Last weekend Portimonense travelled north to take part in the pre-season four-way Póvoa de Varzim tournament. Manager António Folha’s first eleven acquitted themselves well, defeating Porto B 8-7 in a penalty shoot-out after an injury time Manafa thunderbolt had left the score level at 1-1 at the end of 90 minutes.
Sunday’s final against Vitória de Guimarães B was then disputed by the Algarveans’ newly-formed U-23 side, Luís Boa Morte’s youngsters falling three goals behind before second-half strikes from Taofiq and Sérgio Neto lent the score line a more respectable look.
The decision to rest the team’s principal players was largely due to Tuesday evening’s return to action at the municipal stadium in Portimão for a prestige friendly with champions Porto.
The tactic paid off handsomely as Pires and Tabata seized upon two defensive errors to put the hosts two up in quick succession just before a break. Following a flurry of second-half substitutions, Porto pulled a goal back through André Pereira eight minutes from the end, but it proved too little too late as Portimonense ran out the 2-1 winners.
The next ‘friendly’ will take place next Wednesday against French side Lille while the draw for the coming season’s Allianz League Cup sees Portimonense take on fellow top division club Rio Ave at home on the following Sunday, July 29.
