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Saturday, 05 May 2012 22:00 |
Liga round-up: Braga seal 3rd
Academica secure first win of 2012
 Tonight’s Liga programme was fast and furious, with significant results coming at both ends of the table. At the top, Braga sealed a Champions League spot, whilst at the bottom, Academica leapfrogged Feirense ahead of next weekend’s final round of matches. Ben Shave rounds up the action.
Braga 1-0 Beira-Mar
 Braga kicked off against Beira-Mar aiming for the three points that (providing Sporting failed to win at Porto) would guarantee the Arsenalistas’ return to the Champions League. A tense first half at the Quarry reflected the significance of the occasion, but nerves were eased ten minutes into the second half, when former Sporting midfielder Custodio put the home side ahead. That proved sufficient for the Arsenalistas, who with the victory guarantee their place in the Champions League qualifying rounds next season.
Academica 1-0 Setubal
 Pedro Emanuel’s Academica went into their final home game of the season knowing that they had to match Feirense’ result against Guimaraes in order to avoid being relegated. The Briosa drew a blank against Setubal for 41 minutes, but Edinho opened the scoring shortly before half time. Incredibly, the former Malaga man’s strike was Academica’s first goal at home in 2012, and it proved enough to lift them out of the relegation zone.
Feirense 1-3 Guimaraes
 Feirense got their bid for top-flight survival off to the perfect start at home to Guimaraes, with Buval putting Henrique Nunes’ side ahead with just three minutes gone. However, a late first half equaliser from NDiaye upped the tension once again. As the second half unfolded it looked like a stalemate was on the cards, but a pair of late strikes from Urreta and Soudani handed Guimaraes the points, and left Feirense in 15th, two points behind Academica with one game left to play.
Pacos de Ferreira 2-2 Rio Ave
 Joao Tomas’ fourteenth strike of the season put Rio Ave ahead early at Pacos, but Benfica loanee Melgarejo levelled the scores shortly before the half hour mark – the promising Paraguayan’s eleventh of the campaign. A frantic finale saw Alvarez net for the home side, only for Tomas to pop with a last-minute equaliser, which was enough to guarantee Rio Ave top-flight football next season.
Nacional 3-1 Gil Vicente
 In one of two dead rubbers, mid-table Nacional hosted Gil Vicente. Hugo Vieira gave the away side the lead on 36 minutes, but Claudemir levelled for the home side in first half stoppage time, and Keita put the home side ahead with 20 minutes remaining. Rondon added the third moments before full time.
Olhanense 0-0 Maritimo
No goals in Olhao, as Olhanense (already safe) and Maritimo (guaranteed a Europa League spot) drew a blank in a low-key encounter.
Ben Shave
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I just wanted to point out here's actually great comments about the Seleccao on the Bento's new contract.
I know things are done and dusted, even though there's one game left, but in my opinion there's still some season reviews to be done.
Some teams really shined and others were disgraceful.
But I'm bit excited to start checking portugoal.net and see updated info, articles and comments on the seleccao and its players!We'll play Macedonia in 17 days, I bhad began the countdown since 2 weeks and really can't wait to at least to see the names of the 23 players who will represent Portugal!
Cheers Bro!And hope everyone will be happy and commenting on this site on july 1st 2012!
U may say I'm crazy or drunk no m not!I'm just a Seleccao fan!:)
In looking at his group I really don't see any sellable big ticket players, and there comes the rub. Hugo has the most value, but he's 29, so I don't see him being coveted. Pizzi should be back, but he really didn't see much action at Atletico, so he's a unknown in my book.
With a 3rd Qualifying CL spot, it will be harsh starting he season in mid July, and the Playoff opponents are not going to be easy. The really big guaranteed money doesn't materialize until the Group Stage either. Tough call for the powers at be at Braga, but I would love to see the, reach the Group Stages. It would be great for Portugal and for the club.
I'll be really happy to see Leiria out of he league. The FPF should have followed this situation a lot closer as soon as they saw that Leiria didn't pay the owed money to their former stadium owners.
In my opinion, the president should be brought up on charges. Nevermind that he slandered players that left the club after not getting paid for months, but also committed fraud.
On a happy note, Gil Vicente really did well his season. The league is lucky to have a new core of loyal fans following a club. Here's hoping they continue improving.
I know that they eventually died, but I wanted to congratulate Maritimo an dtheir manager for continuing their great run even after selling Baba.
Keep an eye on Setubal, hey would have gutted the squad if they got relegated and probably disband.
Don't you see that it's time to unite and start thinking about the euro cup!Hold on your fightings and your sharing of your different points of views on the club level for the time being!Personally, I wish aaaaall the portuguese clubs all the best in their european cups NEXT season!
Let's now start discussing our seleccao, our chances!It's time to move on!
Dea Portugoal.net, please start on working on articles that will help us analyse and discuss everything related to the seleccao!
Thanks in advance!
loyal to the seleccao and proud!Vamos!
Forca PortugaL!
I’ll wish you guys luck and it would be amazing to see 3 Portuguese teams in the group stage of the CL. I do hope that Braga make the most of this opportunity and spend a bit or either keeping some of their top talent, or filling in replacements with experienced talent. Spending a bit more this summer will be well worth it if they can make that group stage.