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footballportugal Podcast – 14/07/10

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

Welcome to our 84th footballportugal podcast, which, because of personal commitments, is sadly going to be our last for the foreseeable future. But we bid you adieu with a two part podcast, analysing Portugal’s progress in the World Cup and the various transfers that have been going down in the Portuguese pre-season.

In part one, we discuss the positives and negatives of Portugal’s World Cup campaign. Where can Portugal go now after a fairly lacklustre tournament?

In part two, we look at João Moutinho’s shock transfer from Sporting to FC Porto and try to find words to describe Benfica’s payment of €8.5 million for Atletico Madrid’s third choice goalkeeper.

Thanks for all your comments and kind words over these <sniffle> two and a half years, but please do keep in touch on the website, which we’ll continue to monitor.

Thanks VERY much for listening. If you’ve enjoyed it half as much as we have … then we’ve enjoyed it twice as much as you. 

Cheers!

Steve and Phil

footballportugal Podcast – 03/05/10

Monday, May 3rd, 2010

Benfica’s champagne remains on ice as Porto give them a whipping on the pitch. Off the pitch, Porto’s fans throw blue paint and stones at anything Benfica associated, whilst on and off the pitch, they’re throwing anything they can get their hands on at the Benfica players and coaching staff. What remains uncertain is just how many Porto supporters had played a round of golf before coming to the game? We talk about the clássico, Braga’s title challenge and Leixões’ defeat at Olhanense in part one.

In part two we concentrate on the second tier, with the Liga Vitalis really coming to a very exciting head; any one of five teams can be promoted next weekend. As well as the Vitalis round up, we mention the rumours currently in the press regarding managerial switches and players possibly moving clubs.

Please keep the comments coming. We’ll be back next Monday, the Pope’s visit permitting.

Thanks for listening.

Steve and Phil

footballportgual Podcast – 22/03/10

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

We’re back after a week on the sick bed (Steve, that is) and we’ve got a special Taça da Liga podcast for your listening pleasure.

Sadly, the Final of the Carlsberg Cup itself was a big let-down both on and off the pitch, with running battles between Porto supporters and police before the match, disturbances inside the ground, and Bruno Alves deciding a career in professional wrestling might have more legs in it than football currently does. We talk about all this and more in the first part of the podcast.

In part 2 we focus on a mixed couple of weeks of European action. A terrible performance from Porto saw them crash out of the Champions League at Arsenal. Sporting put up a good fight against Atlético Madrid, but indiscipline in the first game was perhaps the main cause of their losing on away goals over two legs. Benfica, on the other hand, never cease to amaze lately, and their fantastic last minute victory over Marseille in the Europa League has brought the international glory days back to the Luz once again.

Thanks for all the comments over the last couple of weeks, and please keep them coming. We’ll be back next week, reporting on the all-important Liga game between Benfica and Braga this weekend at the Luz.

Thanks for listening,

Steve & Phil

footballportugal Podcast – 22/02/10

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

It’s all about Porto in this week’s podcast, so pour yourself a glass of fortified wine and enjoy our informed viewpoint on the rumblings going on up north.

In part one we focus on Porto’s 5-1 demolition of Braga. Before this game, Braga had only conceded eight goals all season; Porto ripped their defence to pieces and Varela was outstanding. We also talk about the press conference preceding the game protesting the lengthy bans given to Hulk and Sapunaru. Although the majortiy of part one concentrates on this game, we’ll also bring you up to date with all the other results of the weekend.

In part two we look at last week’s European action. Porto got a disappointing 2-1 win over a weakened Arsenal side and will probably struggle to get the right result in London. However, we were both really impressed by Rúben Micael’s debut in the Champions League and discuss his progress over the past year or so, and what we expect the future to hold for him. Sporting were impressive at Everton and Benfica looked very tired in Berlin.

Finally, in part three we discuss a scandal involving Luis Figo, a business man, the Portuguese Prime Minister and an awful lot of money to have breakfast.

Keep the comments coming and we hope you enjoy this week’s podcast.

Steve and Phil

footballportugal Podcast – 21/12/09

Monday, December 21st, 2009

Welcome to our Christmas, New Year, last of 2009 and last of the noughties footballportugal podcast special! With 3 special parts, each more festive than the one before.

In Part 1 we concentrate on one of the most special Portuguese football fixtures of the year: the Benfica v Porto clássico. As ever, it was a tight game, fought tooth and nail between the two rivals, but the result was a little different from normal: Benfica won! It was their first victory (1-0) in this fixture for 4 years, the winner scored by Saviola.

In Part 2 we focus on all the other games in the league this weekend, which weren’t quite as special as the clássico but which all had their interest. Nacional fought Académica and fog to win 4-3 in a game which was delayed for a total of over 55 minutes. Braga failed to impress against Paços, but still got the three points. And Sporting narrowly beat Naval in a game that was so awful it was perhaps … special.  Setúbal beat Marítmo with two goals from Keita, who looks a bit special. And Belenenses manager João Carlos Pereira was sacked after Belenenses lost 0-1 in a tight game away to Leiria. You can’t be feeling very special if you lose your job just before Christmas, so our best wishes go out to Pereira, who comes across as being quite a nice chap.

In part 3 we concentrate on “bits and bobs” as Phil likes to call them [edit: Thanks, Steve ...]. The bits are reports from the lower leagues and news on clubs in crisis, like Atlético de Valdevez and Boavista. The bobs are our mid-season awards, including player of the year so far, best buy, worst buy, most impressive team and most disappointing team.

Please let us know your opinions, especially regarding the mid-season awards we gave. We both hope you have a very special Christmas and an even more special New Year.

Steve and Phil