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23/12/06Benfica beat Belenenses 4-0 Thursday in what was the last Liga
game of 2006, and also the 'first' of the season: the match had been postponed from Jornada 1 because of the Gil Vicente affair, which saw Gil relegated instead of Belenenses. The 4-0 scoreline was immensely
flattering to Benfica; they were not so superior, and Belenenses were not at all a soft touch. What stood between Belenenses and a more realistic result was a goalkeeper, Quim, on the top of his form, producing a series
of excellent saves, notably from Sandro Gaúcho and Dady (on several occasions). Benfica were in front on 19 minutes, captain Simão
rifling in a spot kick after Gaspar had handled (a harsh decision as it looked like ball against arm). Just before the break, Karagounis
got a second, his free-kick deflecting off the wall and in. On 52 minutes, Mexican striker Kikin Fonseca got his first Liga
goal (and possibly his last – he seems likely to be leaving the club in the transfer window), heading in after a Karagounis cross was headed down. And the count was completed with Katsouranis
ballooning in a header from a Simão free-kick. The teams lined up: Benfica:
Quim, Nélson, Luisão, Ricardo Rocha, Léo, Katsouranis; Karagounis (Beto 70), Simão (João Coimbra 84), Nuno Assis, Kikin Fonseca (Manu 81), Nuno Gomes.
Belenenses: Costinha, Gaspar (Roma 65), Rolando,
Nivaldo, Rodrigo Alvim, Sandro Gaúcho, Eliseu, José Pedro, Ruben Anorim, Dady (Sousa 87), Silas (Pinheiro 88).
With the Big Three all playing away from home on the 13th jornada, the attendance figures
for Liga
games were very poor: a total of little over 30,000, meaning an average per game of around 3,500. One of the reasons for poor attendances has been given as the high prices of tickets, with the current national minimum salary being around 400 euros.
The Liga takes a Christmas break now, returning in three weeks' time. 19/12/06 Fourth-placed Sporting Braga
lost ground to Benfica Monday, drawing 2-2 at home to northern rivals Boavista. José Carlos headed in from a João Pinto free kick on the hour, and just before the break Hélder Rosário
deflected the ball past his own 'keeper to give Braga a 2-0 lead, but there was still time before the oranges for José Manuel to pull one back after Paulo Santos could only parry a Linz
shot. It was the Austrian striker who got the equaliser from close range on the hour, and that's how the score remained. In the last 15 minutes, first Boavista's Grzelak and then Braga's João Pinto, playing against his former club, were sent off for second yellow cards.
There was trouble between rival fans at half time, and several arrests were made. 18/12/06 FC Porto strolled to an impressive 4-0
home victory over normally difficult Paços de Ferreira Sunday. Quaresma swung a free-kick into the heart of the Paços defence on 25 minutes for central defender Pepe
to rise and head home. It was the same Quaresma that supplied the second goal, this time from a corner: Pepe got a head to it, the ball came off the bar and Hélder Postiga
was on hand to crash it in. On 68 minutes, Pepe knocked in from another Quaresma corner, and three minutes from time, Quaresma, once again, found Lucho
González at the back post and the Argentinian midfielder made no mistake with his head. The teams lined up: FC Porto:
Helton, Bosingwa, Pepe (Ricardo Costa 73), Bruno Alves, Marek Cech, Ibson (Bruno Moraes 46), Raul Meireles, Lucho Gonzalez, Lisandro Lopez (Vieirinha 67), Ricardo Quaresma, Hélder Postiga.
Paços de Ferreira:
Peçanha, Primo, Geraldo, Tiago Valente, Antunes, Dani (Pedrinha 60), Paulo Sousa, Elias, Edson, Ronny (Cristiano 55), Didi (Renato Queirós 74). Naval returned to their winning ways with a 2-1
win at home to Uniâo de Leiria. União it was that went in front through Paulo César on just two minutes. Naval left it until the last twenty minutes to turn the game around, but they did, through
Lito and Orestes. Beira-Mar's game against Nacional was decided in a 5-minute period halfway through the second half: Bruno Amaro put the Maderian visitors in front, and
Mário Jardel gave bottom club Beira-Mar a precious point from the spot. Estrela da Amadora beat Desportivo das Aves 1-0 with a goal after just eight minutes by Edu Silva.
17/12/06 Sporting did enough Saturday to take the three points from a lively Académica at Alvalade. Liedson
, back to the goals after a dry period, got the only one of the game on 27 minutes, from a loose ball after Pedro Roma appeared to have been fouled by Tonel as he came out to punch. Liedson 'got' a second five minutes
from time, but it was rightly disallowed for offside. The teams lined up: Sporting: Ricardo, Caneira (Abel 58), Tonel, Miguel Veloso, Ronny (Custódio 71), Paredes, Nani, João Moutinho,
Tello, Liedson, Bueno (Alecsandro 68).
Académica: Pedro Roma, Paulo Sérgio, Danilo, Kaká, Lino, Roberto Brum (Gelson 60), Alexandre (Dionattan 69), Nestor, Miguel Pedro (Gyano 45), Ndoye, Filipe Teixeira.
Sporting's Lisbon rivals Benfica also won at home, but this time by a much more comfortable margin, 3-0, against struggling Vitória de Setúbal, who have not won now in 11 games and are
hovering dangerously above the relegation zone. Benfica got an early lead from Nuno Gomes
on 13 minutes following a defensive error. They were only able to breather more easily, however, on 63 minutes with a shot from captain Simão, while Nuno Assis
put the result beyond doubt four minutes from time. Benfica climb provisionally to third, ahead of Sporting Braga who play Boavista on Monday. Benfica play their game in hand against Belenenses, postponed from the first day of the championship, on Thursday.
The teams lined up: Benfica: Quim, Nélson, Luisão, Ricardo Rocha, Léo, Karagounis, Katsouranis (Beto 90), Nuno Assis (João Coimbra 90), Fonseca (Manu 84), Nuno Gomes, Simão.
Vitória de Setúbal: Nélson, Janício (Lourenço 63), Veríssimo, Auri, Nandinho, Sandro, Madior, Binho (Julien 63), Varela, Mbamba, Amuneke. 16/12/06
Belenenses surprised high-riding Marítimo Friday, beating them 4-1 in Madeira. Silas put Belenenses in front on just nine minutes, and José Pedro
made it two before the break. Twenty minutes into the second half, the team from Lisbon were four-up, with goals from Eliseu and José Pedro again, this time from the spot. Lipatin
got a consolation for Marítimo on 68 minutes. The result takes Belenenses into 7th, just two points behind Marítimo in 5th. The teams lined up:Marítimo:
Marcos, José Gomes (Kanu 46), Gregory, Alex, Evaldo, Olberdan, Filipe Oliveira, Neca, Marcinho, Mbesuma, André Barreto (Lipatin 46).
Belenenses:
Costinha, Gaspar, Rolando, Nivaldo, Rodrigo Alvim, Sandro Gaúcho, Ruben Amorim, Cândido Costa (Eliseu 58), Silas (Amaral 87), José Pedro, Dady (Manoel 73). 12/12/06
FC Porto maintained their five-point advantage over Sporting (11 over Benfica, who have a game in hand, and Sporting Braga) by beating Nacional 2-1
in Madeira on Monday. Nacional went one-up on 37 minutes, Juliano beating Pepe on the left and squaring the ball for José Vítor
to knock it in. Porto struggled against a resilient Nacional, but were on level terms after 72 minutes in a virtual replica of the Nacional goal, Bruno Moraes
knocking in from a Quaresma pass. It was Quaresma again who fed captain Lucho González
just two minutes from time, the Argentinian midfielder cracking the ball into the top left hand corner from the edge of the area.The teams lined up: Nacional:
Diego, Patacas, Ávalos, Ricardo Fernandes, Bruno Basto, José Vítor (Luciano 89), Bruno Amaro, Chainho (Cléber 70), Pateiro, Juliano, Rodrigo.
FC Porto:
Helton, Bosingwa, Pepe, Bruno Alves, Fucile, Lucho Gonzalez, Paulo Assunção (Ibson 70), Raul Meireles (Bruno Moraes 46), Lisandro Lopez (Alan 75), Hélder Postiga, Ricardo Quaresma. Sporting
kept within realistic touch of the leaders, beating Vitória de Setúbal 3-0 on Saturday. Liedson returned to his goal-scoring ways with two, the other coming from Nani. Coach
Fernando Santos' call for three wins before the Christmas break went unheeded as Benfica could only muster a 0-0 draw at tricky Naval on Sunday. Sporting Braga
missed the chance to go clear third ahead of Benfica, going down 0-2 at Belenenses on Friday. Silas put the Blues in front after just two minutes, and Braga struggled to shake off the shock.
Ruben Amorim confirmed the points on 77 minutes. Other significant scores at the weekend included Boavista's drubbing of 'red lantern' Beira-Mar
on Saturday, keeping the Aveiro side well and truly bottom; coach Carlos Carvalhal has summed just one point in his four games in charge. There were two goals from the Polish winger Grzelak
and one from top scorer Linz for a Boavista side playing their best football for a long while, Grzelak and midfielder Essame shining. Marítimo went fifth with a 2-1 win at Académica
on Sunday. Mbesuma got two to give the Madeiran side a comfortable lead until Gyano reduced it ten minutes from time. União de Leiria
continued to consolidate their position near the top (6th, one point behin Marítimo) with a 1-0 win at Desportivo das Aves, Sougou
finishing off an Éder pass on the hour. Aves remain in trouble at the bottom. Estrela da Amadora stole a point at Paços de Ferreira. They took the lead on the half hour through Jaime
, but Edson equalised on the stroke of half time. 05/12/06 FC Porto stretched their lead at the top to five points over Sporting, beating local rivals
Boavista 2-0 at the Dragão. Quaresma and Hélder Postiga
were on target in the second half, Quaresma's goal coming from an awful fluff by ´keeper Khadim, who thought he could shepherd a weak shot for a goal kick, but it grazed the post and went in.
In a thrilling match, a Sporting Braga inspired by on-form João Pinto took the spoils from Académica, 4-2. Académica went in front after just three minutes through Lino, Cesinha
equalised on nine, Paulo Jorge put Braga in front after a quarter of an hour, and Litos
equalised five minutes from time. It was all set for a ding-dong second half, but Braga proved too strong for Académica, and goals from João Pinto and Fréchaut before the hour was up sealed the win. Marítimo continued their upward climb, beating Vitória de Setúbal in Madeira with a single goal from Lipatin on 67 minutes. Desportivo das Aves got a rare win, 2-0
over Naval, Artur Futre and Felipe Anunciação with second-half goals. Estrela da Amadora won by the same margin, also with second half goals, from Jaime and
Tiago Gomes. Belenenses travelled to Aveiro and beat bottom club Beira-Mar 2-1 Saturday, thanks to first half goals from José Pedro and Dady. Leitão
pulled one back on 50 minutes. High-flying União de Leiria could only manage a 0-0 draw at home to Paços de Ferreira. 02/12/06
Benfica, in third, closed the gap on Sporting to four points by beating them 2-0 at Alvalade
on Friday. FC Porto have a chance to go five points clear of Sporting if they can beat Boavista at the Dragão on Saturday.Benfica, oozing confidence ahead of their vital Champions League
game in Manchester on Wednesday, put the pressure on from the start and went in front on three minutes, central defender Ricardo Rocha
beating Anderson Polga at the near post to crash in a header from a Simão Sabrosa corner on the left. Sporting came to and returned the pressure, but Benfica's defence was in form and proved impenetrable. On 36 minutes, the defence once again blocked Sporting's progress, and on the break, Miccoli found
Simão
on the right, the captain breezing past Custódio and firing a low cross shot past Ricardo. It could have been even worse for Sporting, Miccoli hitting the bar with a glorious shot from outside the area just before the break, but the teams went in with the score at 0-2. Benfica resolutely defended their lead in the second half, and Sporting's quest for a turnaround was further weakened with the sending off of Polga on 80 minutes, for a second yellow. Benfica's Nuno Gomes went with a direct red for a challenge on Moutinho three minutes later.
The teams lined up: Sporting:
Ricardo, Miguel Garcia, Tonel, Polga, Tello, Custódio (Djaló 46), Nani, João Moutinho, Romagnoli (Carlos Martins 46), Carlos Bueno (Alecsandro 66), Liedson.
Benfica:
Quim, Nelson, Luisão, Ricardo Rocha, Leo, Katsouranis (Karagounis 89), Petit, Nuno Assis (Beto 92), Simão Sabrosa, Nuno Gomes, Miccoli (Paulo Jorge 68). 01/12/06
There will be 600 police officers on duty in and around Sporting's Alvalade XXI stadium for the derby against Benfica Friday. |
