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Friday, 21 August 2009 12:42

The great Vitoria Setubal experiment

Complete squad overhaul: madness or masterstroke?

Setubal line-up 2009/10As the 2009/10 season grinds into full swing, much interest has been generated by Vitoria Setubal’s antics this summer. PortuGOAL takes a closer look.
 
It’s a new season with a brand new team. Literally.
 
The 2008/2009 campaign for Vitoria was anything but smooth to say the least. After losing many of their star players from the previous season, including playmaker Claudio Pitbull and goalkeeper Eduardo, Vitoria was faced with rebuilding a team under an extreme financial crisis. The season did not start off well, with the Sadinos winning only three out of their first twelve games. This was a far cry from the 07/08 squad, which won the inaugural league cup and finished sixth.
 
Vitoria’s season didn’t get any easier. The rest of the year was marked with a players’ strike (due to non-payment of salaries), a coaching change, and the fight to avoid relegation. Long-time resident assistant coach and former player, Carlos Cardoso, was once again called into action to help Vitoria avoid relegation. Cardoso was successful in keeping Vitoria in the Liga, and all was well in Setubal for the time being.
 

New beginning

With no official head coach, and many of their players leaving at the beginning of this summer due to the financial crisis, Vitoria quickly found themselves back to where they started at the beginning of the 08/09 season. Carlos Azenha was brought in from Porto to take over in his first ever head coaching post. Facing a tight budget, he brought in a number of young unproven players; mostly from the Portuguese second division. After all was said and done, the 24-man roster only included four players from the previous season.
 
In the Sadino’s season opener this past Monday versus Guimaraes, ten out of the starting eleven weren’t even on the team last season. Despite only having three weeks of preparations (most teams had six), Vitoria came away with a 0-0 draw against a solid Guimaraes squad. This was a reasonable result for a revamped team looking to make a name for themselves, despite economic hardship. It’s almost unheard of for a club to acquire a brand new roster, let alone be successful with them. Thus, the Great Vitoria Setubal Experiment has begun.
 
Stay tuned to portugoal.net, where we’ll be paying close attention to Vitoria’s progress, and attributing an Experiment Success Rating from 1 (complete failure) to 10 (roaring success).
 
Experiment Success Rating so far: 7
 
by Antonio Fresco
 
Comments (4)
usa
4 Saturday, 22 August 2009 02:30
usa
the words franchise and tied beloneg in mls can we please use the proper words like football club and draw
Always problems
3 Friday, 21 August 2009 17:09
Fresh/Hamilton, Canada
So what Vitoria Setubal tied Guimaraes 0-0. That's a result that saved them, but how long will they keep it up. They are going to fight against relegation again. As a Benfiquista I wouldn't mind to see a player like Adu going to Setubal because we don't use him or whatever. If Vitoria Setubal stays up than that will really surprise me.
Setubal Not Bad
2 Friday, 21 August 2009 14:25
Nate/Cali, USA
Let me say this. First, when teams rebuild they are always under criticism. Azenha is bringing some fresh faces from the second division. Kazmierczak should be a key piece to this club, and he can mentor and show the young guys what to do. What i would've liked to see is Setubal going after another play-maker, like Freddy Adu or going after Leandro Lima. What is going to be tough is when they go into the Cup stages where they need the experience and heart. They may have the heart with the young guys, but they lack the experience. Second-Division players don't have the respect like the big clubs in the first division. I can't wait when they play Naval because that team is similar. They brought in a whole fleet of new French players. Both teams are looking for improvement in every way. I give them a 6.5 as of right now but let's see how this team fares with the likes of Porto, Benfica, Sporting, Leixoes, Braga...
Relegation
1 Friday, 21 August 2009 14:13
Issac/ U.S
This team, franchise, organization is a complete joke. If you can't afford to pay your players then you should not have a team. I would love to own a large business but if I could not afford to pay my employees, would they still work for me? This team should have been relegayed before the start of the season. To say this experiment has any chance of success would make one a retard.

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