 |
 |
 |
| Thursday, 29 September 2011 22:20 |
Braga 1-2 Club BruggeWasteful Arsenalistas downed by late header They ought to have been out of sight by half time, but Braga spurned a hatful of opportunities and eventually paid the price for their profligacy at the Quarry earlier this evening. Helder Barbosa put the home side ahead eight minutes into the 2nd half, but a mix-up between Quim and Paulo Vinicius allowed Akpala to dart in and equalise, before Ryan Donk’s injury time header condemned Leonardo Jardim’s men to their first loss of the season.
Leonardo Jardim made just one change from the team that defeated Nacional at the weekend, with Marcio Mossoro replacing Nuno Gomes in the attacking midfield role. The veteran started on the bench, alongside on-loan midfielder Fran Merida. Brugge started the faster, winning a corner with just one minute on the clock, but Quim gathered comfortably and Braga swiftly established the tempo that would see them dominate the rest of the first half. The home side showed flashes of their fluent best on a number of occasions – Mossoro playing a slick one-two with Lima before having his shot deflected over; Hugo Viana firing an effort straight at Coosemans – but the Arsenalistas were unable to find the breakthrough. Brugge only offered a sporadic threat, and generally found their moves snuffed out by the ever-alert Paulo Vinicius and Djamal. The latter also contributed to Braga’s performance at the other end, almost opening the scoring in the 25th minute only to see his effort headed off the line by the scrambling Vleminckx.  As half time approached, a Braga goal seemed inevitable. Hugo Viana and Mossoro worked a neat short corner and the former squared for Alan, but the captain could only flick his strike over from close range. Eager to make amends, Alan turned provider two minutes later, skinning his marker at the byline and finding Barbosa, but the in-form forward somehow contrived to send the ball over the bar. Leonardo Jardim’s inscrutable expression never altered, but his frustration must surely have been mounting, and it would have boiled over had Akpala’s close range header been anywhere near target. Whatever Braga had, it was catching. Mossoro capped a half of missed chances with perhaps the worst of the bunch. Lima did well to drag the ball away from Coosemans, who had foolishly committed himself, and again centred for his colleague in the six-yard box, but again, the Quarry gnashed its collective teeth in frustration as their man failed to find the back of the net. The second half began in similar fashion. Coosemans misjudged the trajectory of Lima’s low shot and the result was almost disastrous, but the ball bounced off his gloves, the post, and behind. The Brugge goalkeeper flapped at the resulting corner, but his team survived, and almost took the lead on the counter; Vazquez’ half volley squirting inches wide of the post. The near miss stunned Braga into action, and they took the lead moments later. Baiano burst past his marker on the overlap and into the area, running onto the ball and delivering a pinpoint cross for Barbosa, who made no mistake in heading home from close range. As the final twenty minutes commenced, Braga appeared in charge, if not totally control. Few observers could have predicted what was to come. An innocuous high ball caused a total communication breakdown between Quim and Paulo Vinicius, with neither making a strong claim to deal with a ball that initially was no threat whatsoever, but by the time it reached the ground, was verging on critical. Brugge substitute Akpala could hardly believe his luck, and nipped in to stab home the equaliser. Replays indicated that the forward had given Vinicius a light but discernible shove in the back, but in truth the danger should have been snuffed out regardless. The subsequent minutes exhibited the unlikeliness of the Brugge equaliser. Both teams were clearly a little thrown by the goal, although clearly the emotions were different. Leanardo Jardim sent on Nuno Gomes and Carlao, and the former teed up Lima, but Coosemans, who had looked suspect all night, pulled off a fine stop. At the other end, De Jong skewed an effort wide, as Brugge looked to counter Braga, who were by this point pouring forward. The winner came in the dying moments, and once again, Vinicius was involved. A free kick was hurled in, and the Brazilian mis-timed his leap, allowing Donk to direct a firm header beyond the despairing dive of Quim. The defeat sees Braga slip back to 2nd in Group H, three points behind Brugge and ahead of Birmingham City on head-to-head results. Next up for Jardim’s men is a double header with Maribor, beginning in Slovenia on October 20th. Goals [1-0] Helder Barbosa, 53’ [1-1] Akpala, 71’ [1-2] Donk, 90’ Braga: Quim; Baiano, Ewerton, Paulo Vinicius, Elderson; Djamal (Carlao, 83’), Hugo Viana; Alan, Mossoro (Leandro Salino, 64’), Helder Barbosa (Nuno Gomes, 75’); Lima. Ben Shave |
Regarding the game. I have several opinions. Whether Nuno Gomes should have started or not. There's no doubt he doesn't have 90 minutes in his legs. Every time Jardim started with 1 up front we struggle. Lima needs a back up and thats Gomes perfect position. I prefer seeing him come on for the last 20 minutes though, because he is an impact player for me. Why did Mossoro start. He's barely started a game this season .. At home and a starting line up of 5-4-1 smells to me like Jardim was aiming for a draw. We all suffer bad goals like Brugges first one. It happens. I think losing will push Braga onto better things.. Having such a good record at home been broken isn't too bad in my opinion.. better now than if we qualify for the next round in a two leg playoff..
Jardim seems to be scared to lose games at hoiem and seems to go all out to win games away from home.. Either way I'm very happy with his start... For such an inexperienced manager he is doing a great job.. he'll learn pretty quickly...
I thought that the number would have been higher than 12,000 for a big Europa match.
After disecting it further it does fall in line with their current average attendance.
I just expected an overall bigger turnout, after last season.
To get me wrong, I love the guy and I wished him well when he left Benfica. He was offered am admin role alongside Rui but he still wanted to play, I can respect that. He is a strong leader and likely has helped keep Braga’s locker room in order with new players and coaches. Players respect him and that helps keep the team united.
I still think Braga can push for the 3rd CL spot this year but Sporting is turning up the heat.
They can right the ship with a must win at Maribor.
I'm not sure what to say about BryanSCB's comment. First, I hope that this was his comment and not someone being an idiot. But having said that, it's a bit of an idiotic comment, no?
I know that it's early in the season, but I believe that everyone can agree that Nuno Gomes is no longer able to go full time, all the time.
Granted he's averaging only 37.5 minutes in 6 SuperLiga games and 52.6 minutes in 3 Europa matches.
Paciencia kept a tight rotation last season, but the team was able to last. It seems as if Jardim is doing the same, so fatigue could rear its ugly head.
I hope that Arsenalistas can provide some insight into that.
Regardless, Has Jardim been an idiot?
I know it's early, but I would have thought that Arsenalistas would be over joyed that their squad hasn't taken a step back from last season. They seem as if they might be able to stay in the thick of it all year.
Bad loss? Yes
Is the sky falling? No
Braga is still very much alive on all fronts.
Portugal are going to drop further away from france now with the mixed results this week.