Taça Semi Recap and Quick Hits

By: Greg | April 19th, 2007

Sporting, as expected, defeated Beira Mar in yesterday’s first of two semi final games for the Taça de Portugal. Joao Moutinho started Sporting off blasting out of the gates with two spectacular goals in the first ten minutes. Beira Mar would not go quietly though and pulled one back through Diarra (not Lassana) two minutes into the second half.

Ricardo’s rare miscue allowed the ball to go under his body as he deflected it into the goal. After the Diarra goal, Beira Mar looked the stronger side for the majority of the second half. The two early goals may have caused Sporting to take the visitors lightly and allowed Beira Mar to penetrate deep into the Sporting defense a number of times. However, Sporting held them off to survive and will face the winner of today’s Braga v Belenenses tie in the Finals on May 27th.

Here are some quick hits from the news wires today:

** According to the team’s website, Nacional have fired manager Carlos Brito and replaced him with youth team coach Pedrag Jokanovic. The 4-3 loss to bottom of the table Aves this past Jornada was probably the straw that broke the camel’s back here. This move makes the managerial chopping block total rise to fourteen this season in the Liga alone. That’s two less than the total amount of clubs in the entire league. Yikes. Job security much?

** Benfica will apparently lose playmaker Fabrizio Miccoli at the end of this season. Miccoli is slated to return to Juventus who loaned him to the Portuguese side at the beginning of this season. Juventus are moving up after their embarassing relegation to Serie B and will be looking to reload on the cheap. Miccoli certainly fits that bill and will likely find himself back on a plane to Turin at the end of the Liga season.

** Porto’s Attacking midfielder Anderson apparently has no desire to leave the Dragao any time soon. With a number of clubs coveting the player’s services, he has stated that he has gotten adjusted to Portuguese culture and life in the country. The 19 year old has been injured for the past five months but has been declared fit and ready to go, renewing interest in the Brasilian’s services.