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Taça de Portugal Final: Oriental vs. Sporting
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Welcome
Hello and welcome to the 2021 Taça de Portugal final. I'm your commentator Antonio Madeira and alongside me is Rui Sousa, and we will be bringing you the 99th official edition of this competition.
It's a hot day today, the thermometer reads 33 degrees celsius so the teams will have to really focus on hydrating themselves and finding the energy to give it their all in this game.
In Sporting and Oriental we have two of Lisbon's biggest rivals and a mouthwatering clash ahead, stay tuned!
Road To The Final
For Oriental it's been a fairly tough ride, they had to overcome league rivals
Nacional da Madeira in the third round, before their journey was made slightly easier with a game against
Marinhense that they duly won 2-0. An away trip up north to
Boavista followed before it took 120 minutes for the Lisbon side to triumph at
Marítimo in Round 6. In the semis Oriental outplayed
Estoril 3-2 to set up a clash in their second Taça de Portugal final in two years.
Sporting's ride was arguably much tougher than Oriental's as all their victories along the way came at first division sides. They defeated nouveau-riche
Vitoria Guimarães 2-0 in the third round before thrashing lowly
Paços Ferreira 4-0 at the José Alvalade. A tight 1-0 win over
Braga came next in the 5th Round before again coming out on top, this time at
Vitoria Setúbal. Their semi final clash came at
Gil Vicente whom they promptly disposed of, quite clearly, too, with a scoreline of 6-2.
Pundit's Predictions
Antônio Madeira This is a tight contest and usually it goes down to the wire. It's really hard to pick a winner because both sides will be desperate for that piece of silverware that rarely comes their way because of Porto and Benfica. However I have to go for a Sporting win, their attacking talent is jawdropping.
Rui Sousa I have to disagree and say Oriental. They lost last year and will want it more than ever this year. They're a great counter attacking side and have a lot of pace in players such as Monteiro, Ronaldo and Caetano as well as crafty passers like Reis and China which means they can run their plan to perfection.
The Match
Oriental XI: (4-2-3-1 Deep) Abrantes; Cancelo, Fraschetti, Lopes, Sini; Reis, Costa; Caetano, China, Ronaldo; Monteiro
Sporting XI: (4-3-3) Patricio; Caramelo, Angella, Alves, Carlitos; Guimarães, Botelho, João Mario; De Sensi, Correia, Di Spirito
Commentators: Antônio Madeira & Rui Sousa
First Half
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1'
Kickoff - Oriental kick off proceedings.
12' - Analysis No real clear cut chances as of yet. It is really very hot today and both sets of players are really trying to conserve their energy for later in the match by the looks of it. Hopefully we will get some action shortly.
19' - Oriental Attack The ball falls straight to Lourenço Costa who goes back to Ronaldo. The ball moves through the middle of the park and it comes to Monteiro who has his back to goal... He finds Caetano on the right... he's in acres of space! Caetano runs in.... AND SCORES!!!!!!! 1-0 ORIENTAL THEY'RE AHEAD!
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[color=#FF00BF]Rui Sousa An incisive Oriental breakaway, it only took a few passes to unlock the Sporting defence and they now have the lead. Caetano was left alone on the right and he's made Sporting pay!
32' - Oriental Attack The ball falls to China who sprays it out wide to Caetano on the right wing again... his cross is headed away but again the ball falls back to the goalscorer, the chance is cleared again... only to Costa, who sends Sini through with an excellent through balls..! Saved by Patricio, great attacking move by Oriental. Corner to them.
Second Half
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45'
Kickoff - Sporting will start the second half.
52' - Oriental Attack Cristiano Ronaldo stands over the ball on the left wing as he looks to swing in one of his trademark free kicks. It's low and hard and it falls to Chinaaaa WHO TAPS IT IN - TWO-NIL ORIENTAL!!!!
But wait, it's won't count. A very, very close decision as by the looks of it the Brazilian was on.
Antônio Madeira: A lucky escape for Sporting, there.
53' - Oriental Attack Reis feeds the ball to Caetano, who takes on the defender... but his shot is well wide and goes across the face of goal.
56' - Sporting Attack Some nice build up play on the right involving Caramelo and di Spirito. It comes to João Mario who puts it out to Dudu on the left... he cuts insiiiiide.... just over the top.
74' - Analysis Just like the first 15 minutes of the game the pace has really slowed down and the heat looks to be affecting some players who really do look red as a tomato. Nonetheless they'll keep on playing and pushing for a result.
90+4'
FULL TIME - Oriental have won the Taça de Portugal 2021!!!!
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