Esponjas 7 - 0 los_portugueses (370862101)

The crowd of 8221 turning up at Estadio Droguinha today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Jean Radu was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Rafaël Cammelbeeck and Ragnar Irsjö. Esponjas started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Lineup: Lourenço - Calado, Lima, Fernandes - Amaro Pereira, Ociepka, Fernandes, Biffino, Dias - Alegria, Teixeira Neves.

A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for los_portugueses. Starters: Ceia - Monteiro, Loureiro Gonçalves, Mariquito, Guimarães - Castro, Faria Gomes, Madail, Marreco - Silva Jesus, Alexandre.

It was an obvious ambition of Esponjas to use their ability at attacking on the flanks. A. Lima slipped and slithered in the wet grass. His usual rapid runs were nowhere to be seen today. With 21 minutes played, Esponjas's well-worked indirect free kick caused havoc in the penalty area, and when the ball eventually fell to P. Biffino he gleefully slotted the ball home to make it 1 - 0. los_portugueses had to make a substitution after 22 minutes. A. Silva Jesus limped off the field and was replaced by I. Cabral. G. Alegria increased the lead for Esponjas to 2 - 0, getting a head onto a hooked ball from the right. The ball looked to have taken a deflection on the way in, but he's claiming it! los_portugueses's J. Faria Gomes got himself booked for a foul. Players in Esponjas heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their central attacks to the wings instead. Esponjas put themselves up 3 - 0 when B. Fernandes broke through on the right, leaving the entire defence trailing in his wake. The players of Esponjas now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. The game was characterised by rough play and many physical challenges on the wet field, but A. Loureiro Gonçalves showed great heart and had a good game. 37 minutes into the match, the visitors' central line of defence had to look on as A. Calado broke through, making the score 4 - 0 for Esponjas. There was concern in the stands when, at the 38 minute mark, los_portugueses's J. Faria Gomes hit the ground hard, but he refused the attention of the trainer and rejoined his teammates on the pitch. Esponjas were determined to attack on the wing and their central attempts were constantly abandoned in favour of the wings. With 40 minutes played, S. Amaro Pereira could have brought this one home for Esponjas as he charged up on the left, but his hooked ball went just a bit too high. The teams went for the halftime break at 4 - 0. Possession in this half belonged to Esponjas, who controlled the ball 78 percent of the time.

After 51 minutes, the away team failed to deal with a good exchange of passes on the right, and F. Dias gave the Esponjas supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 5 - 0. Esponjas had a good opportunity to attack in the middle, but remembered their instructions to focus on wing attacks instead. With 55 minutes played, Esponjas put themselves up 6 - 0 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to P. Biffino, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, F. Dias got himself booked. The manager of Esponjas was not happy. P. Biffino was struggling to make the ball dance with his usual trickery and panache, and the opposing players had little trouble shutting him down in these muddy conditions. Esponjas's W. Ociepka swung in a good chance from the left, but the visitors' defence were able to clear the ball. It was obvious that Esponjas had instructions to attack on the wings instead of in the middle. With 77 minutes played, G. Alegria of Esponjas fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. After 79 minutes a very unfortunate collision in the penalty area led to los_portugueses's J. Faria Gomes being carried off the pitch and replaced by J. Menelau. Esponjas increased the lead as E. Fernandes struck to make the score 7 - 0 after an attack from the left left him unmarked in front of the keeper. Esponjas claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 82 percent.

Esponjas's best player was S. Amaro Pereira. On the other hand, A. Lima's play was disheartening. Most important los_portugueses player was I. Cabral. C. Ceia turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 7 - 0.