The Portuguese Superliga Thread

[Matieo10]

Under Construction...

[Matieo10]

Jornada 1'

August 22
20:30 Vitoria Guimaraes x Vitoria Setubal

August 23
18:15 Pacos Ferreira x Braga
20:45 Sporting Lisbon x Trofense

August 24
16:00 Amadora x Academica Coimbra
17:00 Associacao Naval x Maritimo
17:00 Leixoes x Nacional
19:15 FC Porto x Belenenses
21:15 Rio Ave x Benfica

[rooney da best]

porto to win it, benfica and sporting to fight over second and third

not sure about the rest
how are porto looking this season matthew? and are you worried that if quaresma leaves you wont be as good?

[fcp4life]

Originally Posted by rooney da best

porto to win it, benfica and sporting to fight over second and third

not sure about the rest
how are porto looking this season matthew? and are you worried that if quaresma leaves you wont be as good?

honestly he can leave, we can win without him I/E 2004 Champions League, 2003 Uefa Cup 1987 Champions League though it wasent called the champions league back then, the European Supercup 1987, and World Champions 1987, only thing i dont like what porto is doing is buying south americans portuguese players are the best for the team, because they are playing in their own country and they get a sense of pride, when other players come in they just play for the money....

[ChelseablueDCU26]

How good are Guimaraes really?

Went from 2nd division to Champions League in successive years.

[Matieo10]

Don't worry, I'm not expecting everyone to come in here and discuss the league...but instilling some sort've respectable/genuine thread in here might bring back the glory days ( hopefully)

Hmmm well we've actually been the best team in the pre-season (despite not looking it so far) out of the big three, we've had a record of like 7-1-1 (dunno if the wins column is correct) while Sporting has been 4-2-3 and Benfica has been 2-2-2 I think (don't quote me on this as I'm just going off the top of my head from the final day of pre-season).

As for who's been best in the transfer market, clearly Benfica. They've addressed most of their off-season inquiries of what and who is needed at the club. Benfica appointed Rui Costa as the Sporting Director which might've been the best thing Benfica has done in the past decade if I have to be honest. Rui hired Quique Sanchez Flores (QFS) as the head coach, who was previously part of Valencia, and IMO is a great addition as he's not all that bad of a coach. Benfica have managed to throw out the unnecessary (Butt , Paulo Jorge, Manu, Jose Fonte, and Nuno Assis) with the only real losses are Cristian Rodriguez to Porto and Petit to lalalaoln. They managed to bring some great class players like Pablo Aimar, Jose Antonio Reyes, and Carlos Martins. Other players that were great additions are Jorge Ribeiro (RB,DM), Ruben Amorim (Young box-to-box midfielder/Portuguese), Sidnei (Young prospect from Brasil) and Balboa who will add depth to the wings from Real Madrid.

Porto have been second best in the market, with Sporting doing not soo great. We've brought in Cristian Rodriguez from PSG who was on loan at Benfica last season, so far he's looked class def a starter at this point IMO. We've also added Tommy Costa and Freddy Guarin who are both defensive midfielders (at the loss of Paulo Machado on loan though ) whil Supanaru, a Romanian, will be covering at full back for us. The biggest additions IMO have been the Hulk (yeah it's his name ) Rolando and Candeias (both young Portuguese prospects who deserve to play), while Hulk is looking to be what Adriano never promised to be...a great power forward, with incredible control of the ball. Although I would liked Mariano Gonzalez and Jorge Fucile gone, I guess it 'aint soo bad now that we have more depth needed to defend the Liga...players that went out were Jose Bosingwa who we'll sorely miss but wish the best to at Chelsea, and Marek Cech who went to West Brom in the prem. Helder Postiga went to Sporting and pulled a Derlei, but oh well...still love him...while Paulo Assuncao can rot in hell

Sporting really haven't add many players, they've just bought the contracts of players that were on loan last season. Wonder Brasilian LWB from AC Milan, Grimi who looks to be the best LB in the league now with Leo of Benfica to be off form. They got Marco Caneira, but he's lalalala anayways and they re-signed Fabio Rochemback who you might know from Middlesborough again, while Is-my-love (Ismailov) gets signed after his loan. Like I said before, Postiga is at Sporting now and he should add some great depth to the team, I personally think he's a good player and can still become a big player. Only loss to Sporting that could hurt them in the long run is Gladstone, he's a great youthful brasilian defender and should've stayed IMO just so they have cover for that at CB.


Now to answer your question, Yes, we can win the Superliga without Quaresma...it's unfortunate, but I believe his mind isn't with the club, and his heart is following that mindset. He's done all he can with us, he's been more faithful than most of the players we've had in the past 10 years and I love him for it, he's a cult hero and a Porto legend as far as I'm concerned. But I think he really needs to fulfill his World Class potential, because honestly, I think he's effin' p*ssed that he has to keep hearing Ronaldo being mentioned as the best in the world, when it was him who was starting over Ronaldo at Sporting and it was him who tought Ronaldo alot more than anyone else at the time...they were rivals if you wanna call it that, and in all fairness, Ricardo got shut down at Barcelona by Rijkaard so he never had a chance.

Right now, on paper...Benfica should win the Superliga, but they haven't looked amazing in the pre-season, and that is what makes the difference when playing the Liga tbh we'll see if the signings they've made can pull off. We can retain the title, it'll just be more of a challenge this year, and even without Quaresma we still have depth and class...although he was our consistant trump that single-handedly took out Benfica every year he's been with us while he's done some damage to Sporting at the same time. Sporting have looked the same, but I think they are still a threat considering their players are geling more and more every year and are hungry for more than just a Carlesberg Cup (Portuguese Cup/Taca) so they should challenge like always. As for outsiders, I think Setubal and Braga will be up there, espeically Braga as they just signed Eduardo, who was the best Goalkeeper last season in the League.

[Matieo10]

Originally Posted by ChelseablueDCU26

How good are Guimaraes really?

Went from 2nd division to Champions League in successive years.

To be perfectly honest, they're not that great infact, they were pretty lucky to finish 3rd last season, mainly because Benfica and Sporting were screwing up so much and Braga & Beleneses were having bad seasons. Guimaraes and Setubal (4th) were on fire last season and alot of neutral fans were cheering them on because of how typical the last couple of seasons have been (Porto, Sporting, Benfica).

Setubal lost Eduardo, which is pretty much all that needs to be said...imagine Schalke without Manuel Neuer, that's Setubal now since Eduardo went to Braga.

While Alan and Geromel is out for Guimaraes, which I think the the loss of Geromel is huge (one of the best players last year maybe). I think they drawed 0-0 at Home in the Champions League qualifying, so I dunno if they can pull it off Away


This is what happened when Guimaraes was on form last year and they faced us:

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I AGREE

We killed 'em

[fcp4life]

Originally Posted by Matieo10

To be perfectly honest, they're not that great infact, they were pretty lucky to finish 3rd last season, mainly because Benfica and Sporting were screwing up so much and Braga & Beleneses were having bad seasons. Guimaraes and Setubal (4th) were on fire last season and alot of neutral fans were cheering them on because of how typical the last couple of seasons have been (Porto, Sporting, Benfica).

Setubal lost Eduardo, which is pretty much all that needs to be said...imagine Schalke without Manuel Neuer, that's Setubal now since Eduardo went to Braga.

While Alan and Geromel is out for Guimaraes, which I think the the loss of Geromel is huge (one of the best players last year maybe). I think they drawed 1-1 at Home in the Champions League qualifying, so I dunno if they can pull it off Away


This is what happened when Guimaraes was on form last year and they faced us:



We killed 'em

i have second thoguhts on quaresma DONT LEAVE MAN

[barajma92]

How is Tarik Sektioui doing in Portugal? I remember the goal he scored against L'OM off course but is he always in the starting 11?

[joegerrard]

benfica will win the superliga this year.
with reyes, aimar, cardozo, di maria and others

[Matieo10]

^^ Yep, they have a good chance.

Originally Posted by barajma92

How is Tarik Sektioui doing in Portugal? I remember the goal he scored against L'OM off course but is he always in the starting 11?

Not really, last year was pretty much his breakout year...for Porto and Morocco (scored a couple and assisted a few in the ACN I believe ) but he's been great, I think Lisandro, Alves and him were our best players last season, he's really come through and I'm happy he's playing for us and proven that he can play at a high level.

[Giampinho]

Sagres is great lager...

prefer super bock...

[Matieo10]

I hate Super Bock, despise it's cheap flavour Sagres is the best beer IMO.

On-topic,

Guimaraes have been beating up Setubal so far, they've had pretty much most of the chances not to mention posse de bola.

Leandro Lima, despite me hating him and ironically wearing the #20 jersey, he's had some very good dribbles and has been Setubal's best player in the opening half hour.

-------------------------------------------------------

Golo do Douglas - '45, Guimaraes 1 x 0 Setubal

Well worked cross from the right hand side, with Douglas beating the off-side trap to head the ball in the far left post good goal. Half time now.

-------------------------------------------------------

Golo do Elias - '81, Guimaraes 1 x 1 Setubal

Short build up play from the left hand side, Bruno Gama recieves the ball and cross into the area where Elias comes out of nowhere to latch onto it and volley it home.

------------------------------------------------------

1 x 1 the final.

[Matieo10]

Porto x Belenenses

Mariano Gonzalez has already made it 1-0 to the Dragoes. Tommy intercepted the ball in the middle, made the pass to Lisandro who got the shot on, with Mariano getting the rebound

Lisandro also missed a glorious chance a few minutes ago, having stripped the back pass to the keeper and blowing the shot wide

[Tio Nicci]

oye Matieo let me know how Guarin plays if he starts. I'm really anxious how he'll perform on a big club like Porto

[Matieo10]

Will do I think he will be fighting for a starting spot this season with Tomas Costa. Is he one of your favourite players?

Here are the line-ups, was watching the match so didn't put them up right away:

Porto,

Helton

Sapunaru---Bruno Alves---Pedro Emanuel---Benítez

Tomás Costa

Raul Meireles---Lucho González

Mariano-----Lisandro-----Rodríguez

Subs: Nuno, Fucile, Rolando, Bolatti, Guarín, Hulk e Farías


Belenenses,

Júlio César

Cândido Costa---Carciano---Rodrigo Arroz---China

Baiano---Matheus

Silas---Zé Pedro---Maykon

Marcelo

Subs: Assis, João Paulo, Mano, Organista, Evandro, Vinicius e Vanderlei

[rooney da best]

in that video you posted matthew, the team porto played have an amazing defence

[Matieo10]

Naww, we just have amazing attack

The game has been filled with Licha being too eager for the goal, he needs to calm down and calculate his chances better.

Lucho has been un-be-lieve-able!!

Supanaru has been great, Benetiz still needs to show up, while Pedro Emanuel and Bruno Alves have been very solid

Mariano Gonzalez...has been "" yeah, Inter player my ***.

---------------------------------------

Rodriguez off ---->

Ooooolk (Hulk ) on <----

---------------------------------------

Tommy off --->

Guarin on <---

---------------------------------------

Mariano off --->

Fuciel on <---

We got a really good chance, but the keeper was great to clear it.

---------------------------------------



AND THAT'S WHY WE PAYED SOOO MUCH MONEY FOR THE HULK!!!

BRILLIANT BRILLIANT LEFT FOOTED ROCKET!! INTO THE FAR POST!!

Porto 2 x 0 Belenenses

[fcp4life]

Omg Hulk !!!!!!

[Matieo10]

It was a great performance from the team that has ended 2-0 for us any pick for MOTM? I dunno, maybe Lucho I guess

[Tio Nicci]

Originally Posted by Matieo10

Will do I think he will be fighting for a starting spot this season with Tomas Costa. Is he one of your favourite players?

Here are the line-ups, was watching the match so didn't put them up right away:

Porto,

Helton

Sapunaru---Bruno Alves---Pedro Emanuel---Benítez

Tomás Costa

Raul Meireles---Lucho González

Mariano-----Lisandro-----Rodríguez

Subs: Nuno, Fucile, Rolando, Bolatti, Guarín, Hulk e Farías


Belenenses,

Júlio César

Cândido Costa---Carciano---Rodrigo Arroz---China

Baiano---Matheus

Silas---Zé Pedro---Maykon

Marcelo

Subs: Assis, João Paulo, Mano, Organista, Evandro, Vinicius e Vanderlei

Yeah he is. He use to play for Envigado en Colombia. I remember how hard he works. The national team he is a key defense midfielder. Though hopefully he can suceed. He said in a newspaper that he wants to win titles with Porto and he plans to contribute as much as he can.

[Matieo10]

He's a really gritty player from what I've seen, and is a pretty good passer. Young aswell, around his early 20's I believe.

[fcp4life]

YouTube - F.C Porto 8.24.2008 vs. Belenenses (2-0) Hulk Superb Goal!


check out meh vid!

[Matieo10]

Great video! the goal is great

[Matieo10]

Jornada 2'

Friday

Belenenses 29/08 P. Ferreira

Saturday

Benfica 30/08 FC Porto

Sunday

Académica 31/08 Rio Ave
V. Setúbal 31/08 Est. Amadora
Nacional 31/08 Naval
Trofense 31/08 Leixões

Monday

Marítimo 01/09 V. Guimarães
Sp. Braga 01/09 Sporting