Thank God It’s Seixta Feira: Dicky Quaresma to be Royalty, 07/08 Fixture Highlights, and Born Loser Couceiro is Defeated in Tic-Tac-Toe Game Against Himself

By: Greg | July 13th, 2007

tttoe Even though in this blog it’s always seixta feira, today it’s really Friday and there’s plenty of amuse bouches to get to your table, so let’s get rolling…

** According to Portuguese sports news outlet O Jogo and Spanish sports news outlet As, Real Madrid have reached a preliminary agreement with FC Porto for a swap deal involving Ricardo Quaresma landing at the Santiago Bernabéu in exchange for Júlio Baptista and some purplebacks (we Americans have green money and therefore have ‘greenbacks’. Since the highest denomination of Euro is a purple hue, I have now invented your new slang term for the European currency with this word. You’re welcome). While they’re trading a few years in getting Baptista, I’m actually not so against this move. Baptista has a nice physical presence and even though it only translated to three league goals for Arsenal last year, he had a nice spell where he scored four at Liverpool in the Carling Cup and a pair at Tottenham in the FA Cup. He really didn’t fit into Arsenal’s free flowing style that well, and he’s not a traditional Brazilian player in the sense that he’s more of a scorer who uses his “Beastly” size to fight for goals à la Chelsea’s Didier Drogba, rather than finesse and on-the-ball skill which the Samba Boys are world-renowned for. We’ll keep an eye on this story as it progresses (or dies).

** The 07/08 season fixtures were released yesterday. Of the “Big Three,” Porto has the most difficult start with back-to-back games against Braga and Sporting. Benfica don’t have their first REAL test until they face Braga in the fifth round, while Sporting take on Porto in the second jornada and then up-and-coming Belenenses the very next week. Here are some of the season’s highlights, derbies, and rivalry games:

Jornada 1 / 16 (first games, wk of Aug 18 07 and Jan 13 08)
Sporting v. Académica
Braga v. Porto
V. Guimarães v. V. Setúbal (Vitória rivalry)
Leixões v Benfica

Jornada 2 / 17 (wk of Aug 26 07 and Jan 27 08)
Porto v. Sporting
Belenenses v. Braga (Fight for 4th came down to the wire last year, with Braga edging out O Belém)

Jornada 3 / 18 (wk of Sep 2 07 and Feb 3 08)
Sporting v. Belenenses (Taça de Portugal finals rematch)

Jornada 5 / 20 (wk of Sep 23 07 and Feb 24 08)
Braga v. Benfica

Jornada 6 / 21 (wk of Sep 30 07 and Mar 02 08)
Porto v. Boavista (classically aggressive rivalry)
Benfica v. Sporting
V. Guimarães v. Braga (Minho Rivalry)

Jornada 9 / 24 (wk of Nov 4 07 and Mar 30 08)
Porto v. Belenenses

Jornada 10 / 25 (wk of Nov 11 07 and Apr 6 08)
Nacional v. Maritimo (huge socio-economic rivalry)
Braga v. Sporting

Jornada 12 / 27 (wk of Dec. 02 07 and Apr 20 08)
Benfica v. Porto

Jornada 13 / 28 (wk of Dec 16 07 and Apr 27 08)
Belenenses v. Benfica

Jornada 15 / 30 (wk of Jan 6 08 and final games, wk of May 11 08)
V. Setúbal v. Benfica
Porto v. Naval
Boavista v. Sporting

** The only good news that one can take from the U20s losing 1-0 to Chile in the World Cup is that this had BETTER be the final nail in “coach” Jose Couceiro’s proverbial coffin. I’m so sick from these teams under performing that I can’t even write any more about this, so go read Luis’ recap of the game.

The weekend is here, my best friend is back from sailing the world and the booze will be flowing. I suggest you go out, find someone who has also come back from a long spell on the road, in the air, or on the high seas and buy them a drink. Then have one on me and send the receipts to bob@theoffside.com. (If you really think you’ll get reimbursed, please submit a head shot to Merriam-Webster as well, so they may place your picture for illustration next to the definitions of both ‘gullible’ and ‘idiot’.)