Oriental Lisbon - One Step Closer

Just seen last seasons review, was a very good year! Ruben Caetano looks like a solid signing, good luck next season! ^.^

C94zThanks mate

Lucas Mate, you're back! Thanks and yeah he does look a good signing, his experience will be vital!

Preseason & The League Cup

Before the proper league season and in between preseason we had a little League Cup group stage to partake in. The League Cup is in a Champions League format and begun before the league started. It gave us the chance to really gel, integrate new signings into the team and create a healthy atmosphere that gave us confidence going into a challenging new season.

Here are the draws for the cup and how we fared in preseason.

The League Cup Group

This is a very tough draw. We have been drawn against top end teams that will be difficult to beat and I think we may come rock bottom, which is unfortunate because I want tip-top morale for the season ahead.


Atletico CP are, in our fans' eyes, our biggest rivals. They will be hungry for a victory over this side and we know we can get it, as this team are probably the weakest, apart from us of course, in the group. If we can get a goal early on and then hang on - I think we can get a result here!


UD Oliveirense are a tougher team than meets the eye and a result may be hard to come by against this side. If we can get a few good results before we play them and we have bumped up morale, sure, I don't see why not, but we need to get to work and prepare before we know we can win.


Rio Ave were recently relegated from the Primeira Liga. They are more or less a top division quality side and will be tough to beat, a draw of any kind is more than enough for me. We will probably adopt a defensive approach in order to beat this side, although that may not be enough.


Santa Clara are one of the weaker teams of the group. A result is possible here and this could be a game where we look to bump up morale preseason. Overall, it is a tough, tough group but I'm really not to fussed about it. We can get some chemistry between our new signings and we can have a great season!

Pre Season Results

A short preseason, largely due to the League Cup, but a fairly good one. Two wins in winnable games and a loss against a first division team. Overall we can look back on preseason with a lot of confidence and positivity and transfer that form into the League Cup and League itself.

Torreense are a division below us and the narrow win wasn't as pleasing as first hoped, but I guess the boys were still getting their minds and bodies back into their footballing groove.

The friendly vs. Nacional da Madeira was always going to be a tough one, and in only our second match back I was please with how well we played against a side a division above us! Adding on to the narrow loss, the gate receipts collected are sure to help out our balance, one that is going down slowly but steadily.

The final game of our preseason was against Mafra, who I am pretty sure we played last season. A convincing 4-0 victory was exactly what I was looking for. Not only did the win provide confidence and add a happier atmosphere to the dressing room afterwards but it showed me that despite so little time we were already gelling well.

Overall, I think despite the shortened length of preseason we were productive. The two wins are good but they were against lowly opposition but it was positive seeing us test a team a divisons above us and that showed promising signs.

I really cannot wait for the new season - I think we have more than enough to keep ourselves above water. We need to keep it simple, keep the dressing room happy and overall, get the results! Let's see how we go!!

Good pre-season! Good luck in the League Cup Walter, I know you can do it!

Good luck in the cup

Gonna be very difficult to get past Rio Ave, some top quality players there, also my favourite team in Portugal
Nice pre-season under your belt!

Josh_MU Thanks Josh, although I'm prioritising the league

Justice Thanks

Rablador Ah, Rio Ave are a favourite of mine, too Started a FIFA Career with them actually. They are going to be difficult, that's for sure

Gl in the cup, and pre-season looks pretty good! Keep it coming!

2014-06-01 04:32#177751 Pauker : Gl in the cup, and pre-season looks pretty good! Keep it coming!

Thanks Pauk

The League Cup

It was an average League Cup for us. Despite not putting any preference towards the competition we did play pretty poorly. Despite the performance, I managed to maintain morale within the dressing room and the players and I are still very positive about our chances.

We even started our league season in the hardest way possible in the shape of Académica but I'm not too fussed about it. Although, now that the League Cup is over for us, the tough is really going to get going.

The League Cup Results

As I said earlier, it was a tough start to life as a professionally-operated club and one in the Liga Revoluçao. The League Cup did start off in great fashion, however, and a 1-0 win over Atlético CP was a great start for both players and fans alike.

Soon after we went down narrowly to CD Santa Clara in an away game at the Azores-based clubs. In a televised game we only just lost by a single goal but I won't give the players much to look back on as we played relatively well.

UD Oliveirense were always going to be tough but a 3-0 loss at home is not an ideal result. The players didn't show up on the day and our opposition showed their class and we knew we needed to work on something.

I won't go into the game against Académica because this update is focused on the League Cup. The Rio Ave game was obviously a disappointing result but I knew we'd have to get used to this kind of thing after jumping up a division. Luckily, morale is still pretty good within the squad and the new signings are boding well with their teammates of the Oriental's team last season.

In review, it was tough, yes.. but I can't be hard on the players. We had a tough group and it really is a learning curve. Now that we're out of the competition we can set our sights on the league and concentrate on building solid foundations for the upcoming season!

Some tough results to take, but if you can grab some results going your way (in the league), you can find yourself top :). Best of luck!

Was a tough introduction to the competition, but now all the focus has to go to the league and trying to get promoted!

Pauker Yeah it was tough. Thanks for reading Pauk

Nealão It was tough, but we had one of the toughest groups. That is the aim, thanks mate

Martins: League Cup Won't Set Us Back

Vitor Martins Speaking To The Press:

Reporter: How can you reflect on the League Cup performance?

Vitor Martins: "We've jumped up a league, and we know it will be tougher than last season. We've used preseason friendlies and the League Cup to get into shape and I think we've seen some encouraging performances from the boys early on in this season.

Reporter: How can you recover from this and what are you going to do?

Vitor Martins: It's just really about getting points on the board, beating teams that maybe are just that little bit lower than us, and maybe even scraping some results. In this league, and in our position, it's not about playing the most beautiful of football - football is a results business.

Reporter: What can you change about the League Cup?

Vitor Martins: We need to create chances, defend well and have a good balance between attack and defence. We need to be proficient in our tackling and we need to take our chances well. We are facing tougher teams and we need to score while we are on top otherwise we know we will get punished and end up throwing away games.

Reporter: Finally, do you think you can bounce back? What is the plan to get back on track for the league?

Vitor Martins: Overall, we are going to have some fun this year. I think we've got a good enough squad to mount a good season. I don't necessarily think it's all doom and gloom. We're predicted to go down but honestly, I think we're better than that. Yes, we had a pretty poor start in the League Cup but I know that won't set us back. We have a strong core of boys here and they will want to make it right from those losses. I don't see it setting us back, in fact, I think it will motivate the boys to go on and do better."

Yeah going 1-0-5 in the first 6 games wasn't the best start you could've dreamed for, but you'll do great in the league, don't you worry