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| Monday, 22 August 2011 08:44 |
Wins for Porto, Benfica and Braga; Sporting slip up againLiga ZON Sagres weekend round-up FC Porto and Benfica both won 3-1 at home against Gil Vicente and Feirense respectively, while Braga also obtained a home victory, beating Maritimo 2-0. Sporting continued their underwhelming start to the season with a goalless draw at Beira-Mar.
Porto 3-1 Gil VicenteGil Vicente surprised Porto by taking the lead on four minutes. Sapunaru gave away the ball; Joao Vilela raced through on goal and was brought down by Otamendi for an obvious penalty. The Argentine was fortunate to receive just a yellow card. Vilela himself converted the penalty.
The lead did not last long however, as Vilela was then adjudged to have brought down Hulk in the box. The Brazilian picked himself up to dispatch the spot kick into the back of the net. On 17 minutes Sapunaru made up for his earlier error by heading a rare goal to put the Dragons into the lead. Hulk made sure of the win in the second half, blasting in a free-kick from the edge of the box. Watch Hulk’s pile-driver into the top corner:
Without playing particularly well, Porto have started the new season with two victories from two games.
Goals:
[0-1] Joao Vilela, 3 (pen)
[1-1] Hulk, 10 (pen)
[2-1] Sapunaru, 16
[3-1] Hulk, 49
Benfica 3-1 FeirenseBenfica interspersed passages of fine play with other distinctly average patches as they made heavy weather of overcoming Liga ZON Sagres new boys, Feirense 3-1.
The first half was dominated by the hosts. Former Barcelona winger Nolito continued his sensational start to life at the Luz, putting the Eagles ahead in the 14th minute, thus scoring for the fifth consecutive match in his first five official games for Benfica. The only other player to achieve such a feat was a certain chap named… Eusebio.
Only a fine display by Paulo Lopes between the posts for Feirense prevented Benfica from adding to their lead, denying Aimar and Gaitan what seemed certain goals, while Nolito sent another effort inches past the post. Feirense came out a transformed team after the break, as Benfica seemed to fall asleep. Rabiola stunned the big Saturday evening crowd by equalising in the 53rd minute. The visitors suddenly looked able to fight for the win, as Diogo Rosado tested Artur with a long-range effort. The love-hate relationship between Oscar Cardozo and the Benfica faithful then came to the fore. The lanky Paraguayan was roundly booed for a clumsy piece of control and then missing a presentable chance, but he was in the right place at the right time to knock Maxi Pereira’s cross into the net and put Benfica back in front on 75 minutes. Feirense continued to believe they could take something from the match and threatened a second equaliser before Bruno Cesar calmed Benfica’s nerves with a fine individual effort in stoppage time.
Watch Bruno Cesar’s first official goal in a Benfica shirt:
Goals:
[1-0] Nolito, 14
[1-1] Rabiola, 53
[2-1] Cardozo, 75
[3-1] Bruno Cesar, 91
Round-upSporting’s season is only three games old, but a worrisome recurring theme has already emerged – an alarming profligacy in front of goal. Again the Lisbon team did little justice to the individual talent on the pitch, but carved out enough chances to have won comfortably against a completely inoffensive Beira-Mar.
After a turgid first half, which led Domingos Paciencia to use up all his substitutions before the interval, Sporting improved significantly after the break. Diego Capel was a constant danger for the Lions, and both Wolfswinkel and Postiga missed very presentable heading opportunities from the Spaniard’s cross, before Capel himself saw a point-blank chance miraculously cleared off the line. Domingos has plenty of work to do, and must do it fast if the pre-season optimism that surrounded Sporting is not to deflate before the campaign is into full swing.
Braga clocked up their first win of the season and also seem to have retained a feature of the club over recent years – a rock solid defence. The Arsenalistas are yet to concede a goal in three matches of the new season. Second-half goals from Elderson and Lima earned Leonardo Jardim’s side all three points.
Academica are joint top of the table after a 1-0 win over Rio Ave. An early goal from Eder was enough to earn Pedro Emanuel’s team a second successive win.
Pacos de Ferreira grabbed their first victory of the season thanks to second-half goals from Melgarejo and Michel. Maykon’s late strike for Uniao de Leiria proved fruitless in a match that saw 14 yellow cards and two red cards brandished.
Olhanense play Vitoria Setubal tonight, while the match between Nacional and Vitoria Guimaraes has been put back to 4th September to aid both sides’ preparations ahead of their Europa League matches on Thursday.
Tom Kundert
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Thanks for that, I haven't read anything about whether he was injured or not. I think you are right, he is a player that has struggled for injuries in the past and tht is unreliable, but the same could be said of Aimar and JJ seems to have been able to get the best out of him the last few seasons.
I always think that players with injuries tend to be so unlucky that sometimes all they need is a patient manager that will give them a chance. Certainly Sporting need some help up front.
When a team used a line up (plus changes) ) contained only foreign players, even a non-portuguese like me felt weird....It just didn't make sense. Why'd I want to watch 11 south americans playing on the pitch when I could easily switch over to the probably more entertaining Brazil/Argentina leagues. People can argue that teams have no responsibility for the NT, but the reality is, no league can proper without a group of quality domestic players. Look at the Bundesliga several years ago as well as the Seria a now. I'm afraid that if things don't change,the adverse effects will eventually come
I can accept a team with player
Ben
I hope Sporting get’s their act in gear as I was hoping they could make the league a bit more competitive and put on a good show for Portugal in Europa. As it stands from last few matches of their pre-season and what they’ve done so far, they look the same as last year were they barely got 3rd.
Or dodgy referees that got relegated last season because of their inabilities?
It's good to get a round up of the games.... But in all fairness there is a lot of sugar coating going on.....
Secondly, I wonder if portugoal.net is still predicting that Sporting will finish second in the league? That was a very bold prediction, for a team in total transition and with an almost entirely new squad. They will improve under Pacienca in the long run, but I think 3rd place in the liga and a decent run in the Europa league will be a good season for them, given all the change that has occured. Next season they should be major contenders!
Which leads me to my team Benfica. I believe they are the only realistic challenge to Porto for the league this season, and seem to have improved in all areas, although defensively we still have to get tighter. Good to see that we can still finish matches strongly, having let opposition back into the match, or given them a headstart in the match. This was very much a feature of last season, particularly in the europa league. But i have a good feeling of the direction we are going in, and if it all clicks into place, we could have a spectacular season.
I must say though that I hope the talk of loaning out Jara is just rumour. We are a little short in the central striker area (Nelson is still young and inexperienced and Saviola is looking increasingly innefective), so therefore Jara is important to the squad in my opinion. Also great to see that wonderful goal from Bruno Cesar, and this will be great for his confidence. Aimar will most probably only be able to play his best form for half, or at best 2/3 of the season, so good to have a replacement for him who feels confident and settled...
Benfica's display was typical, great half, good attacking play, plenty of chances, then disappear in another half and seem vulnerable defensively jeopardising a result that seemed certain. In other games it's come the other way around, where they've conceded an early goal and have to chase up the game. Need more consistency. You can understand Cardozo's situation, from his point of view, the fans and the manager. I have been his critic, he just doesn't work hard enough and his ball control at times is shocking. He does score goals and he is an old-fashioned centre forward, but surely there are other similar strikers that are much better?? The question is always, with a better striker would this team score more goals? For €18m I would have sold him last year.
Im not happy Polga is still starting in defense.