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| Sunday, 05 February 2012 00:00 |
Taca da Liga: Gil Vicente oust Sporting to book semi-final place against BragaHugo Viana wonder goal keeps Arsenalistas bubbling Gil Vicente followed up their superb victory against FC Porto in the Liga last weekend with another highly impressive display to win 1-0 at the Alvalade and knock Sporting out of the Taca da Liga. Just a single goal was also scored in the Braga-Portimonense game, but what a goal it was. Hugo Viana’s astonishing 94th-minute free kick from inside his own half confirmed Braga as runaway winners of Group C to set up a semi-final clash against Gil. Sporting 0-1 Gil VicenteThe Lions went into the match on the back of their first win in 2012 last weekend against Beira-Mar, and were further boosted by the return from injury of Dutch striker Ricky van Wolfswinkel.When these two teams met in the league earlier in the season Sporting ran out 6-1 winners, but Gil Vicente have been in excellent form of late and it soon became apparent there would be no repeat of that result. The visitors immediately had Sporting on the back foot. The talented Hugo Vieira would be a thorn in the Lions’ side all night, and served early warning of his intentions as he escaped his marker and fired just wide of the post. Andre Cunha then headed towards goal but Marcelo gathered easily, before a well-worked combination between Matias and Wolfswinkel released the Chilean, and it needed a fine save from Gil goalkeeper Adriano to keep the scoreline blank. The near miss signalled a spell of good Sporting pressure, with the lively Andre Carrillo firing two efforts narrowly wide in quick succession. But Gil were not happy to sit back, making the most of Vieira’s pace, intelligent running and trickery. The speedy forward drew fouls that led to yellow cards for both Sporting centre-backs, and on 39 minutes fired in an angled volley that whistled just past the post. The second started in disastrous fashion for the hosts as yet another rapid breakaway saw Vieira bearing down on goal. A shimmy took the forward past last defender Onyewu who promptly brought him down just inside the box for a clear penalty. Claudio calmly stroked the spot kick home to trigger a samba-inspired dance involving most of the Gil Vicente team and equally euphoric celebrations among the tiny bunch of travelling Gil fans. The American centre-back received his second yellow card and respective red for the foul that gave away the penalty, and Sporting were suddenly faced with the task of scoring two goals with ten men in little over half an hour to stay in the competition. Carrillo out of luckCarrillo and Matias, clearly Sporting’s two best players on the night, were not about the give up. The young Peruvian showed fantastic skill to work his way to the by-line and cut the ball back for Matias, whose back-heel brought a diving save out of Adriano. Carrillo then dribbled past three players in the box and was desperately unlucky to see his cross-shot cannon off the post. Shortly afterwards Matias had strong claims for a penalty waved away, and while the decision drew the ire of the home fans, TV replays showed the referee had got it right.A well organised Gil recovered from the wobble, and played out the final twenty minutes without undue alarm. Indeed, it was the visitors who were nearest to scoring in the closing minutes, with Caicara and Guilherme forcing Marcelo into two sharp saves. Junior Caicara picked up a second yellow card in stoppage time, but it made no difference as Gil end a memorable sequence of matches against Benfica, Porto and Sporting with two wins and a defeat and three performances full of verve, character and no little good football. Sporting suffer the ignominy of finishing joint bottom of Group A. Things are looking increasingly grim for Domingos Paciencia, and the Sporting coach now faces a huge test of his motivational skills as the Lions travel to Madeira to play against Nacional on Wednesday in the second leg (1st leg: 2-2) of the Portuguese Cup semi-final. Sporting: Marcelo Boeck, Joao Pereira (Rubio, 68), Onyewu, Polga, Evaldo, Matias Fernandez, Andre Santos (Carrico, 58), Elias, Capel, Wolfswinkel, Carrillo (Izmailov, 78) Gil Vicente: Adriano, Daniel (Mauro, 90), Halisson, Claudio, Junior Caicara, Andre Cunha, Luis Manuel (Jose Luis, 69), Pedro Moreira, Richard (Guilherme, 81), Rodrigo Galo, Hugo Vieira Goal: [0-1] Claudio, 54 (pen)
In a low-key match at the AXA stadium Braga always held the upper hand against Liga Orangina strugglers Portimonense. Despite creating a spate of chances it seemed the Arsenalistas would have to settle for a goalless draw, which would have been enough to book their place in the last four, especially when Douglao and Nuno Gomes saw efforts clank off the bar. |
About Viana on the NT, I agree. Micael, Santos, Martins, are currently in worse form than Viana. Frankly I think Braga's duo of Custodio and Viana are worthy of the NT bench. Moutinho, Miereles, and Veloso are probably the starters.