I had been unable to confirm this match, as neither club are up to date on social media, and the F.A. Find a Club website had no contact numbers listed for either club. As I approached the village, it was absolutely hammering it down with rain and there were vast amounts of standing water on the roads, as well as it going very dark, so I was relieved to see players warming up outside the changing rooms. Thankfully, the rain stopped about ten minutes before kick off and the skies cleared to give a pleasant evening in the end and the pitch was in excellent condition.
These two are the top two, in what is a four team group, both playing in the Premier Division, with this being 5th versus 8th, as far as league positions go. It was an absolute cracker. Iver Heath led 3-1 midway through the first half, but three goals in the final five minutes, saw Saints turn it round to lead 3-4 at the break. By the 71st minute it was 5-5 and I thought my highest ever drawn match seen, which is 6-6, was under serious threat, but the scoring was over for the night. I had to settle for my fifth ever 5-5 draw instead. Brilliant entertainment.
Sporting Clube Braga U23 1 Sport Lisboa Benfica U23 5, attendance 380
25’ 0-1 (pen)
44’ 0-2
65’ 0-3
66’ 0-4
72’ 0-5
77’ 1-5
@ Cidade Desportiva do Sporting Clube Braga, Pitch 1
Rua de Cabanas
4700-048 Braga
€5 Admission
Team Sheet available.
We should have been back home today, but EasyJet informed us by text message at 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon, that they had cancelled our flight. We managed to re-book onto an alternate flight at 07.00 tomorrow morning, but it meant we had an extra day to fill. Luckily, we managed to find a game to watch and even better it was being played at a ground neither of us had visited. Mind you, it wasn’t easy finding out exactly where the match was. Once again, we had the ineptitude of dealing with Braga. According to their website, the game was being played at Estadio Municipal de Braga, where we had seen the first team on Friday evening, but other sources suggested it was at their training complex. It didn’t help that there was no answer on any of the phone numbers on their website, despite trying for over an hour. They didn’t bother replying to an e-mail either. In the end it was a phone call to Benfica that confirmed the venue.
We decided that going by bus would be the easiest option. Rather than taking the metro into Porto, we headed into the airport and noted there was a direct bus from here to Braga, which only dropped at the bus station. It was €14 return and took less than 40 minutes. Although we had plenty of time, at least on the way, we opted to take a taxi, rather than walk to the ground, which cost €6 each way. After first taking us to the player’s entrance, then to the main stadium, believing we wanted to do the tour, we finally got dropped outside the public entrance to the training complex, where the ticket office opened 45 minutes before kick off and there was no problem buying tickets. The two main pitches here have seated stands, Pitch 1 has around 800 seats, whilst Pitch 2 looked to have a couple of hundred fewer.
As for the match, it wasn’t one to get too excited about. It was just not a contest and we got the feeling that Braga would offer little resistance once it became 0-2, and so it turned out. There was no atmosphere, bar a few polite hand claps. Perhaps it might have been different if Braga had contributed a little more. Benfica strolled into a 0-5 lead, before Braga finally scored a consolation goal with thirteen minutes left and in the closing minutes, one of their substitutes twice hit the woodwork, with the ’keeper nowhere near either of the efforts.
Our taxi arrived about ten minutes after the final whistle and we comfortably made if onto the last bus back to the airport at 18.45. It had been an eventful weekend, where we managed eight matches, albeit staying one day longer than we’d planned. We left on time at 07.00 for our flight back to London Gatwick. Oddly, the flight was nowhere near full, which seemed strange considering the flight on Tuesday had been cancelled. We’ve just got to battle EasyJet now, to try and obtain the extra outlay on hotel, food and drink costs. I don’t hold out too much hope!
Varzim Sport Club 2 F.C. Porto ’B’ 1, attendance 2,697
22’ 0-1
25’ 1-1
83’ 2-1
@ Estadio do Varzim Sport Club
Rua Varzim Sport Club
4490-475 Povoa de Varzim
€15 Admission
No Programme.
The first job today was to return the hire car, as tonight’s match was doable by public transport and we were on a flight home first thing in the morning. Povoa de Varzim is to the north of Porto and the last stop on Line B (red) of the metro system. We were staying at an airport hotel, so caught the train from Verdes,(2 stops from the airport on Line E (purple) but easier to walk due to poor connection times) where a 35 minute ride (17 stops) takes you to the delightful seaside resort of Povoa de Varzim, with the stadium a further 15-20 minutes walk from here. The fare was a very reasonable €1.60 each way, plus an additional €0.60 for the rechargeable card, when paying for your first journey. It was good to note that four stops before the end of the line, at Vila do Conde, you are only a few hundred yards from the ground of current Liga 2 leaders Rio Ave F.C. We had planned on going there on Saturday, until they changed the kick off time at short notice, but it looks easier to do on public transport anyway, rather than using a hire car, so no great loss.
We bought tickets from the club shop, paying €15 to sit along the side, with the option of going behind the goal for €10 also available. The ground has a capacity of 11,000 although it only has three sides in use at present, with the large covered end currently shut, so probably a couple of thousand fewer. With F.C. Porto being the live game on Portuguese television tonight, kicking off less than half an hour after this game finished, we didn’t expect a great following for their ’B’ team, and we were right. Their number totalled just 10 (3 were women) which was a one to one ratio with the police in the away section!
Tonight’s game was 17th (second bottom) versus 13th in the league table. Porto ’B’ opened the scoring on twenty two minutes, an angled shot finding the far corner of the net from just inside the 18 yard box. Varzim levelled three minutes later, a free kick was spilled by the ’keeper and followed in from close range. The game kept the interest throughout, as both teams went for the winner, which came seven minutes from time and went the way of Varzim, when a corner from the left was headed down powerfully into the bottom corner. It was a vital win, as it lifted them out of the bottom two, above Sporting Clube Covilha on goal difference.
Moreirense F.C. 0 Vitoria Sport Clube Guimaraes 1, attendance 3,486
62’ 0-1
@ Parque Desportive Comendador Joaquim de Almeida Freitas
Avenida Comendador Joaquim de Almeida Freitas
4870-270 Moreira de Congres
€20 Admission
No Programme.
As with Braga, Moreirense were the other club who gave us misinformation concerning buying tickets on the night for our chosen match. We were told it would be no problem, but once again, the club website said different, when they finally released the information a few days beforehand. I phoned them again, but was told that it was members only and that there were no tickets left and that it was a sell out. Not giving up that easily, I decided to phone Guimaraes on Thursday afternoon, as on their website it stated that they had been allocated 1,200 tickets, although they were for members only. The woman I spoke to said there were indeed tickets left, but she couldn’t guarantee that would still be the case tomorrow, but if we could call in before 18.00, then yes, they would sell us two tickets, but we may need to join as members. As we were already going via Famalicao to pick up tickets, on our way to Braga, then it was no more than twenty minutes further to go to Guimaraes as well, so no problem. Sure enough, there were tickets left and we managed to buy them without membership. At least we could relax now!
The journey back north from our game in Coimbra was a shade over 100 miles and took just over an hour and a half, with plenty of time to book in at our hotel en route. Arriving at the ground early meant we grabbed a good parking spot overlooking the stadium, around 250-300 yards away. There were plentiful bars around to get food/drink before heading into the stadium. After a few minutes, we began to notice a very high proportion of those around us were wearing green and white colours, those of Moreirense, rather then the black and white of Guimaraes. It soon became apparent we were actually in the home section! Quite how we managed to buy tickets for the home section, but from the away club, for what was allegedly a sold out game is a mystery. It certainly wasn’t a sell out. The crowd was well below the 6,100 capacity, despite the away end looking pretty much full.
Moreirense had been dumped bottom of the league table last night, when Belenenses won, to lift them above tonight’s hosts. Guimaraes came into this in sixth place, hoping to close the gap on Gil Vicente, who currently occupy the final position for Europa League qualification. It was another tight match, which always had the feel of whoever scores first, will win, which is how it panned out. Guimaraes got the all important goal just after the hour mark, scoring when Moreirense failed to clear a cross from the right and the ball was put back across the six yard box and into the far corner of the net.
Associacao Academica Coimbra 0 Casa Pia Atletico Clube 2, attendance 1,038
21’ 0-1
63’ 0-2
@ Estadio Cidade de Coimbra
Rua Dom Manuel I
3030-320 Coimbra
€5 Admission
No Programme.
We could have done another treble today, which would have involved a tier four game, followed by a tier three match, before finishing off with a top division game, but we opted instead to just go for a double, which would mean a much more relaxed day. It took around 1 hour 25 minutes to drive south from our overnight stay, arriving about 45 minutes before kick off. We parked in the street, no more than 200 yards from the stadium. From the outside, it looked more like a shopping centre, with much of the exterior being glass. It was another of the stadiums used in the Euro 2004 Championships, having been rebuilt and modernised for the event and has a seated capacity of 29,744. It also hosted the 2020 Portuguese Cup Final, between Benfica and Porto, which was moved from the National Stadium in Lisbon due to safety fears during the Covid-19 pandemic.
There is certainly no risk of Academica ever getting crowds anywhere near capacity. They are well adrift at the bottom of the league table and look certain to drop into Liga 3 at the end of the season. I had visited Casa Pia back in December 2019, when they themselves were second bottom in Liga 2, but today, they arrived here second in the table and look a good bet to gain promotion to the Primeira Liga, which shows how quickly things can be turned round. Their crowd that day was just 274 (70 odd were with the visitors Nacional) so to have 92 away fans present today was very impressive.
It was obvious from the start that there was only going to be one winner, but some poor finishing by the visitors and a battling performance by Academica kept it interesting. Casa Pia led 0-1 at the break, having opened the scoring when a defender diverted a cross past his own ’keeper whilst trying to clear the ball. The killer second goal came midway through the second half, the striker cutting in from the left before beating the ’keeper at his near post with an unstoppable shot into the top corner.
Having been given misinformation regarding buying tickets on the day at the S.C. Braga match, I had telephoned Famalicao yesterday afternoon to find out the arrangements for their match, just to be on the safe side. I was told tickets would only be sold to members at the ticket booths prior to kick off, but if we could call in during Friday afternoon, then there would be no problem. The ground was more or less en-route to our evening match anyway, so not a problem. Having arrived at the stadium, we walked inside through an open gate, but could see no ticket office. A very friendly member of staff, who knew all about my phone call yesterday, directed us to the ticket office, which was in town and less than two minutes drive away, and sure enough, there were 2 tickets already put aside for us. Excellent service!
We arrived at the ground very early for the match, parking in the road opposite. We had plenty of time to walk round what was a very unremarkable town, eventually finding a restaurant that was open (most appeared closed until 19.00 at least which is not good to fit around football). As we walked back towards the stadium we had our first glimpse of the riot police in action. Three van loads arrived, with flashing blue lights, to attend a bar where a group of half a dozen Boavista fans were stood. We had heard some chanting, but there looked to be very little else happening. Outside the away end at the stadium, which we had to pass to reach our seats, we saw another Boavista fan ’dealt with’. He was set upon by five officers and given quite a beating, before being hand cuffed and led away. They certainly have a low tolerance towards trouble at matches.
The match was 12th versus 13th in the league table, in a stadium that holds less than 8,000, with a very small section for away fans, so it was understandable that only members could purchase tickets on the night. We had been told that Boavista were classed as a ’risk’ match, so were surprised when taking our seats, to be asked by the stewards if we were home or away fans. There were 20-25 Boavista fans, in club colours, sat in the end block of the home end up against the fence segregating us from the visiting fans, which was rather strange.
The match itself never reached any great heights. Boavista had opened the scoring from the penalty spot and were 0-2 up by halftime. It was very comfortable for them and Famalicao had offered very little. The second half improved, helped by the hosts pulling a goal back two minutes after the restart and despite building up pressure on the Boavista goal, they couldn’t find an equaliser. The visitors were reduced to ten men two minutes into stoppage time, for picking up a second yellow card, but it was too late to affect the outcome of the match.
The first two photos below were taken yesterday afternoon when we called in to buy our tickets.
Clube Desportivo Feirense 2 Academico Viseu 1, attendance 2,721
4’ 1-0
66’ 1-1
90’+ 2, 2-1
@ Estadio Marcolino Castro
Avenida 25 de Abril 14
4524-969 Santa Maria da Feira
€5 Admission
No Programme.
Within twenty minutes of the final whistle at Sao Joao de Ver, we were parked up and tickets were purchased for game two of the day at C.D. Feirense, where 5th in the league table were hosting 15th. It is a cracking little ground, which has an all seated capacity of 5,449. It was the only game of the trip where the official attendance just wasn’t believable. Perhaps half the 2,721 figure announced would have been nearer the mark. The atmosphere was really good and despite only being 73 supporters in the away end, they contributed greatly, especially the ’hardcore’ 20-25 who stood right behind the goal, although this same group were also involved in a stand off with the home ’ultras’ outside the home end after the final whistle, but the police seemed to have the upper hand in keeping them apart.
Feirense were ahead inside five minutes. A break down the right saw the ball pulled back for a left footed finish into the top corner. Viseu deserved something from the first half and perhaps shaded it, but it remained 1-0 at the break. They levelled the scores midway through the second half, when a cross from the left was headed in powerfully, beating the ’keeper’s attempt to tip it over and bouncing down off the crossbar and over the line. A draw would have been a fair result, as both teams pushed for a winner. It looked like the points would be shared, but two minutes into stoppage time, a corner wasn’t cleared and following a scramble in the box, the ball was played sideways before being smashed into the net to win it for the hosts.
We drove back north after the match, checking in at our hotel in Valongo, to the east of Porto, before heading out for match number three of the day.
Sporting Club Sao Joao de Ver 1 Associacao Desportiva Sanjoanense 0, attendance 234
37’ 1-0
@ Estadio do Sporting Clube Sao Joao de Ver
Rua da Azenha 78
4520-616 Sao Joao de Ver
€5 Admission
No Programme.
This match only appeared as being a morning kick off midway through the week, which I assume was to aid the travel arrangements of the visiting team, who are from the island of Madeira. It certainly fitted in perfectly for us, as it was just a seven minute drive from our intended afternoon match, so we would be getting in a treble today after all, having lost out on that possibilty originally, with the Rio Ave F.C. game being switched from 17.30 to 20.00.
We arrived at the ground around 40 minutes before kick off. There was only one other spectator here, but they started arriving in dribs and drabs and there were about 30 people in the queue, when they finally opened the ticket windows just twenty five minutes before kick off. Despite being very low key, there was still a ridiculous amount of police in proportion to the crowd. There was even segregation. There were 48 away fans, who had a section of terracing to the left of the seated area, but oddly, everyone shared the same toilets, with a door leading through the corridor at the rear of the seats into the away section!
The match was a very tight affair, between the top two, of the four team group at this stage of the relegation play offs, but at least both teams were trying to play open football, although they lacked any real cutting edge up front. The only goal came eight minutes before halftime, an angled shot into the top corner from 16 yards, that gave the ’keeper no chance.
Sporting Clube Braga 3 Sport Lisboa Benfica 2, attendance 16,073
28’ 1-0
70’ 2-0
74’ 2-1 (pen)
77’ 2-2
80’ 3-2
@ Estadio Municipal de Braga
Avenida do Estadio
4700-441 Braga
€20 Admission, Print at Home Ticket
No Programme.
This was the first match of our long weekend in the north of Portugal. The weekend didn’t get off to the best start, as our scheduled 09.40 flight with EasyJet from London Gatwick to Porto, departed 1 hour 36 minutes late. We still had ample time to pick up the hire car and head towards Braga, making a detour via two other top division stadiums, in search of tickets for games later in the weekend. Portuguese football is certainly not well administered. The break down of fixtures wasn’t released until nine days before we were due to fly, and even then, one game that we were planning on watching in the second tier was moved for television purposes, from it’s 17.30 slot (the only game in the country at this time) to 20.00, which would mean a clash with the 20.30 top division tv game. Very odd.
Telephone calls to Braga, a week before the game, had confirmed that there would be no problem purchasing tickets on the day of the match. However, on Wednesday, their website was stating that tickets were only available to members, but it was still possible for ’general public’ to purchase tickets, but these would be in the visiting section of the stadium and had to be purchased through the Benfica website. 2 tickets were duly purchased, with no add on fees (English clubs take note), although it wasn’t until the following day that the tickets arrived via e-mail with a link to print them off.
The stadium has a capacity of 30,286 and was built to host games at the Euro 2004 tournament. It is only two sided, but has been cut into the side of a rock face, with one goal end backing onto this. We stayed at a hotel near to Braga railway station, choosing to walk the twenty minutes down to the stadium (the walk back was uphill all the way and took longer). On arrival, the place was very quiet and certainly didn’t indicate that the biggest club in the country were in town. No food or drink outlets were open around the stadium, not that there were many there anyway. In fact, even once inside, there were just a few bread rolls and bottles of water. on sale. The commercial department in Braga certainly have no idea about making the most of the biggest game of the season. In fact, it was pathetic. One thing they had in abundance though, was riot police, in their hundreds. Everywhere you looked. It was like being back in the 1980’s and seemed totally unnecessary.
The match was 4th versus 3rd in the league table, neither club having any chance of catching second placed Sporting Clube Portugal, let alone leaders F.C. Porto. The game was really dull, as was the atmosphere. Braga led 1-0 at the break against a Benfica side that offered little. Perhaps they were saving themselves for their big game against Liverpool in midweek. When Braga went 2-0 up with twenty minutes left, it looked all over, but four minutes later Benfica were back in it, converting a penalty that was awarded by V.A.R. and within three minutes, it was 2-2, a cross from the right headed back across the six yard box and fired high into the roof of the net. No sooner had Benfica looked to have rescued something from the game, they conceded the winning goal just minutes later, when a cross from wide on the right was volleyed in at the far post.
It was a really disappointing spectacle over all, despite seeing five goals. At the final whistle the police immediately blocked off the exits, keeping us in for 45 minutes, not even allowing use of the toilets. It is little wonder crowds are so poor here, if this is how they treat supporters, especially as local non-members were also inconvenienced.
So much for British Summer Time. It started raining around 5 o’clock and absolutely hammered it down, with the temperature dropping to 6 degrees. Parts of the pitch had standing water on it, but it never affected the game and it started to soak in as the match went on, although it rained for the entirety.
As far as league positions go, it was 5th in Division 2 versus 11th (bottom) in Division 1. Ponthir started the better of the two, going ahead after fifteen minutes when a shot beat the ’keeper at his near post, before doubling their lead with a penalty just before the half hour mark. Rhymney argued every decision that went against them, with the Referee facing a constant barrage of abuse from their ’bench’ as well as the majority of their players. It was a shame, because when they concentrated on their football, they made a real game of it. Their spirits were lifted when they pulled it back to 2-1 a minute before the break, when a looping header over the ’keeper found the far corner. Midway through the second half, Ponthir curled in a shot from the edge of the box to make it 3-1, with the final goal coming in stoppage time.
The Referee had sensibly got the game underway a couple of minutes early, with a brief halftime, so we were done and dusted by 19.33. It certainly did me a favour on the homeward journey, as I beat the M4 closure at Junction 11 by a matter of minutes.
