The special too

Andre Vilas Boas, the Porto head coach is being called the clone of Jose Mourinho by the European media.
This is quite the compliment, being called a clone of the "special one".
The Porto boss is a rare breed, he became the head coach of Porto at the age of 33, a very young age to be the boss at one of the best clubs in the World, he has never played professionally, and he had little head coaching experience.
Prior to Porto, he only coached at Academica, but before all that he was the assistant to Jose Mourinho.
One could argue that the two have a lot in common, after all, Mourinho himself was not a star soccer player, and he learned under the late Sir Bobby Robson.
Vilas Boas started out in Porto in the scouting department while he was still a teenager. Jose Mourinho took him under his wing and made him an integral part of his staff at Porto, Chelsea, and Inter.
This however is where the similarities end, however.
Even though both coaches use the 433 formation, Vilas Boas uses a more attacking approach, while Jose Mourinho is known for his tactical and defensive approach. This is not to say that Vilas Boas is not a tactical genious, because he is. The only thing that he lacks is the charisma, and some may say the arrogance of Jose Mourinho. One of the main strenghts of Mourinho is the way that he plays the media. how he uses it to charm his players and the fans, the mind games that he plays against opposing coaches.
This is not always a good thing as it was seen in the press conference yesterday when he disrespected Malaga, and former Real Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini.
Vilas Boas is getting there, when asked what he thought about the way that Benfica has been playing, his answer was: I don't remember Benfica playing this way in the European Champions League.

No matter what I think about Porto, I will admit that I am very impressed with Andre Vilas Boas, and it will only be a short matter of time until he is coaching a team like Inter, Chelsea, Liverpool or any other giant of Europe like Benfica.....

Benfica dominates Lisbon derby, beats Sporting 2-0

O Classico, or the "Derby da segunda circular" as this rivalry is known has been won by Benfica, again I might add. Benfica dominated from the start of the game.

Benfica beat Sporting by the same result as earlier in the season: 2-0.

This team is in fine form, and even with a man down the entire second half, Benfica continued to play great soccer.

A couple of things to take away from this game is that Salvio needs to be signed on a permanent deal, but considering how well he is playing at the moment, I do not believe that Atletico Madrid will lower their $15 million asking price. This kind of reminds me of the Jose Antonio Reyes situation a couple of seasons ago when he was on loan from Atletico.

Another is that Nico is in fine form, he has replaced Angel DiMaria nicely.

He is showing great vision in his play, and has a lot of flair when he takes on defenders. I would love to see this Argentinean duo together for the next few seasons.

DCU online

DCU Online is a fantastic game. It is well worth the price as the amount of fun that you will have playing this game will make up for the fact that you have to pay $15 a month.

Let us get to what matters, the game itself.
The game starts with a very cool story about the end of superheroes. It explains how you the player ends up with super powers.
After all this, you can choose how your character will look, there is infinite possibilities, you can mix and match, whatever you want.
You also have to choose if you want to save the world, a hero, or if you want to be the doom of mankind, a villain.
So far, because I am so self righteous, I chose to become the next Peter Petrelli, a hero.

The game starts you off in action right away, as you have to fight your way out of a Brainiac spaceship. The game just gets better from here, as you are given missions from other DC superheroes. I found it very cool how the game allows you to fight alongside NightWing, Catwoman, and others in your various missions.

You can also start your own team of superheroes with friends, or if you have none, you can request other players that you meet online to join your own version of the Justice League.
I would continue writing about how awesome the game is, but I do have to get back to playing.

Join me online, NicPortugal.
I am currently playing on the Crisis server.

The Rock returns

I have to say that I was caught by surprise when The Rock showed up at Monday Night Raw!
The Rock was there to confirm that he will be the host for Wrestlemania this year.

I found it interesting that he mentioned John Cena in his "speech" to the fans.
This only confirms what I thought earlier, that Cena will be doing a heel turn soon.

Many questions remain however. Is he back for good? Will he wrestle?
Is he the mysterious Raw manager? I still think that Triple H is.
It will be an interesting couple of months for wrestling fans leading up to Wrestlemania.

The end of a Phenomenom

Ronaldo, the "Brazilian One" or the "Fenomeno" as he is known in Brazil has retired from soccer.
It is a shame, but it was the right time for one of the greatest strikers of all time to hang them up.
The man had a great career, passing through clubs like humble Sao Cristovao, before going to more illustrious clubs like Cruzeiro, PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona, Inter Milano, Real Madrid, and AC Milan before returning home to finish his career with Corinthians in Sao Paolo.
Who can forget the look of dread in the face of defenders every single time the number 9 touched the ball.
Ronaldo, you were great to watch, you will be missed in the soccer field.
Wish you luck with your next endeavor.

Benfica is one of the most exciting teams in Europe!

Ask anyone who has seen a Benfica game lately and they will tell you that this team is playing some great soccer.

As I watched Benfica demolish Vitoria de Guimaraes, on their own right a very good team as well, it made me think of the Benfica team of last year.

Now, yesterdays game, 3-0, could have and to be honest it should have been a lot worse.

Benfica dominated from the start, they had 78% ball possession, Nilson was facing a firing squad all game long.

Cardoso missed a penalty, Saviola somehow had a goal called off due to an offside that only the referee saw, and Benfica had the goalie beat on another two occasions only to see the ball hit the post.

Some interesting facts about Benfica, they are currently on a 13 game winning streak, they have scored at least one goal in their last 16 games, and they have not allowed any goals in the last five games. Very impressive!

Sidnei is making Benfica fans forget about David Luiz who left the club on a transfer to Chelsea for a cool $25 million.

I always liked Sidnei, problem was that playing behind Luisao and David Luiz in never going to be easy.

Next season I am sure Airton will do well when he has to replace Javi Garcia who I am sure Benfica will sell. Proof of this is that Benfica has already signed Coelho from Academica for next season.

football manager

I took a break from blogging, and have spent a ridiculous amount of time playing Football Manager 2011.

This game is famous for being an addictive game, but man, is it fun.

I was always a big fan of the Championship Manager series.

The first one that I ever played was Championship Manager 2001-2002 game.

I remember winning the Champions League in that game with To Madeira getting a hat trick against Roma. This at 3am!! Ah, the memories.

On that team, there were other players like Milito, Tsigalko, Fabio Paim, Joao Paiva, Custodio, Jonas Lunden, Ricardo Quaresma. All of them are legends in Championship Manager. It is interesting that in real life only Quaresma became a starter for their teams.

The game is unbelievable, the amount of information is incredible.

Even real life managers like Arsene Wenger, and David Moyes admitted to using the game database to scout players. That should tell you something.

I always play with Benfica and Santa Clara, and another team from other leagues. I have fun trying to find those great players for a bargain, or better yet, promote from the youth squads. Only in a game can Benfica have 8 starters who are Portuguese.

The game this year is a lot of fun, but it can get confusing sometimes. They changed the interface a bit, but overall it is still good.

The only problem with the game is that Franco Jara and Nico Gaitan are "having problems adapting to the squad" and are "having difficulties communicating with the other players because of the language barrier".

Considering that the majority of the Benfica squad are native Spanish speakers, I cant imagine this would be a problem. Hell, eight of the Benfica starters speak Spanish, and six of them are Argentinian like Jara and Nico are.

However, things like this are not enough to take from the overall fun of this game.

Enough for today, let me get back to trying to perfect the 442 diamond formation that Benfica uses in real life. It is as much fun to watch in the game as is in the real world.

Besiktas is an example for Portuguese clubs

Besiktas which is a Turkish club, recently signed three Portuguese players.
That is two more than some Portuguese clubs, mentioning no names, Benfica! Sorry it slipped out.
That right there tells you, what is wrong with Portuguese soccer when you have teams in Turkey, Greece, Romania, Belgium, England and Italy have more Portuguese in their starting lineups than some SuperLiga Portuguesa teams. Even Real Madrid has three.

What concerns me is that the players that signed with Besiktas were all looking to return home.
Quaresma, Hugo Almeida, and Manuel Fernandes all had made public their interest in playing for Portuguese teams. Quaresma and Almeida were linked with Benfica, but the club looked to Argentina to find players instead. The same thing with Sporting who were linked to former Benfica player, Fernandes.

This all goes back to a simple solution that Platini had. Make teams have to field players who come from their academies like Barcelona, Lyon, Ajax, and sometimes Sporting do.
Perhaps a rule where teams have to start five, maybe six or more players who were trained in their youth teams.

I just find it ridiculous when Benfica plays with only one Portuguese player.
What about Inter Milano last year when they fielded a starting 11 with no Italians, Arsenal with no English, hell, Arsenal had no British even in the bench.
I know that it is hard now a days to find players who are loyal to their clubs, but investing in young local players will go a long way for accomplishing just that.

Benfica and Varzim sign a deal

Portuguese champions Benfica have signed a protocol with Varzim, this financial deal will give Benfica first rights over any player that Varzim has.

This deal will come in handy when Benfica tries to sign the cousin of Fabio Coentrao, Varzim starting left back, Rui Coentrao.
Rui Coentrao plays in a very similar way to his cousin, Rui also began playing as a left winger before being placed at left back, but they both share other similarities.
Both are from Vila do Conde, and they both began their soccer careers at Rio Ave.
Rui Coentrao left Vila do Conde for Lisboa just like his cousin, but Rui joined Sporting at a young age. He was later dismissed by Sporting, and decided to join the arch rivals of Rio Ave, Varzim.
He is already a member of the Portuguese Under 19 team, and I have no doubt that in the near future, he will be playing in the Selecao.

Rui Coentrao is one to keep an eye on.......

Christmas

I have not blogged in a while, but with the snow blizzard that we just got in Boston, I have found some time to write about a couple of things.

The first one is how impressed I am with how good the Portuguese League has been so far this season.

A lot of teams are playing well, and a number of players are puttting up some worthy performances.

It is no wonder that so many European clubs are looking to Portugal for their Christmas shopping lists. Even the lower division teams have plenty of scouts at their games. Genoa was on hand at a few Belenenses games, presumably they were looking at Pele, the defensive midfielder.

Louletano, the third division club have plenty of interest in Joao Reis, the "new Figo". Benfica, Inter Milan, Arsenal and Chelsea have all inquired about him.

The second one has to do with the Bowl Season for college football. As much as I love watching the bowl games, this reminds me that the college football season is almost over.

Finally, a word about Christmas, it was a good one this year.

Plenty of good times with the family, nice little bonus from work, what else can you ask for?

Maybe a move to sunny California, or Florida..........

New England Patriots

Are the New England Patriots the best team in the NFL? The answer is yes, they are.

Going into Chicago, facing that defense in that weather, putting up 36 points, and holding the Bears to just 7.

The Patriots are looking scary right now, are they better than they were in 2007?

Urban Meyer resigns

The search for a new head coach at Miami has just gotten harder, as the Florida Gators are now searching for a new head coach as well.
Urban Meyer has resigned, and now one of the top programs in the Nation is looking for his replacement. We can only assume who is going to get the job, but it will be probably some of the same names that are candidates for the Miami job.
Dan Mullen is the strongest candidate, but he claims that he is happy at Missisippi State. Mushamp from Texas will interview.
Charlie Strong is a good choice, as is Mike Leach.
The next few days should be promising

Shameful and disgraceful

Shameful and disgraceful would be how I would describe the performance that Benfica had in this years UEFA Champions League edition.



In a group that had Benfica, Lyon, Schalke, and Hapoel Tel Aviv, Benfica finished third in the group with two wins and four losses.

Along the way, Benfica was shut out in away matches, they could not score even one goal outside of Lisbon.

Not impressive. Benfica should have done much better, I actually feel embarrassed by the way that they played. They clearly should have won this group.

Let us wait and see what happens next year...........

If we can qualify, that is........

Miami fires Randy Shannon

I have to admit that I was somewhat surprised that the U fired Randy Shannon.
The results have been less than impressive, I will admit, that certainly includes the loss to South Florida.
However, there are other things that matter as much as winning, let us see, things such as a high graduation rate, and that the criminal acts are down.
Mr. Shannon was able to change the program for the better. He is leaving the program a lot better than it was when he came in.

Who to replace him?
Who ever it is that the University of Miami brings in, he will have to be a disciplinarian, I believe that it is the only way that you can bring out the best out of all the talent in South Beach.
The U is a historic program, and is surrounded by lots of great talent.
Some good names to keep in mind for the head coaching job are Dan Mullen, the current head coach at Mississippi State, or Mike Leach, the former head coach at Texas Tech.
I can imagine Mike Leach running the spread offense at Miami. That would be awesome to see!
The next few days should be interesting.

Barcelona beats Real Madrid 5-0

As I watched Real Madrid get routed by Barcelona, I could not help but be amazed.

I almost felt pity for Real Madrid. Pity mainly for the Portuguese in the Real Madrid squad. Real does have more Portuguese players than say Benfica, and they do have Jose Mourinho.

It made me wonder for a brief second if "the special one" has lost his touch.
It was for a brief moment only, as I realized that Barcelona is the best team in club soccer.

What I really like about Barcelona is the culture at the club.
Their best midfield players, Xavi and Iniesta, arguably two of the best midfielders in all of soccer are not your average superstar soccer players. They do not live a rock star lifestyle.
I remember reading a story about how a new player that was signed at Barcelona was pulled aside by Xavi when he arrived at practice driving a brand new Hummer. Xavi told him that this was not the Barcelona way! Xavi never did say who the player was, but I am guessing that it was either Ibrahimovic, or Hleb.

Barcelona is more than a club as their fans love to tell everyone, they love to produce their own players through their youth academies, players such as Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Puyol, and Pedro all came up from the club.
They feel the club when they play, I think that this is what is missing from most teams, they do not have enough players who identify themselves with the club.
This is something that you cannot just buy, Barcelona for example, is the pride of the Catalans, and all of their players understand that.

This is one the reasons why Barcelona is the best team in the World.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Day, one of the great American holidays. The turkey day!

It is the one time of the year where families get together, eat well, and then spend the rest of the day knocked out on the couch watching football with their stomachs stuffed!

You will then need those extra calories to burn off some energy the next day on "Black Friday".

Thanksgiving is a tradition that goes back to some of the first Europeans that stepped foot on the "new world".

Of course there is still controversy as to whether or not Thanksgiving is a religious holiday, I say yes it is, and we still do not know if the first Thanksgiving was in Plymouth, Ma, or in Jamestown, Virginia.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Braga beats Arsenal

Portuguese soccer got another big victory last night as Braga defeated Arsenal 2-0 in the Champions League.
I was impressed with the way Braga played, they were very confident, and showed no fear against one of the top teams in European soccer.
Having said, I must admit that Arsenal did have a very sloppy game, but a lot of that has to do with how well Braga played defensively. They were able to close up the passing lanes, and Braga was able to link up on counter attacks quickly and efficiently.
Rodriguez, the Braga central defender had a great game, I thought that he was the player of the game. He was a nuisance all game long, not allowing any breathing room for the Arsenal attackers.

Portuguese soccer is on a high right now, the Portuguese teams participating in European tournaments are doing well, and there is some good soccer being played in the domestic Portuguese league.
This is why there are so many European scouts at all Liga Sagres games, even smaller teams like Rio Ave have scouts looking at some of their players.

Let us see how far the Portuguese teams can go in the UEFA Cup, and the more prestigious UEFA Champions League.

Awesome!

What an awesome Monday Night Raw!

While it is sad to see John Cena "retire" from the WWE, one of my favorite wrestlers has become the World Champion.

The Miz is the new WWE Champion after beating Randy Orton last night.

Awesome!!

Christmas spirit

Is it just me, or are we celebrating Christmas earlier with each year that passes?

I am sorry, I mean the "Holiday season".

We are not even in Thanksgiving yet, but everywhere I go, I hear Christmas music, I see Christmas promotions.

I find it sad just how commercialized it has gotten.

Let us get back to the true meaning of Christmas, spending time with family and friends, eating way too much of Grandma's food, and drinking egg nog.

Portugal beats Spain 4-0

Portugal put on a stunning display against the best team in the world, Spain.

I know that it was a meaningless "exhibition friendly", but it was an amazing performance. It was a great game, as both teams played open attacking soccer.

The only thing that spoiled the game was the first bad call of the game.

The referee somehow did not allow the goal by Cristiano Ronaldo due to an imaginary offside. This referee also missed some other calls, but it was not enough to ruin the show that Portugal was putting on display.

This team is playing very well.

I am excited for the future of the Portuguese National Team under Paulo Bento.

The only negative of the night was the lack of support for the team.

In a game featuring two of the best National teams in the world, only 25000 fans showed up to the game.

Not what you are looking for when you are submitting a bid for the FIFA World Cup in 2018.