Monday, February 6, 2006

 

2-0. That’s my record for my trip to Portugal.  Sporting beat Benfica at Benfica and Academica beat Vitoria Setubal at Setubal.  As I told anyone who would listen here in Portugal, they should fly me back when they really need to win a game.  I’m money on the Iberian Peninsula. 

I was trying to figure out if this is going to help the Thunder.  There are two schools of thought. Either 2006 is my year and this will continue into the Thunder season or option two, I have a limited number of victories and I have already used up two.  I prefer the first option. 

There is a third scenario which says that this is all hogwash and there is no connection whatsoever. But for a guy who superstitiously put on his left shin pad first for 12 years of professional soccer, that does not appeal to me.
 

The game at Setubal, while not the same atmosphere as Sporting-Benfica, was actually more interesting for me.  Having spent the week in Coimbra, and having talked to Nelo Vingada extensively about his team and his tactics, seeing all of it played out in a game was invaluable. 

Academica won 1-0 on a controversial goal in the 80th minute.  The linesman called the Academica player offside and then reversed his own call.  There was quite a hullabaloo, but the referee backed his linesman and the goal stood. 

I was delighted to see Academica pull several points clear of the relegation zone.  I expect that they will go on a little run and finish comfortably in the middle of the pack.
 

The following day continued my indoctrination into all things Sporting.  Francisco, David and I went to the Sporting Academia to tour the facility and meet with the Director of the Center, Jose Salema.  The Academy is about 40 kilometers away from downtown Lisbon in Alcochete.  To get there, you must navigate one of the bridges that cross the Rio Tejo.  We drove across the Vasco de Game Bridge, which at 16 kilometers long is the longest bridge in Europe.  It is a gorgeous drive as you can see both up the river and down into the Atlantic Ocean.  Set in a forest of cork trees, the Academy is in the middle of nowhere.

The Academy is the place where, among others, Man U's Portuguese phenom Cristiano Ronaldo took his final steps before his $15,000,000 transfer to Man U took place right after he had turned 18; Sporting's first team currently carries eight players 'made in Alcochete.’ It houses both the Youth and the First Team for Sporting with two separate wings for each of them.  Each side has several locker rooms, meeting rooms, a full weight room and about 40 dorm rooms on the youth side and 25 on the professional side.  There are two separate dining rooms as well as player lounges and on the youth side, a library, a study room and a computer lab. All of the amenities are first class.  The weight rooms both sit at the back end of the complex with the treadmills and bikes near a panoramic window that looks out on the training fields. 

There are two synthetic fields, four grass fields, including one stadium field that seats 1000 people and hosts the junior games and training games for the seniors, and a swimming pool for rehabilitation. 

The offices are in a third wing where the administrators all go about their business.  The entire complex is unbelievable.  I figure once I show our owners the DVD they sent me home with, we’ll get one built here in Minnesota.

Francisco and I also met with the Director of the Academy where we discussed potential relationships with the USL.  He, as most soccer people in Portugal, seemed really eager to learn about the development of American soccer.  Whatever comes of the relationship between the USL and Sporting Clube de Portugal, I hope that my colleagues throughout the league get to come to the Academy and see the set up of this facility.

We drove back from the Academy across the Vasco de Gama to Sporting’s stadium, the Estadio Jose Alvalade.  While criticized for looking like a bathroom with green, white and yellow tiles, I found it quite beautiful.  It is better looking from the outside, although I think Benfica’s Estadio da Luze is nicer from the inside.  Of course it is attached to a shopping mall called the Alvalaxia. The Alvalaxia contains the largest cinema in Lisbon (and I would guess Portugal), a bunch of restaurants and several stores. 

Before departing, we stopped off at the Sporting museum which is built into the stadium.  I have never been to the Packer museum at Lambeau Field, but I would have a hard time believing that it is as extensive or finely detailed as the Museo de Sporting. 

There are more trophies than I thought existed in all of Portugal.  Some taller than me – wait, that’s an exaggeration… I am quite tall – some more than 75 years old, some of pewter and others of silver and gold.  It is beautiful and mesmerizing in a magpie sort of way. 

There is a small cinema which shows a reel of great Sporting moments.  There are uniforms from every era and finely detailed historical reports of players, games, structures and even club elections. 

It is overwhelming.  One could spend hours in there.  We thankfully did not.  Although I got the sense that David Caetano (he, of Benfica lineage) could have done without it at all and Francisco (he, a mad Sporting fan) was hesitant to leave.  I, a Thunder man through and through, cajoled them both onto my timetable and schedule.  I think I had it just about right.

When we returned from the long day I felt a little restless and decided I needed to go for a run.  I ran along the Avenida Marginal, which is the street that runs along the Sun Coast from Lisbon all the way to Cascais.  As I ran the sun set over my left shoulder and the waves crashed over my right.  Not a bad little February jog, eh? 

At the end of my run, I cut up and through a little urban forest towards home.  I ducked under a tree, misjudged it a little and cut my tricep on a branch.  I mention this not for sympathy, but rather to tell you of my amazement to find that after the day I had just spent, my blood was red and not in fact green.  Who would have guessed?

That’s it friends.  So ends my journey to Portugal.  I leave tomorrow where I will return from snowy Portugal to balmy Minnesota.  I hope all of you get a chance to go to Portugal at some point.  The people are great, the food, wine and thick coffee is wonderful and the country is stunningly beautiful and diverse. 

Before I go, a big thanks to Academica and Nelo Vingada for allowing me access to all of their training sessions.  A huge thanks to David Caetano, my Portuguese host who made my travels easy and informative. And lastly, a huge Obrigato to Francisco and his family for welcoming me into their house and arranging the entire trip.

“Go, go, go,” I say to all of you or perhaps in Portuguese, “vai, vai, vai!”  See you April 23rd at the Metrodome.
 

Amos

 

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