November, 2009

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footballportugal Podcast – 23/11/09

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

A two-part podcast after a week’s break, focussing on the past weekend’s Taça de Portugal fourth round ties and Portugal’s successful World Cup play-off against Bosnia-Herzegovina.

In the Taça, Sporting’s new manager Carlos Carvalhal got a victory from his first game in charge of the Leões, but only after quite a scare as their opponents, Pescadores da Costa de Caparica, went into the break with a 1-0 lead. Sporting’s Lisbon rivals Benfica were dumped out of the Cup at home to Vitória de Guimarães thanks to a goal from Gustavo Lazaretti. There were other shock exits, too, with Leiria, Leixões and Académica all being defeated by lower league opposition.

In part 2, we talk about Portugal and Bosnia-Herzegovina. We ask just where Raul Meireles found his form after playing so poorly all season, and why did the Bosnian football authorities show such disrespect to Portugal?

Please let us know your thoughts about the podcast and give us your predictions for this weekend’s Lisbon clássico (Sporting v Benfica).

Thanks for listening,

Steve and Phil

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footballportugal Podcast – 11/11/09

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

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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footballportugal Podcast – 02/11/09

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

On October 27th 2009 at 7:32pm, Steve posted the following comment,

“I’m also thinking about putting some money on Benfica to beat Braga with a 4 goal handicap if I can find good enough odds. Anybody else believe Benfica will wipe the floor with Braga next weekend?”

Oh, what a hopeless fool I can be sometimes. In the end, it was Braga wiping the floor with Benfica and the possibility of Benfica beating Braga by 4 clear goals seems as remote as Jorge Ribeiro getting another call-up for Portugal’s World Cup squad.

In this week’s podcast we focus on the fortunes of the big teams in Portugal. We say “big teams” because it’s hard to call Benfica, Sporting and Porto “Grandes” with Braga being so dominant right now. Then in part 2 we focus on the other teams in the league, Pecnik shines for Nacional, Kerrouche scores yet again for Naval and it’s two wins out of two for new Leiria coach Lito Vidigal. We also give the results of the Makers of Electrical Appliances First XI.

Thanks for all of your contributions over the last week and we’re sorry if we forgot any names when passing on the opinions of our listeners! Keep the comments coming and we’ll be back next week.

Steve and Phil

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