Vitória de Guimarães For The Portuguese Trifecta?

August 28, 2008

It’s Judgement Day for Smokin’ Manny Cajuda and his boys from Guimarães. Tonight (locally), they square off against FC Basel 1893 at St. Jakob Park in Switzerland for the right to play in the group stages of this year’s Champions League tournament.

The first match, played at Estádio D. Afonso Henriques in Portugal, yielded a 0 - 0 draw. Although the match is being played away, Guimarães have the upper hand when it comes to the tiebreaker as the away goals are worth more on aggregate than home goals (sorry for those of you who know this already, I just assume you’re all moronic assholes, since that’s what I encounter 95% of the time in “real” life).

If Guimarães manage to pull this one out, they’ll make it to the group stages of the Champions League for the first time ever. They’ll also join last year’s Portuguese League champions Porto and second place finishers Sporting in the round of 32. Guimarães would probably have their asses handed to them in group play, but the amount of money and prestige that comes with this type of competition is immense, especially to a club like Guimarães.

Even though my favorite club is fresh off a Champions League final heart breaker, nothing gets me going more from a club football standpoint than to hear the music below. Hopefully the theme will ring in the ears of Manny’s men after the final whistle is blown tonight in Basel.