Sporting CP 4 CD Tondela 0

Sporting CP v CD Tondela
January 9th, 2024
Estádio José Alvalade
Taça de Portugal Round 5 

The Warm Up

Just 22 days have passed since the two sides met in the Taça da Liga where Sporting ran out 2-1 winners away. Tonight’s game sees a change of venues and competition as Sporting now look to knock Tondela out of the Taça de Portugal.

Visitors Tondela are undefeated in their last seven away games but they’ll know coming to a side top of the table a league above will be a much more difficult task ahead of them especially having lost 2-1 at home last month in a game I suggested at half time the Sporting defence could have put out deckchairs they had been that comfortable. In eight league games on the road they have recorded just two league victories scoring 12 times in the process though in fairness they’ve lost just the once. Draws In the cup oweverr aren't much good. Sporting at home league wise retain their 100% win record with 9 in total. In fact coming up to the halfway point in the season they’ve won all their home games in all competitions bar the one defeat in the Europa League to Atalanta 2-1. Tondela on paper even against what will no doubt be a weakened side really have their work cut out if they want to cause an upset tonight.

Geny who played in Friday nights 5-1 win to Estoril has now departed to the African Cup of Nations. Diomande scored Saturday for the Ivory Coast with a powerful header in a friendly as his stock continues to rise. Morita completing the trio away on international duty representing Japan in the Asia Cup 2023. Does Qatar not celebrate New Year at the same time as everyone else? Seriously how does that work? Oh apparently it’s also the 2023 African Cup of Nations as well. Anyways I digress – Whilst I wish all three players individual success I do hope all three nations they represent don’t have an extended run in the two tournaments but I’m guessing we’re more likely to see Geny back in the bosom of Sporting faster than the other two men.

Coates is set to return but won’t feature for the full 90 minutes. St Juste continues his rehabilitation off the field. Fresneda continues his recuperation post operation. New signing Raphael was amongst the substitutes Friday night but was unused. Reis has so far proved an able deputy filling in on the left hand side of the back three and the only reason to replace him for me at present is to shelter him from a knock or possible suspension with more important games to come over the next month. January 23rd sees the semi final of the Taça da Liga against Braga and the possibility of the Final the following weekend. The good news for that game as far as I’m concerned is Simon Banza has departed for the African Cup of Nations with DR Congo. The league’s top scorer this season, I’ve been singing his praises since the start of the last season as a player to watch and it’s no surprise he’s finally started to fulfil his potential. His loss was immediately obvious as Braga laboured to a 1-1 draw Saturday night at home to Vitória leaving them seven points off Sporting at the top. Porto as another side note could only manage a 1-1 draw Friday night away to Boavista which sees them five points behind. I’m loathe to mention the scoreline of the nearest neighbours.

Back to the game at hand and surely this is a game which allows you to give rest to Edwards and Gyökeres and let Paulinho and Trincão make their case to try and force their way into the starting lineup on a more regular basis. Paulinho’s game is definitely suffering from a lack of time on the pitch whereas Trincão has looked impressive in his last couple of outings. One season the Musketeer will hit a run of consistent form and fulfil his promise. Well we can hope and moreover hope that if it does happen it’s in the green and white. Either that or he can always go into acting.

The money markets

1/7 Sporting – 87.5% probability of a home win
16/1 Tondela – 5.88% probability of an away win
2/1 Sporting to win and BTS* 

* Added only for my lack of confidence in Isreal still to keep a clean sheet if he starts.

Team News

Israel as expected deputises once more for Adán. Debut for Rafael with Inácio and Neto completing the back three. Esgaio returns on the right with Nuno Santos continuing on the left. Gonçalves drops back to partner Bragança in midfield. Paulinho starts with Trincão and maybe a statement of how seriously Amorim is taking the competition we see Gyökeres also start. We can expect to see Coates at some point as he returns to the substitutes bench.

First Half

Sporting in all white kick off right to left. Neto starts the game as Captain.

3 Wild swing of the left boot by Nuno Santos sends his shot so high that if the cameras had followed its trajectory I can well believe it may have cleared the stand.

5 Gonçalves just seemed to lose his balance at the critical moment as his shot from central goes horribly wide left of the post. On the basis of the first two chances the Tondela keeper will think he’s in for a quiet night

6 Tondela hit the post. That was a rocket of a shot from 25 yards. Israel may have got a glove on that. We’ll have to see a replay… Rui Gomes with the thunder bastard and yes Israel with a fantastic reflex save there. That came from a Sporting mistake. Positionally I’m guessing it was the debutant Rafael

9 Paulinho unmarked from three yards blasts into the side netting. At least they’re all consistently bad as each other so far with their lack of finishing prowess

10 GOAL Sporting CP 1 Tondela 0. There’s a real sense of irony at that goal as Nuno Santos totally miss kicks the first shot and it rebounds off a defender to Gonçalves who made no mistake this time to slot home the opener. It all came from good work on the right from Gyökeres. His cross was pushed away by the keeper initially but that could only find its way to Nuno Santos and the rest as they say is history.

15 GOAL Clearly Tondela had been lulled into a false sense of security as Gonçalves slots home from 12 yards. The keeper miss hit a pass from the back to Trincão who quickly found Gonçalves in space to take full advantage of the error. They genuinely couldn’t have hit a cows arse with a banjo from two yards in the opening ten. Sporting CP 2 Tondela 0

19 Keepers got the yips as he palms a long range effort away. Confidence is a blessing and a curse in equal measure and when it goes it really goes.

24 Keeper really is having a mare. His pass out sends his defender short again and Trincão collects and crosses to Gyökeres but he can only aim his shot wide of the right hand post. Massive let off. This could easily be 6 or 7 or we’ll see a feigning of injury by their keeper to try get himself off the field. Maybe he can get himself sent off?

29 Sporting really fortunate not to have conceded again as a cross from the left is headed wide from ten yards.

32 Rafael will fit in well on the evidence of that shot as it climbs in height from 20 yards. It’s a good job those two mistakes have led to the opening two goals. Did I say it could be 6 or 7? Our finishing has been as bad in this game as it has been all season.

36 GOAL Of course just as I finish that sentence it’s Sporting CP 3 Tondela 0 as Gyökeres with a simple header unmarked inside the six yard box from a Nuno Santos cross on the right. Beautiful interlinking passes between Trincão and Bragança in the build up to then find Nuno Santos in acres of space on the left. The finish might have been simplicity personified but the move as a whole was a joy to watch. I used to be indecisive and now I’m just not sure.

44 Ball is in the net but the assistant referee on the far side got that correct as Paulinho was clearly offside in the build up before he taps it in from 5 yards. I almost forgot he was playing to be fair.

Plus 1 shown

Half time

Sporting CP 3 CD Tondela 0

Well it certainly wasn’t as plain sailing as the scoreline suggests. Had Israel not saved brilliantly in the sixth minute and Navvachio not had a night to forget so far then the halftime score could well have looked very different. You imagine first choice goalkeeper Silva has a little rye smile on his face thinking thank you very much, that’s my position safe come the weekend. You felt like you were watching one of those old school Duracell battery adverts where something fuelled by a competitor’s battery just drained of all its power except in this instance it was his conf’dence just spilling everywhere. Trincão has been the heartbeat of all that’s been good from a Sporting perspective. See my blogs from every other game Gyökeres and Paulinho have started in the same side together, I’m sick of my own voice but repeat once more it doesn’t work. Credit to the referee tonight so far he’s really let the game flow. I like giving credit where credit is due and all too often match officials get the rough end of the stick with fans too quick to blame as if we’re all perfect and never make a mistake.

Second half

Prior to the two sides returning Reis and Hjulmand have both been warming up and are stripping off so they’re either auditioning for a role in the Full Monty remake or are due to come on as second half substitutes.

45 GOAL 45 seconds on the clock as Gyökeres makes it Sporting CP 4 Tondela 0. Mezenga it was this time who sold his keeper short as his back-pass was intercepted by the Swede who rounded the keeper and slotted it home into an empty net. I know very little Portuguese but even I could lip read the coach going Foda-se as they showed his reaction from the dugout. Anyways Gonçalves and Rafael the two players to make way. I was going to suggest that Tondela will be looking for some semblance of respectability from this game but with that shit show I might be lying. As bad as Sporting’s finishing has been at times the defending has been twice as bad.

56 Freekick conceded by Esgaio in a good position to the left of the 18 yard box.

58 Tondela choose to go direct from the free kick and Israel punches the ball out for a corner.

59 Bastardo on for Gyökeres whose name now rings out from the appreciative crowd. Coates on for Inácio. Now it’s time for Paulinho to step up because he’s contributed nothing apart from an offside tap in with an hour now gone on the clock.

63 Sporting have the assistant to thank as Aba went too quickly with his run from a free kick to venture offside. Sharp first time finish past Israel who was left flat footed. Second correct call from the assistant on that side for offside and in double quick time. Who needs VAR?

72 Bragança on for Essugo

74 Fast counter attack sees Trincão and Paulinho break from the halfway line. The latter sees an effort from 8 yards blocked for a corner.

86 Essugo plays a lovely weighted pass into Trincão who tries to bend it into the far corner but he doesn’t connect properly. His performance tonight has deserved a goal more than any other

87 First yellow shown on the night to one of the Tondela substitutes who appeared behind the goal randomly.

88 Paulinho free in the box can only hit a weak shot at the keeper. His confidence is at par with their keepers right now which is to say on the floor

Plus two shown

Full time

Sporting CP 4 CD Tondela 0

The Final Word

As the camera zooms in on Trincão all smiles his performance was the stand out one in a distinctly average display which will somehow show in the history books as a 4-0 win which in truth owed much to the mistakes of the Tondela defence than any level of brilliance from the Sporting players on show tonight. The real stars apart from Trincão, who is my man of the match, have been the fans in attendance who’ve made an incredible noise for the full 90 despite it appearing on TV as being sparse in every stand.

So nine goals in two games. Even when they’re not firing on all cylinders this is a side that will punish mistakes. Can we dare to dream yet? No not yet. Let’s get Braga out of the way and re-evaluate but for now we can I think rightly be hopeful or slightly optimistic at the very least. If the transfer window shuts and we’ve not lost anyone key that will be another key marker of what this current crop of players could potentially achieve. Paulinho should have been given the chance to lead the line straight from the off but try telling Gyökeres ‘sorry you’re not playing’ as he takes his tally to the season to 20 goals. So in that case you make one substitute because no matter how many times you try smash that square peg into the round hole it is not going to fit. You’re doing Paulinho no favours in that instance especially with his confidence clearly gone. His timing of his runs was awful all night and was continually the player flagged as offside. That leads me nicely to the team officiating tonight. All three were superb throughout. The assistants didn’t get a call wrong in respect of offside. The referee let the game flow throughout and I’m only sorry I can’t give his name. Were it not for a stray substitute behind the goal it would have been a game without a single yellow being shown which is as rare as an Israel clean sheet. Which leads me onto his first half save which was phenomenal and deserving of another mention because I don’t rate him at all as regular readers will have no doubt noticed by now. Rafael had the odd error in his game before being withdrawn but it did no damage and these are the games to blood him in. He’ll find his surroundings soon enough I’m sure. Nuno Santos’ final ball and shooting wasn’t at the races. Gyökeres looked in first gear most of the game but he still came away with a brace so I’m not going to tear his game apart.

Call me crazy but I’d like to see Trincão play deeper and have the space to run into from midfield because I think he’d do some major damage and then maybe you could play Gyökeres and Paulinho but as a front pairing. Amorim however is wedded to his 3-4-3. I imagine his wife grows wearisome of his love making at home. Same old starting position with the same old moves.

Anyway Sporting through to the next round.