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!

-= Jornada 8 =- All times local. This week’s edition of FixtureFacts does the fantastic job of imparting knowledge parenthetically by informing you of each team’s telephone number. This way, if you want to call and talk to someone in regards to how much your favorite club makes you happy or crazy, now you have that resource at your mobile-dialing fingertips.

Friday, November 14th @ 20:30 — Trofense (252 417 104) v. Marítimo (291 708 300)

Saturday, November 15th @ 18:15 — Porto (225 070 500) v. V.Guimarães (253 432 570)
Saturday, November 15th @ 20:30 — Sporting (217 516 000) v. Leixões (229 396 620) **Match of the Week**

Sunday, November 16th @ 16:00 — P. Ferreira (255 965 230) v. Naval (233 422 809)
Sunday, November 16th @ 16:00 — Nacional (291 227 324) v. Rio Ave (252 640 590)
Sunday, November 16th @ 18:30 — Benfica (217 219 558) v. E.d.Amadora (210 990 929)
Sunday, November 16th @ 20:45 — Braga (253 206 860) v. V.Setúbal (265 544 270)

Monday, November 17th @ 19:45 — Belenenses (213 010 461) v. Académica (239 793 890)

Have yourself a great weekend. It’ll be interesting to see who comes out on top after these matches and with first place potentially on the line when Sporting and Leixões meet.

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!!

Trofense 0 – 0 Académica
Belenenses 1 – 1 V.Guimarães
Porto 2 – 3 Leixões
Marítimo 1 – 1 Rio Ave
Nacional 1 – 0 V.Setúbal
Benfica 2 – 1 Naval
P. Ferreira 0 – 0 Sporting
Braga 5 – 0 E. Amadora

Heroes of the Week — Braga (the midfielder who plays for Leixões) and Braga (the team) — After Lisandro knotted the match at two for Porto in the 60th minute, midfielder Braga put Leixões ahead for good by scoring his second goal of the game in the 78th. See his heroics with the YouTubage below…

Annnd Braga (the team) smoked formerly high flying Estrela da Amadora 5-0. Practically everyone got involved in the scoring, including Hugo Gomes (clearly not Nuno’s brother: this guy was actually able to find the back of the net) of E.d.Amadora who opened his opponents’ account with an own goal you can peek at for yourself below.

Goats of the Week — Sporting (And I’m Thoroughly SICK of Putting Them Here) — Can you tell I write the Sporting blog as well? It’s not Porto this week. They got beat by a team that’s clearly going through a hot spell and they actually managed to SCORE. TWICE. Sporting, on the other hand, decided to hand Paços de Ferreira their second point of the season. They must have been intimidated by the almost half filled stadium, which was teeming with a whopping 2,077 spectators. Yeah, that’s it.

Clean Sheets of the Week — Rui Patrício (Sporting), Paulo Lopes (Trofense), Eduardo (Braga), Peskovic (Académica), Bracali (Nacional), and Cássio (Paços de Ferreira).

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

The league looks like it might actually shape up to be quite the tight race this year. I know it’s way too early to call it super exciting, but we can always hope!

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

Don’t you worry: the man won’t get us down. Since there are about eleven English speaking people with the Internet who are interested in Portuguese football ramblings, we have to keep this blog on the Offside in tact. I let my wife down way too often, so my quota for let downs is maxed out (with my immediate family thus rounding out the total to five). I won’t let you down, my faithful loves. And I don’t think this weekend’s fixture schedule will let you down either.

-=Jornada 4=- (All times Local) We’ve got a hell of a early season derby (hence our friend in the “derby hat” to the left here) between Sporting and Benfica on the docket for tomorrow. It’ll be played at Benfica’s home court, Estadio da Luz, and seeing as how tight Benfica played Porto at home earlier, I don’t expect their early season troubles to make this game anything less of a gem to watch. This week’s edition of FixtureFacts reflects this blog’s fashion forward take on life and brings you each club’s home sock color indicated parenthetically. Yes, we care about what goes on their feet, Lieutenant Dan.

Friday, September 26th @ 21:15 — Porto (Royal blue and white) v. P. Ferreira (Yellow)

Saturday, September 27th @ 17:15 — Braga (Red) v. Naval (Green)
Saturday, September 27th @ 19:00 — V.Setúbal (White) v. Rio Ave (Green)
Saturday, September 27th @ 20:45 — Benfica (Red) v. Sporting (Green and White Hoops)

Sunday, September 28th @ 16:00 — Marítimo (Red) v. Académica (Black)
Sunday, September 28th @ 16:00 — Nacional (Black) v. E. Amadora (White)
Sunday, September 28th @ 20:15 — Trofense (Blue) v. V.Guimarães (White)
Monday, September 29th @ 19:45 — Belenenses (Blue) v. Leixões (Red)

I might be off on some of those colors as I had to research both the Portuguese Liga website as well as Wikipedia and they didn’t exactly agree each time. The Liga website had written descriptions that contradicted the pictures of the uniforms they gave. Feel free to kill me in the comments if you like

Have a great weekend, catch the Sporting – Benfica game if you have access to RTP (10:15 PM Eastern on RTPi). Otherwise, I’ll see you back again on Monday with less gushing over Vegas and more Portuguese football. Kisses ALL AROUND!