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Boavista 3-0 União de Leiria (Taça de Portugal, Fourth Round)

Boavista: William, Fréchaut, Turra, Pedro Emmanuel (Mário Loja), Erivan, Glauber (Pedro Santos), Petit, Sanchez (Goulart), Martelinho, Serginho, Márcio Santos.

União de Leiria: Costinha, Bilro, Nuno Mendes (Vouzela), Éder, Nuno Valente, Renato, Tiago (Marciel), João Manuel, Duah (Freddy), Silas, Jacques.

Man of the Match: William (Boavista)

Boavista and União played out a dour fourth round of the Taça Friday, the only game between two Primeira sides. Boavista dominated the early minutes, putting on the pressure and winning a number of corners, one of which taken by Petit was headed just wide by Fréchaut. UDL's first chance came after 10 minutes, Duah put clear on the right shooting for a comfortable stop by William. Ten minutes later, the same player in a similar position shot wide. But it was Boavista who had control, and on the half-hour Costinha was forced into a double save from a cross by Petit and the follow-up by Martelinho. The game was studded with fouls, the majority by UDL players, but that didn't stop the nippy Serginho racing to the line just before half time and, with Márcio Santos screaming for the ball in front of goal, hooking the ball wide.

There was a flurry of activity at the beginning of the second half, Márcio Santos diving to head over a Serginho cross on two minutes, Duah once again testing William on three. William was sharp enough to beat João Manuel to the ball at the near post from a Nuno Valente cross on seven minutes. But UDL's chances were against the run of play; Boavista were always the more likely to, although their cause was not helped by the withdrawal of Sanchez mid-half, probably as a precautionary measure by coach Jaime Pacheco ahead of Tuesday's Champions League game with Nantes.

It needed extra time to decide this scrappy tie. In the absence of expert Sanchez, Petit did the honours eight minutes into extra time with a powerful free-kick that flew off the back of Silas in the wall and into the top left-hand corner of Costinha's goal. Eight minutes into the second half, it was the turn of Goulart to hook the ball into the net after a free-kick by Fréchaut had been badly cleared by Bilro. And on the stroke of time, Serginho made another of his trademark runs to the line on the left and this time he crossed to find Goulart who needed only to touch the ball in for Boavista's third goal. Coach Jaime Pacheco will be pleased with the result, less pleased with the performance: the Panthers will need to up their play several notches for the visit of Nantes next week.

01/11/01

Sporting 6-1 Halmstads (UEFA Cup Second Round, second leg)

Sporting: Tiago, César Prates, André Cruz, Beto (Hugo), Phil Babb, Rui Jorge (Tello), Paulo Bento, Sá Pinto (Pedro Barbosa), João Pinto, Niculae, Jardel

Halmstads: Svensson, Jensen (Vennberg), Borgstrand, Jonsson, Andersson, Nilsson, Arvidsson, Hansson, Ekstrom, Selakovic, Nordstrand (Wowoa)

Man of the Match: André Cruz

Anyone looking at Sporting's on-paper line-up before the game might have been surprised at what looked like a lack of ambition on the part of coach Bölöni: five defenders and one defensive midfielder to cope with a Swedish team against which Sporting already had a one-goal advantage from the first leg, and that an away goal. The Romanian coach appeared to be taking no chances: "We can only relax if we score two goals", he had said. But the on-paper structure disguised a very aggressive strategy: a back three, two wing backs, a trinco (defnsive midfielder) and two roaming attacking midfielders, the Pintos Sá and João, all supporting a mobile front two of Jardel and Niculae. What looked like excessive caution was in fact a recipe for total football, and so it proved.

The first five minutes of the game were played out with both teams sizing each other up, the first goal attempt coming from a defender, Rui Jorge, his shot deflected for a corner on 5 minutes. Halmstads were playing it cagey, and were approaching the Sporting goal mainly through Ekstrom and Selakovic, but without any real danger. Slowly but surely, Sporting took control of the game and started creating chances, often after very effective combinations before reaching the area, notably on 19 minutes when Sá Pinto back-heeled to Rui Jorge whose cross was headed just over by João Pinto. A minute later, veteran Brazilian André Cruz, playing like a teenager tonight after being out of favour in recent games, found himself free on goal and touched the ball past the oncoming Svensson, only to see his trundling effort cleared off the line.

Sporting were beginning to create chances from every direction and via almost every player. It took a penalty to break the deadlock, though. On 28 minutes, Jardel appeared to be pulled down in the area by Borgstand, but the referee gave nothing. A minute later, the same defender brought down Niculae, and amid protests by the Swedish players, Jardel stepped up to slot the ball coolly home from the spot. Six minutes before the break, Sporting got the goal that Bölöni had been calling for, André Cruz firing in a hard cross from the left and João Pinto meeting it with his head for 2-0. Halmstads appeared to be out for the count, but it took them just a minute to leave the score so that Sporting would be kept guessing, Selakovic making the line on the left and crossing low for Nordstrand to finish off at the back post.

With the game poised (Halmstads needed just another goal to make it 3-2 to Sporting on aggregate, but with the Swedes now having the advantage of away goals if it had come to it). The doubts remained in Sportiguista minds until the 16th minute of the second half when André Cruz exchanged a one-two with João Pinto near the area on the left, Cruz strode on, beat Jensen, made the line and crossed for Niculae to score. It was 3-1 and there was now very little hope for a, let it be said, very ordinary Halmstads team. The only realistic objective for them now was to keep the score from taking on embarrassing proportions. Unfortunately for them, Sporting were on inspired form and there were three more coming from where the first three had come. On 25 minutes of the second half, Paulo Bento had all the time in the world to the right of the goal to look up, size up the options and opt for a chip that sailed over the head of Svensson and into the goal. 4-1.

Bölöni took the liberty of making two substitutions at this point, but they were defensive ones and earned whistl