Only a couple of weeks into the season and the Portuguese league is in a mess for certain clubs. Referees have bycotted games. Fans have attacked players during training. Millions of euros have been spent in a country apparently in crisis. Debts of many clubs went through the roof. Nothing out of the normal? Just another couple of weeks in Portuguese football. Guimaraes make their rare and early exit from Europe after getting slammed by Atletico Madrid. Their manager resigns after 2 league games. Dodgy offside goals and referee decisions over red cards and penalties have come under the scrutiny of anybody that can be heard on telelvision or in the newspapers. Domingos Pacienca has a grand total of one win from 5 games against an unpronouncable team who they struggled to beat in the Europa league qualifiers for the second year running. Amateur referees in charge of top league football going back to the old days when linesman were linesman and had no batteries in their flags. To be honest they were quite good!
For two hours on Monday night Braga were top and Guimaraes were bottom of the league. Slowly things are coming together in the House that is Braga. Players are starting to find their feet. Helder Barbosa(of whom Im not a great fan) has scored two fantastic goals. Apart from his speed and the two goals I dont see from his general play how he is a starter for the team. Last season the general conscensus was that he wasnt good enough for the team. All of a suddden with limited options on the left wing he is a star for many supporters. When he starts tackling and passing the ball properly I will change my mind. Lima will come good and I like Nuno Gomes coming off the bench. I never thought of him as a starter. I was glad to see that Leonardo Jardim took Alan off. Every player has to know that they have to give everything to play 90 minutes. There’s also the fact Alan took part in over 50 games last season and this told coming close to the end of the season.
Of course some Guimaraes fans demand too much… Taking out the trash..
So far we’ve been to Rio Ave where I thought we didn’t do anything special but chosing Lima and Pizzi in the incorrect positions cost us two extra points. Quim saved us from losing all three points with an extra special save near the end. Against Young Boys at home the referee was a little lacking in dealing with the high elbows and rough play from the Swiss. Nuno Gomes ran his heart out and I thought that he deserved more from a manager unwilling to risk things in the last 15 minutes with an extra man. Swapping player for player showed a little inexperience in my opinion. Ewerton was the stand out player for me. Calm, relaxed and having everything under complete control. It was the first time I had seen him live and after one game I rate him alongside Moises and Nunes. Sad to see Imorou who I have high hopes for getting injured. For me it was a home debut right up there with past masters of our defence. Against Maritimo it was good to see Lima finally break his seven month duck and getting a goal. Elderson who came in against Young Boys got another goal for Braga and you could see his delight. I was hoping it would do his confidence the world of good as he looked as if he was going to be shipped out on loan.
The 2nd leg away to Young Boys was a rollercoaster. As always we suffer as Braga fans… Another player sent off for Young Boys but this time they looked stronger with 10 men. WE got there in the end and Im happy cos I was more worried about the qualifying round as I was with the group stages. Our home form Im sure will get us through the group stages no problem. Great goal by Helder Barbosa and a cllinical pass from Guilherme and an even smoother finish from Lima showed that he has his confidence back. Long may it continue.
Setubal was and always is a really really difficult proposition. I only remember a 4-1 cup win a few years ago. I also had the pleasure this summer of having a long conversation with our eternal captain Barroso who famously came off the bench after 77 minutes on a cold and wet night in Setubal 8 years ago to score a bomb from 40 odd yards close to the sideline and another to insure Braga stayed ahead of Setubal and secure relegation. Had Braga lost that day there was a huge possiblity that they would have been relegated on the last day against Porto. Barroso recalled the game like it was yesterday. Of the many stories that he recounted that day this was one that stuck as we have not seen hard days since that day in aseason that Barroso stepped up and showed why he was our captain. Winning 1-0 with another Helder Barbosa cracker left us with 7 points after 3 games. Nuno Andre Coelho played well(apparently) but the player that stuck out most was Elderson. I’m not the biggest fan but he has really stood out a lot in this game. I’m sure Nini(my friend) is loving it. By the way, Bar do Joao near the piscinas in Braga is a great place to watch the games.
Europa League group matchs start two weeks from today in England against Birmingham City. Brugge and Maribor also lie ahead. New teams, new adventures and new dreams will mean that 2011-12 will be another golden year for Braga.
For those of you who little or nothing of Irish football here’s a quick lesson. An irish team has never qualified for the group stages of either the Champions League. To qualify and beat a former European Cup runners up was a feat but to come from 1-0 down away from home to win was a stunning display considering the athmosphere that they must have experienced in the stadium. Braga know it well having beat Partizan Belgrade in the Champions League last year. As much as I dislike Shamrock Rovers I must congratulate them on a fantastic victory and creating history for Irish football. Here’s the equalising goal in the away leg. Worth the wait I reckon. well worth the wait.
My brother’s Facebook comments made me add this extra bit…
1. BTW, its crash bang wallop …….
2. Next time I ring Hertz to tell them that I’ve crashed the rental in Faro, “It came from nowhere, crash, bang, wallop, you know, crash bang wallop” …….’ *long pause* …….. “Ah Si, Si Senor, bang crash wallop?”
Quality!!!!!
Viva O Braga.
