It’s back to the traditional three parts this week as we let you know about this weekend’s round of games. In Part 1 we focus on the contrasting fortunes of Porto and Sporting; the former are looking very ordinary as they drop points at home to Paços de Ferreira, while the latter look red hot as the rejuvenated Lisbon team beat Nacional 3-2 thanks to 2 excellent Liedson goals.

In part 2 we focus on a familiar old topic, dodgy refereeing. Benfica definitely benefitted from some outrageous refereeing decisions as they smashed Marítimo 0-5 in Madeira. Braga were also fortunate to get a dubious penalty as they broke André Villas Boas’ impressive 100% home record in charge of Académica to come away with a 0-2 victory.

Finally, in part 3 we focus on the other games we failed to cover in the earlier parts. Setúbal are impressing Steve without actually winning games, Castro might be Olhanense’s answer to Steven Gerrard, Belenenses are awful again and Rio Ave really missed Fábio Farias and the player André Vilas (with one ‘l’) Boas as Ronny-tastic Leiria beat them 0-2.

Please do leave us some comments and let us know you’re out there and listening. It was very sad for us to have nobody to talk to but ourselves this weekend!

Thanks for listening,

Steve and Phil

The one team who did profit from this result were Benfica, who beat Leixões 2-1 in a dramatic game at the Luz. We report on this and the 104th Benfica Gala, which took place last Saturday at the Casino Estoril. It’s a happy return for Carlos Carvalhal as his new team, Maritimo, beat his old team, Vitoria de Setubal, 5-1, helped by a Babá hat trick.

Keep the comments coming, let us know who won the BES league if possible and below you should find a picture of Senhora Steve in a close embrace with Dirk Kuyt.

Thanks for listening,

Steve and Phil

In part 1 we cover the two big games of the weekend. Firstly we review Sporting’s impressive 1-0 win away to Braga. Both teams look strong but it was a more aggressive and focussed Sporting Clube de Portugal that came away with the three points. João Perreira loses a little of our respect by stamping on João Moutinho’s inner thigh. Moutinho had only just recovered from a ball being blasted at his nether regions moments before the incident, so it wasn’t the greatest of nights for him. Apart from the battle of the Sportings we review Benfica and Porto’s 1-1 draw at the Luz last Saturday. Benfica suffered from a lack of fitness and fingers are pointing at the new Spanish fitness coach, Pako Ayesterán, who seems to have the ideas but not the practice. We’ll give an appraisal of the brilliant Lucho Gonzalez and Steve will apologise for being so hard on Maxi Pereira last season.

In part 2 we’ll look at the other games that were played over the weekend. Belenenses and Paços de Ferreira play out an exciting 2-2 draw which upset the home team and eventually led to the resignation of Belenenses president Fernando Sequeira. We go over the details in full and also talk a little bit about the structure of the club. Nacional’s 2-1 win over Naval mean they put a halt to Porto’s 1007 day dominance on the top spot of the Portuguese Liga and Leixões get back on the winning path with a 2-1 victory away to newbies Trofense.

In part 3 we’ve got a competition, thanks to www.portuguesefootballmemories.com who are going to give a DVD of any Benfica v Porto game of your choice if you can answer the question set at the beginning of Part 3. Send your answer to info@footballportugalpodcast.com. We’ll then look at the transfers that have happened in the Portuguese Liga and with Portuguese players in other parts of Europe before looking forward to Portugal’s upcoming games against Malta and Denmark. We’ll also look at who the Portuguese club sides will be facing in the UEFA Cup and Champions Leage.

Due to the international games and hiatus in the Liga programme, our next podcast won’t be until 22nd September or thereabouts.

Thanks for listening.

In part 1 we focus on the teams aiming to get those Champions League spots. Benfica stay in with a shout after beating a soon to be Jorge Jesus-less Belenenses 2-0. Despite wide spread rumours suggesting Porto would make things easy for Guimarães, Ricardo Quaresma inspires the Dragons to a 5-0 thrashing. The Vítoria supporters are out in force… so much so that the Guimarães team bus had a hard job getting into the stadium. Finally, Sporting amble on, coming from behind to beat Marítimo 2-1 thanks to two goals by the normally useless Romagnoli.

In part 2 the focus is on the battle against relegation. Leiria give up the fight but Leixões keep on punching with their 1-3 away win. Paços lose 1-2 away to an António Caldas-managed Braga and Nacional manager/thug Pedrag Jokanovic is under fire from the Nacional supporters as they lose 0-3 at home to Académica, who are now safe from the drop. Boavista lose away to Naval thanks to a Delfim goal, who is then sent off in the second half. We also have more on the drama unfolding in the Liga da Honra and yet more insight into Portuguese natural spring water.

Finally, in part 3 we talk about the various nicknames, or alcunhas, of some of the more famous Portuguese players, presidents and teams. We’re sure to have missed out loads so we’d be really grateful if you could let us know of any interesting ones that we’ve forgotten to mention. Leave your messages in the comments section of the site or e-mail us at info@footballportugalpodcast.com

Thanks for listening.

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In part 2 we review the previous weekend’s Liga results and discuss the possible resemblance between Porto’s new hot-shot striker Ernesto Farías and Chaci from the American 1970s sitcom, “Happy Days”. What’s more, we’ve discovered the heartwarming reason why Lisandro Lopes makes funny gestures with his hands every time he scores a goal. Both Benfica and Sporting stick to form, letting their fans down the second they believe they might have a chance in pegging back Porto’s now 10 point lead in the Liga. We’ll be looking into the rumours that Camacho is going to escape Benfica to return to the managerial hotseat of the Spanish national side and we’ll also try to reason why players like Belenenses’ Zé Pedro are unlikely to get a look in to Scolari’s Selecção. Last but not least, we’ll have a look at Boavista manager Jaime Pacheco’s no-holds-barred wrestling display against Paços de Ferriera.

Finally, in part 3, we look forward to the upcoming Taça de Portugal fixtures. The word of the week is “assobios“, we’ll tell you what it means and why Sporting left-back Pontus Farnerud was on the recieving end of a few of them. Finally, we answer k’s question about the main rivalries in Portuguese football.

We’ll be back next Monday, in the meantime, feel free to send us any comments or questions, either on the site or by e-mail at info@footballportugalpodcast.com

Thank you for listening.

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Welcome once again to our special “clássico” podcast. As weekends go in Portuguese football, you’ll rarely find one as exciting as this and that’s why we’re running a little bit longer than normal.

Part 1 reviews the weekend’s games, specifically Sporting’s shock 2-0 demolition of Porto . We’ll let you know what we think about Porto ’s Brazilian international keeper, Helton, and I’ll have to eat my words regarding Paulo Bento’s faith in Sporting’s 19 year old goalkeeping prospect Rui Patrício. Kind words will be heaped upon Oscar Cardozo as his two goals helped Benfica beat Vítória de Guimarães 1-3 in Guimarães, but Phil doesn’t like the attitude of Benfica president Luis Filipe Vieira. Also, shock of shocks, Leiria won (as I predicted), beating Académica 3-1.

Part 2 reviews the January transfers, or rather lack of them, and looks at the possibility of Portugal ’s new goalscoring hope, Makakula, joining Benfica on Tuesday (29/01/08).

Part 3 concentrates on the “Selecçao” and Luíz Filipe Scolari’s recent comments that Miguel Veloso’s arse may be a bit too big to fit on the bus to the European Championships in Austria and Switzerland this summer.

As always, don’t hesitate to contact us by either leaving a comment or by e-mailing us at info@footballportugal.com

The podcast will be a little bit late next week because it’s Carnival weekend, so don’t expect the fifth podcast until Wednesday 6th February.

Thank you for listening.

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Part 1 reviews the weekend’s results, amongst which were Benfica’s disappointing 0-0 home draw to Leixões, Porto’s 4-0 destruction of Braga and the continuing saga of the Sporting crisis with their 1-1 away draw to Académica. In amongst this we’ll explain what a “trivela” is and the connection between grilled chickens and dodgy keepers.

Part 2 finds us trying to explain why Porto have been so dominant in Portugal over the past two decades, the iron fisted rule of Pinto da Costa and their “Claque” (Ultras group) the “Super Dragões”, allegations of corruption in the Golden Whistle scandal and their prospects in this year’s Champion’s League competition.

Finally, in Part 3, we review last week’s Carlsberg Cup results, preview next weekend’s Taça de Portugal games and try to address whether Brazilians naturalised as Portuguese players are a good thing for the Portuguese national team.

Lastly we’d like to apologise for any sound problems that may have occurred during the podcast (bumping of microphones, popping, hissing and the rumble of passing No. 28 trams), we hope they don’t distract you from the show.

As always, if you wish to contact us you can do so by e-mail which is: info@footballportugalpodcast.com

Thank you for listening.

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On this week’s podcast, we discuss the big fight between Luisão and Katsouranis of Benfica in their away draw at Vitória de Setúbal, Carlos Parede’s exit from Sporting and the increasing pressure upon trainer Paulo Bento after their 2-0 away defeat to Boavista. Porto keep winning and we’re heaping the praise upon Sunday’s match-winner, Raul Meireles, a.k.a “syringes”, and we’ll be describing in minute detail the own-goal of the season, scored by Ricardo Esteves of Marítimo in their 2-1 home victory over Leixões. Last but not least, we’ll be telling you what a “chapéu” is in Portuguese football and why the Vítoria de Setúbal forward Cláudio Pitbull would’ve liked to have made one for Benfica goalkeeper Quím this weekend.

Please contact us with any questions you may have on our new e-mail: info@footballportugalpodcast.com

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