Sporting’s reception against Portimonense had all the makings of a complicated challenge and in the match preview, Rúben Amorim didn’t hide it. However, the Lions immediately cleared the result with an early goal, putting an opponent who never made it into the game (4-0) without the home side or imposing a very high tempo. Despite the insignificant start to the season, perhaps because it came too late, the bet on Trincao finally started to pay off: the winger scored twice and already scored as many goals this week as in the entire previous season (three) . With Saturday’s win, Sporting reached ten points and moved up to fifth in the standings for the time being, behind the Algarve.
Faced with an opponent motivated by a string of four consecutive wins and five points more in the standings (and with whom Sporting had suffered the only defeat in pre-season), Amorim made some changes from his standard squad. From the start in defence, where he could not count on the injured St. Juste: Neto, like Gonçalo Inácio, started with Nuno Santos on the left, relegating Matheus Reis to the bench, and Esgaio on the right, leaving Porro remained in peace. Then in midfield, where he saved Ugarte in the face of the Uruguayan’s exhausting match in Frankfurt, which forced Pedro Gonçalves to withdraw to accompany Japan’s Morita. On offense, Rochinha started from the left and switched into Pot position. Paulo Sérgio also switched teams that had lined up and won Famalicão in the final round: Pedro Sá, Klismahn (injured) and Róchez left, Ouattara, Gonçalo Costa and Paulo Estrela came in.
Knowing the triumph of leader Benfica in the trip to Minho, the Lions entered the game patiently, moving the ball around looking for the right moment to evade a defense that was getting a six-element line. However, the Algarve strategy did not work for a long time, contrary to what Paulo Sérgio meant. In the sixth minute a shot by Esgaio forced Nakamura to save for a corner, after which Sporting took the lead. After a first cut, Neto won the second ball that Coates contested with a defender. In the aftermath of the move, the ball went to the edge of the area, where Trincao fired hard with his left foot, beating the Japanese goalkeeper of Portimonense, betrayed by a slight deflection in Pedrão (7″).
Always up
Sporting continued at the same pace as they had entered the field, certainly attacking and shooting if they tried. Trincão and Rochinha tried their luck in vain and the Algarve’s answer only appeared on 24″, in a center shot by Gonçalo Costa that deflected Adán into a corner. Realizing that he had nothing left to defend, the Algarve coach turned another in. forward on the field ( Róchez) to keep the lone Welington Jr company, and for some time managed to disrupt his team, with the higher lines, the leonine exits. A loss of Morita near the field enabled Welington able to test the shot, which went to the side, but it became Sporting to make it 2-0, in a poor exit from the Algarve Edwards recaptured the ball, left in Rochinha, who with time and space made available Trincão of these two (41″). After a move that hit Inácio (with Amorim releasing Matheus Reis as “management” in the second half), Edwards took the opportunity to test the reflexes of Samuel Portugal’s substitute in goal one last time before half-time. of the team from Portimao.
If Amorim had lost a central midfielder at the end of the first half, the second started the same way. Neto injured his knee and should be off the field for a while, which is not good news in a short roster. Matheus Reis and Ugarte joined in and the level rose (later with the input of Paulinho and Alexandropoulos), not least because the team now had room for fast and deadly transitions. Ugarte headed over the post (64″) and Trincão was close to the hat-trick, which Pedrão dodged on the line (65″), but the halftime goal fell just in the 72″ as a cross from Porro and Pedro Gonçalves headed the ball. the ball was again deflected on the Portimonense centre-back, betraying Nakamura.Four minutes later, Pote assisted Nuno Santos for the final 4-0 with a cross, trying to seal a victory that was never in question.
Source: DN
