 |
 |
 |
| Saturday, 29 January 2011 22:48 |
FC Porto out of Bwin Cup, Emidio Rafael out of 2010/11Nacional qualify for semi-final; Sporting lose but make last fourA
 s expected, Nacional confirmed their place in the last four of the Bwin Cup at the expense of FC Porto. The Madeira side beat Beira-Mar 2-1 to finish top of Group A. A second-string Porto could only draw 2-2 at Gil Vicente, and have lost left-back Emidio Rafael (pictured) for the rest of the season as the defender picked up a horrific looking foot injury in the closing moments of the match. Sporting were beaten 2-1 at Estoril but progress to the semi-finals.
Gil Vicente 2-2 FC PortoPorto will have to wait at least another year for their first victory in the Portuguese League Cup – a competition that has been in existence for four years.
“We’re out of a competition that we want to win as soon as possible,” said Porto coach Andre Villas-Boas after the game, also lavishing praise on Gil Vicente. And it was richly deserved.
The Liga Orangina side twice came back from behind and were close to winning it. They were driven forward by that rarest of commodities – a highly promising young Portuguese striker. Two fine Hugo Vieira goals, a header and a left-foot shot after an excellent dribble, equalised goals from Porto’s Ruben Micael and Emidio Rafael.
What had been a good exhibition by substitute Rafael turned sour for the left-back as an accidental clash led to a badly twisted foot injury that has ended his season. It is particularly unfortunate timing for the former Academica defender as he was pre-selected for Portugal’s upcoming friendly match against Argentina.
Beira-Mar 1-2 NacionalNacional marched into the semi-finals in convincing fashion. The 2-1 win in Aveiro made it three victories in three matches to finish runaway winners of Group A.
Goals from Skolnik and Luis Alberto got the islanders back to winning ways after successive defeats away to Benfica and FC Porto in the league.
In between Brazilian striker Ronny equalised for Beira-Mar but it was a forgettable group stage for Leandro Jardim’s side, with three defeats in three games seeing them finish rock bottom.
Estoril 2-1 SportingSporting knew only an unlikely combination of results could prevent them from finishing top of Group D. Nevertheless, coach Paulo Sergio will be disappointed with the lethargic nature of his side’s performance.
Things started well for the Lions as Abel hit a spectacular long-range shot into the net, but two highly contested penalties enabled a hungrier Estoril team to turn it round. Alex Afonso and Vinicius Reche took full advantage by each scoring from the spot to give the Liga Orangina side victory.
Penafiel 0-1 NavalNaval continued their recent improvement under new coach Carlos Mozer with a single-goal victory away at Penafiel. Joao Pedro’s strike was enough to seal the win and end Penafiel’s faint hopes of making the semi-finals.
|
5-0.