Minho comes from two consecutive triumphs and is in the best phase of the season; Porto hasn’t won in … two games and they want to react; Three kills on one side, double on the other
It is in Minho that the kick-off of matchday 8 of the League will be given. Moreirense and Boavista will be the protagonists of tonight’s duel which, it should be added, promises goals and excitement. It’s the numbers that leave this guarantee…
First of all, the numbers refer to the league table. Boavista is in a meritorious 4th place (14 points), and Moreirense is in a quiet 10th place (10 points). The Checkered is the second most successful attack in the League (17 goals, only one less than SC Braga), the Canons have scored for five consecutive games. But there is another fact that allows us to foresee a tremendous desire to win from both emblems: the Minho come from two consecutive triumphs (best phase of the season), the Porto have not won for… two games (one loss and one draw).
We can even go back to the last La Liga match played in Moreira de Cónegos to predict that the goals should be a reality in today’s match: Moreirense 1 Boavista 2. It was on May 1, 2022 (2021/2022 season, since last season Moreirense was in Liga 2, a competition that they won, returning, naturally, to the conviviality of the greats), in a match that had a frenetic end and whose scorers… They no longer equip the ‘squares’. Neither green and white, nor black and white. Kenji Gorré (now at um-Salal, in Qatar), put the Boavistas ahead in the 20th minute, Rafael Martins (currently playing for Santa Clara) equalized for the Canons in the 88th minute, and Petar Musa (now a Benfica player) gave the victory to Petit’s men (who was sent off) in the next minute. Ricardo Sá Pinto, it should be noted, guided the Minho people.
Moreirense
After an intermittent start to the season – elimination from the League Cup, against Farense (on penalties), defeat against FC Porto (1-2), and draw against Famalicão (0-0), both for the League -, behold, on matchday 4, came the first triumph (2-1, against Chaves). More defeats followed (2-3 against SC Braga and 0-3 against Sporting), but now it’s a different story. Rui Borges’ team is going through the best period of the season: two consecutive victories (1-0 against Farense and 4-0 against Rio Ave). Basically, and because losing to three of the big four in football is Portuguese shame for anyone, Moreirense is carrying out a campaign within expectations. Hence the quiet 10th place in the standings. But there’s more: in addition to coming from two straight wins (games in which they didn’t concede a goal), the Canons are on a five-game scoring streak. The only occasions when the Minho fans did not celebrate a goal were in the aforementioned clashes with Famalicão and Sporting.
On an individual level, Kewin Silva and João Camacho stand out. The Brazilian goalkeeper is the only all-rounder in the squad (720 minutes), the winger Portuguese is the team’s top scorer in La Liga (three goals).
Probable eleven: Kewin Silva; Fabiano, Carlos Ponck, Marcelo and Pedro Amador; Lawrence Ofori and Gonçalo Franco; Kodisang, Alanzinho and João Camacho; André Luís
Injured: Sylla, Rafael Santos, and Frimpong
Figure: João Camacho. There were several players who, in their own right, could pontificate in this space (Kewin Silva, Alanzinho, or André Luís), but the winger exploded in the previous round and, with a brace, made a strong contribution for the canons to thrashing Rio Ave (4-0). In addition, the two goals scored allowed him to become the team’s top scorer, now with three goals. After several seasons at the service of Nacional, the 29-year-old Madeiran winger is in his second consecutive season in Moreira de Cónegos and seems to be at the ‘sweet spot’. He maintains the speed that has always characterized him, he is more refined in one-on-one, and, due to the experience he has acquired throughout his career, he gives the necessary defensive balance to the team.
Rui Borges (Moreirense coach): «Boavista is a very competitive team, which is worth for its collective, for its commitment to the game, in the image of its coach. They are a very well-organized team and very dynamic in the offensive process. I do not doubt that it will be a good match, between two competitive and ambitious teams. We have to be balanced, as we were in the last game. The team is in a winning spirit and a positive moment, but there will be moments throughout the season when that will not happen and we will have to know how to deal with the situation.”
Boavista
To talk about this Boavista is to talk about a sensational start to the season and that was even worth the leadership of the championship to the chess players. The triumphs over Benfica (3-2), Portimonense (4-1), Estoril (2-1), and Chaves (4-1) were only interrupted by a draw against Casa Pia (1-1) and that period brought to the fans of the panthers unforgettable memories of the… ‘Boavistão’ that Jaime Pacheco led to the national title (2000/2001). In a team where I pontificated a certain … Petit.
Indeed, the last two results did not continue with the triumphant entry, but the coach has already accustomed football lovers to always find solutions for any adversities that come his way. Whether they’re on or off the field. Yes, because this week was anything but peaceful in the heart of Boavista. The protests of members of the medical staff and employees of the Estádio do Bessa took worrying proportions, worthwhile, in the circumstance, the prompt and assertive intervention of the president of the club, Vítor Murta, who in the days following the sad episodes that put the family of Boavisteira in shock, resolved all pending processes – including the payment of salaries in arrears to the squad and which was worth the ‘clean sheet’ in the League, after the body that oversees professional football in Portugal notified the chess players of the said non-compliance. Past waters, therefore.
Boavista: The salary situation of the squad regularized
Chess players had been notified by the League to demonstrate salary compliance; Employees have also already received two months
System: 4x2x3x1
Probable eleven: João Gonçalves; Salvador Agra, Chidozie, Rodrigo Abascal and Bruno Onyemaechi; Seba Pérez and Gaius Makouta; Bruno Lourenço, Miguel Reisinho and Luís Santos; Robert Bozenik
Injured: César, Luís Henrique, Pedro Malheiro, Augusto Dabó and Ibrahim Camará
Punished: Tiago Morais
Figure: Robert Bozenik. Despite being two games without ‘wetting the soup’, the truth is that the young Slovakian striker, only 23 years old, is the figurehead of this Boavista, being one of the workers of the 4th place of the Panthers. He has five goals in LaLiga and leads the list of top scorers – alongside Ricardo Horta and Simon Bonanza (both SC Braga), Paulinho and Viktor Gyoekeres (both Sporting), and Ángel Di María (Benfica).
Petit (Boavista coach): «Moreirense is a team that is having an excellent championship, that has only three defeats and against SC Braga, Sporting, and FC Porto, and that comes from two wins without conceding goals. It is a quality team with well-defined processes. They usually organize themselves, offensively, in 4x3x3, and defensively in 4x4x2, with Franco and Ofori being two very rotating and very intense players. In the attacking sector, they present a supported football, with very strong players in transitions. We’ve analyzed well, we’ve prepared the game well and we’re going for the win. We appeal to our fans to support us tomorrow because we want to get back to winning ways. We want to play a good game and get the three points.”