So last week did not suck as bad for Portugal as previous weeks. Admittedly, it was not great, but on the upside, no Portuguese teams lost, though only one won for a 1-4-0 record. Specifically: Porto 1-1 Austria Wien (home draw to the bottom team in the group--ouch) Anderlecht 2-3 Benfica (sloppy win but there are no style points) Sevilla 1-1 Estoril (90th minute equalizer but Estoril still eliminated) Rijeka 0-0 Guimaraes (they beat this team 4-0 at home so I'd kind of been hoping for another win) Pacos Ferreira 0-0 Fiorentina (yeoman like home draw to an already-qualified Fiorentina side) What does this all mean? In the CL, both Porto and Benfica have theoretical chances to advance though they'll both need to win and hope for other results to go their way. Pacos and Estoril are both eliminated but they have chances against weaker ties to salvage some pride and UEFA points. And Guimaraes actually has a chance to qualify out of what is easily the toughest of the three EL groups. They would just need to beat Lyon at home and hope Rijeka beats Betis at home. Yeah, not terribly likely. But VG has acquitted themselves pretty well regardless. This less-crappy week places Portugal 12th overall in Europe this year, just ahead of Switzerland and a half-point behind the Czech Republic. Is there any good news? Well, maybe: neither Porto nor Benfica can finish worse than last in their CL groups (hardly a proud distinction for two top seeds), but this means they may likely get shunted into the EL elimination round draw, and that could be a better path for them to rack up points and salvage something out of what is otherwise a pretty dismal campaign.
In what may have been the best day for Portuguese clubs in Europe this season, both Benfica and Porto advance to the Europa League round of 16. Porto was down two goals to Eintracht Frankfurt before storming back for 2-2, then going down 3-2, then scoring late to win on away goals. Benfica tallied three times in the second half to bury PAOK in Greece. Next up, Benfica will face Tottenham Hotspur, while Porto will take on Napoli. Portugal's current place in Europe does not look good--we sit 12th overall with 6.583 points. But because of uneven distributions, we are only 1.3 points away from 6th place. And only one other team (France) between us and 6th place has two teams left in the competition. So if Porto and Benfica were to both catch fire and win through the next couple rounds, that could really improve our position.
yes against 3rd place italy and 2nd place england and considering the ony eng team alive is tottenham and Ma UTD AND BOTH LOOK GOOD AS OUT
Hell yes that was a good day. Best day in Europe for Portugal so far this season--though that's admittedly a low bar. Benfica was brilliant, very likely to go through to the quarters barring collapse. Porto was good not great, but a win is a win, and not giving up away goals always helps. If they can manage to get an early goal against Napoli, that would be huge. In terms of UEFA points, this moved the needle a fair amount. We have 7.25 points, moving us up to 10th overall (up from 12th), with only .75 points separating us from France in 6th. But since both Lyon and PSG look very good in Europe so far, it might be hard to catch the Frenchies. Teams 7-9 (Czech, Ukraine, Austria) are all within striking distance though, and have fewer teams left. Whether we are set up for salvaging 2013/14 late depends to a large extent on Porto getting past Napoli for a shot at more points. A home win for Benfica against a demoralized Tottenham side wouldn't hurt either.
2 draws tonight great result from Porto away but fvk me how the fvk benfica almost craps the game against a shitty spurs team really disappointing that. but at least we have 2 teams in the next round
How can Napoli lose vs the worse Porto in the last 5 years? At this point, Porto and Benfica can take the EL
Porto and Benfica doing well, please knock out Juventus so no more Itals running their mouths next year...SCP will bring tons of points for us.
I'm confused???? In the Napoli forum and in that pit called the Zabordem forum, you and some of your Italian buddies last week and this week were bad mouthing SLB and FCP, but yet now you want SLB or FCP to knock out Juventus?????? The term 'bullshit' artist comes to mind.
well SCP is grande, doesnt matter once again heorics from a SPORTING produced player ricardo Quaresma with a backbone of Cr7 , Quaresma, Moutinho, William in form in the WC, Portugal will be a force to be reckoned with just hope Nani recovers too.
Two 2-2 draws, two teams into the quarterfinals. Deuces wild and all that. Would have liked to see Benfica get a win at home but hey, can't complain too much given the results. And with the quarterfinal win bonus, Portugal is now 8th in Europe with 7.916 points, less than a tenth of a point away from Czech Republic (7th with 8 points). France (6th, 8.166 points) has two teams through to the quarters as well, including PSG in the CL. They're going to be tough to catch, though not impossible. And while Russia (5th, 10.416) has a lot of points on us, they have no teams left, so any points we close the gap. QF matchups do not look insurmountable by any stretch: Benfica v. AZ Alkmaar, Porto v. Sevilla. Not easy teams, but not giants either. Semis are a reasonable possibility for sure, and the promise of doing more to salvage what is turning out to be a less disastrous European season than it originally seemed.
This season was doomed the moment Peseiro had a laugh vs Nacional last year and sent Pacos to a CL qualifier with nobody. Braga went into a huge unloading and the return we got was paltry. SLB and FCP have done a good job of salvaging the points. Next year if SCP can hold on to the majority of their team will make up the points that FCP will prob drop as they are in a decline. Braga needs to wake up as the only team besides the grandes capable of contributing real points. Maybe Estoril as well if they don't go into a fire sale like we normally do.
FCP would benefit getting stuck in the EL to rack up points at the expense of prestige. SCB needs to pick up a lot of slack and SCP should do well as long as they either make it to second round of CL or drop into EL. SLB will be strong. They have a good system going on as long as JJ isn't pressured at the end of the season and gets the Melao virus.
The formula for getting UEFA points has always depended on 1-2 teams doing really well in the EL. We haven't had a team get past the quarters in the CL since Porto won in '04. The advantage of Porto qualifying for the CL next year would be +4 bonus points. But a deep run in the EL by a couple teams (as we're seeing this year, so far) is actually better than having one team make the second round in the CL. I'd also like to see Braga or someone do some damage in the EL--right now Estoril and Nacional are slated to be there, and they don't fill me with confidence.
E Estoril gained some points this year. If the team stays together they should equal if not surpass what they done this season. If they can qualify for a 3rd year after that then they should start to be competitive. Braga is in real trouble, that's all I will say.
a pair of 1-0 wins for SLB and FCP keeps things positive. We need another 2 wins in the next leg plus 3 more wins in the Semi's (or Final) to pass Russia for 5th for this year as well as keep our min 10 point total avg over the past 5 years going.
Yeah, today was a good day. Benfica with the 1-0 away win at AZ Alkmaar, Porto with the 1-0 home win against Sevilla. Full points plus Lyon's home loss to Juventus means that we leaped up to 6th in Europe, a fraction ahead of France (literally, .083) but still almost 2 full points behind Russia. It's still theoretically possible to catch Russia but it would take a lot of luck and success. If both teams got to the semis but were drawn against each other it would no longer be possible. Ten points on the year is totally reasonable and attainable though. The equation's pretty simple--hope that both teams get through to the semis (preferably with wins) and that they don't get drawn against each other. For what it's worth, the worst Portugal could do overall in Europe would be 7th, though the absolute number of UEFA points is way more important than the ordinal ranking.
No Portuguese teams in Europe today but a big win nevertheless, with Chelsea scoring a late goal at home to knock out PSG 2-0 on away goals. This means not only that France gained no points, but also that they lost out on any future points--bonuses for making further CL rounds, future wins, etc. Lyon is still alive but in trouble, having lost 1-0 at home to Juventus and having to go to Turin. This means that Portugal is in pretty good position to keep or even expand its lead over France and solidify its sixth spot in Europe.
With Boavista coming back up imagine strong a Benfica, Sporting, Porto, Braga, Boavista raking in the points not to mention Guimaraes, Maritimo and to an extent Nacional possibly being good sides only a matter of time we get the Italians
Well it's going to take Boavista time to be competitive again. Braga needs an over haul. Next year will be all about the return of Sporting and their points, most important will be if Estoril can build on the year they had.