Seven goals, one battle and one win, based on an unprecedented hat-trick by Francisco Trincao. These were the ingredients of an Easter afternoon at Jamor that saw Sporting beat Casa Pia 4-3, in a match that saw them commit a string of uncharacteristic defensive errors despite scoring the fastest goal in the competition and winning 18 times. corner kicks. Sp. Braga is still five points behind and FC Porto seven, but Amorim must have been very concerned about what he saw. “This time we defined well, but we forgot the rest. There are no excuses for mistakes like this,” he complained at the end.
Already with the game against Juventus in sight, the coach once again put aside the idea of launching an attack with three mobile units, initially saving Morita who must be at his maximum against the Italians due to the certain absence of Ugarte , for punishment in Turin. Without Paulinho, Chermiti returned to center forward and Pedro Gonçalves retired to midfield.
On the other hand, Casa Pia, who last avoided a defeat against the Lions about a century ago, saw coach Filipe Martins make two major changes from the usual eleven, as Vasco Fernandes and Godwin were left out for punishment, with Fernando Varela and Diogo Pinto appearing in their places.
Many people had not entered the stadium and Sporting did everything they could not do against Gil Vicente in more than 90 minutes. Even though the ball belonged to Casa Pia, the Lions quickly recovered it: Pedro Gonçalves progressed up the pitch, conceded to Trincão and he ducked into the central zone and fired into the back of Lucas Paes’ goal. Only 17 seconds had passed and it was thought a quiet afternoon would come for the Lions. Nothing is left to worry: Casa Pia played on a strategy similar to that of their opponent and took advantage of the deconcentration of the Lions defense to draw level in the seventh minute. First it was Matheus Reis who lost close to the bottom line; then Esgaio allowed Diogo to escape Pinto; and finally, Coates let the ball go over him and reach Rafael Martins, who failed to forgive with a superb half-back shot, in a move that would be validated by VAR. Five games later, Adán was in goal again.
Goal here, goal there
The offer disturbed the peace of the visitors, who had to react. Chermiti escaped two more times (20 and 35″) from the Casapian defense, but always defined badly. The second move, however, woke up the Lions who pushed the home side against the ropes and won several corners – in the end there would be 18. And Trincão would even made it 1-2 with a pass from Esgaio, in a beautiful shot from the edge of the penalty area (39″). Again in the favour, Sporting hung up waiting for the break and, already in the break, would eventually be punished when Nuno Santos, who tried to relax after Adán’s tight defense, kicked the legs of the Japanese Soma, who was so his second goal in the club.
Dissatisfied, especially with the defense, Amorim took advantage of the break to make three substitutions: St. Juste, Inácio and Morita followed by Diomande, Matheus Reis and Chermiti. And again, it didn’t take long for his team to have the advantage: Trincão went back to Morita, passed to Pedro Gonçalves and shot between the legs of João Nunes (48″).
But in showing that they had not learned the lessons of the first half, Sporting conceded another equality, again in a series of mistakes by their defenders. From the start, in the quick mark of a free kick. Afterwards, the ball fell to Lelo and the center passed Coates, who eventually got in the way of Inácio and allowed Felippe Cardoso’s (62″) victorious shot.
The man who could have been Casapiano’s hero didn’t stay on the field for long as he saw the second yellow card (64″). With one man to go, Sporting went on the attack. Amorim moved, threw everything he could off the bench and advanced Coates, creating several chances for the fourth, but the ordeal would only end at 85″, after a cross from Pote that Trincão deflected towards goal and achieved the hat-trick.
Source: DN
