In the second part, we reveal the listeners’ Top Five Players of the Year (thanks to all those who sent in their votes!) and give our own ideas on Best Players, Best Coach, Best Club … and Worst Hair, among other prestigious awards (trophies delivered to footballportugal Podcast Towers under armed police escort).

And so we leave you for the summer. We’ll be back in late August, at least in written form (here and at www.footballportugal.com.pt), with the podcasts to be resumed in mid-September.

Hope you’ll join us then.

Have a great summer! (… and for those of you in the southern hemisphere … as good a winter as possible …)

Steve and Phil

In part 1 of the podcast we’ll focus on the teams that went down from the Liga as well as those who came up. Going down are Belenenses, who lost 3-1 at Benfica. Brazillian striker Saulo will take a large share of the blame, needlessly being sent off before half-time with Belenenses level at 1-1. benfica coach Quique Flores did a lap of (dis)honour after the game and was generally applauded by Benfiquistas. Joining Belenenses will be Trofense, losing1-0 away to Paços, whose goalscorer William came back from a long lay-off to score the winner. Coming up from the Liga de Honra will be União de Leiria, who have had a magnificent turn-around this season largely due to their coach, Manuel Fernandes, who took them from 13th in November to 2nd at the end of the season. Going down from the Liga da Honra are Boavista and Gondomar, with Fátima and Chaves replacing them.

In part 2, we concentrate on the festas do título taking place at Olhanense and Porto as the two clubs take their Liga da Honra and Liga crowns, respectively. Olhanense win the prize for most imaginative face paint and hair dye, but Porto have the far bigger celebration, their open-top bus parading through the streets of the city until the early hours.

As mentioned at the beginning and end of the podcast, we want your votes for player of the season 2009 /2010. Please send an e-mail to info@footballportugalpodcast.com, specifying who you think were the top 5 players of the season and in what order. Get your votes in before midday on Monday June 1st and we’ll compile the votes to create a footballportugal Podcast player of the season.

Looking forward to hearing your opinions and receiving your votes.

Steve and Phil

Jorge Jesus is the cherry on the cake that nobody is willing to share. The current Braga manager is rumoured to be moving to Benfica at the end of the season, but the speckle-haired manager is refusing to say anything. Other sources are suggesting he is being groomed to be a future manager of FC Porto and there are even suggestions that he will move to Sporting, the team he is allegedly a lifelong supporter of.

At the bottom of the Liga, the fight for relegation will go down to the wire with Belenenses beating fellow relegation fighters Rio Ave and Trofense and Setúbal both losing. If Setúbal and Rio Ave win their games next weekend, they’ll be safe, while Belenenses and Trofense have to win and hope that results go their way in other games.

In the Liga Vitalis, Algarve team Olhanense gain promotion to the top flight. The other place will be decided next week between União de Leiria and Santa Clara. Down at the bottom, Boavista breathe easier with a 1-2 win at Estoril, a game attended by Steve and Phil. The two teams above Boavista, Gondomar and Oliveirense, both lost. So, as long as Boavista beat Sporting Covilhã next week, they’ll be safe.

Please let us know your thoughts on this week’s podcast by leaving a comment on the site.

Thanks for listening,

Steve and Phil

One thing they definitely have is a great manager and this is something Benfica are currently desperate for. With Quique playing a waiting game to see if he can find a reasonable deal to leave the encarnados quietly, after Benfica’s 2-2 home draw with lowly Trofense, his position at the club is clearly untenable and it’s only a matter of time before he heads back to Spain. We discuss his failures and also look at Rui Costa’s poor first season as Director of Football.

Sporting however, will be relatively happy with their season, their place in the Champions League qualifying stages assured. Liedson was their saviour once again at the weekend, scoring both goals that helped them beat Vitória de Setúbal 2-1.

The scrap against relegation is intriguing: Belenenses look doomed after losing 0-5 at home to Braga tonight (played after the podcast was recorded). However, Rio Ave had an impressive 0-1 victory away to Guimarães, putting some space between themselves and the drop zone. Even safer are Paços de Ferriera, who won 2-1 at home to Maritimo, whose relatively new manager Carlos Carvalhal may be on borrowed time already.

In part 2 we focus on the Liga Vitalis. The big game at the weekend was between the top two teams, Olhanense and Santa Clara. Olhanense won 1-0 and look almost certain to be promoted. Both teams could’ve been leapfrogged by União de Leiria, who were playing relegation-threatened Oliveirense. However, they lost, meaning Oliveirense jumped out of the relegation zone, leaving Boavista bottom, staring into the abyss.

We’ll be back next week with more news from the relegation battles in the two leagues. Please let us know your thoughts about the podcast by leaving a message on the site.

Thanks for listening,

Steve and Phil.

It seems that the Liga de Honra (second tier) will go to the wire, with ex-Sporting hero Manuel Fernandes guiding União de Leiria to within a point of the promotion places after they demolished top of the table Olhanense 5-1 at home, the impressive Carlão scoring four of Leiria’s five goals. With Olhanense playing joint top team Santa Clara next weekend, it could give Leiria the chance to leapfrog both teams. Down at the bottom of the table, things are looking better for Boavista, who are a point clear of the drop zone occupied by Gondomar and Oliveirense.

Let us know your thoughts about the weekend’s events by leaving your comments here on the site.

Thanks for listening,

Steve and Phil

The first half of the podcast will be a bit more conventional: an overview of the events of the week on the football pitches of Portugal. The finalists of the Taça de Portugal have been decided, Paços de Ferreira making the first trip to Jamor in their 59-year history to face FC Porto.

In the league, there’s no change at the top with all three Grandes winning. At the bottom of the table, Trofense are looking doomed after a last minute goal saw them lose 1-0 away to Braga. Belenenses join them in the drop zone after a 1-2 home defeat to Nacional.

Please feel free to comment or correct any aspect of the podcast; there may be many things we’ve left out or got wrong with regards to ‘The Carnation Revolution’, and we’ll be happy to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for listening,

Steve & Phil

In part one we’ll focus on the Liga. There’s no change at the top, with all three Grandes winning. The best game of the weekend was at the Estadio Dom Afonso Henriques in Guimarães, where Sporting made a last-gasp recovery to win 1-2 against Vitória. Nuno Assis, who was once on Sporting’s books, was really impressive for Guimarães but it was ‘The Ninja’ Derlei who turned it round for Sporting, literally putting the ‘fight’ into ‘fight back’ in the process. Both Porto and Benfica had comfortable victories at Académica and Vitória de Setúbal respectively. The only news to report from Benfica’s stroll in the park was the sight of Rui Costa smoking cigarettes on the touchline. At the bottom of the table, Trofense look to be even deeper in trouble after losing 2-1 at Rio Ave, and Belenenses climb out of the relegation zone after drawing 1-1 away at Maritimo. This was Maritimo’s fifth 1-1 draw in a row – not the greatest of starts for their new-ish manager, Carlos Carvalhal.

In part two we concentrate of the city of fortified red wine, Porto. FC Porto were deservedly knocked out of the Champions League by Manchester United in midweek, and for the second year in succession they’re left regretting not having finished the tie in the first leg. We also concentrate on the worsening fortunes of Boavista, who are now bottom of the Liga de Honra. Hundreds of Boavisteiros marched from Estádio da Bessa to City Hall in Porto on Friday afternoon to get some media and political attention for their plight. The future looks horribly grim for the Axadrezados.

Thanks for all the comments over the last couple of weeks, even when there wasn’t a podcast to listen to. Do keep them coming.

Thanks for listening,

Steve and Phil

This weekend’s game against Sweden was inconclusive. The views of many people were that Portugal played well but were unlucky not to score at least one of their umpteen chances at goal. However, the dissenting voices claim that Portugal lack any imagination in the final third of the pitch and that Queiróz is making the wrong choices with his starting 11 and his facial hair. Find out our opinions in part one of the podcast and also discover the shocking fact that the big screen at the Parque das Nações is now lying in a derelict state, much to Phil’s disbelief.

In part 2 we concentrate on other ongoings in or associated with Portuguese football such as José Peseiro’s record breaking victory in charge of Saudi Arabia against Iran, Bruno Pereirinha’s expulsion from the U21 squad for imitating a Johan Cruyff-style penalty, Boavista beating Benfica in a friendly and Sporting’s incredibly pompous annual congress.

Sadly, there’ll be no podcasts for the next two weeks as Steve returns to Blighty for a much needed holiday, but Phil promises to post a round-up over the next couple of weeks so that you can keep your comments coming regarding the weekend’s results. Don’t forget also that Phil has a website which carries the most important developments in the Portuguese game - you could consider it the father, brother, mother or sister site to this one, depending on your perspective - which is footballportgal: http://www.footballportugal.com.pt/

Thanks for listening.

Steve and Phil

Sporting left the Algarve complaining of robbery and Pedro Silva left without even a loser’s medal, preferring to leave it where he had lobbed it, somewhere near the centre circle of the terribly maintained Estádio do Algarve pitch. Benfica won the game on penalties; Quim was the hero but few in Portugal are concerned with Quim’s great saves. The fact is that this game should never have reached a penalty shoot-out and in part 1 of the podcast we’ll give our opinions on the final that was dominated by Lucilio Baptista’s ineptness.

In part 2, Steve will give his verdict on the first half hour of the Taça de Portugal semi-final first leg, and Phil will fill in the rest with Raul Meireles re-finding his best form for Porto after a disappointing start to his season. We’ll discuss Braga’s exit from the UEFA Cup and also preview Portugal’s vital World Cup qualifier against Sweden this Saturday at the Estádio do Dragão.

Keep your comments coming, and we’ll see you next week.

Thanks for listening,

Steve and Phil.

In part two we focus on the Liga. Benfica’s first home defeat of the season, at the hands of Vitória de Guimarães, has more or less handed the title to Porto. Sporting are now a point ahead of Benfica but 4 points behind Porto and statistics suggest that they’ll have to make history to catch up with the Dragões. Braga drop not only points but their faith in facsimile communication and life in next season’s Liga Vitalis is increasingly becoming a possibility for Trofense and Belenenses. On top of all this, we tell you about Portugal’s B-Team, predict the winner of next weekend’s Carlsberg Cup and discuss whether Quique Flores likes to get lost on his way to Benfica’s training ground.

Keep the comments coming. We’ll be with you again next week.

Thanks for listening,

Steve and Phil