28/04/04 Sporting Braga have officially complained about incidents following the team's 0-1 defeat at Vitória de Guimarães
Monday. There was a pitch invasion at the end of the game, and the team coach was stoned, presumably by Vitória supporters. The Vitória stadium is one that will be used at Euro 2004. 27/04/04
Vitória de Guimarães took a giant step towards SuperLiga safety and sent Paços de Ferreira to the Liga de Honra Monday with a 1-0 win over local rivals Sporting Braga
, themselves needing points to confirm a place in the UEFA Cup. Rogério Matias got the all-important goal on 70 minutes. The final club to go down will be one of Académica, Belenenses, Vitória
de Guimarães or Alverca. Games involving those clubs on the last two days are as follows: Day 33 - 02/05/04
Estrela da Amadora v Vitória de Guimarães
Sporting Braga v Académica
Paços de Ferreira v Belenenses
Alverca v NacionalDay 34 - 09/05/04
Vitória de Guimarães v Sporting
Académica v Estrela da Amadora
Belenenses v Sporting Braga
Moreirense v Alverca 26/04/04 FC Porto
capped the news of their title (Sporting lost Saturday) by beating struggling Alverca 1-0 in front of a full house at the Estádio do Dragão, Bosingwa
heading the goal five minutes into the second half. Nacional of Madeira confirmed their place in the UEFA Cup next season with a 3-0 win over Beira-Mar, Rossato getting all three.
Nacional's neighbours on the island Marítimo are still waiting to confirm their place alongside them after losing 0-3 at Moreirense. Manoel got the first early on, and a late salvo from
Vítor Pereira and Tito confirmed the score. At the bottom, Paços de Ferreira are down but not mathematically out, even after the 2-3 reverse at fellow strugglers Académica.
Paulo Adriano put Os Estudantes in front in the first half, but then Renato Queirós and Ricardinho
put Paços in front in the second. But they couldn't hold onto what would have been a precious win, and Tonel and Marcelo gave Académica the three points. Belenenses
gave themselves a dose of oxygen by beating Rio Ave 3-0. Leandro and Hugo Henrique in the first half and Marco Paulo ten minutes from time got the goals. 25/04/04
Sporting handed FC Porto the title Saturday when they lost 0-1 at União de Leiria. Porto became mathematical champions and the team celebrated in their hotel ahead of their game against
Alverca Sunday. Sporting are now in direct competition with their local rivals Benfica for a Champions League place, following Benfica's 3-1 home win against Estrela da Amadora. Sporting play Benfica next weekend.
Sporting
were without Perdo Barbosa and Rui Jorge, both suspended, and found it difficult to make headway against a well organised União, who extended their unbeaten run to ten games and still have a hope of qualifying for Europe.
Alhandra got the only goal five minutes into the second half with a tap-in, the Sporting defence allowing all sorts of room to Douala on the left. Earlier in the evening, Benfica
had little trouble in seeing off Estrela da Amadora, already consigned to the Liga de Honra. Nuno Gomes with a penalty and Sokota
gave Benfica a two goal lead before the break, and although Davide pulled one.back for Estrela five minutes before the end, there was still time for an excellent goal from Miguel, cutting in from
the left and chipping Veiga in the Estrela goal. 24/04/04 Boavista left it until deep into added time Friday to win at Gil Vicente 1-0. Boavista had had most of a scrappy
match, and certainly deserved the win on their second half display, but Gil were highly critical of the referee for adding so much time (five minutes stretched to almost ten) and for not calling Fary
offside as he stormed in to kncok home Ricardo Sousa's low cross. The Senegalese Fary was seriously injured in the goal as he piled into the oncoming Gil 'keeper Paulo Jorge. Given the 'Golden Whistle'
investigations, Boavista players and coach dedicated the win to Valentim Loureiro, former president of the club and father of current president João, who is caught up in the scandal. Boavista maintain their
faint hope of European football next season. Gil are not yet out of the woods of relegation. 20/04/04 After Day 31 of the SuperLiga, FC Porto
can almost order the Championship sashes: Porto could only draw 0-0 at Beira-Mar, but Sporting crashed 1-2 at Boavista
to leave Porto needing only one win from their last three games to clinch the title. Meanwhile, third-place Benfica trounced Sporting Braga
away to move to within three points of their Lisbon rivals Sporting, with a mouth-watering Sporting v Benfica clássico
lined up for two weeks' time. If Benfica win that by three goals and win their other two games, and Sporting win their other two games, then Benfica will finish second and go to the Champions League.
The other European places are still quite open: Nacional and Braga should qualify, and as Rio Ave and Moreirense are ruled out through an administrative mix-up, the other place should go to
Marítimo or Boavista, the former the favourite. At the bottom it's getting very hairy: Estrela are already down, Paços de Ferreira, despite a tense win at home to Vitória de Guimarães, look
set to follow Estrela. But it looks like any one from four for the last place: Académica, Alverca, Belenenses or Vitória de Guimarães, who slipped back into the drop zone after the setback at Paços.
Final SuperLiga games: Day 32 - 25/04/04
União de Leiria v Sporting (24/04)
Benfica v Estrela da Amadora (24/04)
Vitória de Guimarães v Sporting Braga (26/04)
Académica v Paços de Ferreira (25/04)
Belenensesa v Rio Ave (25/04)
FC Porto v Alverca (25/04)
Nacional v Beira-Mar (25/04)
Moreirense v Marítimo (25/04)
Gil Vicente v Boavista (23/04)Day 33 - 02/05/04
União de Leiria v Boavista
Sporting v Benfica
Estrela da Amadora v Vitória de Guimarães
Sporting Braga v Académica
Paços de Ferreira v Belenenses
Rio Ave v FC Porto
Alverca v Nacional
Beira-Mar v Moreirense
Marítimo v Gil Vicente Day 34 - 09/05/04
Benfica v União de Leiria
Vitória de Guimarães v Sporting
Académica v Estrela da Amadora
Belenenses v Sporting Braga
FC Porto v Paços de Ferreira
Nacional v Rio Ave
Moreirense v Alverca
Gil Vicente v Beira-Mar
Boavista v Marítimo Mathematically up to the SuperLiga, after ten years, are definitely Estoril Praia, who beat Desportivo das Aves 1-0 at home but benefited from Varzim's 0-2
defeat at Santa Clara. Favourites to go up with Estoril are Penafiel and Vitória de Setúbal, who both won at the weekend. Porto
rested a lot of first-choice players Sunday ahead of the semi-final first leg of the Champions League against Coruña Wednesday, and perhaps not surprisingly could only draw 0-0 at Beira-Mar, themselves
trying to recover a little of the prestige of the early season. Saturday was a crunch day for Sporting and their remote hopes of the title. Their visit to Boavista
ended up a bitter affair, the Lions going down 2-1 and losing two men, Rui Jorge and Pedro Barbosa, to red cards in the second half. Sporting had gone in front on the hour through Liedson, with a subtle flick of
a Tinga cross, but after Sporting were reduced to ten, Boavista, playing their best football of the season, took advantage and drew level on 83, Fréchaut
meeting a Ricardo Sousa free before ´keeper Ricardo could get to it. Four minutes later, two Boavista subs combined to get the winner: Ali shot from 25 metres, Ricardo couldn't hold it and Fary
was following up to hook home. Sporting's players and technical staff were severely critical of ref Bruno Paixão, who rated 1/10 in sports daily A Bola. Earlier in the evening, Benfica
had put three past Sporting Braga by half time, and coasted the rest of the way. Miguel, Sokota and Simão got the goals. In the tussle to get into Europe, Marítimo beat Madeiran rivals
Nacional 2-0 Monday with goals from Pepe in the first half and Chainho
in the second. It means that Marítimo remain four points clear of Boavista, the only serious threat to their presence in Europe next year. Nacional remain fourth, five points ahead of Marítimo. Rio Ave
can't play in Europe because of an administrative mix-up, but they continue to sit proudly in sixth, beating Académica 3-2. Joeano got two for Académica and his team-mate Tixier
put through his own goal, all within the first 20 minutes, to give Académica the lead at the break, but Ronny and Niquinha
gave Rio Ave the points on 70 and 75 minutes and kept Académica looking over their shoulders at the drop. Alverca did themselves a power of good with a 1-0 win over co-strugglers Belenenses.
Alex Afonso got the only goal in added time of the first half. Paços de Ferreira beat Vitória de Guimarães by the same score, winger José Manuel
giving Paços a remote chance of salvation five minutes from time. Vitória fans travelled to the Mata Real stadium but did not go in, as a protest at the perceived exhorbitant price of tickets (40 euros). Late in the game, Vitória fans in the street started throwing
stones over the wall and into the Paços fans' stand and onto the pitch. Gil Vicente continued their recovery with a 1-0 win over solid Moreirense, Josesley Ferreira getting his tenth of the
season on 12 minutes. Estrela da Amadora continue to plug gamely away, despite the fact that they are already down, and they notched up a point Friday with a 0-0 draw at home to União de Leiria.
15/04/04 FC Porto drew 0-0 against Nacional
in Madeira Wednesday in a game from Day 27, postponed because of Porto's European commitments. Porto, running a little cool in domestic games recently, had trouble against a combative Nacional who are cruising to a well-deserved UEFA Cup place. The Madeirenses came nearest to scoring around the 40 minute mark when Paulo Assunção hit the bar, and two minutes later Baía flapped the ball towards his own goal only for Nuno Valente to clear off the line. Things got a little bad tempered in the second half, and various players might have seen a red card, notably Maniche for an awful challenge in midfield, but it remained all level in all respects until the end.
Porto are now five points ahead of Sporting, with four games left. Nacional are in 4th place, two points ahead of Sporting Braga. 13/04/04
In a tense game at the Restelo stadium, Belenenses beat Beira-Mar 1-0 to drag themselves out of the relegation zone, leaving Alverca and Paços de Ferreira there (Estrela da Amadora are already relegated).
Antchouet got the single goal on 13 minutes. 12/04/04 Benfica look to be heading for a third place in the SuperLiga
behind FC Porto and Sporting, and with just four games left, the fans seem to have caught on; there were just 16,000 in the 65,000-seater Luz Saturday to watch the 2-1 win over Paços de Ferreira. Bruno Gama
made his début for Sporting Braga in their 2-2 draw at União de Leiria. Nothing strange there ... except that Gama is just 16 years and three months old. Alverca
, plummeting down the table, have had a harrowing time of late. In their last five games they have lost five, scored none and conceded 12. 11/04/04 No change
at the top of the SuperLiga after a full day of action Saturday. The top three teams all won, FC Porto and Benfica with some difficulty, Sporting at a canter against bottom club Estrela da Amadora. Porto
left it until five minutes from time to get a 1-0 win at home to Marítimo, and it took central defender Ricardo Carvalho to head home a Deco corner at the back post. Sporting
remain second after a 4-0 win at home to Estrela da Amadora that definitivley consigns Estrela to the Liga de Honra next season. Brazilian striker Liedson
got a hat-trick to bring his tally for the season to 14, while Romanian Niculae got the other. Estrela have scored just 20 goals all season and have conceded 66. Like Porto, Benfica
left it until five minutes from time to beat Paços de Ferreira, themselves in deep trouble at the bottom of the table and favourites to follow Estrela down. Nuno Gomes
had put Benfica in front just after the break and Zé Manuel had equalised on 67 before sub Geovanni shot home to keep up Benfica's hope of catching Sporting in second place. At the top, Porto are on 74
points with a game in hand on Sporting on 70 and Benfica on 64. Vitória de Guimarães are finally out of the drop zone after beating Rio Ave 2-0 with an early goal from Djurdjevic
and a late one from Rúbens Junior. Their place is taken, at least temporarily, by Belenenses who meet Beira-Mar on Monday. Also moving away from the bottom are improving Académica, this time pushing
Alverca nearer danger with a 4-0 win over the team from the Ribatejo. Joeano in the first half and Tonel, Marinescu and Filipe Alvim
in the second got the goals. Alverca had Amoreirinha sent off in the second half. Back at the top, Nacional of Madeira moved fourth after beating Gil Vicente 2-1. Yuri
put the visitors in front on 34 minutes, but Nacional equalised through Serginho
four minutes later. Just before the break, Gil's Hugo Luz was sent off and Adriano missed a penalty, but Nacional were to snatch all three points with a header from Rossato on 77 minutes. Nacional overtake
Sporting Braga who could only draw 2-2 at União de Leiria. It was an even game, Paulo Jorge putting Braga in front and Freddy equalising in the first half, then Paulo Sérgio
returning the lead to Braga in the second half only for Renato to give União a point. 10/04/04 Boavista's miserable season continued Friday with a 1-2 defeat at
Moreirense. Former Boavista striker Demétrios was the key, scoring on 35 and forcing Paulo Turra into heading an own goal on the hour. Ricardo Sousa
headed a ray of hope into Boavista's game two minutes from time after a more positive spell from the visitors, but it wasn't enough. Moreirense leapfrog over Boavista and are now within two points of the European
places, but like rivals Rio Ave, they did not complete the proper registration procedures with UEFA and cannot qualify for the UEFA Cup. Boavista, although still mathematically in touch with Europe, cannot
expect to get there on this form, and they play Sporting next week. Since coach Jaime Pacheco's return to replace Erwin Sanchez five games ago, Boavista
have lost four and drawn one. He was scathing of his players after the game, and warned that a big clearout is on the cards come the close season. 06/04/04 Marítimo beat
Belenenses 2-0 at home Monday to maintain hopes of European football next season. First half goals from Alan and Van der Gaag
were enough to take the three points that Belenenses also sorely needed in their fight against relegation. Marítimo are equal 6th with Rio Ave on 42 points, while Belenenses remain just above the relegation zone on 28.
It was lucky Sunday for Sporting. Their 3-2 win at Braga
effectively reduced the gap between them and FC Porto at the top to four points, while it stretched the lead over third-place Benfica, who could only draw at Rio Ave, to six points.
Sporting were 2-0 up by half-time through Silva and Liedson, and 3-0 up on 67 minutes with a penalty from Pedro Barbosa. But then they got the jitters and let Braga come back to 2-3 in the last
quarter of an hour with two goals from Hugo Henrique. Braga were down to ten men for the last 40 minutes (Barroso) and down to nine for added timne (Maurício). Benfica slipped up at the impressive
Rio Ave and came away with only one point from a 1-1 draw. The inevitable Evandro put Rio Ave in front on 50 minutes and Tiago
got Benfica's goal just six minutes later. Benfica remain third, Rio Ave sixth - which would give them access to the UEFA Cup, although a problem has arisen over their registration with the FPF which may cause them to be disqualified from ... qualifying.
Nacional stumbled in their quest for UEFA, but remain a strong 5th. They lost 1-2 at mid-table Moreirense for whom Tito opened the scoring on 27 minutes. Serginho
equalised for the Madeiran side soon after the break but Lito got the winner a quarter of an hour from the end. Beira-Mar's challenge for UEFA has stalled after a brilliant first half to the season, and
they could do no more than draw 0-0 at home to Académica, who continue to hover just above the drop zone. Paços de Ferreira are looking increasingly doomed, losing 1-2 at home to improving
União de Leiria. Freddy put the visitors in front early in the second half, Zé Manuel put Paços level on 79 but four minutes later Luís Filipe
got the clincher. Paços are second from bottom, four points away from safety. 04/04/04 FC Porto suffered their first SuperLiga
defeat of the season when they were finally beaten Saturday by lowly Gil Vicente, and without much contestation. Although Porto had most of the possession and chances, it was Gil who scored the goals, both of
them with some help from the Porto defence. Gaspar was free at the back post on 63 minutes to volley past Baía, although the Porto 'keeper got a hand to it, and Luís Coentrão
rounded Baía three minutes later after the 'keeper had let a harmless back-pass of a shot rebound off his post into the path of the Gil midfielder. Porto were thus deprived of a record that only Benfica have managed, and Sporting can reduce the gap at the top to just four points if they can beat Sporting Braga Sunday.
Earlier in the evening, Boavista were also unexpectedly beaten by bottom club Estrela da Amadora. Estrela went in front though Alex Garcia on 17 minutes, Senegalese striker Fary
equalised on 26 but Miran scored the clincher five minutes from time to put Boavista ever further from a UEFA cup place. In the four games since his return, Boavista coach Jaime Pacheco has won just one point.
03/04/04 Vitória de Guimarães secured three vital points in their fight for survival in the SuperLiga Friday with a 1-0 win at direct rivals Alverca. Alverca had
the best of the first half, Vargas and Alex Afonso missing clear chances, butVitória came through in the second and got the vital goal on the hour, a shot from outside the box by Nuno Assis
that found its way through a packed defence and past a rooted Yannick. Vitória had a chance to make it two from the spot, but Bessa drove the ball against the bar. Vitória are now just one point behind Alverca, who are plummeting in the table.
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