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Sunday, 11 December 2011 00:10 |
Sporting and FC Porto earn narrow wins
Lions edge Nacional; Dragons come from behind against Beira-Mar
 A first-half Oguchi Onyewu header gave Sporting three points against Nacional at the Alvalade tonight, although it needed some sharp Rui Patricio saves to preserve the lead. In Aveiro Beira-Mar surprised Porto by taking the lead. Goals from James Rodriguez and Hulk turned it around, but Beira-Mar's Elio must still be wondering how he managed to fluff a golden chance to equalise in the dying seconds of the match.
Sporting 1-0 Nacional
Oguchi Onyewu's first-half header was enough to give Sporting the three points in a close fought encounter against Nacional and return the Lisbon club to winning ways in the league.
Sporting started the game without Stijn Schaars for the first time this season due to suspension. Youngster Andre Martins took his place in midfield. Right from the start the game was played at a very high tempo. On 17 minutes the first chance appeared; Ricky van Wolfswinkel's header from close range went straight into the arms of Nacional goalkeeper Marcelo Valverde.
Five minutes later Sporting hit the net. The once again impressive Andre Martins delivered a free kick that was nodded on by Emiliano Insua into the path of Oguchi Onyewu to head home from close range. The home side controlled most of the game as Nacional looked to break and just before the interval Rene Mihleic's cross from the right hand side was miscued and ended up hitting Rui Patricio's crossbar.
The ball was then in the back of the net at the other end of the pitch when Ricky van Wolfswinkel tapped in from close range from Diego Capel's cross. The goal was disallowed as Diego Capel was found to be offside as he put his cross in.
Nacional hit back
After the restart Nacional began to get more into the game and the action was much more evenly matched. Indeed, it was Nacional who had the better of the chances in the second half, the first coming after 57 minutes when the dangerous Mario Rondon found himself in space from a Claudemir cross but shot narrowly wide.
With Nacional pressing hard, Domingos Paciencia brought on Bruno Pereirinha for the more attacking Andre Carrillo. The game had lost the frenetic energy that made the first half so entertaining but there was added intrigue as to whether Nacional could equalise before Sporting could finish the game off.
Pedro Caixinha's side had the best chance of the second half when Rui Patricio had to make an athletic to save to deny the threatening Rondon's close range header. The Venezuelan will know he could not have had a better opportunity to score.
Nacional's hopes of drawing level were severely dented when Danijel Stojanovic picked up a second yellow card in the 77th minute for a foul on Ricky van Wolfswinkel after having picked the first yellow for a lunge on Diego Capel in the first half.
The sending off allowed Sporting to regain control of possession and stop Nacional from looking threatening until the final whistle. It may not have been a great second-half performance from Sporting but it is a return to winning ways in the league as they bounce back from the derby defeat.
Sporting:
Rui Patrício, Joãa Pereira, Onyewu, Polga, Insua, Elias, Daniel Carrico, Andre Martins (Andre Santos, 67), Diego Capel (Santiango Arias, 85), Van Wolfswinkel, Andre Carrillo (Pereirinha, 58)
Goals:
[1-0] Onyewu, 22
Beira-Mar 1-2 FC Porto
Porto gave a positive response to the disappointment of getting knocked out of the Champions League with victory at Beira-Mar tonight - a venue where Sporting had drawn and Benfica had somewhat fortuitously won.
A lively opening to the game saw decent chances come and go for Artur for the hosts, and James and Belluschi for the visitors. On 34 minutes Beira-Mar took the lead as Zhang leapt between Maicon and Rolando to head a Cristiano cross past Helton into the net.
The lead was short-lived however, as three minutes later Hulk teed up James whose firm shot from the edge of the box made it all square again.
Porto were far more dominant in the second half, and deservedly took the lead on the hour mark when a well worked move between Joao Moutinho, Alvaro Pereira and Hulk ended with the Brazilian striker scoring his seventh goal of the season in the Liga.
It seemed Porto would hold onto the lead or amplify it with relative ease, but a defensive slip in the final minute of stoppage time gave Elio a free header from point-blank range, but the Beira-Mar player somehow put his effort wide.
Porto's win puts them three points ahead of Benfica, for 24 hours at least, and adds to the pressure on Jorge Jesus' team who face a tough encounter at Maritimo tomorrow.
Porto:
Helton, Maicon, Otamendi, Rolando, Alvaro Pereira, Fernando, Joao Moutinho, Belluschi (Varela, 79), Djalma (Souza, 74), James Rodríguez, Hulk (Iturbe, 92)
Goals:
[1-0] Zhang, 34
[1-1] James Rodriguez, 37
[1-2] Hulk, 59
by Richard Cole & Tom Kundert
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