Sporting CP 2 Santa Clara 1

The warm up

Sporting welcome back Santa Clara to the Jose Alvalade just 18 days after the two sides met in the league, which reminds me I should probably change my underwear. I'm kidding, they've got another couple of days wear in them. 

Unless you've been hiding under a rock (and if you have let me know if there's space for an extra body) you'll know the island side won 1-0 last time out and put an end to Sporting's winning run at home stretching back to the start of last season and their 11 game winning run home and away this season. It transpired to be the second of four straight defeats for the new mister João Pereira. Side note pereira apparently translated into English means pear tree which I've filed away with fresneda meaning strawberry. Who says I can't speak Portuguese? 

It was one of those games where at the end we all said some things we shouldn't have said and some of us have gone hands up that was wrong and others have doubled down every game since thinking they're still right, which lets be fair is helping no one. Stop aiming for that I told you so moment, that's as passé as heroin in the 1990s.

I tried to give Santa Clara the credit they deserved at the time but I thought maybe I should give it another try because they truly deserved the win. Many, many clubs have tried the same game plan against us, namely stick eleven bodies behind the ball, allow Sporting no space and try to hit them on the break. What usually happens is that Sporting break the deadlock, this changes the opposition's game plan, they're forced further up the pitch looking for an equaliser and Sporting capitalise on the space. Except this didn't happen. Maybe it was nativity on Pereira's part. Maybe he sat there going this is the part where things normally go our way and he sat back and waited. Then waited some more and some more and it never happened and he went oh. Foda-se. I bet you're really impressed with my Portuguese now aren't you. That's three words, I'm on a roll. In a minute you'll click on a link and Rick Astley will start singing Never Gonna Give You Up. If you've no idea what Rick Rolling is then enjoy your youth don't waste it like the rest of us did. 

To come and execute that game plan required everything to go Santa Clara's way and that evening it did. The expression goes that lightning doesn't strike in the same place twice. They may have found Sporting out last time around but I doubt they can pull it off to perfection twice. We've seen the green shoots of recovery. Now we need to tend to them and nurture them. This being the Taça de Portugal Santa Clara have to repeat the trick if they're to progress. They might get it to 90 minutes at 0-0. I don't think that's going to happen though and neither do I think they can take it through to penalties. 

Breakups are hard and new relationships can be a tricky thing to navigate. In respect to the former, you may do some things after which you're not proud of but eventually you dust yourself down and hold your head up high again and life goes back to some sense of normality. You spend a few weeks apologising, you hear stories from people that witnessed the fall out and you go oh I'm so sorry did that happen? Oh that's awful I'm so embarrassed please let me make things right. 

How many of you have reading this have seen the film Everything everywhere all at once? Oh one or two, that's good. Well for the rest of you I won't spoil the plot but the basic premise centres around parallel universes and that's what the four straight losses felt like, a script where you keep throwing carnage and chaos into the mix. Somewhere there's now a parallel universe where West Ham aren't awarded the penalty that sees them win and Ten Hag lose his job and Amorim is still the mister. We've all however slipped into another one where Israel sees shots hit his hand and go in, Quaresma scoring an own goal, Geny throwing the ball to a forward forgetting we're not in white that night and… you get the gist. Shit happens. No side has a divine right to win football games. 

Take the form of the two sides over the last five games where one has won four and lost one and the other lost four and won once. That's what makes football interesting. Winning is great but not if it comes with a false sense of entitlement. 

None of us like losing but I wouldn't have begrudged the fans of Amarante having left the Alvalade seeing their side score a goal. Hey we scored six so maybe it would have been great for them to score twice. If at any stage in my first seven seasons watching Sporting you'd told me I'd watch us win every league game at home in a title winning season I'd have pissed myself with laughter. Same if you told me we'd beat Manchester City 4-1 in the Champions League or start a title winning season defence by winning the opening 11 games. I've seen some absolute shite in my time watching Sporting. I've prepared myself for it to all come crashing down. Admittedly my prep work had involved a massive exodus next summer and we've accelerated it by twelve months. 

No one wins the title in December, apart from maybe in a Nordic league where they start their season earlier than everywhere else. I finished the last post writing let's say the dirty pigeons are a point ahead and see if that works as reverse psychology and Sundays result? AVS 1 Benfica 1. Am I taking credit for that? Noooo…. I do have OCD though so on some level my subconscious is going High Five, now did you lock the front door and check seven times? FYI the underwear thing was a joke, the OCD thing is diagnosed and very real. If you're one of those people who goes oh I'm a little OCD - no, no you're not. I'll let you know in three years time if I'm autistic. God bless the speed of the NHS. Anyways this is supposed to be a post about Sporting v Santa Clara in the Taça de Portugal. 

The visitors have never made it past the quarter finals and even then they've only made it that far once in the 2020/21 season when they lost 2-1 away to Braga. There's an awful lot of losses in Round Five and this is…oh wouldn't you know, round five. 

This being the cup means Kovačević returns in goal. One of the Portuguese papers this week were comparing the Bosnian with Israel and concluding they'd both conceded 11 goals and played nowhere near the same amount of minutes as each other. It all read a little disingenuous. Kovačević let in four on his debut against Porto in a game where he may not have even learned the names of his new teammates let alone their playing habits and styles. Israel conceded just shy of half of his total in one game against Arsenal. I'd have simply surmised it by saying they both have faults and both of them shouldn't be there come the summer of 2025 though the likelihood is Kovačević could prove me wrong. Israel pulled me into a false sense of security and now I'm out again I'm not being pulled back in. 

Normally the plan would be to play a lesser strength team but with so many injuries that's not really an option because we don't have enough bodies. Fresneda has been operating wide left to great effect in the Portuguese cups so it wouldn't surprise me to see him start in what may well be one of the strawberries last games for the club before he's plucked back to Spain in January. See what I did there? Obrigado. I'll stop showing off my amazing Portuguese. Fresneda reminds me of the modern goalkeeping paradox in which coaches select players who are supposedly great with their feet but are frankly crap in goal. Sporting like defenders who can play out from the back too but who can't defend. I suspect Rúben Vinagre could defend after an amazing debut and that's why he was shipped out of the club. 

Whoever starts for Pereira Wednesday night, for the mister at least it's his perfect opportunity to prove he can learn from his mistakes. The reality is he's having to learn on the job, it's not ideal but it is what it is. He's overseen a loss to Arsenal, he's seen everything go right for Santa Clara and Sporting basically shoot themselves in the foot against Moreirense and Club Brugge. It's entirely plausible this side is like a golfer with the yips. Maybe we're getting them all out of the way now. None of these titles are Sporting's to lose, they're for Sporting to try and win. Maybe João Pereira is the man for the job and maybe he isn't but no one can tell after six games. I didn't rate Amorim and still think he's Emperor's New Clothes and he won two league titles so I've learned my lesson there and if nothing else the last couple of performances have at least shown me that João Pereira isn't the new Silas. As I wrote earlier we all said some stupid shit and if you're still reading this you'll be going yeah no shit you've still not stopped. Well now I have until the team news comes out. De nada. 

In the markets

Sporting 27/100

Draw 15/4

Santa Clara 17/2

To qualify

Sporting 1/8

Santa Clara 5/1

Team news

Starting XI

Israel, Quaresma, Debast, Reis, Geny, Simões, Hjulmand, Quenda, Araujo, Gyökeres and Trincão

Substitutes

Kovačević, St Juste, Edwards, Harder, Fresneda, Esgaio, Diomande, Couto and Arreíol

Traditionally Sporting have always rotated their keeper for the cup and it was generally accepted that Kovačević was that choice but we see a rarity in that Sporting name the same starting XI that beat Boavista. We'll see if they means their roles have reversed come the next league game. St Juste returns to the bench.

First half

Sporting play in their twentieth choice kit. That might be an exaggeration but not by much. It's the white kit with the green diagonal chunk. A career in fashion journalism doesn't await me it's fair to say.

Sporting attack right to left, Santa gets us underway.

1 Santa Clara look well organised shape wise as they did in the league game but aren't playing as deep as they were previously which should benefit Sporting. An early scare as Israel plays out from the back but comfortably dealt with in the end.

2 The whistles start from behind the Santa Clara goal as the time wasting starts right from the off

3 Wide shot from the visitors. Interesting to see how disorganised Sporting look in comparison when defending. They've seven or eight bodies in the centre

4 Sporting are playing with a lower defensive line which suggests they have learned from their mistakes the last time around inviting Santa forward. Good tactic

6 As Sporting play a through ball into Araújo which goes out of play the Santa Clara players are sat around 15 yards inside their own half. The plan is definitely to knock it long and let the likes of Gyökeres and Geny cause problems with their pace

9 Simões is descriptively strong as he shepherds the ball out of play for a goal kick holding the forward off. Good play from the youngster

10 Neneca boots the ball out of play on the touchline under pressure as Santa tried to play out from the back. Whilst no chances to Sporting for me these are like a tick list of everything that was missing in the league defeat

13 Corner to Sporting. Came from a good ball from Quenda to find Trincão on the right in space. Good vision from the youngster even if the corner came to nothing

15 Debast with an incredible long ball found Geny who puts it on a plate for Quenda who with the goal gaping wide open slices wide from 4 yards. That's an incredible miss. Everything was right about that move apart from the finish. He'll wake up at 4am in a cold sweat about that one. Edwards had two misses like that last season where you're thinking how on earth has he not scored from there. I think that one was worse.

19 Trincão and Geny are running the show for Sporting. Both are an absolute joy to watch when they're on song

20 Quenda slots the ball through the defenders legs to find Araújo but ends up giving away a cheap free kick in the second phase. The close up is of a young man who has that miss on his mind. Let's hope he gets the opportunity to put it right. With age comes experience that shit happens. Put it on the shelf we're all human kiddo

22 Cheap corner conceded by a Reis miss kick. There's still that anxiety at the back. The biggest danger to Sporting in this game remains Sporting

28 Clever play from Simões wins a corner for Sporting. Long ball to the back post nodded down to Reis who with his back to goal does an impression of a dying swan and the connection he does eventually make goes over the bar. Just like Quenda he won't want to see that back again but for very different reasons.

32 The visitors seem well trained in the dark arts. Alongside the time wasting Debast the latest player to be left on the floor having had his foot trodden on. Trincão had the same a few minutes ago, Vinicius has left one in on Gyökeres and Araújo. Maybe the referee could show a yellow before Sporting start picking up more injuries. Just a thought

36 Geny brings out a save with a curling effort from 20 yards having cut in from the right. Comfortable for Neneca but with the ball skidding about it's not the worst idea in the world

37 Superb challenge by Hjulmand in midfield wins the ball back for Sporting. Trincão gets flattened and free kick awarded. Hjulmand takes it too quickly for the referees liking and blows up to the Dane's disgust. He wants this tonight

39 GOAL Sporting CP 1 Santa Clara 0. Corner from Quenda finds Hjulmand. He toe pokes it forward onto the post, back off the keeper and rebounds in. Oh no that's handball. This is going to be overturned. Ball hit the chest of the Dane and down onto his arm. Let off for Santa Clara. Correct call though by the letter of the law. I was just thinking how apt to have written how much Hjulmand is up for this and his shot led to the goal. That was the sort of goal Sporting have been conceding since Amarante onwards.

43 Santa Clara put the ball across the corridor of uncertainty and all it needed was a touch which thankfully didn't come. For all their dominance they need to just stay switched on at the back

Two minutes shown

+1 Quaresma waves his arms around for the second time in a couple of minutes as a decision goes against him. Just a suggestion that he still has a little bit of growing up to do

+2 In the centre there's a Santa Clara player down receiving treatment. Things are getting tetchy in the middle. Araújo having to be pulled back by Reis. Vinicius the player who was down being led off the side after treatment

+3 Half time whistle blows with 3.45 additional time played. Huge chorus of loud whistles great the match officials as they finally make their way off the pitch

Half time

Sporting CP 0 Santa Clara 0

Sporting will wonder how on earth they're not going in at least 1-0 to the good. Admittedly the disallowed goal was the right decision but Quenda’s miss was very much a case of Quend-arrrrggghhh fuck me how has he missed that.

Geny looked great wide right. Few players look like they've got the wrong choice of studs in for the second time this season. I think off the top of my head PSV away was the other occasion. Oh yes it must have been with Quaresma through one on one and went down like Divine Brown on Hugh Grant. One for the kids that reference. Amazingly they're watering the pitch at half time because that's what we need more water on the playing surface.

Hjulmand is clearly fired up for this game. If he's the marker then Sporting aren't losing the game on his watch. Simões is having his best game in a Sporting shirt albeit there's only four to choose from so take that how you will but he has impressed. He seems a lot calmer and level headed than Quaresma.

The referee needs to get a firmer grip on this game. I'm all for trying to let a game flow but when players are leaving their foot in it needs pulling up and a yellow card shown. We've seen Nuno Santos's seasons ended by a challenge already. Referees need to take some responsibility for player safety.

Sporting still look anxious in defence. Still need to sharpen up the final ball in the final third but I'm pleased because overall they look like they're learning and rectifying the mistakes that cost them three points in the league. Vinicius is a threat and looks a real pain in the arse to mark but João Pereira must be happy with that 45 even if it is 0-0.

Second Half

As against Boavista the Sporting players are out well ahead of their opponents. Sporting get us underway finally after a delay for a substitution to Santa Clara. That seemed very last minute as if the coach decided maybe I'll make a change and Silva had to find his shirt. More likely dark arts and gamesmanship. Thinks he's the new Arteta this clown.

46 Jesus Christ the time wasting has started already. This is just pathetic as Sidney Lima goes to the ground.

47 Back underway and Lima is grimacing for the cameras. He'll be running around food as new any second now. Why don't the Portuguese authorities ever do something about this?

48 Good hold up play from Gyökeres who took the extra marker with him and allowed time for Quenda to find space and take a shot from 19 yards which sailed high into the crowd.

52 Trincão danced in between two players and gets a shove in the back which knocks him off balance but apparently that's OK from Venancio?

54 It's fair to say the Sportinguista's in attendance are not over enamored by the referee tonight. Neither am I quite frankly. Just seeing a replay of the Trincão incident. Both defenders have their arms in the air as if to say we're not touching him referee after the Venancio had cleared just pushed him in the back.

56 Do referees know they can book time wasting at any point in the game or do they all wait until about minute 85. Ironic applause as Quaresma shoved in the back and free kick awarded. They'll give it inside the half but not in the penalty area.

58 How have Sporting not scored there? Quenda with brilliant play used his pace to lose his marker inside the box and put the ball into the six yard box. The keeper got a hand to it and parried it to Trincão who fell as he connected on the edge of the six yard box and it's cleared off the line

59 Keeper goes down in the Santa Clara box. This is just fucking ridiculous now. Fucking book him for time wasting. This is how incidents happen in football games because idiot fucking referees wind the fans up by letting shit like this go over and over

61 Hjulmand bundled over. Free kick to Sporting 27 yards out. Close up of some bloke smoking in the stands. That'll be another fine for Sporting.

62 First yellow of the game goes to…Esgaio. He's had to be escorted away he's that incensed. Fucking clueless this referee. Esgaio who has never been overly popular with the home fans is now their favourite despite not even being on the pitch.

65 More play acting from Santa Clara as one of the defenders goes down like he's been hit by a passing car not a wasp sized Geny Catamo. Vasco Matos clearly wants the Porto job at some point

69 This game is becoming farcical now. If I wanted to watch rugby league I'd tune onto a rugby league game

70 Geny goes down under pressure. Referee blows up and the free kick is awarded to Santa Clara despite him ending up in a sandwich.

71 That's Geny's last involvement in the game. Reis replaced by St Juste and Harder the other man on

72 Pereira shown the yellow for bringing down Quenda who's now wide right. First player booked who was actually on the pitch

72 GOAL Harder rips open his shirt in front of the home end as he makes the instant impact. Sporting CP 1 Santa Clara 0

Quenda with the whipped ball into the centre and Harder guides it into the net with part of his anatomy. Chest, maybe his tummy? Wasn't pretty but we care little. I hate to say I told you so but I've said it last three games. Harder should be the choice on the front of the left three and if Geny isn't on the pitch Quenda should be wide right.

76 There's that ball across the six yard box again. No one there for Santa Clara a second time but at some point you imagine someone will be

77 For a man that's not supposed to be on the touchline João Pereira seems very animated from the sides tonight as he bangs his hands together and shouts out. Good man. Keep it up.

78 Hjulmand leathers the number 11. Yellow cards being shown all over the place now. Quaresma reacted badly to something and had to be pushed away. Puta definitely came out of his lips. Araújo I think for a yellow, Hjulmand for the challenge and one of the Santa Clara players. I think Esgaio may have actually been sent off in the end. Should have renamed the blog Sex and Drugs and Esgaio in his honour

82 Ramos shown the yellow for a cynical foul on Harder.

82 Debast replaced by Diomande.

83 Gyökeres tries from 30 yards. His effort beat the wall but was always going over the bar.

85 Not sure who shouted Caralho there but that's my sixth Portuguese word in a single post. I'm like Bart Simpson when he goes to France and suddenly finds he's fluent

87 The irony will be that we get five minutes plus of additional time for time wasting but when it's the opposition doing it you feel like the referee should have the discretion to just blow on 90

87 Last ditch tackle stops Gyökeres as he charges into the area. That had to be well timed and it was to be fair as the reverse angle shows

89 Harder is a proper hype man as he implores the crowd behind the goal to raise the noise and they respond in kind

89 Lucas the latest to be booked as he brings down Harder

Five minutes shown

+1 Gyökeres is down in the box holding his head. The referee took over a minute to even notice he was down. So much for prioritising head injuries.

+3 That was the moment where that ball into the six yard box finally came… Silva unmarked from three yards out heads over the bar. You get what you deserve in this game and the way they've played they're leaving with nothing

+5 Quenda replaced by Fresneda. He stops to pull his socks down half way across the pitch.

+6 Harder and Soares booked

+6 Stinging volley from 25 yards tipped over by Israel. That's a hell of a save

+7 GOAL Sporting CP 1 Santa Clara 1. Corner headed on. Deflects off defenders head into Ferreira unmarked who slots home from close range. How the fuck were we even in minute seven for starters?

Well the 100 or so away fans enjoyed it.

Full time

Sporting CP 1 Santa Clara 1

Extra Time

Santa Clara get us underway

1 Deflected shot out for a corner to the visitors

2 I nearly wrote please don't let this game go into additional time because it's been dire and no one needs half an hour more and I thought don't jinx it. Fresneda must have thought twenty seconds and a win bonus when he came on that's a result in anyone's books

7 Harder flattened. Free kick 24 yards out

8 Disappointing effort from Gyökeres beats the wall but goes wide of the left upright

9 Gyökeres cuts the ball for Trincão who hits the ball in mid air straight at the keeper from 8 yards

11 Harder wins a corner off the face of Sidney Lima. More time wasting from the visitors. Gyökeres brings a save from a tight angle inside the six yard box

13 Simões wins another corner. Trincão and Harder end up in each others way and the former can only head the ball into the stand

One minute shown

Half time

Sporting CP 1 Santa Clara 1

Well the visitors who offered nothing apart from their goal in normal time have offered nothing in the first 15 of additional time. Football is a cruel game. Sporting had done pretty much everything right up until that point.

Second half

Sporting get us underway

Please don't lose to this sack of shit team. I gave them the credit they deserved last time out. Tonight they deserve none.

115 Silva whips a shot over the bar from 22 yards

116 Couto has come on. Missed that one.

117 Shot of Quaresma looking uncomfortable on the bench. That will be who Couto came on for then. Must be his debut for Sporting. What a time to try make your name potentially.

119 Trincão tries to curl the ball in left footed from 22 yards but straight at the keeper

120 St Juste hacked down by Silva who was shown the yellow card. Thankfully the Dutchman bounced back up. Free kick close to the touchline wide right

122 GOAL Sporting CP 2 Santa Clara 1. Now fuck off back to your island. Back pass to the keeper intercepted by Gyökeres who rounded the keeper and sticks it in from 6 yards. It's nice to know your here now fuck off.

125 Old fashioned clearance from Fresneda. His work rate since he came on his been top draw.

126 Trincão shown the yellow for a professional foul to break up play 8 yards inside the Sporting half

126 Harder steals the ball back and leads a counter attack to huge cheers. The crowd already loves this kid and so do I

127 Araújo has twice lost possession inside a minute. He needs to work on his in game management

128 St Juste booked as he flings Silva to the floor. He's probably lucky he didn't talk himself into a second yellow

119 Shot from inside the D fires over the bar for the visitors. That should be enough for Sporting to see things out now.

120 St Juste shown the second yellow. Referee is claiming he catches the Santa Clara player by the throat.

Plus one shown

+1 despite his protests the referee has ushered the defender off the pitch

+1 Huge applause as Venancio who passed back to Gyökeres for the goal fires over from 18 yards

+ 2.39 Final whistle goes.

Full time

Sporting CP 2 Santa Clara 1

The final word

This has the potential to flare up as the final whistle goes on a win that Sporting fully deserved. Yes we could have done without the additional half hour, St Juste and Esgaio will now serve bans making a threadbare squad even bearer but it proves this side can still overcome adversity.

The weather didn't help matters but neither did the referee who spend the majority of the game not showing the yellow only to then go into overdrive. Two sendings off; Esgaio saying what we all felt. St Juste clearly rattled the referee with whatever he said after the first booking and had his card marked literally with the referee waiting for an excuse to send him off. It was one of those refereeing performances which said this is all about me. He'll be wanking himself senseless over the highlights in his hotel room later if he makes it out of the Jose Alvalade in one piece.

I have no real gripes about that performance. Quenda scores that first chance and Sporting go out of sight. Reports this week claims the players have been suffering anxiety caused by the departure of the old mister and that's fair enough. They're only human. They've been like a Mario Balotelli T shirt of late. Why always me?

Quenda does not fit the position he keeps being employed in left of the front three. Harder is the man for that role. He was a nuisance from the moment he came on and scored the opener to the final whistle blowing. He got the crowd up and had he played the full 90 he'd have gotten my man of the match.

The Silva miss before the goal and the spectacular save from Israel should have been enough for us to see out the 1-0 win and that would have been deserved. Santa Clara offered nothing of note other than some Oscar winning performances on the floor. How you could put up with watching that shit every week I have no idea.

Israel is not the answer in goal, we all know that but give him his dues that save was top draw. Had the equaliser not got in he'd have won all the plaudits at full time which would have been ironic because he had nothing to do in normal time up until about the 87th minute.

At the back I think Reis has gone a little bit off the boil of late which is a shame because I'm normally singing his praises. Araújo wide left seems to jockey between looking amazing and clueless and tonight he seemed to fall into the latter camp. Ironically the best players in that position all season have been Geny and Fresneda neither of whom are naturally suited to that flank. Geny by the way is my man of the match. I thought he was truly terrific wide right but also shout out to Fresneda who probably thought he was coming on for a few seconds. Hey we all did. It was done and dusted at that point. He left it all out on the pitch. At one point second half of additional time you see him win the ball back outside the 18 yard box in the centre out of position, the transition starts wide right and he's busting a gut to get back to where he should have been and join in. Love to see that level of commitment.

The difference between the league game and tonight was Sporting had learned to draw Santa Clara on and that's where the space was going to come from for Geny, Trincão and Gyökeres to take advantage. Knives will still be sharpened for Pereira after tonight which is frankly ridiculous but there will be those who will keep doubling down week after week cause they don't like to be wrong. We want a coach who learns from his mistakes right? Well I do. I was highly critical after the Santa Clara game because I thought he was naive when he brought two defenders on after about the hour mark amongst other gripes. Sporting couldn't grasp that with no space to play into meant you're playing directly into their game plan. Tonight they played into ours. That game should have been out of sight by the end of 90 minutes. That it wasn't was where I started this post - Everything everywhere all at once.

We've booked our place in the next round. We'll lick our wounds about the sendings off. I have no issue in Esgaio telling the referee what he thought about him because I'd have told him the same and taught him some truly magical English words. It wasn't pretty but it was good enough. The lion doesn't always kill efficiently. Sometimes it has to strike more than once to finally kill off its prey. That it makes the kill is the important part. It's all part of learning. Simões keeps on stepping up. Couto got valuable game time... It's all gravy.

You got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch onto to the affirmative and don't mess with Mr in between. You've got to spread joy up to the maximum, bring gloom down to the minimum, have faith, or pandemonium’s liable to walk upon the scene.

So to Santa Clara I say Fuck off back to the Azores and take Rudolph with you. Sorry that's not very professional of me but it's five to midnight and it's been a long night. I don't take well to watching shit like that try cheat away to a win.