31/01/04 Moreirense are proving a tough nut to crack these days. They made it three wins and two draws from the last five with a 1-1 draw at
Sporting Braga Friday. Paulo Jorge put through his own goal to give Moreirense the lead on 24 minutes, but Paulo Sérgio
gave Braga a point after 57. Moreirense's Tito was sent off for a second yellow on the stroke of time. Braga's push for Europe has stalled somewhat with only one point from the last three matches. 27/01/04 Boavista edged it at home to fifth-placed Beira-Mar
Monday, despite being down to ten men after only twenty minutes, Mário Loja pulling down former team-mate João Paulo who was through on goal. Beira-Mar had most of the play in the first half and most of the chances, but it was Boavista who got the win with a goal five minutes from time: Raul Meireles squared a free-kick to
Ricardo Sousa, who hit home from ten metres. The players rushed to the bench and waved a no. 29 Miklós Fehér Benfica shirt in homage to the Hungarian striker who died Sunday. There had been a
minute's 'silence' for Fehér at the beginning of the game, filled with applause from the terraces. Benfica's Fernando Aguiar
got the only goal in a game that nobody won Sunday. For the record, Benfica got the three points at Vitória de Guimarães. Nacional trounced high-flying Sporting Braga 5-1. The Madeiran side were
two-up by half-time through the terrible twosome Rossato and Adriano. Gouveia added one on 50, Wender pulled one back on 65 but Rossato and Adriano
struck again before the end to clinch a fine win. Gabriel and Douala put União de Leiria two-up before the break at Académica, and although Marcelo
pulled one back on 66 minutes, the score stayed at 1-2. There was the same score at Gil Vicente, who hosted Rio Ave. But the guests were not very polite, turning around a 1-0 reverse (
Josiesly Ferreira) and transforming it into a 1-2 win through Evandro (penalty) and Junas, all the goals coming in the second half. Tito got the only goal from the spot on 52 minutes that gave
Moreirense all three points at home to desperate Paços de Ferreira. 26/01/04 (See miklós fehér) 25/01/04 The top two, FC Porto and Sporting, both won Saturday, whetting the appetite for next Saturday's crucial clash between the two; five points separate them. Porto
cruised to a 2-0 home win against bottom club Estrela da Amadora thanks to two first half goals from Benni McCarthy. Sérgio Conceição and Carlos Alberto made their starting debuts, the former back home
after five years in Italy. Later in the evening, Sporting were down at Belenenses to a well-worked goal by Marco Paulo on the half-hour, but Ricardo Sá Pinto
equalised soon after. Sporting were helped by the sending-off of Marco Paulo on 63 minutes, followed by the goal which gave them the lead from João Pinto
on 67. Belenenses had another player sent off on 80 minutes, Wilson, and made it 3-1 through Liedson on the stroke of time. 24/01/04 Lowly Alverca
looked like they were heading for a surprise win at normally difficult Marítimo, with a goal by Alex Afonso
on the half hour and Marítimo midfielder Danny sent off on the hour. But five mniutes from the end, Alan
sent a speculative shot goalwards from the edge of the area and it was deflected past Yannick by central defender Marco Almeida. Even so, in the final minutes, Alverca had a perfectly good goal by Torrão disallowed for offside. The point won is little for both sides, Marítimo in the hunt for a European place, Alverca for safety.
FC Porto have submitted a written complaint to the Liga with respect to the limited number of tickets allocated to the club for the game at Sporting
a week today. Sporting have allowed Porto under 1,500 tickets, when they claim that they are entitled to 30%. They are also unhappy that the tickets are divided into various sectors, raising security doubts.
23/01/04 Eight days before the crunch Sporting v Porto game, which is set to be a reliable indicator of the destination of this year's title, the hosts have announced that there are only
4,000 tickets remaining of the initially 50,000 available. Sporting trail Porto by five points; a win will put them within two points of the top, a defeat will probably be realistically the end of their chances.
21/01/04 There was no change in any of the 18 positions of the SuperLiga after the weekend's results. (See table) 20/01/04 The two draws
Monday made it six out of nine for Day 18 of the SuperLiga. Belenenses travelled across Lisbon to face bottom club Estrela da Amadora
and must have fancied their chances, especially when they went two-up in the first half through Leonardo on 34 minutes and an own goal from Hugo Carreira
on 42. But they made the mistake of thinking it was all over bar the shouting, and it was Estrela who had the final shout: Estrela's top scorer Júlio César
got a penalty on 87 minutes and another at the death to give Estrela a vital point in their fight against the drop. União de Leiria and Vitória de Guimarães slugged out a 0-0
draw, liable, if anything, to keep fans away from the new stadiums. Alverca's 0-0 draw with Gil Vicente Sunday was watched by 300 people. Fewer than Benfcia's midweek training sessions. 19/01/04 Benfica eventually got the better of tough nut Boavista Sunday in a bad-tempered tussle at the new Luz. The home side were two-nil up through Sokota and Argel, Boavista
came back to draw level through Ricardo Sousa and Filipe Anunciação, but Benfica took advantage of Boavista being down to ten men to get a third through Sokota, and Boavista just didn't have enough
to come back again. (see match reports) The referee, Elmano
Santos, showed nine yellow cards and two reds, both to Boavista (Rui Oscar and Martelinho). He has refereed seven games this season and shown seven red cards. Benfica
in third maintain the six point gap between them and Sporting in second, and the 11-point gap between them and top team FC Porto, but they increase the advantage over fourth club Sporting Braga
to four points. Boavista remain seventh. Two goals in the second half, one for each side, saw Nacional (Serginho, 69) draw at lowly Paços de Ferreira (Júnior, penalty, 81).
Niquinha, in his 100th game for the club, put Rio Ave in front on 37 minutes at home to Moreirense, but just five minutes later, Demétrios
equalised with a spectacular overhead kick. And that's the way it stayed. Alverca and Gil Vicente shared the points in a dull 0-0 draw. 18/01/04
FC Porto and Sporting both won Saturday to maintain the status quo at the top of the SuperLiga and put the pressure on Benfica, who face Boavista Sunday, to win or be left irredemiably behind.
Porto were Sporting Braga's first official opponents at the beautiful new Estádio Municipal de Braga
(although the pitch, as in practically all of the new stadiums built for Euro 2004, leaves a lot to be desired), and they showed why they are firm favourites to retain the title they won last season. The difference between the two sides was fundamentally one of coolness of finishing, and Porto's three Ms -
Maniche, Maciel and McCarthy - finished Braga off with three first half goals on 14, 21 and 45 minutes respectively. Braga stay fourth. Earlier in the evening, Sporting had beaten
Adadémica 2-0, without really shining. Brazilian striker Liedson put them in front with a first-time strike of a loose ball on 41 minutes, and current star-of-the-show veteran Pedro Barbosa
capped it all off at the finish with a one-on-one with the 'keeper that left him with an empty net. It was Sporting's eighth consecutive victory in the SuperLiga, and they seem to be the only team with the
stamina to accompany Porto into the final straight. Académica remain above the relegation zone, but only barely. 17/01/04 High-flying Beira-Mar and Marítimo drew
two apiece Friday in the opening game of the 18th day of the SuperLiga. The Madeira side took the lead on the half-hour through Wênio, Zeman equalised on 54, Alan
put the islanders in front again twenty minutes from time and João Paulo saved a point three minutes later. The draw leaves Beira-Mar in fifth on 31 points with Marítimo trailing by just two points in sixth.
14/01/04 There were just 10,000 at Beira-Mar's 1-1 home draw with Gil Vicente Monday. The 30,000-seat Estádio Municipal de Aveiro will be used at Euro 2004. 13/01/04
In the last game of the first half of the season, Beira-Mar maintained fifth spot in the league but struggled against an improving, and after the 49th minute depleted (dismissal of Nuno Amaro),
Gil Vicente. Beira-Mar needed a penalty, by top scorer Wijnhard, a quarter of an hour before the end to cancel out a Ferreira
goal on 38 minutes. The game was the first official one at the Aveiro Municipal Stadium. At the halfway stage, FC Porto
are the team to beat for the second season in a row. At this stage last year, they had the same record (won 14, drawn 3, lost 0 ... but all victories at home) and similar goals for and against (39-11 this, 32-12 last). This year they have a five-point advantage over second placed
Sporting; last year the difference was eleven points ... over Benfica. 12/01/04 Benfica dropped two more points Sunday, this time at União de Leiria, to fall six
points behind Sporting, who are in second, and eleven behind FC Porto in first. Although we are only now at the halfway stage, the gap is looking increasingly insurmountable given Benfica's irregular performances,
Sporting's growing strength and FC Porto's tradicional invincibility. It was a ding-dong, see-saw of a match in Leiria. Luís Filipe, on loan from Sporting and playing in his first game, got Leiria's first on
the break on 18 minutes, Sokota equalised after some sloppy defending on the half hour, but Douala
followed up a Luís Filipe shot that pinged back off a post to send the home side in front a couple of minutes before half-time. Nuno Gomes, put Benfica level on 57 with a typical piece of opportunism close
in, and he got another ten minutes from time to put Benfica in front for the first time, but that man Douala
wiped the smiles off the faces of the Benfica faithful three minutes later with a rifled shot from a long range pass from the back. It was 3-3
and both sides kept at it to get the final blood, but that's the way it stayed. There were 18,000
in the new Leiria Municipal Stadium, capacity 30,000. The question arises: if UDL can't fill their new stadium for the visit of giants Benfica, the biggest draw in the Portuguese game, when will they be able to? And the answer must be: rarely or never.
Sporting Braga are proving that their drive up the table is no fluke with another win, the victims this time Belenenses, 2-1. Antchouet
managed to give Belenenses the lead early in the second half, but Braga came back with a goal from ex-FC Porto striker Pena
on 64 minutes and got the winner ten minutes from the end with a penalty from top scorer Wender. It was Belenenses' third defeat in a row. Moreirense travelled to Alverca
and came back with all three points with a 2-1 win. Alverca struck first early on through their top scorer Rodolfo Lima, but Moreirense got two second half goals through Tito (penalty) and
Demétrios to leave Alverca hovereing dangerously above the relegation zone. Bottom club Estrela da Amadora appear to be determined not to go down without a fight. They beat other strugglers Académica 2-1
, all the goals coming in the last quarter of an hour. Estrela's top striker Júlio César scored on 75, Dionattan
equalised three minutes from time with a free-kick, but Estrela nicked it in the dying moments through Lula. On Saturday, FC Porto had little difficulty in beating traditionally complicated
Paços de Ferreira 2-0, two Benni McCarthy goals in a seven-minute spell in the first half doing the trick. The two Madeira clubs were involved in grey 0-0 draws. Marítimo were held by
Boavista in Funchal, while Nacional travelled to in-form Rio Ave to steal a point. 10/01/04 Sporting had to battle hard Friday, at least initially, to beat
Vitória de Guimarães 2-1 and get yet another three points in their chase of FC Porto. It was Sporting's seventh Liga
victory in a row, but it plunges Vitória into even deeper trouble at the bottom of the table. It was Vitória who went in front, though, Romeu
beating Ricardo to the ball to head in from a Rubens Junior free-kick. That was on 22 minutes, but just eight minutes later, captain Pedro Barbosa, re-born of late, fired in a shot from the left that João Pinto
diverted in from close range. Five minutes later, Rafael clashed with Rui Jorge near the corner flag and the Vitória player was sent off. It proved the turning point in the game, as Sporting took advantage of the extra space almost immediately. And on 42 minutes,
Pedro Barbosa swung in a free-kick for Sporting's second and the goal that would eventually decide the match. The second half was very scrappy, with the reduced Vitória unable to make any headway against a
Sporting side in control of the game. To completely pack up Vitória's bags of woe, captain Cléber was sent off for a second yellow on the stroke of time. 09/01/04 Leiria's Municipal Stadium
was given the thumbs up Thursday by the Liga and the Fire Service, which means that it can be used Sunday in the game between União de Leiria and Benfica. Similarly, Monday's SuperLiga
match between Beira-Mar and Gil Vicente will be the first of a competitive nature at the Aveiro Municipal Stadium. The decision was made after an inspection by the Liga, the company responsible for
the construction olf the stadium and the GNR (Guarda Nacional Republicana). The two stadiums have recently been completed and will be used at Euro 2004. 06/01/04 FC Porto,
in their first game without influential forward Derlei through injury, struggled to overcome plucky Rio Ave Monday in Porto's 1,000th game at the Estádio das Antas. Indeed, they were heading for a
'scandalous' goal-less home draw until the dying minutes when sub Jankauskas forced a foul by Bruno Mendes in the area. Benni McCarthy
sent the otherwise excellent Mora the wrong way from the spot to maintain a five-point gap over Sporting at the top of the SuperLiga. But Sporting and third-placed Benfica will be heartened by Porto's obvious vulnerability on the night.
Into fourth go the impressive Sporting Braga under the management of former Benfica coach Jesualdo Ferreira after a 1-0 win at Académica, who continue to totter perilously close to the drop-zone.
Igor got the winner, from a pass by Wooter, on 23 minutes. Braga are now just three points behind Benfica. A worrying sign was the more-than-half-empty Estádio Municipal de Coimbra, a taste,
perhaps, of things to come post-Euro 2004. 05/01/04 In the most important fixture of the day, Sporting travelled across town and spoiled Benfica's party in the first
game of their centenary year and the first Lisbon derby at the new Luz stadium in front of 60,000 expectant Benfica fans (see match reports). Sporting needed two penalties to make the difference, but
the difference was deserved, and the Lions came out 3-1 winners. The teams chasing the top three had a bad afternoon. Beira-Mar surprisingly went down 1-3 at struggling Moreirense.
Vítor Pereira and Primo put the home side in front in the first half, Kingsley pulled one back early in the second but Lito confirmed the points for Moreirense on 68. Marítimo lost
1-2 at an improving Gil Vicente, Josiesley Ferreira giving Gil the lead just before the break, Fábio Januário extending it on 57 and Mitchell van der Gaag
giving the Madeiran side a hope on 71. A ten-man Boavista (Jocivalter sent off after only a quarter of an hour) left it until ten minutes from the end to get the points (1-0) against a resilient and at
times dangerous União de Leiria. Cafú, on as sub, made his own luck by dispossessing two UDL defenders to slot the ball past Helton. Minutes earlier, another Boavista sub, Ricardo Sousa, had hit the bar
with a penalty. Vitória de Guimarães beat fellow strugglers Estrela da Amadora by the same score to keep a hold on safety at the bottom of the table. Diminutive Nuno Assis
got the only goal three minutes into the second half, a header from a cross by Rafael. Two Serginhos did early damage to Alverca's aspirations on their trip to Nacional of Madeira: Serginho Baiano
got the first on 16, Serginho Cunha got the second on 20. Alverca were unable to make any headway, and Alexandre Goulart struck the final blow near the end to give Nacional a comfortable 3-0
win. On Saturday, Paços de Ferreira had finished off Belenenses in Restelo with two very early goals. The first, by Puntas, was the quickest of the season at just 15 seconds. Zé Manuel
got the second on seven minutes. |
