Filipe Sena

 


We don’t need to look that much back in time in order to find a glimpse of the enthusiasm generated over the Portuguese top flight. The Bwin Liga, season 2006/2007, last round of the season, all three of Portugal’s major teams, FC Porto, SL Benfica and Sporting CP are occupying the first three positions, with Porto in the lead 3 points ahead of the third, Sporting.

This round was spectacular in all ways, as every fan had the hope that his team would win the championship, even if it meant winning by an inch. As the song said, "owh, happy days". Well, these days are over, at least for this new season, as the unyielding, unstoppable Porto are leading the league by 12 points, ahead of the dying Benfica.

But not everything’s lost. Some surprises were in store for this season, although not effective enough to stir the passion once more over the Bwin Liga.

In a historical derby, Sporting and Porto played for a semi-crowded José Alvalade stadium. Porto fans were all set to record yet another win when, out of the blue, the Sporting lads put their boiler suits on and worked out an astonishing victory over surely even at this stage, the future Champions. The Russian artist, Izmailov, and the Montenegro striker, Vukcevic (with a little help from the Porto keeper, Helton) took all 3 points.

Some fans expected Sporting to get back on their feet and hit the top in this second half of the season, only to realise that this was just a one night show. In the next match, Belenenses defeated them with little effort. Sporting is, officially, in one of the biggest crisis’ in their proud history, and, surprisingly, the coach, Paulo Bento, once loved in Alvalade, is now on the edge of dismissal!

But Paulo Bento isn’t the only one. Camacho, at local rivals Benfica is on his way too. The press speculates that the Spanish National Team want him back and, due to Benfica’s bad results this season, the chances of him retaining control next season are very slim.

The team has been facing severe difficulty, especially when playing at home, which is highly uncommon for a team the size of Benfica. Plus, the teams still shows that it hasn’t found a good replacement for Atletico Madrid’s winger, Simão, who left the club at the start of the season.

On top of all this, the press (with a little bit of help from the President himself, who claims that his successor will be the number 10) confirms that Rui Costa will be the next Sporting Director of SLB. This is possibly causing some instability in the team, as some look at Rui as their future boss, and not as a team mate.

The brilliant season in progress at that other, often forgotten about Lisbon side, Belenenses might be in jeopardy due to a big error from their Sporting Director, Carlos Freitas, by giving the green light for Cameroonian Albert Ze Meyong. The problem with this decision is that Meyong had already played for 2 different clubs this season, and Belenenses was the third. This is against Fifa rules governing transfers, and, by using the player, Belenenses find themselves about to lose between 3 and 9 points.

Another astonishing team in this year’s Bwin Liga is Vitória Guimarães. Promoted to the top flight this year after a solitary year in the second division, they are back with a mission to gain revenge, and if they can keep up their current form they will win the right to enter the UEFA cup directly. The quality of their football is impressive, and there are some good players on that squad that won’t be, definitely, left there for the next season.

The bottom line is the emotion of this championship is to be found at the smaller teams. Small budgets and great teams as opposed to great budgets and unbalanced squads. I’ll let the readers make their own conclusions.

Owh, how I wish for the next season to be at least as good as 2006/2007.