Jornada 27 Recap: Come On the Chels!!!

By: Greg | April 22nd, 2008

chels Don’t be confused by the Chelsea badge, it’s there for my boys in blue who are going to take it to Fernanda Torres and Co. today. The race at the top (save Porto) is getting even tighter and more interesting with the following results taking place this past jornada:

Académica 0 - 0 V.Guimarães
Marítimo 4 - 1 Braga
Leixões 0 - 0 E.d.Amadora
P. Ferreira 2 - 2 Naval
Boavista 1 - 0 Nacional
Leiria 4 - 1 Sporting
Porto 2 - 0 Benfica
Belenenses 5 - 0 V.Setúbal

Hero of the Week — Diakite, Boavista – The players and supporters were teased into thinking some charlatan was going to give them almost forty million Euros to save all. Boavista’s “savior” is now in jail and the players are still owed money. The club produced about a month’s worth of wages for the players this past weekend and assured them more was coming. Some players were even in such dire circumstances that they had to be paid cash. In the case of Diakite, if you can take the field without getting paid for the past two months and then some, and score the game winner, you’re a hero in my book. Or maybe an idiot for playing without being paid… Better hurry on before I change my mind…

Goat(s) of the Week — Sporting CP – Setubal got thumped 5-0 at Belenenses, but Sporting outdid them with a 4-1 loss to the worst team in the league. With Benfica almost sure to lose at Porto, this game was a no-brainer three-point sitter to put some distance between Benfica and the Leões. Or maybe not. They played abysmally and were on the back foot all match. Leiria looked like Porto and Sporting looked like a second division team… In the MLS. Manager Paulo Bento’s ass must be heating up even more now, as the proverbial hot seat gets warmer and warmer.

Clean Sheets of the Week — Pedro Roma (Academica), Nilson (V.Guimaraes), Jorge Baptista (Leixões), Nelson (E.d.Amadora), Peter Jehle (Boavista), Helton (Porto), Julio Cesar (Belenenses).

With three matches remaining, the top of the table now looks a little something like this:

2nd — V.Guimarães – 49 **UEFA Champions League**
3rd — Sporting – 46 **UEFA Champions League, Qualifying**
4th — Benfica – 45 **UEFA Cup**
5th — Belenenses – 42 **UEFA Cup**
6th — V.Setúbal – 41 **Intertoto Cup**
7th — Marítimo – 40

There are a mere nine points separating Champions League and squadoosh. With Sporting and Porto playing in the Cup of Portugal final, unless Sporting finish in sixth, one of the teams who finish just out of UEFA Cup qualification will be gifted a spot in the tournament by default. This extra spot would normally go to the winner of the Cup of Portugal, but I don’t think Porto are going to swap their Champions League spot for the UEFA Cup spot in the event that they win the Taça. We’ll look at each of these team’s last three matches tomorrow to see who stands the best chance at Europe by the time the dust settles.

Then Thursday will probably be a peek at the relegation situation which could all be for naught as Leiria have already booked themselves a ticket to the Liga Vitalis and Boavista may be relegated due to Golden Whistle repercussions, thus satisfying the two clubs going down. Until then… Keep it Chop. And COME ON CHELSEA!!!!!!!!!!! BEAT THE SCOUSERS!!!!!!