Jorge Jesus’s arrival at Sporting has been one of the most interesting story lines of Portuguese football for some time.
The 2015/2016 Primeira Liga season is shaping up to be one of the most exciting in recent memory. Here at PortugalFutbol, we’ve highlighted what fans can expect from Benfica and Porto this season. To shed light on Sporting’s chances, PortugalFutbol has brought in Sporting expert SportingSoul (@Sporting_Soul).
Much is expected of Giannelli Imbula, seen here in Marseille colors, who made the move to Porto this summer.
With the start of the new Primeira Liga season now less than two weeks away, clubs are finishing their preparations for the new season. PortugalFutbol.net’s own FC Porto expert and creator of TripeiroNation, Mitchell Rua gives some extensive insight into what we can expect from the Dragons this season. Continue reading
Danilo (left) was superb this season at Maritimo
Two weeks ago, PortugalFutbol announced Part I of the Primeira Liga’s Top 10 Under 24 from last season. In Part I, we announced who were the honorable mentions, and promised the full list to follow. These are ten of the best under-24 Portuguese players from last season playing outside of the “Big Three.” The data has been gathered and the decisions made. Here’s the list. Continue reading
Can Rui Vitória lead Benfica to another title?
With the start of the new Primeira Liga season now less than two weeks away, clubs are finishing up their preparations for the new season. Benfica expert Alfredo Fumacas, a host and creator of Benfica Podcast, took some time out of his busy schedule to give PortugalFutbol some insight into what we can expect from Benfica this season. Continue reading
Ricardo Valente (right), pictured here celebrating a goal scored against arch-rivals SC Braga this season.
At the end of last season, PortugalFutbol.net outlined the Primeira Liga’s top 5 under-24 Portuguese players playing outside of Portugal’s “Big Three” clubs (Sporting, Porto, Benfica). The purpose of this list was to shed to light some of the league’s lesser-talked about up-and-coming talent. For instance, out of the five players listed in last year’s edition, four of them have made their National Team debut since last season. This year, PortugalFutbol has expanded this list to ten.
For the purposes of brevity, we’ve split this year’s list into two parts. Part I outlines the honorable mentions, while Part II will reveal the actual Top 10 players listing. Continue reading
Petit’s Boavista team were favorites for relgation this season, but find themselves nowhere close to the bottom. Photo: JOSÉ COELHO/LUSA
Here we are. Round 24 out of 34 completed. Only ten more to go. This round was interesting an interesting one that saw Braga lose some momentum, Vitoria Guimaraes continue to struggle, and Porto push toward the top. Let’s take a closer look. Continue reading
Can Nani’s Sporting rebound this weekend after two discouraging performances? Photo: Carlos Rodrigues/Getty Images
It’s alive! It’s alive! After 5 mediocre to subpar weeks, my prediction record is alive! And I’m the king of the world!
OK, I know I’m getting a little ahead of myself here on Oscar weekend, but, I can’t help it – I had a great week! My overall record has improved to 21-24 thanks to a round that saw me go 7-2 with my predictions, including correctly guessing the exact score of three games. The only 2 teams that let me down were Sporting and Penafiel; THAT my friends, is quite the achievement. It’s almost like I know what I’m talking about.
But, I’m not naïve. I’ve experienced a 1-8 week before and I know the same thing could easily happen this week, thus sinking me like Leonardo DiCaprio in the Titanic. I hope that’s not the case though.
I want to show you all the money – by money I mean sharing bragging rights of course – but, at the same time, I’m realistic and I expect to be brought down to Earth a little. Gravity rules. What goes up must come down.
I just don’t want to come too down. I consistently need more wins than losses if I’m going to play this prognostication game well, and, in case you haven’t noticed, I do want to play this game well. In fact, I want someone to hand me a shiny gold statue for “Best Performance by a Portuguese Prognosticator” when the season comes to a close. But that can only happen if I have more weeks like last week. And, that’s gonna be tough given the unpredictability of Liga NOS.
If the previous Valentine’s round was all about identity, then, this Oscar edition, should, appropriately, be all about drama: In the reverse matches of round 22 played earlier in the season, a man was sent off in 7 of the 9 games, radically changing the outcome in nearly every one. Now, while I don’t necessarily expect the same kind of thing to happen this time around, that fact, in and of itself, sets up some very intriguing rematches to follow.
I suspect this week, like every other week in Portugal, will be fun to watch. Get your popcorn ready; the features are about to start. Here are my previews and predictions for round 22:
Jackson Martinez is a Colombian striker currently plying his trade in the Portuguese Primeira Liga with FC Porto and has been prolific ever since his arrival in 2012. In his first season at Porto, Jackson managed 31 goals in 40 appearances across 4 competitions, scoring 26 of them in the Liga, helping Porto to yet another league title. In his second season, he managed 29 goals in 51 appearances, however, he was unable to prevent a rather unsuccessful season for Porto as both Lisbon clubs finished ahead of them in the Liga table and they had to settle for a third-place finish and a play-off to reach the group stages of the 2014/15 Champions League. As for this season, he has already managed to rack up more than 20 goals. A clinical, reliable finisher if ever there was one. Continue reading
Jackson Martinez can’t stop scoring for Porto.
Much of the news coverage for this past weekend’s action in Portugal was predictably centered around the Lisbon derby between Sporting CP and SL Benfica. While that game offered much in terms of excitement, there was plenty of other action in the league this weekend. Here’s the round-up: Continue reading
Can Marco Silva’s Sporting side defeat Benfica and push for the title? Photo: SAPO Desporto
Hello again Primeira Liga fans, and welcome to another edition of the Primeira Preview & Prediction (PPP)! This weekend marks the 20th round of play, and boy, there are some exciting fixtures on the schedule. One game in particular should have your eyes firmly planted on it from start to finish. I’m sure you already know which one I’m referring to. If you don’t, you will by the end of this article.
Last week was a bit of a bounce back week for me – if, in fact, you can even call a 4-5 week a “bounce back” week – in that I rebounded after that horrendous 1-8 record the weekend before. But, if we’re perfectly honest, there really was nowhere to go but up, so, I’m not really sure I should be celebrating. A 10-17 overall record leaves much to be desired. Continue reading
