Sporting CP 2 Raków Częstochowa 1
The Warm Up
Thursday night football returns as Sporting take on Raków Częstochowa in the return leg and of this Europa League mini round robin table. If you have a short memory and have forgotten the result of the first game or maybe chose to try wipe it from your mind, let me remind you that yes it finished 1-1 and was quite frankly an awful watch over the 90 minutes. Gyökeres received a red card within the first ten minutes for an innocuous looking challenge in real time and in my humble opinion was done by the slow motion replay which the referee was shown on the monitor making it appear far worse than it really was and for me it was nothing more than purely accidental. With plan A well and truly out the window we did amazingly well to take the lead through a Coates goal but were ultimately unable to come away with a full three points against a frankly piss poor second rate side. The danger for this game is of course we’re too focused on Sunday night for the first Dérbi de Lisboa of the season against Os pombas at the Loft. That and we generally underestimate them as I have just done in pointing out they were truly piss poor even against ten men and the referee making it 12 against 10. Bitter? Me? Whatever gave you that impression?
Even without the suspended Swedish striker up front you hope we have enough about us to not only finish the game with the full quota of XI players this time but with three points to boot. This being Europe though Amorim is known to give the second string a run out though Adán is confirmed to start between the sticks so maybe he’s not underestimating the level of opposition totally with qualification from the mini league still on a knife edge. Bragança buoyed by his goal on Sunday will surely again deputise for Morita as the Japanese midfield general makes his way back to full match fitness. With Geny injured will we see Fresneda given another opportunity maybe from the bench out on the right? Or maybe Trincão to finally score his first of the season with Edwards put on ice for Sunday’s big one? We shall see. Let’s just hope whatever the team it’s not as fucking dull as the last game.
The money markets
Having predicted that Estrela wouldn’t score at all Sunday, they of course went with the two finger salute back at me so I’m not going to jinx anything ahead of this fixture and keep my big mouth firmly shut. However it’s no surprise to see Sporting start 2/9 for the win and Raków 12/1. In case we get Stitched up by VAR and poor refereeing again I’m going to even quote the 11/2 for the draw. That’s nice of me isn’t it? I’m not scrambling around for good karma on Sunday honestly. Even if I was, I may have blown it by my summarisation of the opposition’s chances in the opening paragraphs. Did I mention I thought they were really piss poor? Twice you say? Well done for paying attention at the back when I thought you were asleep. So let’s try again by pointing out they won their last game 5-0 against the might of Polish football Zaglebie Lubin. I promise I’ve not made that one up. Maybe they just make their club names up from the remaining letters in the Scrabble bag.
Team News
Starts for St Juste and Inácio either side of Coates replacing Diomande and Reis. Bragança as expected keeps his position in the central two and is joined by Gonçalves who’s pushed back into the role occupied by Hjulmand against Estrela having started the last game as one of the front three. Paulinho starts for the suspended Gyökeres with both Edwards and Trincão either side and not as I’d guessed one featuring over the other. Sporting do look considerably short of options on the bench in an attacking sense should things not go well for any reason with the starting XI but for those who like a useless random statistic; all ten outfield players starting tonight’s game have at least one goal to their name in Sporting colours. I want to say if you needed goals from the bench it’s Diomande and Reis who have the best scoring record with three a piece which I guess backs up what I said about being reliant on the XI that starts. This it appears is very much a score first then shut up shop philosophy I’m guessing.
First Half
3 Paulinho with the first shot on target from 18 yards but fired straight at the keeper on this his 31st birthday. Apparently Raków are the current Polish Champions and there’s me saying they’re a tinpot outfit. Given how tiny their ground is I have to wonder if it came as a big of a shock as when Leicester won the Premier League.
5 Bragança pulls a shot wide of the right post from 27 yards. Ambitious is the word there.
8 Sporting persistent in playing out from the back despite Raków pressing and making life hard for the back three. Inácio was lucky to get away with one in the opening 60 seconds when awarded a free kick for a foul on him.
9 Shouts for a penalty as St Juste brought down in the box. VAR check ongoing. Referee has been told to go to the monitor. I’m wondering why St Juste was so high up the pitch at that point and the answer is … winning a penalty. Not only a penalty but a red card as the last man for Racovitan.
13 GOAL Gonçalves with the ball as Yeboah tries to put him off but Paulinho steps up and shoves him away and stands on the penalty spot like a Texas Ranger. All he’s missing there are the cowboy boots and Stetson. Sporting CP 1 Raków 0 as Gonçalves calmly sends the keeper the wrong way. Maybe a little bit of retribution there for Gyökeres sending off in the first game. I don’t think we’ll succumb to a 1-1 draw from the same starting point as in the last game now holding the numerical advantage.
17 Nowak makes way for Kovačević as Raków employ some damage limitation with a defender on for an attacker.
18 St Juste lays crumpled in a heap after landing heavily challenging for the ball in midfield. Let’s hope after his injury woes it’s not as serious as it looked… No he’s up again and back on the pitch after treatment. Precautionary.
21 You can already see the difference the sending off has made as the back three now hold a high line defending just shy of the half way line. They’d been pinned back to just a yard or two in the opening minutes by the pressing of Raków.
22 Jean Carlos tries from distance but Adán could happily watch that one go behind for a goal kick.
24 Corner for Sporting – only mentioned because Trincão and their keeper Vladan Kovačević look like they were separated at birth as they stand side by side. Also clearly a common surname for players in Poland with two now on the pitch.
28 Inácio goes into the book with a clumsy challenge. That’s a tactical foul created by keeping such a high line and having to stop the counter attack.
29 Nuno Santos tries to find Esgaio at the back post but a defender just gets a toe on the ball to send it out for a corner. I’m always impressed that Esgaio manages to get in the right spaces in the area, but his one solitary goal for Sporting in his career will testify his finishing doesn’t match the positional awareness.
31 Nuno Santos tries from 19 yards but his shot was always climbing. Oddly his first touch took him into a worse shooting position from where he’d started. Maybe he changed his mind midway through that phase.
35 Adán the calmest man in the stadium as he takes the ball around the onrushing attacker Cmac and leaves the 19 year old flat on his face
36 Edwards with a chance from close range at a tight angle can only fire his shot straight at the keeper after a nice run into the box by the Englishman
37 Trincão with the clever drag back to make space for a shot from 19 yards which ends high and wide of the left post. There’s no doubt he’s got something special about him but he’s as majestic to watch and infuriating in equal measure
41 Roberto Martinez watching on again. Perhaps he’s got a Sporting season ticket. I’ll have to try work out if he’s got more Portuguese players to watch than during his last visit. Must have because there were only two last time out. Esgaio – don’t laugh, Nuno Santos, Gonçalves, Bragança, Paulinho, Inácio. So yes six compared to two previously.
41 Edwards brings about a one handed save from 17 yards out. He controls a ball like it’s soap on a rope. Reminds me of Kanu back in the day with that magnetic touch that keeps it out of range of the defender.
Plus three shown
+1 Paulinho flashes a pass into the corridor of uncertainty but strangely Esgaio wasn’t there given how frequently he keeps cropping up in the right place. Ball goes harmlessly out of play.
+2 Trincão brought down wide on the left. Good spot to curl in a ball and make it 2 before half time me thinks… Gonçalves goes near post but Paulinho can only find the side netting with his header.
Half time
Sporting CP 1 Raków Częstochowa 0
Business like probably best sums up that first half performance. If it was a career comparison it would be accountancy. Which is to surmise it wasn’t much better a watch than the game out in Poland. St Juste looks like he’s recapturing his old form and I should really watch the game back later to try work out just how it was that he was the Sporting player furthest up the pitch when the penalty was awarded for the foul on him. It’s probably been the quietest crowd of the season which has only just dawned on me.
Second half
Piasecki who scored the first ever goal for Raków in the Europa League coming against Sporting in the 1-1 draw comes on as substitute.
46 Nearly the ideal start as Paulinho puts the ball into the net within 30 seconds of the restart but the birthday boy is flagged marginally offside.
48 Raków defending in banks of 5-1-3 so clearly hopeful they can muster a counter attack if they win the ball from Sporting pressing up on the attack
49 Checking for another penalty. That definitely hit the hand of Rundic. Edwards was like a bowler appealing to the umpire for a wicket. You can take the boy out of England, but you... Referee goes to the monitor again. He’s given it again. Bit like the one against Coates on Sunday – unfortunate but correct decision made.
51 GOAL Gonçalves with the brace as this time he goes wide right. He just gave the keeper the eyes to the left before he slotted home there. See that’s the level of detail I deliver. Sporting CP 2 Raków 0
52 Close from Trincão. Gonçalves lofted the ball into the forward who hit a first time volley inches wide of the top left hand post.
53 I was about to write that if we can get a third we’ll probably see some changes around the 60 – 65 minute mark and some young faces just as they show Fresneda getting ready on the sidelines doing his boots up. So what do I know? Not a lot.
55 Goncalves for Hjulmand; Esgaio for Fresneda and Inácio for Reis. Not quite the young faces we might have seen with a more comfortable scoreline.
57 Sporting fans are now in full flow. Perhaps I just wasn’t paying attention first half. They’re rarely quiet are they? I have always loved how inclusive the Sporting chants are. If you know the words Sporting, Allez and Força and can match a tune you’ll never go far wrong. Can someone explain to me how the chant to the theme of Chariots of Fire made its way onto the terraces of Portugal?
64 Trincão goes close again as he tries an effort from ten yards with the outside of his right boot. He’s enjoying his football again. I am desperate for him to score his first of the season.
66 St Juste with the chance to play the ball wide out to Fresneda who is in acres of space twice and twice he’s cut back to look for a pass inside. It’s quite telling what he thinks of the Spanish youngster.
67 Hjulmand takes a quite literal swing of the leg as he fires over the bar.
68 Another sub being readied on the sidelines. I’m not saying Tiago Ferreira looks young but he does look like he’s eating a Frube as Amorim gives him instructions..
69 St Juste out for Diomande. Edwards for Ferreira who is apparently 21. Is he bollocks. I’d ID him for 16 if I was a shopkeeper.
70 GOAL Well those substitutions worked well… for Raków as Rundic popped up at the back post to make it Sporting CP 2 Raków 1. Can’t say that was deserved or been coming because that’s the first thing they’ve offered all game. Still just as Take That sang it only takes a minute girl to fall in love, it only takes one shot to score a goal.
72 Bragança draws a save low to the keepers left. We need a third. Why do we always need another goal for breathing space?
78 Lovely ball in from Fresneda finds Bragança but he can’t control his shot. Yes son more of that please. Diomande clearly has more faith in him than St Juste did as he’s passed out to him twice on the right wing twice in the space of 60 seconds.
80 The stands are bouncing. Keep you warm on a winter’s night. Either that or save you falling asleep from the events on the pitch.
82 Lovely interplay between Ferreira and Fresneda. A 1-2 sees the Spaniard pull the ball back to the baby faced Ferreira who stings the hands of the keeper from 16 yards and out for a corner.
85 Referee with the birthday card for Paulinho as he pulls back Tudor. Oh no wait it was a yellow card. Silly me. Oh commentator makes the same joke. Clearly I’m not that original.
Plus six indicated
+4 Yellow to Plavasic
Full time
Sporting CP 2 Raków Częstochowa 1
The Final Word
It wasn’t pretty but let’s be fair even with claims to the contrary one eye was definitely on Sunday. The history books will show a 2-1 win and 3 points and that’s all that matters. In truth we benefited from the early sending off and two goals from the penalty spot rather than a goal coming from open play. Fresneda did well coming off the bench which was really pleasing and Ferreira looks like he's got a good touch on him.
Another tough choice for man of the match as no one stood out head and shoulders above the rest. Has to be St Juste for me. Looked calm at the back, good on the break and consistency with his distribution. His involvement led to the first goal. Good overall performance from the Dutchman. Bring on Os pombos!
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