[Josué]

Welcome to the 2008/09 edition of Portugal's back-to-back-to-back champions, Futebol Clube do Porto.

Here is the squad.

GOALKEEPERS​

#1 - HELTON da Silva Arruda
30 years old
Years spent at Porto: 3 seasons

#24 - HUGO VENTURA
20 years old
Years spent at Porto: Started at Porto, 1 professional season

#33 - NUNO Herlander Simões ESPIRITO SANTO
34 years old
Years spent at Porto: 3 seasons(two separate stints)

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DEFENDERS​

#2 - BRUNO Eduardo Regufe ALVES
Central Defender
26 years old
Years spent at Porto: Started at Porto, 3 seasons(plus 3 loans)

#5 - NELSON Pablo BENITEZ
Left Back
24 years old
Years spent at Porto: 0 seasons

#3 - PEDRO EMANUEL dos Santos Martins Silva - [CAPTAIN]
Central Defender
33 years old
Years spent at Porto: 6 seasons

#13 - JORGE Ciro FUCILE Perdomo
Right Back
23 years old
Years spent at Porto: 2 seasons

#15 - Dorvalino Alves Maciel LINO
Left Back
31 years old
Years spent at Porto: 1 season

#14 - ROLANDO Jorge Pires da Fonseca
Central Defender
22 years old
Years spent at Porto: 0 seasons

#4 - MILAN STEPANOV
Central Defender
25 years old
Years spent at Porto: 1 season

#21 - Ionut CRISTIAN SAPUNARU
Right Back
24 years old
Years spent at Porto: 0 seasons

#26 - BERNARDO David Mendes Salgueiro Campos TENGARRINHA
Central Defender
19 years old
Years spent at Porto: Started at club, 0 professional seasons

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MIDFIELDERS​

#18 - MARIO Ariel BOLATTI
Defensive Midfielder
23 years old
Years spent at Porto: 1 season

#20 - TOMAS COSTA
Central Midfielder
23 years old
Years spent at Porto: 0 seasons

#25 - FERNANDO Francisco Reges
Defensive Midfielder
21 years old
Years spent at Porto: 0 seasons(1 loan season)

#8 - Luis Oscar 'LUCHO' GONZALEZ
Central Midfielder
27 years old
Years spent at Porto: 3 seasons

#6 - FREDDY Alejando GUARIN Vásquez
Central Midfielder
22 years old
Years spent at Porto: 0 seasons

#16 - RAUL José Trindade MEIRELES
Central Midfielder
25 years old
Years spent at Porto: 4 seasons

#30 - Vítor Hugo Gomes Paços 'PELE'
Defensive Midfielder
21 years old
Years spent at Porto: 0 seasons

--

FORWARDS​

#23 - DANIEL João Santos CANDEIAS
Winger
20 years old
Years spent at Porto: Started at club, 0 professional seasons

#19 - ERNESTO Antonio FARIAS
Striker
28 years old
Years spent at Porto: 1 season

#11 - MARIANO Nicolás GONZALEZ
Winger
27 years old
Years spent at Porto: 1 season

#12 - Givanildo Vieira de Souza 'HULK'
Striker
22 years old
Years spent at Porto: 0 seasons

#9 - LISANDRO 'LICHA' LOPEZ
Striker
25 years old
Years spent at Porto: 3 seasons

#29 - Tiago Andre Coelho Lopes RABIOLA
Striker
19 years old
Years spent at Porto: 1 season

#10 - CRISTIAN Gabriel RODRIGUEZ Barotti
Winger
22 years old
Years spent at Porto: 0 seasons

#17 - TARIK SEKTIOUI
Winger
31 years old
Years spent at Porto: 2 seasons

 

[Josué]

Tomorrow, we have our first real game of the season as we face off with Sporting in the Supertaca Candido de Oliveira.

The truth is that Sporting are the club which give us the most difficulties in Portugal, and Paulo Bento has a very good record against Jesualdo. In 4 encounters last year, Sporting won 3 while we won just 1. Two of Sporting's wins were for titles, those being the Taca de Portugal, and last year's Supertaca.

It would be great to get this hump off our back and beat the lizards to get the season going.

Jesualdo has called up 19 players for the game and here they are:

Goalkeepers: Helton, Nuno Espirito Santo

Defenders: Nelson Benitez, Jorge Fucile, Bruno Alves, Pedro Emanuel, Rolando, Cristian Sapunaru, Lino

Midfielders: Freddy Guarin, Raul Meireles, Lucho Gonzalez, Fernando, Tomas Costa

Forwards: Daniel Candeias, Ernesto Farias, Lisandro Lopez, Cristian Rodriguez, Hulk

Not called up: Hugo Ventura(technical decision), Milan Stepanov(technical decision), Ricardo Quaresma(technical decision), Mario Bolatti(technical decision), Tarik Sektioui(injury), Rabiola(injury), Mariano Gonzalez(injury)

Expected line-up:

Helton
Sapunaru - Pedro Emanuel(C) - Bruno Alves - Benitez
Freddy Guarin - Raul Meireles
LUCHO
Lisandro - Farias - Rodriguez​

Bench(one of these players won't be there as it's one too many): Nuno, Rolando, Lino, Fucile, Fernando, Tomas Costa, Daniel Candeias, Hulk

 

[Josué]

As always seems to happen, we lost to Sporting yet again, this time by a 2-0 scoreline. Two errors in defense by Benitez and Sapunaru led to Yannick scoring both goals against us. This is a huge hump for us. We can't seem to beat them in a one-off game. Everybody knows we're the better team over the course of a season, but Sporting always play well against us and really have our number. Frustrating for sure. Well earned victory to Paulo Bento's troops.

 

[Inácio]

i couldnt help but crack up at rodriguez 's first title of the season :howler: he was so mad towards the end of the game, that he almost killed miguel veloso

 

[Josué]

Rodriguez made the right choice in choosing Porto over Benfica.

You're not seriously going to argue that, are you Ana?

 

[Inácio]

argue? me? im glad he left, i wouldnt want a player like him in my team . Ethics are important to me

regardless, it was delicious watching his poor game tonight and frustration

 

[Josué]

It'll be "delicious" when he embarasses your club in the second week of the season, something Futebol Clube do Porto appear to do with relative ease.

Forca UEFA Cup.

 

[Inácio]

there there josh, u're collecting wood to get burnt

 

[pun]

We play our first match of the season tonight against Belenenses.

This will be our toughest season, having lost a few crucial players last year and this season having lost Bosingwa and perhaps Quaresma who isn't called up.

The squad for the match

Lista de convocados:

Guarda-redes: Helton e Nuno

Defesas: Sapunaru, Fucile, Bruno Alves, Pedro Emanuel, Rolando e Benítez

Médios: Guarín, Raul Meireles, Lucho González, Tomás Costa e Bolatti

Avançados: Mariano, Lisandro, Cristian Rodríguez, Hulk e Farías

Probably starting lineup

Helton
Fucile - Alves - Emanuel - Benitez
Guarin - Lucho - Meireles
Tarik - Lisandro - C.Rodriguez​

Good lineup, defence is a bit shaky.

 

[Filipe Reis]

@ Josh: Nice squad presentation.

 

[kleber]

Belenenses looks poor.

 

[Mathias04]

Why is Fucile not a starter on this team? From what i'm watching neither the right or left back are at his level..

 

[The Jackal]

1-0 at HT. After a terrible Beleneses' giveaway, Tomas Costa provided a beautiful ball to Lisandro whose shot was rebounded home by Mariano. Mariano also banged the post later with a stunning long-range effort.

 

[Josué]

Glad to see Mariano getting off on the right note.

Tomas Costa beside Raul Meireles and Lucho seems to be alot more comfortable then Freddy Guarin. The Argentine is alot more confident on the ball and keeps possession better than Guarin.

 

[Josué]

HUUUUUUULK!!!

95 km/h bullet of a shot to make it 2-0. What a left foot this guy has.

First league game for Porto, first goal for Hulk.

 

[The Jackal]

What a dream debut for Hulk. Also, too bad Lucho couldn't convert that long-range volley effort; that would've been spectacular.

Only concern is Mariano, who seemed to pick up a leg injury following a free-kick; hope it's nothing serious.

 

[Josué]

Nah, I don't think it'll be anything serious. It was just that his foot hurt after Hulk's free-kick blasted into him. p He looked alright on the bench at the end of the game.

Decent performance, but we are quick to forget that Belenenses have torched us over the last couple of seasons, as we've lost games and drawn games with them. To win the first game of the season away at the Restelo, while keeping a clean sheet, is always a good result. :thumbsup:

 

[Filipe Reis]

Decent performance, but we are quick to forget that Belenenses have torched us over the last couple of seasons, as we've lost games and drawn games with them. To win the first game of the season away at the Restelo, while keeping a clean sheet, is always a good result. :thumbsup:

By this sentence we can see that you either do not know your own club's stadium OR you haven't seen the match at all.

 

[Josué]

I tuned in just before half-time, and you're right, I got that wrong.

 

[Filipe Reis]

I tuned in just before half-time, and you're right, I got that wrong.

So I can tell you that your first half was even worse than your second. The only good thing you did before half time was Mariano's shot that hit the post. Your luck in this game was that Belenenses seems like a complete ghost of the team that Jesus used to coach.