Week 8 Boavista v Sporting Lisbon 5th January 2008

Balance
Profit €275.25

Result Sunderland 0 Manchester United 4(Rooney 20,Saha 30,86p,Ronaldo 45)
Only a small profit this week of €12 with €20 on over 3.5 goals at 3.1,€30 wasted on over 4.5 goals.In retrospect I should have stuck the lot on the former rather than split it between both bets but hindsight is a wonderful thing,not when your gambling though!United 3-0 up at halftime I'd be lying if I didn't say I was counting the top dollars but alas one Louis Saha penalty was all United could add to their first half tally.
Next up so is first goalscorer Ronaldo's first team and United's feeder club Sporting Clube De Portugal aka Sporting Lisbon.The Lions are away to Porto team Boavista this evening and I fancy a draw with few goals 0-0 or 1-1.On this basis I am going to go for a Halftime-Fulltime bet of draw-draw at a nice price of 4/1.I had one look at the home and away stats this year(see below) and decided €50 on this for my first bet of the new year.
The Portugeuse League is all about the big three; Lisbon's Sporting and Benfica and then Porto.The three teams have an amazing 71 league titles out of 73 between them with Benfica as the most successful club with 31 titles.Two clubs have interrupted the big three's League winning exploits and that was Belenenses in 1946 and Boavista in 2001.
Boavista are currently 14th in the League,one spot above relegation and are desperate for points.They have drawn half their games this season and another draw against Sporting hopefully is on the cards.
Sporting's prestigious youth academy in recent years has produced many top players including home bred players such as Figo,Ronaldo and Nani.Other players who also attended the academy were Simao,Viana and Quaresma.However they are all gone now.
Best of the Hoops(unfortunely does not include Phil Babb and Alan Mahon)

Portugal's Superliga is ranked the sixth highest league in Europe and therefore holds three Champions League spots.No need to guess who is holding those three places in January.It is astonishing that a country that is reknown as futebol mad and that a country that has had a UEFA Cup and Champions League winner this decade struggles to put bums on seats.Attendances last year for the top three averages 30,000 plus ,outside of these attendances are so poor that last year's eight team ,Nacional only averaged 1,920 and past Champions League club Boavista averaged under 5,000.Dalymount doesn't compare so bad to these!
So why are attendances so low?
One reason is cable station SportTv gives blanket coverage of the Superliga,a dream for armchair fans and a nightmare for attendances.Stadia shouldn't be a problem after Euro 2004 with new grounds rebuilt and existing grounds modernised.It is an age old excuse here in the Eircom League that dismal facilities keep the crowds away.Would a spanking new stadium,say beside the airport have them coming in their droves,probably not.Definitely not for União de Leiria whose Estádio Municipal de Leiria Dr. Magalhães Pessoa purpose built for Euro 2004 with a capacity of 30,000 seats but this years average attendance is only less than four thousand.
The real reason for the poor averages is not unlike football in Ireland with it's fascination with a different product,the only difference here is that the product involved is actually in Portugal.Most Portuguese football fans would rather support one of the big three than their local club,sad but true.
http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn/current/avepor.htm

STATS
Boavista at home this season
P7 W2 D3 L2 F10 A11 Pts 9

Sporting away this season
P7 W2 D3 L2 F5 A6 Pts 9

TRIVIA
Which legendary Real Madrid player managed Sporting Lisbon in the 70s?
Last weeks answer Oldham Athletic 6-3 at Boundary Park.