Danilo (left) was superb this season at Maritimo
Two weeks ago, PortugalFutbol announced Part I of the Primeira Liga’s Top 10 Under 24 from last season. In Part I, we announced who were the honorable mentions, and promised the full list to follow. These are ten of the best under-24 Portuguese players from last season playing outside of the “Big Three.” The data has been gathered and the decisions made. Here’s the list. Continue reading
Ricardo Valente (right), pictured here celebrating a goal scored against arch-rivals SC Braga this season.
At the end of last season, PortugalFutbol.net outlined the Primeira Liga’s top 5 under-24 Portuguese players playing outside of Portugal’s “Big Three” clubs (Sporting, Porto, Benfica). The purpose of this list was to shed to light some of the league’s lesser-talked about up-and-coming talent. For instance, out of the five players listed in last year’s edition, four of them have made their National Team debut since last season. This year, PortugalFutbol has expanded this list to ten.
For the purposes of brevity, we’ve split this year’s list into two parts. Part I outlines the honorable mentions, while Part II will reveal the actual Top 10 players listing. Continue reading
Danilo Pereira has signed a four-year deal at Porto. Photo: FC Porto
Though only one has been presented, Porto have announced the capture of three Portuguese, Liga NOS-based players. Maritimo’s Danilo Pereira, Vitória Guimarães’ André André, and Paços Ferreira’s Sérgio Oliveira have all sealed moves to the Estádio do Dragão for the 2015/2016 season. Porto are strengthening heavily before the start of the season, with these three part of five transfers so far this offseason. And new players are exactly what they need, with last season’s starters Danilo, Casemiro, Óliver Torres, and Jackson Martinez having left. Continue reading
Jorge Jesus, seen here as Benfica’s coach, has taken over at Sporting
With the Portuguese domestic season now officially over, some of the country’s top clubs have wasted no time in looking for new leadership. As it stands now, Sporting, Benfica, Vitória Guimarães, Braga, and Paços Ferreira will all have new coaches for next season. And at the heart of all of this upheaval is Jorge Jesus, who scandalously chose to leave Benfica to coach their cross-town rivals Sporting Lisbon. Continue reading
André Gomes has been excellent for Valencia this season.
In the summer, the editors of Futebol Factory and PortugalFutbol.net put together a list of 10 players that could make a positive impact at club level for the first time. Now that the season has finished, we decided to assess each player’s progress and assign a final grade.
Petit’s Boavista team were favorites for relgation this season, but find themselves nowhere close to the bottom. Photo: JOSÉ COELHO/LUSA
Here we are. Round 24 out of 34 completed. Only ten more to go. This round was interesting an interesting one that saw Braga lose some momentum, Vitoria Guimaraes continue to struggle, and Porto push toward the top. Let’s take a closer look. Continue reading
Can Nani’s Sporting rebound this weekend after two discouraging performances? Photo: Carlos Rodrigues/Getty Images
It’s alive! It’s alive! After 5 mediocre to subpar weeks, my prediction record is alive! And I’m the king of the world!
OK, I know I’m getting a little ahead of myself here on Oscar weekend, but, I can’t help it – I had a great week! My overall record has improved to 21-24 thanks to a round that saw me go 7-2 with my predictions, including correctly guessing the exact score of three games. The only 2 teams that let me down were Sporting and Penafiel; THAT my friends, is quite the achievement. It’s almost like I know what I’m talking about.
But, I’m not naïve. I’ve experienced a 1-8 week before and I know the same thing could easily happen this week, thus sinking me like Leonardo DiCaprio in the Titanic. I hope that’s not the case though.
I want to show you all the money – by money I mean sharing bragging rights of course – but, at the same time, I’m realistic and I expect to be brought down to Earth a little. Gravity rules. What goes up must come down.
I just don’t want to come too down. I consistently need more wins than losses if I’m going to play this prognostication game well, and, in case you haven’t noticed, I do want to play this game well. In fact, I want someone to hand me a shiny gold statue for “Best Performance by a Portuguese Prognosticator” when the season comes to a close. But that can only happen if I have more weeks like last week. And, that’s gonna be tough given the unpredictability of Liga NOS.
If the previous Valentine’s round was all about identity, then, this Oscar edition, should, appropriately, be all about drama: In the reverse matches of round 22 played earlier in the season, a man was sent off in 7 of the 9 games, radically changing the outcome in nearly every one. Now, while I don’t necessarily expect the same kind of thing to happen this time around, that fact, in and of itself, sets up some very intriguing rematches to follow.
I suspect this week, like every other week in Portugal, will be fun to watch. Get your popcorn ready; the features are about to start. Here are my previews and predictions for round 22:
Will Hernani return to haunt his former club?
It’s the weekend of love in the Liga NOS and around the world, and, dare I say, I’m in quite the jovial mood with regards to my predictions. But, much like being in a relationship, that feeling of warmth can dissipate rather quickly.
Now, I’m still fighting an uphill battle with a 14-22 overall record up to this point, but, things are starting to improve and I’m starting to show a little consistency in this game. Last week saw me go 4-5 for the second round in a row and, with the exception of that disastrous 1-8 result a couple of weeks ago, I’ve pretty much been hovering around the .500 mark. I don’t know about you but that’s a lot better than I expected when I decided to give this series a go.
This is a new round though – the 21st round of play in the newly named Liga NOS – and, from the looks of it, it’s going to be quite an interesting one to take in.
Last week was all about unpredictability what with all the changes in personnel over the days prior, and well, we certainly got some in the results. In particular, it seemed like no lead was safe as, of the 21 goals scored in total, 8 of them came in the last 10 minutes of the game. It was quite the spectacle and reminded me of why I love this league and Portuguese football so much.
Building on the events of the last couple of weeks, and, the idea of unpredictability itself, the theme for this week seems to be identity. Or, to put it another way – who are we and what are we made of?
This is, in a lot of ways, a make or break weekend for every team in the league. Teams like Academica, Arouca, and even Guimaraes may just find themselves sitting disheveled on the couch eating a tub of ice cream asking “What if…?” at the end of the season if they don’t turn things around as soon as possible. And, what of Penafiel and Sporting? Will they be able to bounce back and continue to play well following heartbreaking results?
This weekend, perhaps more than most other weekends, will go a long way towards determining what the league table looks like at the end of the year, and, I think many of these clubs are aware of that. So, don’t be surprised to see a number of cagey matches over the next few days. Teams will not only be looking to be cautious with their opponents, but, in a philosophical sense, they’ll be looking to discover themselves as well.
Here are my picks for this Valentine’s round of play: Continue reading
Jackson Martinez can’t stop scoring for Porto.
Much of the news coverage for this past weekend’s action in Portugal was predictably centered around the Lisbon derby between Sporting CP and SL Benfica. While that game offered much in terms of excitement, there was plenty of other action in the league this weekend. Here’s the round-up: Continue reading
Can Marco Silva’s Sporting side defeat Benfica and push for the title? Photo: SAPO Desporto
Hello again Primeira Liga fans, and welcome to another edition of the Primeira Preview & Prediction (PPP)! This weekend marks the 20th round of play, and boy, there are some exciting fixtures on the schedule. One game in particular should have your eyes firmly planted on it from start to finish. I’m sure you already know which one I’m referring to. If you don’t, you will by the end of this article.
Last week was a bit of a bounce back week for me – if, in fact, you can even call a 4-5 week a “bounce back” week – in that I rebounded after that horrendous 1-8 record the weekend before. But, if we’re perfectly honest, there really was nowhere to go but up, so, I’m not really sure I should be celebrating. A 10-17 overall record leaves much to be desired. Continue reading
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