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27/02/07 Benfica kept pace with FC Porto at the top, and drew away a little from Sporting, by beating
Paços de Ferreira 3-1 in front of 35,000 at the Luz Monday. They were 2-0 up after half an hour through Simão, a curled free-kick, and Nuno Gomes, a close-range header from a Karagounis cross. Then
just before the break, Fahel prodded in and suddenly the Benfica edifice was wobbling. Paços came out strongly in the second half, but their shooting was poor, and Simão
with a rare header sentenced them on 64 minutes.The teams lined up: Benfica:
Quim, Nélson, Luisão, Anderson, Léo, Katsouranis, Petit, Simão (João Coimbra 90), Karagounis (Derlei 83), Miccoli, Nuno Gomes (Paulo Jorge 90).
Paços de Ferreira:
Coelho, Mangualde, Geraldo, Luiz Carlos, Antunes, Elias (Mojica 82), Paulo Sousa, Fahel (Leanderson 62), Edson, João Paulo, Cristiano (Ricardinho 68).
Estrela da Amadora
had not lost for nine games, but they lost the record at Sporting Braga in Jorge Costa's second game in charge (and second win). José Fonte
put Estrela in front, but on the half-hour Wender missed the chance to draw Braga level from the spot. Six minutes later, Braga had another penalty, and this time captain Paulo Jorge
took the responsibility … and scored. In the dying minutes, Wender made up for the earlier penalty miss by heading in the winner. There was another 2-1 result in Madeira, Marítimo
beating rivals for a European place União de Leiria. União took an early lead through Marcos António, but Mbesuma equalised early in the second half, and Laranjeiro
put through his own goal ten minutes from time. 26/02/07 FC Porto put five past second-to-bottom club
Beira-Mar Sunday … in Aveiro. They were 1-0 up on just 18 minutes, Lisandro López chesting in a Ricardo Quaresma cross from the right. Beira-Mar put up a good fight until the 71st
minute when the other Argentinian in the Porto side, captain Lucho González, netted, but there was a clear offside beforehand, not given. Beira-Mar collapsed from that point on, shipping three more goals in 13
minutes from Raul Meireles, sub Alan and another sub Adriano, from the spot. FC Porto are seven points clear of Benfica and Sporting at the top, although Benfica have a game in hand.
The teams lined up: Beira-Mar: Eduardo, Ricardo, Devic, Alcaraz, Ezequias, Leandro Makelele (André Leão 45) Veselinovic (Roma 73), Rui Lima, Tininho (Matheus 62), Delibasic, Edgar
FC Porto:
Helton, Bosigwa, Pepe, Bruno Alves, Cech, Lucho, Paulo Assunção, Raul Meireles, Lisandro (Alan 73), Hélder Postiga (Adriano 62), Quaresma (Renteria 78) A Diego José header gave Nacional
the lead on 54 minutes at Vitória de Setúbal, and it lasted until seven minutes from time when South Korean forward Kim hit home a loose ball, the game finishing 1-1. On Saturday,
Belenenses were two up at Naval after just 11 minutes, through Nivaldo and Dady. Lito six minutes before half time and Gaúcho six minutes after it drew Naval level, but José Pedro
prodded home from in front of goal on 71 to give the Blues all the points, 2-3. Earlier in the evening, Boavista broke a recent run of draws with a valuable 2-0 win at Académica.
Grzelak hit a cross shot from the left after he appeared to have fouled Paulo Sérgio to get the ball, and 20 minutes later the other Pole in the Boavista side, Kazmierczak, got a carbon copy goal.
24/02/07 Sporting
may fall further behind in the title race after all they could do on Friday against bottom club Desportivo das Aves was draw 0-0, and that was at home. Sporting had their chances, especially in the second half, but
Nuno
was on great form in the Aves goal. Sporting were whistled off the pitch by their own fans at the end. They are third on 39 points, the same as Benfica and four behind FC Porto. Aves stay bottom, with just 11 points from 19 games.
The teams lined up: Sporting: Ricardo, Caneira, Anderson Polga, Miguel Veloso, Ronny (Farnerud 60), Custódio (Carlos Martins 75), João Moutinho, Yannick, Nani, Liedson, Bueno
(Alecsandro 81).
Desportivo das Aves: Nuno, Anilton, William, Sérgio Nunes, Pedro Geraldo, Filipe Anunciação, Mércio, Leandro (Paulo Sérgio 61), Artur Futre, Jorge Ribeiro (Jocivalter 86), Hernâni (Marcelo
Henrique 72). Porto visit second-from-bottom club Beira-Mar this weekend, while Benfica host Paços de Ferreira. 19/02/07
Benfica overtook Lisbon rivals Sporting and moved into second place in the Liga, four points behind FC Porto, after beating Nacional 2-0
in Madeira. Italian striker Fabrizio Miccoli
was the hero with two goals: on 62 minutes, he had time on the edge of the area to control a loose ball with his chest and volley it low into the left-hand corner of the net, and ten minutes later, he beat Patacas to the ball on the halfway line and ran it on to prod it past the oncoming Diego.
The teams lined up: Nacional: Diego Benaglio, Patacas, Ávalos, Ricardo Fernandes, Alonso, Chainho, Bruno Amaro (Zé Rui 66), Bruno (Rogerinho 46), Juliano, Diego (Chilikov 80), Rodrigo.
Benfica: Quim, Nélson, Anderson, Luisão, Léo, Petit, Katsouranis, Rui Costa (Karagounis 12), Simão, Miccoli (Paulo Jorge 82), Nuno Gomes (João Coimbra 92).
Slusarski
, with a goal in the dying moments, gave União de Leiria the three points (1-0) in their game at home to Sporting Braga, thus leapfrogging the northern side into fourth place.
Estrela da Amadora were 2-0 up after a quarter of an hour at home to bottom but one club Beira-Mar, Luís Loureiro and Marco Paulo
getting the goals. But they let the visitors back into it and the club from Aveiro drew level before the break through Alcaraz and Edgar, the second goal coming in added time.
Bottom club Desportivo das Aves also drew, at home to Marítimo. Diogo Valente put the Madeiran side in front on 22 minutes, but on the stroke of half time, Filipe Oliveira
put through his own goal to give Aves a point. 18/02/07 Sporting dropped two points Saturday at Paços de Ferreira, unbeaten at home in over a year. It
looked like Liedson might have resolved it after 51 minutes, latching onto a Miguel Veloso through ball before planting it past the excellent Peçanha, but twenty minutes later, Cristiano
strode through the Sporting midfield to drive the ball low past Ricardo's left hand from a full 25 metres. The teams lined up: Paços de Ferreira:
Peçanha, Mangualde, Luiz Carlos, Geraldo, Antunes, Fahel, Paulo Sousa, Elias, Edson (Leanderson 88), João Paulo (Emerson 90), Ricardinho (Cristiano 58).
Sporting:
Ricardo, Caneira (Romagnoli 81), Tonel, Anderson Polga, Ronny, João Moutinho, Miguel Veloso, Yannick (Carlos Martins 66m), Nani, Liedson, Bueno (Alecsandro 66). Boavista
proved once again not to have a killer instinct, dropping two points at home to Vitória de Setúbal. Grzelak
put Boavista in front on the hour, heading in a cross from the right by Hugo Monteiro, but the former Boavista striker Ayew
equalised for Vitória five minutes from time, heading down a Varela cross that squirmed out of 'keeper William's grasp and in. 17/02/07
FC Porto set the pace for this weekend's Liga games, comfortably beating Naval 4-0
at the Estádio do Dragão. The result was constructed with goals from Porto's Argentinian players: Lisandro Lopez ran onto a through ball from Bruno Morães on 20 minutes and flicked the ball past Taborda, while
Gonzalez drove home after Taborda had only half-cleared a low cross from Pepe on 35. The game was practically finished off a minute into the second half when Postiga put Lopez
through for his second, and substitute Adriano provided the topping on the cake with a diving header from a Cech cross on the stroke of time. The teams lined up: FC Porto:
Helton, Bosingwa, Pepe, Bruno Alves, Fucile, Lucho Gonzalez (Ibson 60), Bruno Moraes (Renteria 76), Paulo Assunção, Lisandro Lopez (Adriano 48), Hélder Postiga, Marek Cech.
Naval:
Taborda, Mário Sérgio, Paulão, Gaúcho, China, Gilmar, Orestes, Lito, Fajardo (Carlitos 83), Osvaldo (Saulo 61), Nei (João Ribeiro 46). 14/02/07
Teams will wear a black armband for this week's games, in memory of Federation vice-president Carlos Silva, who passed away on 4 February. Portugal's players wore black armbands for last week's
international against Brazil in London, as did the teams for last weekend's Taça de Portugal ties. 03/02/07
It has been quite a weekend already for the Portuguese championship. Benfica gave away two points at home to Boavista on Friday (0-0), but they saw the gap between themselves and top club FC Porto
narrowed on Saturday, although they were overtaken by Lisbon rivals Sporting. On the night, it was two substitutes that made all the difference. Porto, without the suspended Pepe
and Ricardo Quaresma, had most of the play against Estrela da Amadora at home, Estrela's 'keeper Paulo Lopes and poor finishing denying Porto the lead. They had a Hélder Postiga 'goal' disallowed late in the game for
offside, but deep into added time, with Porto gambling on four forwards in an effort to break the deadlock, Estrela's Tiago Gomes beat a tiring Paulo Assunção on the right, crossing low for Anselmo to beat
Ricardo Costa to the ball and, with a neat flick, squeeze the ball between Hélton and the near post to give Estrela a 1-0
win and all three points. It was the first time Porto had dropped points at home all season, and it was Estrela's eighth straight game without defeat. The teams lined up: FC Porto:
Helton, Bosingwa, Ricardo Costa, Bruno Alves, Lucas Mareque (Ibson 76), Paulo Assunção, Raul Meireles (Alan 59), Lucho Gonzalez, Vieirinha (Sokota 69), Hélder Postiga, Lisandro.
Estrela da Amadora:
Paulo Lopes, Rui Duarte, José Fonte, Amoreirinha, Edu Silva, Luís Loureiro, Tiago Gomes, Marco Paulo, Rui Borges (Zamorano 80), Nuno Viveiros (Hugo Carreira 68), Jones (Anselmo 68). Later in the evening,
Sporting struggled to break down a typically well organised Nacional and went behind on 26 minutes to a Bruno Amaro goal. Time was ticking away, and past the hour mark Sporting were still behind.
Coach Paulo Bento brought on attacking players Romagnoli, Pereirinha and Bueno, and it was the Uruguayan striker Bueno
that was to prove the hero of the evening for Sporting. A quarter of an hour from the end, he headed in his first (although fouling Alonso in the process), he got his second three minutes later, Liedson
added a third on 83 minutes, Bueno
got another on the stroke of time and in added time he got his fourth, the best of the lot, turning Diego and dummying Ávalos and Fernandes before placing his shot coolly into the net for 5-1. It was the first
time in 15 years that a Sporting player had scored four; the last was Jorge Cadete in 1992, against another Madeiran side, União. The teams lined up: Sporting:
Ricardo, Caneira, Tonel (Pereirinha 57), Polga, Rodrigo Tello (Romagnoli 66), Miguel Veloso, Nani, Carlos Martins (Carlos Bueno 57), João Moutinho, Liedson, Djaló.
Nacional:
Diego, Patacas, Ricardo Fernandes, Ávalos, Alonso, Chaínho (Pateiro 81), Bruno, Bruno Amaro, Juliano, Zé Rui (Leandro do Bomfim 74), Rodrigo. With two 0-1 defeats in the space of a week (they lost at
União de Leiria last weekend), FC Porto suddenly see their commanding position at the top of the table crumbling; they are now only three points clear of Sporting, four of Benfica. 03/02/07 Benfica
presented the cub's new mascot Friday, a man in an Eagle costume. The mascot is called Vitória … but it brought only bad luck and a draw on the night. After seven consecutive wins at the Luz, Benfica, playing in front of 50,000 expectant
Benfiquistas, were halted by Boavista goalkeeper William (a magnificent display), the post (three times) and some sloppy finishing. The game could have ended 5-0 or 6-0, but a 0-0
draw is what Benfica got, leaving them weaker vis-à-vis their rivals Sporting and top club FC Porto. Boavista, who only really showed in the first 15 minutes, have now stolen points off Sporting (1-1) and Benfica in the space of a week.
The teams lined up: Benfica: Quim, Nélson (João Coimbra 90), Luisão, Anderson, Léo, Petit (Mantorras 82), Katsouranis, Karagounis (Derlei 63), Rui Costa, Simão, Nuno Gomes.
Boavista: William, Lucas, Ricardo Silva, Cissé, Nuno Pinto, Tiago (Ricardo Sousa 67), Essame, Kaz, Hugo Monteiro (Marquinho 67), Fary (Marcos António 84), Grzelak. |
