To be played on February 13, 2008 @ 20:45 GMT / 3:45 pm EST. Match is LIVE on SIC in Portugal. Same-day delay on Setanta Sports International Pack in Canada. Same-day delay @ 7:45 pm EST on Setanta Sports USA in the US. Locale: Estádio José Alvalade
Sporting have never faced Basel in European competition before, however have faced Swiss opposition in the past. During their 1973/74 Cup Winners' Cup campaign they faced FC Zurich, tying on the road and winning at home. In the 1992/93 UEFA Cup they faced Grasshoppers and while they won on the road 1-2, they were embarassed 1-3 at home and thus were eliminated from the competition...
Adrien Silva won't be able to continue his European career in this match, he was injuried vs Maritimo in the cup game
Hopefully this is the begining of another good run in the UEFA Cup. We need to salvage the season and go deep in this tournament. My lineup for tomorrow would look like this...let's see how far off I am from PB: ----------------------------Rui Patricio---------------------------- --------------Abel---------Polga------Tonel-------Grimi------------ -----------------------------Veloso------------------------------- ------------------Izmailov--------------Moutinho------------------ ----------------------------Celsinho------------------------------- ----------------Tiui--------------------Liedson---------------------
Hope we murder these swizz cheese tomorrow. Honestly, we need to start playing more consistant, no better way to start then by cutting these guys up. Onward.
Well Levezinho seems to like scoring in European competitons, lets's see if he gets a couple in the back of the net today.
Only bad news is the Vukcevic will be out a few weeks with a shoulder injury. He works very hard during the game and plays with so much passion.
Vukcevic is a beast. Sporting do have two signings that are absolutely working out. Vukcevic and Izmailov. Two tremendous players. If they can get a second striker worth anything (Rodrigo Tiui anyone?) they will be tough to beat. Love Bolton beating Atletico Madrid by the way. Sporting would spank Bolton. Maybe it initiates the process of Sporting acquiring VAz Te.
Why does Sporting play so erratic in Portugal yet is so elegant in Europe? Even losses to Man Utd and AS Roma were games that Sporting easily could have gotten points out of. This match against Basel shows me that these guys are a fantastic team, but I wish that they would show this consistency in the Bwin LIGA as well. Sporting played well in all aspects of this game. The one thing that I would have loved to see was a goal by a striker. Vukcevic is becoming the new fan favourite. Someone mentioned Sa Pinto - I see a lot of Sa in Vuk. He has a passion that he brings to each game, and I wish that some other players demonstrated a similar trait. If history has taught us anything it's that you cannot rest on a 2-0 1st leg result. Sporting has gone down many times in the past holding a lead from the first leg, so this tie is anything but done. Basel is in 1st place in Switzerland for a reason and don't expect them to lie down at home. Sporting need to prepare well for this upcoming match as it will not be easy.
I like SCP playing the 4-2-3-1 With Vukcevic playing up sometimes with Liedson when Moutinho comes up on the right side.
Vukevic is great like you said he plays with alot of aggression passion and determination its good to have a player like that in the team reminds me of Sa Pinto or wayne rooney. too bad hes out, we will miss him i just hope we can get a result in switzerland and progress to the next stage. Sporting probably put on the best performance of any uefa cup team in this game.