FC Vizela 2 Sporting CP 5

FC Vizela v Sporting CP
January 18^th, 2024
Estádio do Futebol Clube de Vizela
Matchday 18 

The Warm Up

Part two of the season begins in earnest, 17 games await to see who will eventually be crowned champions of Portugal for the season 2023/24. For now Sporting sit atop of the throne but there is no certainty in football that those who lead in January will get over the finishing line in first place. History however is on the club’s side. Never have they failed to win the title when they’ve been sat in first place at the end of a calendar year and it was thus the position they found themselves in as the bells rang out and fireworks exploded to mark the beginning of 2024. A good omen one hopes but you wouldn’t yet put your mortgage on it. Well certainly not this far out anyway. Many could have dreamed but few would have believed as the season started against today’s opponents that come their next game together Sporting would top the table. It’s no understatement to surmise the season may have had an entirely different com’lexion had Paulinho not given Sporting all 3 points with a 99th minute winner in a game which finished 3-2. In England given the minute of the winning goal we’d say that the forward put a flake in the result at a point the ice cream would have been melting down your hand like an uncontrollable river. It may have been the defining point in establishing a collective self belief that this team could go on to do something special. If correct then the fact it came in the opening game of the season is the mother of all blessings. Next week will give the truest indication of their potential as they face off with Sporting Braga in the semi final of the Taça da Liga. All the enthusiasm and hope mustered could soon vanish in 90 minutes of football and the usual grumblings of 'typical Sporting' will gather apace for another season – always the bridesmaid. Or the seemingly unstoppable juggernaut could carry on apace. For now it’s 90 minutes away to Vizela that matters the most. The most ardent of fans will forgive a semi final defeat if come the end of the season they win the big prize, the one we really all covet. The league title is the holy grail. Whips and hats at the ready, like Indiana we need to get their first.

Prior to their game at home to Boavista* (this being written on the morning of the 14th) Vizela currently have the second worst home record in the top flight; One solitary win from eight games, 3 draws and 4 defeats. For those older fans, the ones that have seen it before, the hairs upon their head now greying and who know hope is the balloon with the pin always aimed at it ready to strike, they’ll fear this is the game that trips us up. Even if it doesn’t it will be the next game, or the next... A succession of 90 minutes each more painful than the last as you ’egin to pay an unhealthy interest in the results of your city rivals hoping they slip up first and give you that much needed breathing space. For the younger fans they’ll just assume we’ll piss it, if you forgive that phrase dragged from the gutters. They won’t have any qualms about telling you it either. They’re probably right but in the last title’winning season so many times I sat post defeat and thought that's it we’ve blown it only to be proved wrong. It was not good for the heart. So superstitious did I become that I refused to cut my hair in the belief that if I did the fortunes of the club would come crashing down. That is the life of a football fan. That unerring marker of one’s inability to think straight with which come inflated levels of worry that become all too consuming. We’re all at touching point to some form of madness. I don’t mind admitting that I cried when the final whistle went and we beat Braga having gone down to ten men in that last title winning season. It had by that point had all become too much. I know for a fact I’m not the only one. The title win came with a sense of relief not of jubilation. It was somewhat oddly anticlimactic. Fans of clubs of the European elite don’t have that same feeling, their sense of entitlement built upon years of success means they can simply revel in another trophy. Maybe if we could win this time around I could enjoy it more. I maybe should remind myself that we’ve scored 12 goals in the last 3 games even when we’ve not necessarily been playing well. Fortune favours the brave they say. I’m too long in the tooth to give that credence however. More like too many are hanging on the skirts of others’ success as the famous saying goes. Or should that be in this instance the shorts of others? As long as we have enough players shining though that’s the main thing. Gyökeres is the key, there's no doubt about that. We need him ’It, avoiding suspension. His will be the love that breaks our hearts as we no doubt watch him depart in the summer. Let him depart a winner as we look back at Paulinho and go oh well we had a good season together and you'll forever have’a place in my heart but now it’s back to the reality of life.

Trincão is starting to show consistency. He’s always had that swashbuckling swagger to match his Musketeer looks but too often he’s been more young D’artagnan than fully fledged guard of the Green and White Lisboa army. Someone keep injecting him with confidence please. Each critical pass, assist, goal … you can see it etched on his face in a look of unbridled joy and happiness. Finally this is a man getting enjoyment from the game, he’s throwing off the shackles. It’s reminiscent of Pablo Sarabia and his little smiling face every time he found the net again in the colours of Sporting. It shouldn’t be forgotten that this is a player who joined from Barcelona. OK so not the powerhouse Barcelona of recent years but still Barca nonetheless and even without a pot to piss in they remain one of the very largest clubs in world football. Let’s face it more people in the world, even those who aren’t football fans will have heard of Barca against the names of Santa Clara, Lecce, Midtjylland, Panathinaikos, Estoril and Rosario where other recent purchases have been made. Truth be told the club need him to retain that consistency if they are to sell him and break even on the deal. If the rumoured purchase fee of  €7m is correct and Barca have a sell on clause of 30% then you’d need to sell at €10m to break even. Though it may be the 30% is related to any purported profits on a sale. Only the club’s lawyers will know the finer details of that particular situation. If we lose Edwards and Gyökeres we will need to retain Trincão and Gonçalves and yes that’s the same Gonçalves regular readers will know I’d have happily ditched throughout this season to date. Hey I gave Inácio man of the match after Chaves so I’m not steadfast OK! He’s a different player when not having to play second fiddle to Gyökeres and Paulinho and still counts the league tops scorer amongst his previous accolades. I’m daft admittedly but I’m not that daft. I don’t think he’s Premier League quality and he’s found his level in the Portuguese league. Better to be happy and comfortable than well off and miserable as his time at Wolverhampton would draw testimony to. It’s all too easy to believe players are capable of stepping up a massive gulf in class. I believed Adrien Silva would effortlessly fit into the Premier League and one late signed contract, six months in the wilderness and the blink of an eye later and he was plying his trade at a Sampdoria team languishing at the bottom of Serie A. Football is a cruel mistress. Maybe Trincão has found his long term home. Maybe I’m waffling on a bit too much now and should draw a line under it.

Away from Lisbon, Diomande couldn’t have had an easier start to his Afcon career playing 77 minutes in a 2-0 Ivory Coast win to Guinea-Bissau in which he barely needed to break sweat though that’s hardly surprising as he faced up to ex-Lion Carlos Mane. Morita’s start in the Asia Cup couldn’t have been more different. Starting 1/80 in the markets to Vietnam, at half time Japan held a narrow 3-2 lead having gone 2-1 behind. They’d eventually run out 4-2 winners with the Sporting midfielder also withdrawn in the 77th minute.

Thankfully both are at least getting minutes on the pitch. It’s bad enough losing key members of the squad for several weeks at a critical point in the season. For them not to be playing would just be a kick in the teeth. That of course leaves Geny representing Mozambique who are ranked as the 111th best team in world football according to current FIFA rankings. They face an uphill battle as they start their campaign off this evening against much fancied Egypt who boast Liverpool’s Mo Salah amongst their ranks**. At least unlike the other two he won’t be burdened by the pressures of an expectant nation to bring about success with a tournament win and more importantly he’s still serving a one game suspension which will keep him out of the opening game.

With every day that passes we draw closer to the close of the transfer window with the squad still intact. February 1st cannot come soon enough and I’m still of the belief that Premier League clubs unless they can sell players in the market are all beholden to financial fair play and Sporting’s stance of only selling for their release clause in full will pay dividends in retention if not boosting of club coffers but the reward of Champions League football will balance that out short to long term.

The money markets

Vizela 13/2 13.33% probability of win
Sporting 4/11 73.33% probability of win 

A rise in 11% on the potential returns Vs those odds offered against Chaves on Saturday night which seems odd given Vizela’s poor home record and Sporting’s current run of form and yet they’re still clear favourites to collect another three points on the road. You wonder if they’ve factored in the looming semi final in the numbers but given a near full strength side was fielded against Tondela in the cup you don’t for a second believe they’d play a weakened side in the league ahead of the cup game. Sporting don’t need a cup win, they need the league title!

*Note since the original posting Vizela lost 4-1 at home to Boavista which included a goal from a direct free kick inside the Boavista half

** Mozambique drew their opening game to Egypt having lead 2-1 until the 97^th minute when Mo Salah equalised from the penalty spot to make the game 2-2.

One can only hope it’s not a bad omen as the Côte d’Ivoire lost 1-0 to Nigeria in the 5pm kick off with our boy Diomande playing the full 90 minutes and giving away the penalty that lead to the games only goal. Perhaps he’s eager to get back to his teammates in Lisboa? Was it a penalty? I don’t know having seen it a dozen times but Osimhen collapsed like a game of Jenga which didn’t do the youngster any favours. I suspect I just want to give him the benefit of the doubt.

This will be my first of many apologies no doubt over the coming weeks as my nerves start to ratch up. They started yesterday and I’m now getting that déjà vu feeling I suffered through the back end of the title winning season when there seemed a possibility of success come the end of the May. I will happily concede our position in the three cups and trade it for a Dérbi win at home and the title. I’m pretty sure I can’t be the only one. I was looking at our position year on year after 17 games because … well I have no life. In respects of goals scored and conceded there’s not a massive difference which surprised me somewhat. In the goals for column it was plus 6 with 40 compared to 34. In the goals conceded it is 17 against 19 last so an improvement of only 2. The obvious difference and important one comes in the overall records 14-1-2 against 10-2-5. Sometimes the brain blocks out pain and it’s easy to forget how woeful we were at some points last season. Defeats to Porto, Chaves, Boavista, Arouca and the side eventually relegated Marítimo. As I write it’s still ten hours until kick off. This already feels tortuous…

Team News

Just one change to the starting line up as Reis drops out for the return of Coates meaning Inácio shuffles back to his normal position on the left of a three. The Brazilian doesn’t even make the substitutes. Also returning to fitness there’s a spot on the bench for a certain Mr St Juste which can only be good news if he stays fit this time and we’re all hoping that he can make it to the end of the season without anything new happening to him.

First Half

Sporting kick off left to right

3 Nuno Santos back from his jaunt in Larndarn Taaann with the first chance of the game with a header 8 yards out – strikes the arm of a defender but it was in a natural position and Vizela clear their lines. That was how a local might have said London btw.

4 Gyökeres fires in a shot from the left stopped by a defender who quite literally has the wind knocked out of him. We’ve seen the striker collect the ball already deep from the right, deep from left… He’s clearly hungry for victory tonight

10 One way traffic from Sporting the opening ten as you’d expect. Vizela offside trap working well for now. Referee is already warning Vizela for time wasting which started a minute earlier with their keeper

11 GOAL Esgaio concedes a free kick in a good position centrally … they deal with the first ball in but inexplicably the second ball in finds its way into the net. This will surely be called offside but for now it’s Vizela 1 Sporting CP 0 coming from the head of Soro. No it’s been given on – he must have been the only man that wasn’t offside in a blue shirt there.

15 Hjulmand sees yellow for a foul in the centre of the pitch.

17 Is it going to be one of those nights? Nuno Santos finds Gyökeres unmarked three yards out and his effort hits the bar and bounces down the right side of the line as far as Vizela are concerned at least

24 Gyökeres gets his effort on target but can only put it into the arms of the keeper from 12 yards

25 Nuno Santos won’t be repeating his Puskas nomination anytime soon as he fires over from 17 yards

27 Vizela go close again as the goal scorer fires wide of the right hand post from 8 yards. If that was more central Sporting were in trouble

29 Sporting have the ball in the net but Paulinho given offside in the buildup. More time wasting from the keeper. That was what cost them in the first game when Sporting scored the Tuesday after the game kicked off it went on that long.  Gonçalves and Coates are moaning to the referee about it

33 The only money I’m betting right now is Edwards on at half time

36 Finally the referee tells the keeper to get on with it after the what… 13th or 14th instance?

37 Gyökeres heads over from six yards but he was facing the wrong way and it was an ambitious flick

38 Gonçalves needs to watch himself. He’s deliberately backed into a Vizela player who was winding him up five or ten minutes ago

40 Much to the disgust of his captain Hjulmand knocks the ball out of play so one of the Vizela players can get treatment on his groin. The Uruguayan maybe reminding him that if the referee doesn’t blow his whistle you play on and they had the man advantage. Given he’s ran back onto the pitch two minutes later that’s probably lesson learned

Plus five shown

+1 Vizela clearly didn’t learn about time wasting in the first encounter between the two sides as Paulinho hooks in from four yards to make it Vizela 1 Sporting CP 1. They’re taking their time over the offside. It’s going to be close. No goal. Again the question is it just not going to be our night? 12 centimetres the decision by VAR. Cock.

+7 GOAL Yes that’s plus seven… Vizela 1 Sporting CP 1. Wasn’t pretty, wasn’t struck well but it’s Gyökeres from the edge of the six yard box into the far corner. I might have pulled my shoulder celebrating there. They’re not going to disallow that one. Read my comment previous comment about them not learning about time wasting

+9 minutes 21 seconds shown played additionally as the half time whistle finally blows with the scores even

Half time

Vizela 1 Sporting CP 1

That was a carbon copy of the second half in the first game between the two sides on the opening game of the season. Just wave after wave of Sporting attacks, poor finishing, time wasting and Sporting hitting them with a punch in the bollocks late in additional time. I reckon my notes from the first time would contain something along the lines of imagine having to watch that shit home and away every week. People have not worked their arses off all week to pay to watch some idiot hold onto the ball for too long. I’d missed that he was indeed booked when the referee told him to get on with it. Karma clearly came in the form of being lobbed from inside the opposition half last week. The first 51 minutes did nothing for my nerves in the same manner their keeper did nothing for my anger levels. Sporting have been off the ball but I’ve said that last two games. Nuno Santos looks like he’s been on the piss in London and not sobered up. Paulinho can’t figure out the offside trap. Gonçalves is just being wound up by the opposition and it’s working. Trincão has been a virtual passenger. Hjulmand looks half a yard off the pace going into the tackle. Esgaio is well … Esgaio. Only Gyökeres can come away with any credit having at least scored. He’s had eight shots that half, three on target, one which hit the bar. He’ll still be thinking how the fuck have I missed that – too much pace on the cross in fairness to him. This is the game you win when you prove you have the desire and fight to win the title. I was going to write the next 45 will prove that. I guess I should probably write the next 57 will prove that. It’s going to be another long night as the players take to the field at five to ten. Which idiot scheduled Vizela for such a late kick off slot when their entire game plan rests on time wasting? It all gets fucking added on now you Muppets. Jesus, Mary and the wee fucking donkey we’re 17 games in how have you not figured it out yet!

Second half

45 GOAL +38 seconds Vizela 1 Sporting CP 2. Time waste all you like now you fucking pricks. Trincão bends a ball into the edge of the six yard box towards Gyökeres who can’t get a touch on it but him missing it fooled the keeper as it continued into the far corner of the net.

47 Adán saves from a header six yards out but the referee blows for a foul on Quaresma as the two jumped. Please score a third Sporting…

49 Sporting have two men down in the box and the referee has given neither foul on Gonçalves or Gyökeres

54 Gyökeres holds up play beautifully on the left waiting for support to finally arrive. When it does he finds Nuno Santos who fired a ball across the six yard box and evades two Sporting players by a cat’s whisker

56 GOAL Surely that’s game set and match as Paulinho heads in to make it Vizela 1 Sporting CP 3. He was fouled on the right wing. Short free kick to Trincão who whipped in an inch perfect cross for Paulinho to head home from eight yards. Considering he slept walk through the first half he’s the man of the moment with a goal and an assist in the space of eleven minutes.

59 Gyökeres slides the ball home from ten yards but quickly called offside. Correct call by the initial replay shown

60 Bragança replaces Hjulmand. It’s not been his best night in a Sporting shirt

62 GOAL Maybe it’s not all over yet. Vizela 2 Sporting CP 3. Essende beat the offside trap and then made Coates look lightweight shrugging off his advances to slot home past Adán. Just a reminder that the Uruguayan is no longer blessed with anything that resembles pace. The only thing the Frenchman had offered until then was an acute ability to wind the Sporting players up

63 Yellow to Anderson for a foul on Gyökeres

70 GOAL Vicious lunge on Gyökeres doesn’t result in a yellow. Ridiculous. It does however result in a free kick wide on the left which Gonçalves will take. Vizela 2 Sporting CP 4 Coates makes up for his error with a header into the centre of the net from 2 yards. Brilliant set piece. I rarely say that from Sporting.

74 It goes without saying we’ve not seen Vizela time waste once this half. Funny that.

78 Well it’s now gone half past ten.

79 Paulinho replaced by Edwards. The goal will have done his confidence some good but he’s still looking under par to me and not up with the rhythm of the game.

85 GOAL Gyökeres who else makes is Vizela 2 Sporting CP 5 sweeping home from 12 yards. Can we have another 15 minutes of this to really wipe the floor with Vizela after all their time wasting over two games.

88 Bustamante smashes into Bragança and receives a yellow. Awful challenge.

89 Gonçalves tries his luck from 20 yards and smashes poor old Anderson square around the chops for his troubles. Oh wow I say old he’s apparently only 28. He clearly had a tough paper round as a kid.

90 Double substitution as Coates and Gonçalves are replaced by Essugo and Rafael.

Plus four shown

With the time now 22.45 the final whistle is blown

Full time

Vizela 2 Sporting CP 5

The Final Word

Never in doubt really was it. Don’t know what I was worried about… and breathe 2,3,4 in…

I am going to age quicker than Anderson in the Vizela back line with every ninety minutes that pass. Man of the match – who else – Gyökeres. He was imperious. He really is the best player in Portugal right now. Talk coming out yesterday he intends to stay if Sporting win the title and qualify for the Champions League. If ever there was an incentive for the rest of his teammates to up their own game then there it is surely. Without him you have to wonder where this side would be right now. He’s the match winner, he’s the heartbeat, he’s the glue that binds Sporting together. Oh Viktor Gyökeres you are the love of my life, oh Viktor Gyökeres I’d let you fuck my wife, oh Viktor Gyökeres Sporting’s big number 9.

It wasn’t pretty. Third game on the spin you could pick fault with several players. Second half they came charging out of the blocks though and as soon as the second went in even when they pulled one back there was only ever going to be one winner. Vizela are becoming my new Sporting Braga in terms of Portuguese teams I’ve developed an irrational hatred for. Maybe however this one isn’t so irrational though. Thankfully the early goal straight from the restart meant we weren’t subjected to another 45 minutes of time wasting. Frankly if you’re sending your team out with that sort of instructions you get all you deserve and all its brought them in the last two games is 9 goals against so maybe why not instruct your team to go out and play instead?