League

Estadio Serimogao
Spectators: 5000 (Terracing: 4000, Seating: 1000, VIP seats: 0) It was fairly windy and cold on the field when João Viegas kicked off to start the match. Virgílio Menezes received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 5th minute. Duarte Faria tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. Sporting's Duarte Faria proved his good apprehension of play when he, in the 7th minute of the match, managed to save Sporting from getting a goal against them. The audience thought a goal was coming when Virgílio Menezes got free with Duarte Faria in the 8th minute, but the goalkeeper managed to catch the ball with a huge effort. If Rich Jeffress had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 13th minute. The ball went over the crossbar and out instead. After some fancy dribbling in the 26th minute, Rich Jeffress managed to get in a good position for a shot. Sporting's supporters rose to their feet, but Rich Jeffress was a bit off balance and shot the ball just wide of the left post. Duarte Saldanha breathed a sigh of relief and went to take the goal kick. Duarte Faria was in the perfect position, and the defense had done a good job marking him, but Rui Fagundes showcased his skills and made a perfect shot to score 1-1 in the 29 minute of play. Hamilton Fontes's late challenge caught a Sporting's player on the shin and left him crawling around in pain. The referee blew his whistle and produced the yellow card. Hamilton Fontes helped the player get up and apologised. Hamilton Fontes kicked well hit freekick during the 32nd minute of the match. A hard shot 37 in the game by Virgílio Menezes from a close distance when the talented Duarte Faria managed to make a qualified save. Sporting's players were relieved. 38 minutes into the game, Américo Amaral was given a yellow card after he appeared to trip an opposing player. Sporting's manager was livid on the sidelines, but the referee was unmoved and gave Romeu SL the free kick. After a rather tough play, Sporting's Américo Amaral got a free kick in the 38th minute. Duarte Faria made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Rui Fagundes in the 42nd minute of play. After 42 played minutes Sporting got a freekick which was hit by Abel Melo. Vítor Moutinho's late challenge caught a Romeu SL's player on the shin and left him crawling around in pain. The referee blew his whistle and produced the yellow card. Vítor Moutinho helped the player get up and apologised. A collision led to Sporting getting a freekick after 45 minutes play. Vítor Moutinho hit a great ball. The score stood at 1-1 when the half time whistle went. Both sets of players seemed reasonably pleased with how the match was going.

Both teams looked relatively alert before the second half when the referee blew his whistle to tell Rui Fagundes to make the kick off. Mário Zarco hit a great freekick 53 minutes into the match. An unexpectedly hard shot by Rui Fagundes in the 56th minute of play forced Sporting's goalkeeper Duarte Faria to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. 58 minutes into the match, Rui Fagundes had an open shot that he just couldn't miss and scored to the right of Duarte Faria. Sporting's manager could be seen yelling to the referee that Rui Fagundes was offside, but the referee ignored the protest. 2-1. In the 63rd match minute, Sporting was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Américo Amaral to maneuver through the defense. If Rich Jeffress had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 65th minute. The ball went over the crossbar and out instead. Sporting's João Viegas got a good chance for a goal in the 67th minute, but he totally mistimed the shot and it went over the crossbar. During the 70th minute of the match Hamilton Fontes completely mistimed his tackle and brought down his opponent. The referee gave Hamilton Fontes a yellow card, his second in the match, which meant he could no longer take part in the game. After having played for 72 minutes, David Cruz managed to get in a good position for a shot on goal. Sporting's supporters crossed their fingers, but David Cruz was, after a quick turn that froze the defenders, out of balance and shot the ball just to the right of the goal. Romeu SL's Sálvio Raposo got a good chance for a goal in the 75th minute, but he totally mistimed the shot and it went over the crossbar. In the 76th match minute, Romeu SL was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Joaquim Cavaco to maneuver through the defense. After some fancy dribbling in the 79th minute, Luís Macedo managed to get in a good position for a shot. Romeu SL's supporters rose to their feet, but Luís Macedo was a bit off balance and shot the ball just wide of the left post. Duarte Faria breathed a sigh of relief and went to take the goal kick. Virgílio Menezes sent away a hard shot on goal in the 81st minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. When Sálvio Raposo came up free with the goalie in the 82nd minute, the Romeu SL fans jumped to their feet. But the shot missed the goal by a fraction of an inch, and the fans sat back down disappointed that Sálvio Raposo couldn't finish the play. Mário Zarco received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 84th minute. Duarte Faria tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. Virgílio Menezes fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 86th minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without Duarte Faria having to interfere. In the 87th minute Mário Zarco shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Duarte Faria saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. Joaquim Cavaco made a great header on Romeu SL's corner, it was just that Sporting's Duarte Faria managed to reach the ball for a save. Thanks to some nice foot action and superb ball handling Virgílio Menezes in the 90th minute a chance for a shot on goal. With an extended leg and a bit of luck Duarte Faria prevented the ball from getting in the gole. The audience was convinced that Virgílio Menezes's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Duarte Faria was relentless in the 93rd minute of the game. Duarte Faria took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Virgílio Menezes, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side.