Wednesday, February 1, 2006

 

It is my goal to see all of the great derbies in the world before I die.  Rangers-Celtic, Boca-River, Zamalek-Al Ahly, Barcelona-Real Madrid (I know purists, I know... let me be). I have already seen Arsenal-Tottenham, the Milan derby, and of course I have played in several world famous, Milwaukee-Minnesota derbies.

But now, I can finally cross the Lisbon derby, Sporting-Benfica, off of my list. 

Saturday night, along with 64,000 screaming fans, I packed myself into the gorgeous Estadio da Luz and watched fifth-place Sporting come from behind to beat second-place Benfica 3-1.  It was exciting, addictive and almost indescribable.  However, for the sake of the USLsoccer.com, I will do my best.

Let me rewind.

At the USL Annual General Meeting this winter, I listened to USL president Francisco Marcos talk about the passion and connection one feels growing up with a club.  He wore the green and white Sporting Lisbon jersey over a shirt and tie, gaining momentum and volume as he reminisced about his youth, his family and his sense of belonging.  "You can change your religion, you can change your wife, but you can never truly change your club."  Having bled blue and white for 15 years, I could appreciate his sentiments.

Fast forward three months.

Saturday afternoon, I sat in Francisco's green and white dining room, celebrating his 60th birthday party and plotting how we are going to scam seats for the long sold-out match.  Serendipity took over and within minutes we had six tickets scattered over the Estadio da Luz. 

We fought through the pre-game traffic as we arrived two hours before the game.  Many of the new stadiums in Portugal are next to sparkling shopping malls.  David Caetano (who spent a year with Benfica... the experience must have been surreal for him) and I, parked underneath the mall and met Francisco, his son Julian, his cousin Isidore and his niece Nessa.  We distributed tickets and passes, gulped down a last breath of sanity and joined the red and white throng heading into the stadium. 

I entered with the season pass of Carlos Gomes while David Caetano entered with Tony Simoes' season pass.  Both of these men are friends of Francisco and legends of Portuguese soccer.  I couldn't have asked for a better seat if I was the President of Sporting Clube de Portugal (or Sporting Lisbon as its commonly known).  Actually, the President of Sporting Lisbon sat in a box 10 yards over my head. He was, incidentally, subject to so much insult and profanity, that even I was blushing - and I don't speak Portuguese!?!

The atmosphere was scintillating. Benfica's mascot, Victoria the Eagle, was let loose in the stadium to raucous cheers, circling the stadium and eventually landing perfectly on her perch, completing the exact reproduction of the Benfica logo.  The chants launched back and forth between the Sporting supporters JuveLeo (young lions) and Benfica's supporters, Diabos Vermelhos (red devils) echoed throughout the stadium.  Oh, the atmosphere.

The game... oh, the game.  You can read about it online if you want all the details.  But suffice to say, Benfica went up 1-0 on a dubious penalty despite being outplayed.  Sporting scored three second half goals to beat Benfica 3-1 and sweep the season series.  The two-goal hero for Sporting was a Brazilian, Liedson - a former grocery stock boy.  I couldn't help but think of Kurt Warner and his eerily similar story. Thankfully, Liedson did not have an obnoxious, bleached wife, or at least if he did I never saw her.

Benfica-Sporting. A soccer fan's dream. You should have been there. 

It also snowed in Portugal this weekend, the first snow in 52 years in Lisbon. As I told Francisco, Sporting comes back to beat Benfica at Benfica, and it snows in Portugal… my guess is that somewhere in Portugal, pigs flew happily as well.

Amos

 

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Minnesota Thunder head coach Amos Magee is in Portugal for a two week stint where he will be visiting some of the best soccer teams in Portugal. He will be spending a week with Portuguese First Division team, Academica Coimbra. Magee will also be attending training sessions at Benfica and Sporting Lisbon. Magee is looking to build a partnership with some of the teams in Portugal to form a relationship and allow some top players the opportunity to come to the United States to play with the Thunder.