Oriental Lisbon ~ One Step Closer

The Greatest Comeback Of All?

The beautiful game, the name given to football, has seen some pretty amazing games in its time. Liverpool coming from 3-0 down to beat Milan in the Champions League final, England and Germany in the 1996 World Cup final, Manchester United in the 1999 UCL Final. All these games have displayed why football is loved all over the world.

Is there anything better than smashing your arch rivals, or scoring a last minute winner? I don't think so. I went into this game sitting in the stands, reacting angrily to the ref's decisions in the last game. Anyway, I told Manuel Ramos everything to do, and I was allowed in the changing rooms to give a team talk.

The First Half

After that they all went out and started playing. Only two minutes in we had a corner, Monteiro smashed it in to the near post. Unfortuneatly though, Marques intercepted a header, and played Alex down the right. He passed Pinto to the byline before cutting back to an unmarked Kata. Two minutes in, already down. I got restless in my seat.

2' Kata

We restarted play, and tried to find a way into goal. Nuno Rocha had the ball in the centre of the park, but was dispossessed by Kata, and it was fed out to Alex on the left. He beat his man and advanced into the box, before crossing. Monteiro headed away, but only to Fonseca, who played a clever chip to Coentrao on the right, who tapped it back to Martinho, who smashed a rocket into the bottom corner. I became anxious, this was not good enough. 2-0 down in eight minutes, things were not looking good, at all.

8' Martinho

A couple of chances were made, Fabio Marques hit the post from a free kick. We tried and tried and tried, but a chance could not me made, a gap could not be found. The ball was eventually kicked back to Bruno Martins, who went out of his box. He launched a kick into the middle of the park, which fell right to Fabio Marques! He launched a 50 yard chip into an open goal as Martins tried to get back. But the mistake was already made.

I threw my head in my hands, we were sinking without a trace! Martins had made the biggest of errors and we were now 3-0 down at home. Was this to be the end of our cup run? I ran down to a more visible area. The ground wasn't packed, so I knew I could get the closest view. We had to find a way, and we had to find it fast!

14' F. Marques

Over the next twenty minutes we gained control. We made some good passes and movements, and nearly scored on a couple of occasions. The ball came to us in the middle of the park. We made some good triangles in the middle of the field and managed to get the ball up. It was fed to Marco Margarca, who turned and shot.. only for it to be deflected.. into the path of Edivandio, who tapped home!

3-1! I roared with the home fans, their spirits were raised, and now we had a slight chance to win it, maybe force it to penalties. But I thought I was being optmistic then!

37' Edivandio

This was the moment of luck we had been missing. I know it isn't good to rely on luck, but we needed it now more than ever before, and it was interesting how we got it. Pinto through to Rocha, who passed it back to Monteiro. And from the halfway line had a crack. His effort was deflected into the air by Feliciano Condesso on the edge of the box, and looped into the top corner!

45+2' F. Condesso

Game on! I jumped up and down uncontrollably in my seat behind the dugout and the players went back to the halfway line to immediately restart play. The half time whistle was blown, and we had the momentum. I made my way to the dressing room, sweating with emotion. I cared, a lot. I told them this. They could do it, think about the headlines tomorrow when they completed it. They looked bright, and upbeat, and began the second half.

The Second Half

30 minutes later, and still 3-2. "Keep going!" I yelled from the sidelines. The fans were singing louder than ever before. We still had time. Then it happened, Condesso cut in on the right, beating Rainho and floating a cross to the back post..

That was met by the golden head of Alex!! We had done it, equalised, and was now on the verge of one of the most historic comebacks in Portuguese history! The players jogged back, and went searching for the winner, which was clearly in sight now!

76' Alex

Four minutes later and we had a corner, taken by Joaquim Monteiro. His left foot shot swung away from the post, and was headed home by golden boy Marco Margarca! Mental, absolutely mental. Oriental fans were in dreamland as their wonderkid striker headed home a possible winner with 11 minutes remaining! I think we had done it, 4-3 was the score!!

80' M. Margarca

But then, all our extremely hard work was undone, when Martinho was sent through on goal. A lethal finisher, he had no trouble slotting home one-on-one with the keeper. My heart sank. I felt sick as one goal for them took away all our hard work. We had to go for the win now, in normal time too, there was still time!

The home crowd was silenced and many thought that extra time beckoned, but Oriental still perservered and attacked even more, searching for a winner and maybe a place in history!

86' Martinho

Joao Paulo Pinto had a throw deep in Fatima's half. The fans urged him forward. he exchanged passes with Alex before drilling a low cross to the back post. Marco Margaca beat Vitor Hugo to it and tapped home a winner, for the second time!

GOOOOOOOLLLLLLL.

That was what filled the city of Lisbon tonight. I saw many watching from their hotel rooms as Lisbon completed what must go down in history, as one of the best comebacks ever. From 3-0 down, we [Oriental] turned it around spectacularly. The players came to me to celebrate, and we partied for much longer than the match.

89' M. Margaca

Post-match

This is what football is all about! This match, especially, was one of the highlight of my life! Comebacks, winners, drama, all wrapped into one ninety minute match! I was ecstatic. Condesso, who played a vital role, came and thanked me for the kind words at half time. I was stunned. This is why I love Oriental, and maybe, just maybe, one day we will be holding that UCL trophy up in the air, in front of everyone!

Now i understand why did u took so long to do this uptade, cause is awesome!

The comentaries are fantastic and it was a great comeback.

Well done and continue the good job.



P.S- Iwalter i was the first to comente;)

2013-08-14 09:14#127895 lourenço soares : Now i understand why did u took so long to do this uptade, cause is awesome!

The comentaries are fantastic and it was a great comeback.

Well done and continue the good job.

P.S- Iwalter i was the first to comente;)

Thanks so much, comments like these make me know that it WAS worthwhile to spend all that time Thanks heaps mate! And you were, thanks

Really, really well write, man. Great update.
I will keep an eye on this story.

2013-08-14 09:21#127898 Akash : Really, really well write, man. Great update.
I will keep an eye on this story.

Thanks so much Akash, means alot! Hope you continue to follow!

I can imagine how you felt when you were 3-0 down within 15 mins. Horrible feeling but what a comeback!

2013-08-14 13:26#127966 P-KIDDY : I can imagine how you felt when you were 3-0 down within 15 mins. Horrible feeling but what a comeback!

Yeah I was gutted. But when Margarca headed home to make it 4-3 (and then 5-4) I was going nuts!

A Bad Run

In the summer transfer window I replaced our old Under 19's manager with on old face. Jorge Correia, the left back who helped us gain promotion in the first season of my reign, came back to help the youngsters.

It is true, we didn't have a good U19 squad. All our good teens were in the first team, like Joaquim Monteiro, Joao Pinto and Marco Margarca. But the remaining youngsters were not showing any signs of improvement.



After two wins on the trot, they had a downward slump, and never got back up. There was a couple of draws inbetween, but the team went 18 games without a win, hardly an impressive record.

I know it might have been harsh to blame it all on Jorge, but he wasn't doing very well despite not having many good players at his disposal. I always thought that the best coaches got the best out of all their players, they didn't rely on their best players all the time.

Several times I had thought about giving Correia the sack, sending him out into the unforgiving world of football, but I never did. I decided to give him some time, and maybe he could come good.

And also, this is how I got my job. I was the U19s manager at Pacos De Ferreira before Oriental. It is vital for experience. Hopefully, one day, a proper club gives Jorge a job, and he can continue his progress.

You'll get back from this. Best of luck mate.

2013-08-15 09:06#128169 Tellak : You'll get back from this. Best of luck mate.

The under 19's haven't been doing well at all, I seriously considered sacking Correia. Thanks mate

If you have no good youth players then It's going to be hard for the manager however good he is, I'd look to sign some like 15/16 year old youth potentials that will benefit the under 19's for now and the starting XI in the future, but obviously you should have secured your place in the Liga ZON Sagres (I think that's what it's called :P) first

Wow! What torrid form by the Under 19's

2013-08-15 10:28#128189 Lucas_C : If you have no good youth players then It's going to be hard for the manager however good he is, I'd look to sign some like 15/16 year old youth potentials that will benefit the under 19's for now and the starting XI in the future, but obviously you should have secured your place in the Liga ZON Sagres (I think that's what it's called :P) first

Yeah that is what I thought. Jorge Correia actually has some decent stats and the best player is 2 stars . That is what I might start doing the thing is I don't have the funds and that is what the Lig Zon Sagres will bring

2013-08-15 12:32#128203 P-KIDDY : Wow! What torrid form by the Under 19's

I know, they went 18 games without a win and finally beat Belenenses U19s in December. Thanks for reading.

That´s going really bad in the U19, and i think you did the right thing by not sacking Jorge Correia.

Good luck for the future.

And once again awesome uptade, bad results, but awesome.

Nice pre-season Walt...;) Na but in all seriousness pre-season is never a good indicator when playing with your first team, let alone your Under 19s! Good Luck!