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| Thursday, 19 August 2010 23:45 |
Brondby expose fragile Sporting
Sporting 0-2 Brondby
 Sporting’s hopes of reaching the group stage of the Europa League are hanging by a thread after they were beaten 2-0 by Brondby in Lisbon tonight. Goals either side of half time from Kristiansen and Jallow put the Danish side firmly in the driving seat.
Paulo Sergio’s reign as Sporting coach could hardly have got off to a more uninspiring start. Since scraping past Nordsjaelland in the previous round, the Lions have lost their opening Liga Zon Sagres match against Pacos de Ferreira and have now left themselves with a mountain to climb to remain in
Apart from a ten-minute spell midway through the second half Sporting put in a wretched performance. The visitors were first to threaten when Krohn-Dehli forced Patricio into a sharp save in the 9th minute. Carrico responded with a header that was saved by Andersen on the line, but there was precious little from a lethargic home side to worry the well-organised Brondby defence.
Chaotic defending
Sporting’s rearguard looked dreadfully disjointed on several occasions, with the Danes often having two or three unmarked options on the counter-attack. Such was the case in the 42nd minute as Kristiansen had all the time in the world to pick his spot and fire into the net as Sporting’s defenders backed off.
Postiga should have equalised immediately but headed over from point-blank range. Things soon got worse in the second half as Patricio could only parry Kristiansen’s shot from outside the box, and Jallow was on hand to turn the loose ball home.
Coach Sergio brought on Yannick Djalo and Vukcevic, and to their credit Sporting fought back strongly and were desperately unlucky not to pull back at least one goal in a fine spell of attacking football.
Liedson’s powerful header was saved at full-stretch by Andersen, and soon afterwards Joao Pereira seemed to be fouled in the box, but the referee waved play on. Sporting’s luck was right out as a superb overhead kick from Liedson crashed against the post, and seconds later Nuno Andre Coelho’s header also hit the woodwork.
Perhaps feeling it was not to be their night, Sporting’s momentum petered out and Brondby will feel the tie is theirs to lose ahead of next week’s second leg. To make matters worse for Sporting, striker Liedson left the field on a stretcher in stoppage time. The extent of the injury will only be known tomorrow.
Paulo Sergio, Sporting coach:
“Everything went wrong. Just see how we conceded the goals. For the first we had three opportunities to foul the ball carrier and halt the counter-attack, and the second was also inexplicable.
“We showed quality throughout the game. We only lost our belief a little at the end. But we will go all out to get the result we need in the second leg to keep us in the competition. The chances have got to start turning into goals. Defeats sap confidence, the fans don’t believe in us. We understand but the ball will start going into the net”
by Tom Kundert
Sporting: Rui Patricio, Joao Pereira, Nuno Andre Coelho, Carrico, Evaldo, Maniche, Andre Santos, Valdes (Saleiro, 76), Matias Fernandez (Vukcevic, 56), Liedson, Postiga
Brondby:
Andersen, Wass, Bischoff, von Schlebrugge, Rasmussen, Jensen, Nilsson (Randrup, 53), Kristiansen (Farnerud, 89), Larsen, Krohn-Deli, Jallow (Madsen, 73)
Goals:
[0-1] Kristiansen, 43
[0-2] Jallow, 52
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I don't follow stupid Uefa "Rankings" as they don't prove how bad 1 team/league is at any given time. Sporting were a disgrace against poor Brondby and that's the only way Brondby could ever beat such a superior club. As soon as Brondby meet any decent organised* team they'll be shown up for the poor garbage club they are.
Theyre overpaid & useless.
Look what Braga are doing. That club is a shining light for how things should be run.
Poor smelly nobody team ? Denmark is higher ranked than Scotland you fool: http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method4/crank2011.html
Danish club management and their teams have improved a lot the past few years, which has now resulted in a rank 12 on the UEFA country ranking list, higher than romania, scotland, belgium and others.
Dont be so surprised if danish teams do well here and then. FCK won 1-0 against Man. U. 4 years ago, AAB drawed 2-2 against Man. U. on old trafford 2 years ago. we had a bad year last year, but this year we're back, sporting was the first to go down.
Brøndby played well, they had an outstanding defence, kept running to help eachother out, good teamwork, and when sporting lost the ball, the danes were quick to pass the ball a few times and then shoot on goal while sportings defences were still in dissarray.
Liedson is alone up front.Ridiculous!
Lets face it, Benfica is by far the biggest team in Portugal, but Sporting is the second biggest. I know that Porto has won everything and became big, but you can't tell me that they're bigger than Sporting.
If Sporting got their act together and start winning, it would become clear at how much bigger they are.
It's sad to see, because there is no reason for this team to be in this condition. They could and should be making a lot more money, which would in turn help have a better team.
Bettencourt has proven inept in every way, and he truely is the "maca podre" of the club.
Trust me when I say that I chuckle and love mocking family and friends that are Sportingistas. But, I also realize how important Sporting is to Portuguese football, and I'm saddened by what is going on.
Portugal needs the third Champions League spot, and if we don't get it back soon, it will turn into the "Big Two" forever.
Not good.
It's a shame to see them going this way but at least for Portugal's sake Braga have stepped in to take their place for the time being.
If Sporting go out it becomes more important for the other 3 big teams to perform well in Europe (lets face it, Mairitmo are out too).
The Blotman - you should of done your research on Sporting before the game. If you came over here we could of told you before the match how awful Sporting are ;o)
How long will he last.
Unfortunately, for Portuguese football the "maca podre". Bettencourt is still in charge.
I wish I could be at Pia Alvalade this weekend when they face Maritimo. It won't be pretty, but than again the fans might not go at all.
I HATE Sporting and will never bet on them winning ever again after watching such a poor smelly little nobody team like Brondby beat them in their own backyard. Pathetic.