Pre-season: Sporting, FC Porto and Benfica victorious
Salomao hope, Moutinho’s rapturous welcome, Roberto concerns
T hree weeks before the Liga Zon Sagres kicks off, Portugal’s big three all showed signs of getting into gear yesterday as Sporting, FC Porto and Benfica gave their fans hope the good times may be coming with victories.
Sporting and Porto beat Lyon and Ajax respectively in their official 2010/11 presentation matches, while Benfica overcame the hosts of the City of Guimaraes tournament to lift the trophy.
Sporting 2-0 Lyon
In front of a decent crowd on a sunny Lisbon afternoon, central defender Tonel gave the Lions the perfect start as he got his head to a Valdes free-kick to score after just three minutes. Despite the early fillip it was the French side who had the better of the remainder of the first half.
Sporting improved after the break and doubled their lead on 72 minutes when Yannick Djalo scored at the second attempt after a neat pass from Diogo Salomao, who made a promising Alvalade debut.
“We were good, apart from the first 15 minutes when we let Lyon have too much of the ball. Afterwards we corrected this problem and were very competent. I’m happy with the performance of the team. Against PSG it wasn’t all bad, just like today it wasn’t all good. I’m satisfied but there’s a lot of work ahead of us,” said coach Paulo Sergio, who today welcomed back World Cup participants Miguel Veloso, Pedro Mendes, Liedson and Matias Fernandez.
Rapturous welcome for Moutinho
Moving northwards, FC Porto lined up against Dutch giants Ajax in front of a crowd of over 40,000 at the Estadio do Dragao. The hosts started strongly and were rewarded after 14 minutes as Hulk sprinted to the goal-line and crossed low for new Colombian signing James Rodriguez to score the easiest of tap-ins.
Ajax came back into it as the game wore on and the usual flurry of second-half substitutions did little to improve the quality of a lukewarm match. New Porto midfielder Joao Moutinho received a rapturous welcome from the fans. He was loudly cheered every time he touched the ball and was given a standing ovation when substituted.
“In my opinion we have to take all the positives from this game. We are coming off a long training camp, good games, a long journey and today we played in front of a demanding public that wants to see change. It’s true that there are a lot of things that need improving, but it was very positive,” said Porto coach Andre Villas Boas.
Benfica lift pre-season trophy
Benfica and Guimaraes shared a goal fest at the Estadio D. Afonso Henriques, with the Eagles emerging 5-3 winners. Following their 3-3 draw with Dutch team Groningen on Friday, Jorge Jesus’ side were crowned winners of the triangular tournament.
Young Brazilian striker Kardec continued his fine pre-season form, notching two more goals. Saviola and Carlos Martins also hit the target for Benfica, although the goal of the game came from Argentine striker Jara, who struck a stunning 25-yarder into the top corner.
Vitoria Guimaraes kept plugging away and were duly rewarded with two goals from Valdomiro and one from Douglas. Question marks continue to be asked of Benfica’s expensive new goalkeeper Roberto, who was at fault for two of the goals.
by Tom Kundert
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I would also expect Porto to be a tough competition. I’m happy to see Sporting have a good start since last season was a real disappointment. Overall best of luck in Europe, may as well forget about the domestic league since Benfica will win again ; - )
Benfica played amazing too, but Roberto is absolutely unacceptable. He lacks good decision making skills and is incredibly clumsy and weak in the air. Benfica should have signed Eduardo. He was half the price, Portuguese, and not to mention a brilliant keeper. After his season with Genoa, he will probably move to a top European club. However, Benfica have gotten themselves a keeper who is dreadful. And his awful skill will only be amplified when he plays under the great pressure of the Champions League.
Clearly there is still a lot of work left to do, but it's nice to see the "Big Three" preform.
Portugal needs these three to be on the World stage.
Other Portuguese clubs have also looked fairly well in their pre-season, which is nice to see.
I am still a bit worried about Sportings operation, meaning transfers. I believe that the "Rotten Apple" is sitting up top and its name is Bettencourt.
Braga has also sold too many parts. I would have liked to see Braga try to compete at a higher level this season. They could have least hung onto Eduardo and nab a more notable striker. I understand not overextending themselves financially, but they could have maintained some cohesion. The talk of a top 4 finish isn't good enough, after last season magnificant campaign.