Pedro Proença hadn’t been enganado by Lisandro Lopes, who took a dive on the edge of the penalty area to win the penalty that helped Porto secure a point at home. Unfortunately, we fail to explain what enganado means in part one of the podcast, so absorbed were we by the intensity of our post-match analysis, but as many of you will probably have guessed, it translates as tricked.

Sporting Clube de Portugal failed to gain points on their rival Grandes, falling victim to the ever impressive Sporting Braga, who convincingly beat SCP 2-3 at Avalade. Leixões re-found their winning touch courtesy of two goals from their Wesley replacement, Chumbinho. The Leixões ultras found time to protest at the omission of their goalkeeper Beto from Carlos Queirós’ Portugal squad to face Finland in a friendly next week. We discuss the merits of Queirós’ picks in part 1.

In part 2 we review the rest of the weekend’s matches, including what many are calling the most boring game in Portuguese history: Estrela Amadora’s scoreless home draw against Vítoria de Setúbal. Far more exciting is the form of Brazillian goal machine Nené, who netted another two goals to bring his tally to 12 for the season in Nacional’s 0-4 win away to Naval.

To round off the podcast we focus on the two cup competitions in Portugal, the Taça da Liga and the Taça de Portugal.

Keep the comments coming! It’s great to get your feedback and be able to respond; it also gives us something to do when we’re bored at work.

Thanks for listening,

Steve and Phil

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footballportugal Podcast – 02/02/09

Monday, February 2nd, 2009

The clowns are organising proceedings yet again in Portuguese football as the farcical situation that is the semi-final of the Taça da Liga goes from bad to worse. The two semi-finals are supposed to take place this Wednesday, but with the deciding committee not giving a verdict until tomorrow (03/02/09) Benfica don’t know if they’ll be playing Belenenses or Vitória da Guimarães. Not only that but Porto president Pinto da Costa was on the phone to Sporting president Filipe Soares Franco telling him he won’t be bringing his Dragões to Lisbon if Benfica’s semi-final is called off. We’ll give our verdict on this cock-up in part one of the podcast, along with analysis of the two most exciting games of the weekend, both involving the teams whose goal average is causing the problems in the Taça da Liga: Guimarães, who beat Setúbal 2-4 at Estádio do Bomfim, and Belenenses, who lost 1-3 at home to Porto.

In part 2 we’ll discuss Benfica’s talismanic match-winner Pedro Mantorras, who scored Benfica’s winning goal in their 1-0 victory over Rio Ave, played in atrocious conditions at Estadio da Luz. Finally we’ll discuss some of the latest transfers to take place before the closing of the transfer window.

Please keep the comments coming; it’s great to hear alternative points of view.

Thanks for listening!

Steve and Phil

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