F.C. Alverca v Sporting CP
F.C. Alverca v Sporting CP
Sunday March 22nd, 2026
Complexo Desportivo do FC Alverca
Matchday 26
The warm up
If we could all learn to temper our expectations like the tide
of the sea so that in the moments when they rise we should naturally allow them
to fall again, then life as a football fan would generally become a lot easier
to deal with when things don’t go your way. I write two days after the loss away
to Bodø/Glimt which some of us took a lot better and with more grace than others have.
There aren’t many benefits to getting older, but if there was one to cling to,
having been there and seen it all before, and, on numerous occasions, then
surely that has to be one of them. It
does however feel so much nicer to be able to concentrate back on affairs closer to
home and write once more about domestic competition because the post for the return
leg Vs Bodø wasn’t one I enjoyed having to try write about any more than I imagine it
was to have to read. This by rights should have been the Tondela post but that
game was cancelled and is yet to be re-arranged so just like in the 2023/24 season
when the match away to Famalicão was re-arranged, we are set to have a game in
hand for the next few weeks. That being said being about to be knocked out of
the Champions League will open up a few dates no doubt where the game can now
be squeezed into. See every cloud has a silver lining. So instead of Tondela, I’m
back writing about Alverca the other of last seasons two promoted clubs, who we
have incidentally met twice already this campaign, having done so in the space
of four days, both at the José Alvalade at the end of October when finding
dates for fixtures was less of an issue.
The first game between the two sides was played out in the Taça da Liga and
finished 5-1 as Salvador Blopa made his debut which came with it a brace,
Quenda was still a fixture in the matchday squad and he himself got another brace and even Ioannidis
was fit and added the fifth goal for good measure before Sandro Lima scored the
consolation 6 minutes before the end of the 90. In the league on the Friday
night, Ioannidis scored the opening goal as late as minute 67, Gonçalves added
a second on 73 and the lions won 2-0. And so now Alverca will be looking to extract revenge on the lions, or at least avoid making it 3 of a kind.
If you’d asked me where Alverca were in the table before I just looked I
genuinely wouldn’t have been able to tell you which might be a slight on my character,
true, but felt like a good thing because like most people I glance at the top
and bottom of the table but pay little attention to what’s sandwiched in
between. So by all accounts if they hadn’t been on my radar since the last time
we met, then by the law of averages they must be doing reasonably well all things
considered. Turns out they’re currently tenth going into the weekends games so
I would say that yes, not bad at all as it happens, especially for those of you
with a memory like an elephants like myself who’ll remember that of the squad
that they were promoted with, only one player had remained.
Futebol Clube de Alverca to give them their full name, are based in Alverca do
Ribatejo, Vila Franca de Xira on the west coast of Portugal just 32 km
north-east of Lisboa. They play their games at the Complexo Desportivo do FC
Alverca. It’s so innocuous and insignificant that it doesn’t even have its own
Wikipedia entry and other than listing it’s capacity as 6,900 I can’t tell you
much more than it’s not much to look at. One main stand and then an uncovered
bowl on the other three sides of the ground. Great if the suns out but a bloody
nuisance if it happens to be raining. Still it does seem to have come on since
the days where there was a high sided bank behind one of the goals and a dirt
track around the side of an oval pitch. What that was used for is beyond my
guess.
Unsurprisingly promotion to the top flight has brought with in an influx of bums on seats. Last season saw a total of 17,086 spectators at an average of 1,005 over the 17 home games. No, none of that is a typo. After 13 games this season they’ve had 33,233 spectators and are averaging 2,556 per game. You imagine if they’re got any sense they’ll allocate the uncovered sides to the lions and let them treat it like a home game and bank the money and leave any other feelings on the table in the same way Wigan Athletic did frequently when they were in the Premier League many moons ago.
As previously mentioned they sit 10th in the
table ahead of their next fixture to away to Gil Vicente on March 14th, though chances are by the time you’re reading this they’ll have already played
that. Played 25, their record reads won 7, drawn 7, lost 11, goals for 24,
goals against 39. Their home record reads played 13, won 5, drawn 4, lost 4,
goals for 11, goals against 16. It should be noted that they list 11 forwards
within their squad so you have to imagine there’s a lot of finger pointing
going on as to why they’re not managed more goals at home at least between them
all. Of the 24 times they have found the net home and away, 13 have come from
open play, 5 from set pieces, 5 penalties and our old friend own goal has
chipped in with 1. Top scorer it Marezi with 7, Figueiredo and Lima have 3 apiece and
then 9 players have 2 or less between them including Sporting old boy Gonçalo
Esteves who has subsequently departed for Catanzaro in Italy. That leaves
goalkeeper André Paulo as the only ex-lion now amongst their ranks, although his
Sporting career amounted to not much more than one appearance in each of the
2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons, albeit he did make 32 appearances for Sporting B.
They’re way off their Xg of 30.6.
Equal fourth worst record for goals scored per game with Rio
Ave, seventh worst record for goals conceded per game with fellow promoted side
Tondela, they’ve kept a total of 6 clean sheets to date. Fourth worst average
possession totalling 44.6% per match, fourth worst record in terms of average
shots on target with 3.4 per game and a conversion rate of just 10.2%. They are
8th in the list of big chances created on 51 but we’ve already
learned that they’re not great at converting those so sadly nothing to crow
about there. Third in terms of long balls per match with an average of 23.5 per
game and a success rate of 44.2%. Given how low three of the stands are you
imagine there are more than a few spectators who leave with sore necks after
home games. Sixth most penalties awarded in the league, eight in total, with a
conversion rate of 62.5%, one more than the lions who have a conversion rate of
80%. I have a vision of Hjulmand missing one earlier this season with an
appalling attempt which must account for the one chance we’ve missed unless
that was last season or not in the league and I’m at the stage of the campaign
where everything has started to blend into one. Like their Xg for goals scored,
they’re also struggling at the wrong end of the pitch with their Xg conceded
which stands at 34.8 and yet have conceded 39 times to date. They’ve conceded 6
penalties, only 4 of which have been converted. They average slightly more fouls
per game than the lions with 12.8 to 12.6 and have 2 fewer bookings with 55 to
57, however they have seen one more sending off with 4 compared to 3.
Let’s recap their start to the season before the two sides first met in the
league. They lost 2-1 away to Moreirense on the opening day and followed that
with a 3-0 home defeat by Sporting Braga. They picked up their first point of
the season with a 2-2 draw away to Estrela, then made it 3 defeats in 4 with a
2-1 loss at home to Benfica. Joy as they won their first game 1-0 at home to
Tondela, but then lost away to Santa Clara 2-1. Back to back victories were to
follow, first at home to Vitória 2-0 and then away to every sides favourite
punching bag AVS winning 3-1 away (all except Estoril of course). A 4-2 defeat
away to ten men União de Leiria on penalties put paid to any hopes of a run in
the Taça de Portugal. Gil Vicente then whacked them 4-0 at home before the
lions spanked them 5-1 in the Taça da Liga and as we already know beat them 4 days
later 2-0 in the Liga so as you were.
Matchday 11 – Rio Ave (H) Clayton opened the scoring for Ave on 34 minutes.
Lima equalised on 76 minutes to claim a point in a 1-1 draw. Xg 1.59 to 0.69,
Alverca missed 2 of 3 big chances, Rio 1 of 2.
Matchday 12 – Casa Pia (A) Lincoln opened the scoring for
the visitors on 75, Milovanovic scored 8 minutes into additional time at the
end of the 90 to give Alverca a 2-0 win. Xg 1.47 to a paltry 0.17 in favour of
the away team who missed 3 of 5 big chances, Casa Pia failed to register a
single one.
Matchday 13 – Nacional (H) Milovanovic the man for a late goal again, this
time coming 3 minutes before the end of full time to secure back to back wins,
1-0 the margin. Xg 1.90 to 0.96, 1 of 2 big chances missed by the home side,
Nacional missed their only one.
Matchday 14 – Arouca (A) Lee scored the games only goal just before the hour
mark to give Arouca all 3 points in a 1-0 win. Alverca not helped by Sandro
Lima’s red card after 17 minutes. Xg 1.61 to 0.22. 0 big chances created for
Alverca, 2 of 3 missed for Arouca.
Matchday 15 – Porto (H) A brace from Sainz (28 and 68) sandwiched a goal from Varela
(56) as the league leaders won 3-0. Xg 0.78 to 1.16. 1 big chance missed for
the home side, Porto scored both of theirs.
Matchday 16 – Estoril (A) Another heavy defeat, this time 4-1 away. Amorim scored
a consolation goal on 66 after the home side had been the beneficiary of 2 own
goals from Meupiyou on 35 and 59. Begraoui scored a brace on 42 and 47. Xg 1.30
to 0.81. 1 of 2 big chances missed for the home side, Alverca missed their only
1.
Matchday 17 – Famalicão (H) Alverca left it late again for a 1-0 win with
Chiquinho scoring a penalty 4 minutes into additional time at the end of the
90. Xg 2.10 to 1.10, Fama missed all 3 of their big chances, Alverca thankful
for having converted at least one of their own 3.
Matchday 18 – Moreirense (H) For the third time this campaign Alverca followed
up a win with another one. Just like buses hey. 2-1 the final score, Touaizi
put them ahead with a 59th minute penalty, Rodri made it 1-1 just 2
minutes later to piss on their chips but Lima scored the winner 7 minutes after
that so all’s well that ends well. Xg 2.43 to 1.36. 3 of 5 big chances missed
for the home side, 3 of 4 for the away team.
Matchday 19 – Braga (A) Having discovered the winning touch, they then lost it
getting spanked 5-0 away to the Fraggles. Carvalho, Zalazar, Pau Victor and
Horta (pen) put them 4-0 up at the break. Navarro added the fifth 12 minutes
before time. Xg 3.42 to 0.28, Braga scored all 3 of their big chances, Alverca
created 0, but on the positive side, they didn’t miss any either.
Matchday 21 – Benfica (A) Schjelderup gave the dirty pigeons the lead after 15 minutes, Figueiredo put the cat amongst the dirty pigeons with the equalising goal on the half hour mark. They were close to a point before Cabral scored 5 minutes before the end of the 90 for a 2-1 defeat. Xg 1.97 to 1.14. Both sides missed 1 of 2 big chances.
Matchday 22 – Tondela (A) Milovanovic scored with just 3 minutes on the clock to give them a 1-0 lead. Meupiyou, he of two own goal fame, became he of two yellow cards fame on 66 minutes to be given his marching orders. With his colleagues down to ten men they held on until 11 minutes before the end of time when Silva made it 1-1 but they clung on for a point. Xg 1.67 to 0.66. 1 big chance missed for the visitors, 1 of 2 for Tondela.
Matchday 23 – Santa Clara (H) Milovanovic quick off the mark for a second straight game converting a 5th minute penalty. Despite finishing with 11 men they still couldn’t hang on for a win drawing 1-1 after Fernando’s equaliser on 75. Xg 1.28 to 0.59. 1 of 2 big chances missed for the home side. Santa missed their single big chance.
Matchday 24 – Vitória (A) A third straight 1-1 draw. Samu put the home side 1-0 up straight after the restart in the second half. Figueireido equalised on 64. Xg 1.50 to 1.98. Both sides missed 2 of 3 big chances.
Matchday 25 – AVS (H) A fourth straight draw, making it 5 in 6 games and no win in 7. The game finished goalless, the only one of the campaign where neither side has scored. Xg 0.92 to 0.41. 1 big chance missed for the home side, AVS didn’t create a single one.
In the markets
FC Alverca TBC
Draw TBC
Sporting CP TBC
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