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Porto and Lisbon struggle in Portugal

Both FC Porto and Sporting Lisbon failed to impress in Sunday’s Liga Sagres matches. Porto lost 1-0 at Maritimo while Sporting only managed a draw at Rio Ave.

FC Porto needed a win at Maritimo in order to close on Braga and Benfica but never managed to break through the opposing defense.

Instead, the only goal of the match was in Maritimo’s favor and was in fact an own goal from Rolando in the 30th minute.

Troubled Sporting Lisbon appeared to be on their way to a good result at Rio Ave with first-half goals from Mati Fernandez and Joao Moutinho (penalty).

But Sporting failed to keep focus in the second half and allowed Joao Tomas to score in the 56th and 60th minute to lead Rio Ave to a 2-2 draw.

Jonathan Roorda

Tags: benfica, Braga, fc porto, joao moutinho, joao tomas, jonathan, Lisbon, Maritimo, match, mati fernandez, PORTO, portugal, Rio, rio ave, Rolando, roorda, sagres, second half, struggle

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Portugal name newboy Liedson to salvage World Cup dream

Brazilian striker Liedson, who recently became a Portuguese citizen, was on Wednesday named in the Portugal squad for crucial World Cup qualifiers against Denmark and Hungary.

Coach Carlos Queiroz has turned to the 31-year-old Sporting Lisbon player with his team struggling to make up ground in the qualifying race for the 2010 finals in South Africa.

Portugal, World Cup semi-finalists in 2006, are currently in third place in Group One with nine points. They are four behind Hungary and seven behind leaders Denmark.

Liedson has played at Sporting since 2003 and is the third Brazilian to play for Portugal following Deco and Pepe.

Portugal squad for World Cup European zone Group One qualifiers against Denmark on September 5 and Hungary on September 9:

Goalkeepers: Beto (FC Porto), Eduardo (Sporting Braga), Rui Patricio (Sporting Lisbon)

Defenders: Jose Bosingwa (Chelsea/ENG), Bruno Alves (FC Porto), José Castro (Deportivo La Coruna/ESP), Miguel (Valence/ESP), Pepe (Real Madrid/ESP), Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea/ENG), Rolando (FC Porto).

Midfielders: Deco (Chelsea/ENG), Duda (Sevilla/ESP), Joao Moutinho (Sporting Lisbon), Maniche (Cologne/GER), Miguel Veloso (Sporting Lisbon), Raul Meireles (FC Porto), Tiago (Juventus/ITA).

Attackers: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/ESP), Liedson (Sporting Lisbon), Nani (Man Utd/ENG), Nuno Gomes (Benfica), Simao (Atletico Madrid/ESP).

LISBON (AFP)

Tags: Braga, Bruno Alves, Carlos Queiroz, CHELSEA, chelsea eng, cologne, denmark, deportivo la coruna, Eduardo, fc porto, GER, Hungary, joao moutinho, jose bosingwa, jose castro, la coruna, liedson, Lisbon, MADRID, meireles, Miguel, nani, nuno gomes benfica, Patricio, PORTO, portugal, Raul Meireles, ricardo carvalho, Rolando, ronaldo real madrid, semi finalists, SEVILLA, Simao, South Africa, sporting braga, sporting lisbon nani, world cup dream

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Porto duo handed contract extensions

FC Porto have extended the contracts of both defender Rolando and Brazilian midfielder Fernando by another year. The two are now tied to the Portuguese champions until 2014.

The 23-year-old Rolando joined Porto from Belenenses at the start of the season and easily found his way into the team’s starting line-up. In 38 appearances, including all Champions League games, he scored three goals.

His good performance at Porto also earned Rolando a call-up for the Portuguese national team’s game with Finland in February, although he did not come off the bench in that match.

Just like his teammate, 21-year-old Fernando featured in all of Porto’s Champions League games.

Written by: Jonathan Roorda

Tags: belenenses, bench, Brazilian, champions league, contract extensions, contracts, fc porto, Fernando, Finland, game, league games, LigaBwin, midfielder, PORTO, portuguese, portuguese national team, Rolando, starting line, teammate

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FC Porto convince at Maritimo

FC Porto extended their Portuguese league lead over Sporting Lisbon to six points, beating Maritimo 0-3 in the city of Funchal.

Raul Meireles, who recently committed his future to Porto, rewarded his club by scoring the opening goal after just two minutes.

Rolando then netted a second in the 64th and the third goal came from Tomas Costa with six minutes to go in regular time.

With three games to go, it seems very unlikely for Porto to give away their comfortable lead.

Written by: Jonathan Roorda

Tags: fc porto, Funchal, goal, jonathan, LigaBwin, Lisbon, Maritimo, meireles, PORTO, portuguese league, raul, Raul Meireles, Rolando, six minutes, six points, sporting lisbon, three games, Tomas Costa, two minutes

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Portugal: Easy wins for Porto and Benfica

FC Porto scored three goals in the second half to earn a comfortable win at Academica de Coimbra and defend their advantage over second-placed Sporting Lisbon.

Rolando was responsible for the opening goal on 57 minutes, and Lisandro Lopez doubled the gap two minutes later.

At this point, Acedemica’s resistance was broken and Mariano went on to make it 0-3 in the final minutes.

The gap between Porto and Sporting stands at four points with five matches to go. Following Porto’s elimination from the Champions League earlier this week, they will now only have the league and the domestic cup to focus on.

Benfica keep European hopes alive thanks to a 0-4 win at Vitoria Setubal. Nuno Gomes and Oscar Cardozo each scored twice.

Written by: Jonathan Roorda

Tags: Academica, academica de coimbra, Acedemica, alive thanks, benfica, champions league, Coimbra, Cup, elimination, fc porto, four points, gap, gomes, League, LigaBwin, lisandro lopez, Lisbon, Lopez, Mariano, oscar cardozo, PORTO, portugal, resistance, Rolando, second half, setubal, Sporting, sporting lisbon, two minutes, Vitoria Setubal

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Manchester United stun Porto in Champions League

PORTO, Portugal (AFP) – Manchester United rekindled glorious European nights from their past as a stunning goal by Cristiano Ronaldo fired them to victory over Porto in their Champions League quarter-final Wednesday.

No English team had ever beaten the Portuguese champions on their own soil, but the winger’s first-half wonder strike gave his team a 1-0 win on the night, 3-2 on aggregate, to set up an all-English semi-final tie with Arsenal.

Coming into the game as underdogs after a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford last week, United boss Sir Alex Ferguson urged his players to bring the spirit of the 1999 treble winning team to the Dragao Stadium in what was his 150th Champions League match.

One flash of genius from the Portuguese maestro coupled with gritty defensive play earned United glory and keeps the red half of Manchester dreaming of the quintuple.

The United handler was like a little schoolboy at the end jumping up and down in delight.

“It doesn’t matter who you play when it is your 150th game!” beamed Ferguson.

“150 games is a long time! I thought we defended very well and we had restored stability at the back with (Nemanja) Vidic and (Rio) Ferdinand reunited which is a solid partnership and they understand each other so well.

“I couldn’t see too much danger from Porto really, save some half chances but nothing more than that.”

Ferguson started with the same formation as the first leg but had the luxury of picking a fit Ferdinand in defence while midfielder Anderson was given a start against his old club.

The Dragons from Porto were intent on making the same type of start which rocked United last week, but after a promising opening they were stunned by a sixth minute rocket from Ronaldo.

There seemed no danger when the winger drove into the Porto half, but the World Player of the Year took a swing of his right foot and unleashed an unstoppable shot from 35-yards into the top left-hand corner of Helton’s goal.

“That was maybe one of my best strikes,” conceded Ronaldo.

“Anderson gave me the ball and when I turned I knew I was going to go for a shot. It was intentional,” added Ronaldo, who admitted that being played up front was not his favourite spot.

Ferguson was in awe of the goal.

“It was unbelievable. It was a magnificent hit,” purred Ferguson.

The home team’s attacks were disjointed, and it was through set-plays where they were looking most dangerous with defender Bruno Alves firing a 30-yard free-kick narrowly wide of the post.

United had been undone by the Portuguese team’s slick positional interchange at Old Trafford, and again it was when Cristian Rodriguez drifted in from the left-wing that they looked dangerous.

The Uruguay winger found space on the edge of the area and floated a ball to Lucho Gonzalez but the midfielder’s acrobatic volley was easily saved by Edwin van der Sar.

Things got worse for Porto when midfield general Lucho was forced of with an injury to be replaced by last week’s hero Mariano.

One of the misses of the season prevented United registering a perfect half which would probably have put the tie beyond their hosts.

Ryan Giggs whipped in a corner which found Vidic after Dimitar Berbatov’s flick. Virtually on the goalline and with the goalkeeper nowhere, the Serb somehow sliced the ball over the crossbar.

The game settled into a less frantic pattern than the first-half as United drew numbers back and invited their hosts to play in-front of them.

With their defence looking much more solid than the first leg, the visitors were restricting Porto to long-range shots, midfielder Raul Meireles coming closest with a 25-yard curler over the crossbar.

Again set-plays threatened United and centre-back Rolando should have equalised from Meireles’s corner, but put his header wide of the goal with van der Sar floundering.

There was time for one last scare for the visitors but Lisandro Lopez hit his six-yard shot straight at van der Sar with the goal gaping.

Tags: aggregate, Anderson, Bruno Alves, champions league, Cristian Rodriguez, dragao stadium, Edwin van der, Ferdinand, Gonzalez, left hand corner, maestro, Manchester, manchester united, Mariano, midfielder, nemanja vidic, PORTO, porto portugal, portugal, Raul Meireles, right foot, rio ferdinand, Rolando, ronaldo, ryan giggs, schoolboy, sir alex ferguson, UEFA Champions League, underdogs, uruguay, winger, winning team, world player of the year

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