The talk will be about how to get rid of Queiroz and who his replacement should be. If the Portuguese Federation wishes to relieve themselves of the SHIT manager, they had better do it quick. Before we got our asses handed to us by Brazil, we weren’t exactly headed in the right direction to begin with. What a fucking shame. I hate to say it, but the days of qualifying for tournaments automatically and genuine, real hope of an international trophy may be behind us for some time.

-= Jornada 9 =- All times local. This week’s edition of FixtureFacts features parenthesis filled with each team’s Internet presence goodness.

Friday, November 21 @ 20:30 — Rio Ave (http://www.rioave-fc.pt/) v. Leixões (http://www.leixoessc.pt/)

Saturday, November 22 @ 18:15 — Marítimo (http://www.csmaritimo.pt/) v. Braga (http://www.scbraga.com/)
Saturday, November 22 @ 20:30 –Naval (http://www.naval1demaio.com/) v. Sporting (http://www.sporting.pt/)

Sunday, November 23 @ 16:00 — Nacional (http://www.cdnacional.pt/) v. Trofense (http://www.cdtrofense.pt/)
Sunday, November 23 @ 18:00 — V. Guimarães (http://www.vitoriasc.pt/) v. P. Ferreira (http://www.fcpf.pt/)
Sunday, November 23 @ 20:15 — Académica (http://www.academica-oaf.pt/) v. Benfica (http://www.lampstore.com/)

Monday, November 24th @ 19:45 — V. Setúbal (http://www.vfc.pt/) v. Belenenses (http://www.osbelenenses.com/)

Wednesday, December 17th (yes, you read that right) @ 20:30 — E. Amadora (http://www.estreladaamadora.pt/) v. Porto (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripe)

Have a splendiforous weekend. Fill it with booze and hookers. The rest is just a waste of time.

I’m well aware that the overall point totals are somewhat small at this point and therefore a three point swing here or zero points there will result in a massive fire drill, but jeez. Good for them: at least Porto weren’t capable of running off and hiding this early in the season like they did last year. Here are the full results from this past weekend’s football fun:

Trofense 0 – 2 Marítimo
Porto 2 – 0 V.Guimarães
Sporting 0 – 1 Leixões
Nacional 0 – 0 Rio Ave
P. Ferreira 2 – 1 Naval
Benfica 1 – 0 E. Amadora
Braga 1 – 0 V.Setúbal
Belenenses 1 – 0 Académica

Hero of the Week — Roberto Sousa, Leixões– Scored the match winner AT Sporting. In front of around 35,000 (subtracted out an approximate Leixões fan contingent) screaming Sportinguistas. Leixões’ first place dream lives on for another week.

Goats of the Week — Sporting — I’m completely boycotting my own blog until this team shows that they can fucking play. Horrific. The possession stat was at 70% Sporting – 30% Leixões at one point a fair way into this match. W.T.F?

Clean Sheets of the Week — Marcos (Marítimo), Helton (Porto), Beto (Leixões), Bracali (Nacional), Paiva (Rio Ave), Quim (Benfica), Eduardo (Braga), Júlio César (Belenenses).

And our tableau looks as so…

1. Leixões 19
2. Benfica 18
3. Marítimo 14
4. Porto 14
5. Nacional 14
6. Sporting 13
7. Braga 12
8. Naval 11
9. E. Amadora 11
10. V.Guimarães 9
11. Académica 9
12. V.Setúbal 7
13. Belenenses 7
14. Rio Ave 7
15. P. Ferreira 5
16. Trofense 4

You can basically book Trofense’s spot back down a league at this point. I don’t care how close they are to the others right now, they play atrocious football. The rest of the league is somewhat up for grabs still. The funny thing is that Leixões don’t run into a massive road block until Porto twelve matches from now, so they could conceivably hold on given the nature of the competition they’ll be facing. Couple that with the fact that they’re already out of any other competitions and they’ll have a well rested squad week in and week out. Yippee for a wide open league!

The aforementioned domestic competition is taking the weekend off for Round Seven Bazillion of the Taça de Portugal (the Cup of Portugal). Not to be confused with the Carlsberg (mmmm) Cup or the Cup of Life, this particular tournament is basically tantamount to the Coppa Italia in (you guessed it) Italy and the FA Cup in Inglaterra. Ours is just far uglier.

Most of these matches are rather meh, with the exception of the massively large rematch of last year’s Taça final between Porto and Sporting which will take place Sunday. Even that I can’t get too wrapped up in because this tournament is just WAYYYY too far from the end for me to give more than two shits and perhaps a medium sized doodie. At any rate, the dates are to the left, the clubs are on the right and are split apart by the local kickoff times.

Saturday Nov 8, 2008 Boavista 21 : 30 Guimaraes
Sunday Nov 9, 2008 Vizela 15 : 00 Esmoriz
Sunday Nov 9, 2008 Valdevez 15 : 00 Gil Vicente
Sunday Nov 9, 2008 Olivais e Moscavide 15 : 00 Beira Mar
Sunday Nov 9, 2008 Academica 16 : 00 Estrela Amadora
Sunday Nov 9, 2008 Leixões 16 : 00 UD Santana
Sunday Nov 9, 2008 Arouca 16 : 00 Paços de Ferreira
Sunday Nov 9, 2008 Cinfaes 16 : 00 Fatima
Sunday Nov 9, 2008 Gondomar 16 : 00 Trofense
Sunday Nov 9, 2008 Portimonense 17 : 00 Varzim
Sunday Nov 9, 2008 Naval 19 : 30 Belenenses
Sunday Nov 9, 2008 Sporting 20 : 45 Porto
Monday Nov 10, 2008 Nacional 17 : 00 Braga
Monday Nov 10, 2008 Benfica 21 : 30 Desportivo Aves

You can probably do well to only catch the Sporting – Porto tie and get your weekend fill. I’ll be back on Monday with results and a bake sale.

Benfica stumbled out of the blocks with a tie against newly promoted Rio Ave and then a hard-fought, club galvanizing draw against Porto. Aside from a tie against well in form Leixões, Benfica have been playing rather effective football and have finally come together as a team after a tumultuous off season of changes and mediocre results.

Porto are fresh off a tough home loss to the aforementioned in form Leixões this past weekend. Lucho has performed particularly well for them domestically but the defense is still a work in progress as there have been a number of communication and positioning breakdowns that will probably work themselves out as the players have more time on the pitch together. They’ll be in it until the end, don’t you worry.

This leaves us with yet another docket of matches hopefully filled with further surprises and twists. If the league continues this way throughout the year, we’ll be in for a hell of a finish…

-= Jornada 7 =- All times local. This week’s version of everyone’s favorite parenthetical blog item, FixtureFacts, features each club’s nickname in both Portuguese and English where applicable or necessary.

Friday, October 31st @ 20:30 — V. Setúbal (Os Sadinos / From Sado River) v. Trofense (N/A)

Saturday, November 1st @ 18:45 — Naval (N/A) v. FC Porto (Dragões / Dragons)
Saturday, November 1st @ 21:00 — Rio Ave (Rio Grande / Big River) v. Sporting (Os Leões / The Lions)

Sunday, November 2nd @ 16:00 — Académica (Os Estudantes / The Students) v. Braga (Os Arsenalistas & Minhotos / From Minho)
Sunday, November 2nd @ 16:00 — E. Amadora (Os Tricolores / The Tricolors) v. Belenenses (O Belém & Azúis do Restelo / the Blues from Restelo)
Sunday, November 2nd @ 16:00 — Leixões (The Babies & v. P. Ferreira (Os castores / the Beavers)
Sunday, November 2nd @ 19:45 — V. Guimarães (The White Angels) v. Benfica (Os Encarnados / The Reds & As Águias / The Eagles)

Monday, November 3rd @ 19:45 — Marítimo (Os Verde-Rubros / The Green and Reds & Os Leões / Sporting Ripoff) v. Nacional (Os Alvinegros / The White and Blacks)

The Sporting encounter will be live on RTPi, so smoke it if ya got it. Benfica’s match will be on RTPi on delay at 10:30 PM Sunday. Your mom is live 24/7, which I LOVE. Have a safe Halloween and a great weekend. Kisses ALL AROUND!!

In league play, we have few “super juicy” match ups this week, if any. First place Porto (which is borderline redundant at this point) face off against early season surprise Leixões who currently reside in fourth place. Trofense are still seeking out their first point of the season and open the weekend’s affairs with a match against Académica. Here are the rest of the encounters scheduled for this, the sixth round of the 08/09 Portuguese season…

-= Jornada 6 =- All times local. FixtureFacts this weekend focuses on each club’s current scoring leader. Check the parenthesis after each team and there you’ll find the name (or names) of the lucky gentlemen who have netted most copiously for their respective clubs.

Sexta-feira, October 24th @ 20:30 — Trofense (Pinheiro, Lipatin, R. Nascimento, & Miguel Angelo tied with 1) v. Académica (J. Garces, Nuno Piloto, & Cleber Manttuy tied with 1)

Sábado, October 25th @ 18:30 — Belenenses (R. Arroz, R. Porta, & Jose Pedro tied with 1) v. V. Guimarães (Douglas 3)

Sábado, October 25th @ 21:00 — Porto (Hulk 2) v. Leixões (Wesley 4)

Domingo, October 26th @ 16:00 — Marítimo (Marchino 2) v. Rio Ave (Semedo, Mateus, Gaspar, & Chidi tied with 1)

Domingo, October 26th @ 16:00 — Nacional (Nene 3) v. V. Setúbal (Elias, Ricardo Chaves, & Mateus tied with 1)

Domingo, October 26th @ 19:00 — Benfica (Oscar Cardozo 3) v. Naval (Marinho, Paulao, Dudu, Baradji, Bruno Lazaroni, Hauw, & Marcelinho tied with 1)

Domingo, October 26th @ 21:00 — P. Ferreira (William 4) v. Sporting (Helder Postiga 2)

Segunda-feira, October 27th @ 19:45 — Braga (Meyong 2) v. E.d.Amadora (Luis Vidigal 2)

Have a great weekend and stay safe. We’ll see you back next week with some ‘pre’ and ‘re’ caps of this Jornada’s results. Kisses ALL AROUND!!

Naval 1 – 1 Belenenses
Académica 1 – 1 Nacional
E. Amadora 1 – 0 Trofense
Rio Ave 3 – 2 P. Ferreira
Sporting 1 – 2 Porto
V.Guimarães 0 – 0 Braga
Leixões 1 – 1 Benfica
V.Setúbal 0 – 2 Marítimo

Hero of the Week — Bruno Alves, Porto — His first half free kick was the difference in Lisbon, netting Porto a 2-1 win and first place. (Again)

Goats of the Week — Rui Patricio and Paulo Bento, Sporting — Shitty tactics and even shittier goalkeeping earned Sporting a spot five places below Porto, looking up at the Dragons from below. (Again)

Clean Sheets of the Week — Nelson (E.d.Amadora), Nilson (V.Guimarães), Eduardo (Braga), and Marcos (Marítimo).

Table (After 5 Matches Played)
1.) Porto – 11
2.) Nacional – 10
3.) E.d.Amadora – 10
4.) Leixões – 10
5.) Benfica – 9
6.) Sporting – 9
7.) Naval – 8
8.) V.Guimarães- 8
9.) Marítimo – 7
10.) Académica – 7
11.) V.Setúbal – 7
12.) Rio Ave – 5
13.) Braga – 5
14.) Belenenses – 2
15.) Paços de Ferreira – 1
16.) Trofense – 0

The league is off until the 26th of the month for international break. We (or more accurately, ‘I’), however, will keep on truckin’ over on the Portuguese National Team site. Joy.

V.Setúbal play Marítimo tonight, so the full recap (as per usual) will follow that match tomorrow. Until that day comes, scores galore!

Naval 1 – 1 Belenenses
Académica 1 – 1 Nacional
E. Amadora 1 – 0 Trofense
Rio Ave 3 – 2 P. Ferreira
Sporting 1 – 2 Porto
V.Guimarães 0 – 0 Braga
Leixões 1 – 1 Benfica
V.Setúbal v. Marítimo

After this week, Sporting, Porto, and Benfica will all have played each other at least once. Early clássicos and derbies irk the shit out of me for three reasons: 1) This is hardly how the teams are going to end up as far as composition and shape, 2) The “Big” matches are done for a while after only a few weeks, 3) If it’s close between these teams late in the season, we can be sure they won’t be playing against one another in the final few weeks to determine the champion.

All my crying about having to watch so many good matches this early aside, here’s the way the weekend is going to shake out…

-= Jornada 5 =- All times local. This week’s edition of FixtureFacts focuses on the individual fixtures rather than the clubs themselves. In the lovely parenthesis next to each match you’ll learn the name of each referee who’s handling the given contest. There’s a good chance that at least one or two of the names listed below have accepted money in the past for the purpose of “tweaking” a game’s outcome.

Saturday, October 4th @ 19:45 — Naval v. Belenenses (Jorge Sousa)

Sunday, October 5th @ 16:00 — Académica v. Nacional (Artur Soares Dias)
Sunday, October 5th @ 16:00 — E. Amadora v. Trofense (Cosme Machado)
Sunday, October 5th @ 16:00 — Rio Ave v. P. Ferreira (Duarte Gomes)
Sunday, October 5th @ 19:45 — Sporting v. Porto (Lucílio Baptista)

Monday, October 6th @ 19:30 — V.Guimarães v. Braga (Pedro Proença)
Monday, October 6th @ 21:00 — Leixões v. Benfica (Olegário Benquerença)

Tuesday, October 7th @ 19:45 — V.Setúbal v. Marítimo (Vasco Santos)

Have a safe and happy weekend. I’ll be seeing you Monday with a pre-precap what with having matches stretched all the way to Tuesday this week. Kisses ALL AROUND!

This week saw Porto get back to their winning ways after a disappointing draw with new boys Rio Ave last week. Benfica took this year’s first round of the Lisbon derby with Sporting by resoundingly defeating Paulo Bento’s side 2-0 at home. Trofense look sure to go right back down after being promoted this year with yet another trouncing, this time at the hands of smokin’ Manny Cajuda’s V.Guimarães. Here are the rest of the scores, superlatives, and le tableau.

Porto 2 – 0 P. Ferreira
Braga 1 – 1 Naval
V.Setúbal 1 – 0 Rio Ave
Benfica 2 – 0 Sporting
Marítimo 2 – 0 Académica
Nacional 1 – 2 E. Amadora
Trofense 1 – 3 V.Guimarães
Belenenses 0 – 1 Leixões

Hero of the Week — Vidigal, Estrela da Amadora — An away brace to secure the three points against current front runners Nacional is “Hero” material in my book. Although, as you’ll see in the highlights below, the Amadora keeper was no slouch either in doing his part to take home the victory.

Goats of the Week — Trofense — This is more of a “Goats of the Season Thus Far” award, but a 3-1 ass kicking at the hands of V.Guimarães in the fourth match of the season means they’re still without a point. I know they just got promoted, but did they miss the Liga Vitalis that badly that they’ve given up three goals in three of their first four matches?

Clean Sheets of the Week — Helton (Porto), Bruno Vale (V.Setúbal), Quim (Benfica), Marcos (Marítimo), and Beto (Leixões).

Table (After 4 Matches Played)
1.) Nacional – 9
2.) Sporting – 9
3.) Leixões – 9
4.) Porto – 8
5.) Benfica – 8
6.) V.Setúbal – 7
7.) V.Guimarães – 7
8.) Naval – 7
9.) E.d.Amadora – 7
10.) Académica – 6
11.) Marítimo – 4
12.) Braga – 4
13.) Rio Ave – 2
14.) Paços de Ferreira – 1
15.) Belenenses – 1
16.) Trofense – 0

I used to preview the matches for whatever clubs were involved in the Champions League, but since we now have a writer for the Tripeiros Porto, he’s gladly assumed responsibility for handling that for his club. Go read his musings, and leave me alone!

Porto returned to their winning ways and Sporting got worked in the Lisbon derby by a Benfica that got stronger and stronger as the match wore on. Until the recap tomorrow, feast your eyes on the yummy (or not so yummy, depending on who you support) results below…

Porto 2 – 0 P. Ferreira
Braga 1 – 1 Naval
V.Setúbal 1 – 0 Rio Ave
Benfica 2 – 0 Sporting
Marítimo 2 – 0 Académica
Nacional 1 – 2 E. Amadora
Trofense 1 – 3 V.Guimarães
Belenenses v. Leixões