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footballportugal Podcast – 30/09/09

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

A quick one while we were trying our best to get away in time to watch Porto V Atletico Madrid. In this week’s podcast we concentrate on 3 main subjects:

Subject 1 – Goalkeepers in Portugal: they’re a bit good aren’t they? Even the two goalkeepers we constantly bash, Sporting’s Rui Patrício and Porto’s Helton, looked on tip-top form between the sticks in last weekend’s clássico.

Subject 2 – Thrashings in the Liga: are teams weaker than ever? We discuss this and come up with a yes-ish and no-ish opinion. Despite there being a lot of very poor quality teams in this year’s Portuguese league, the two promoted teams are showing old hands how to be well organised and brave when facing bigger teams.

Subject 3 -  Olhanense’s amazing young players, Castro, Rabiola and Ukra. Despite losing their last two games, these three young players have caught the attention of football fans in the country. We give our opinion on their ability and their futures.

We’ll also talk a little bit about last weekend’s elections for the Portuguese government and look forward to this weekend’s upcoming fixtures.

Back at the normal time next week … with a following wind. Please keep your comments coming in. It’s always good to have new perspectives on the game here.

Thanks for listening,

Steve and Phil

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footballportugal Podcast – 25/05/09

Monday, May 25th, 2009

It’s the last weekend of league football in Portugal and the penultimate podcast of the 2009/2010 season; Phil’s kept the tears at bay to make it following Boavista’s shock descent into the dark depths of the Portuguese third tier.

In part 1 of the podcast we’ll focus on the teams that went down from the Liga as well as those who came up. Going down are Belenenses, who lost 3-1 at Benfica. Brazillian striker Saulo will take a large share of the blame, needlessly being sent off before half-time with Belenenses level at 1-1. benfica coach Quique Flores did a lap of (dis)honour after the game and was generally applauded by Benfiquistas. Joining Belenenses will be Trofense, losing1-0 away to Paços, whose goalscorer William came back from a long lay-off to score the winner. Coming up from the Liga de Honra will be União de Leiria, who have had a magnificent turn-around this season largely due to their coach, Manuel Fernandes, who took them from 13th in November to 2nd at the end of the season. Going down from the Liga da Honra are Boavista and Gondomar, with Fátima and Chaves replacing them.

In part 2, we concentrate on the festas do título taking place at Olhanense and Porto as the two clubs take their Liga da Honra and Liga crowns, respectively. Olhanense win the prize for most imaginative face paint and hair dye, but Porto have the far bigger celebration, their open-top bus parading through the streets of the city until the early hours.

As mentioned at the beginning and end of the podcast, we want your votes for player of the season 2009 /2010. Please send an e-mail to info@footballportugalpodcast.com, specifying who you think were the top 5 players of the season and in what order. Get your votes in before midday on Monday June 1st and we’ll compile the votes to create a footballportugal Podcast player of the season.

Looking forward to hearing your opinions and receiving your votes.

Steve and Phil

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footballportugal Podcast – 18/05/09

Monday, May 18th, 2009

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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footballportugal Podcast – 11/05/09

Monday, May 11th, 2009

Porto, yet again, have won the Portuguese league title. Their names were written on the sashes as early as January this year but they finally clinched the title with a nervy 1-0 home win over Nacional on Sunday. We’ll review the game and talk about what Porto had that the other teams didn’t.

One thing they definitely have is a great manager and this is something Benfica are currently desperate for. With Quique playing a waiting game to see if he can find a reasonable deal to leave the encarnados quietly, after Benfica’s 2-2 home draw with lowly Trofense, his position at the club is clearly untenable and it’s only a matter of time before he heads back to Spain. We discuss his failures and also look at Rui Costa’s poor first season as Director of Football.

Sporting however, will be relatively happy with their season, their place in the Champions League qualifying stages assured. Liedson was their saviour once again at the weekend, scoring both goals that helped them beat Vitória de Setúbal 2-1.

The scrap against relegation is intriguing: Belenenses look doomed after losing 0-5 at home to Braga tonight (played after the podcast was recorded). However, Rio Ave had an impressive 0-1 victory away to Guimarães, putting some space between themselves and the drop zone. Even safer are Paços de Ferriera, who won 2-1 at home to Maritimo, whose relatively new manager Carlos Carvalhal may be on borrowed time already.

In part 2 we focus on the Liga Vitalis. The big game at the weekend was between the top two teams, Olhanense and Santa Clara. Olhanense won 1-0 and look almost certain to be promoted. Both teams could’ve been leapfrogged by União de Leiria, who were playing relegation-threatened Oliveirense. However, they lost, meaning Oliveirense jumped out of the relegation zone, leaving Boavista bottom, staring into the abyss.

We’ll be back next week with more news from the relegation battles in the two leagues. Please let us know your thoughts about the podcast by leaving a message on the site.

Thanks for listening,

Steve and Phil.

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