Next up for sporting is on the road vs Academica.
Game is Saturday feb 25 @ 4:15pm (EDT).

This will definitely be another tough test for Scp and a must win as the classico (Benfica vs Porto) is also this weekend.

A sporting win combined with a benfica win can see us only 2 points behind the leaders porto.
Should be very Interesting....

Agreed. A little consistency from this team and Sporting still have a good shot at winning the league.

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"Originally Posted by Dae 8-13-06
.........and besides, who invites an entire message board to a wedding and not have half of them speak Klingon or dress as hobbits or stormtroopers ?

Much love to my chops! "

I saw pieces of the match and was quite impressed. If the squad keeps playing like this, they will win the chupa.

I saw none of it. Anybody have player reviews? Did Romangoli play or is he a bench warmer?

I agree, Feego, if Sporting keep up the momentum they started in the Benfica game (they dominated with a flowing and possession midfield) then then can catch Porto.

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"Originally Posted by Dae 8-13-06
.........and besides, who invites an entire message board to a wedding and not have half of them speak Klingon or dress as hobbits or stormtroopers ?

Much love to my chops! "

I thought it was a generous score line. If Academica had managed to tie the game after the first goal, as they came very close to doing, we could've seen a very different result.

Still, I'm optimistic. I like the agressiveness the team is showing, chasing down every ball, (the stamp of Bento), and the defense is looking far more consistent and solid than it did under Peseiro.

Our MOM was Liedson. The guy was everywhere, helping out on our defense, terrorizing theirs. High point of the game was his bomb of a left footed goal. That second goal finished Academica. This guy's work rate is incredible. We're going to miss him against Gil Vicente.

A close second was Romagnoli. Without Carlos Martins there, (apparently absent because of missing training after a couple of nights of whoring), Romagnoli supplied a lot of the creativity.

Moutinho played a good game and had his moments, but has not achieved the level he attained for a long spell last year.

Nani was our biggest disappointment. The only thing he did well was take the pk for the 3rd goal. Countless bad passes, nothing seemed to go right for him on Saturday.

Benfica is over extended trying to keep up in three competitions and at least at the moment is not showing any hint of the consistency needed to remain a contender over the next 10 jornadas. If we can stay consistent against the smaller teams and get a result against Porto in Alvalade, the year will have a bright ending.

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É a minha filosofia de futebol. O futebol é isso: assumir o risco. O futebol é dos valentes.

Thanks for the recap. Is Romangoli a backup or does he get first team play? I remember him from his youth world cup days and then have not heard from him since. I didn't follow him while he was in Mexico after his injury. I assume we got him for a reason.

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"Originally Posted by Dae 8-13-06
.........and besides, who invites an entire message board to a wedding and not have half of them speak Klingon or dress as hobbits or stormtroopers ?

Much love to my chops! "

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe he's started just a couple of times for us. The first time I saw him start he scored a wonderful goal, and this past weekend he was very good too, as I said. I think he's second choice when Carlos Martins is a good boy, in form, and not injured....so he'll probably start a lot. Without Rochemback I think they're pretty dependent on Martins for dead balls. He's deadly with the free kicks.

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É a minha filosofia de futebol. O futebol é isso: assumir o risco. O futebol é dos valentes.