Kick Off!

Well, the football season is under way once again, and with it come many changes. Of course, Estoril Praia have sold a few players, including a couple of the much loved and arguably better players such as Steven Vitória (to Benfica), Licá (to Porto) and Jeferson (to Porto). And of course this has brought money into the team with which to buy new players, notably Balboa (from Beira Mar) and Evandro (from somewhere in Brazil). The figures would indicate that the team have spent a little more than the income from the sold players, but only time will tell if it was money well spent. Perhaps the plan is to recoup some of the money through the new building along the outside wall of the stadium, which although currently empty, has been painted in the team's distinctive yellow and blue colours and my guess is that it will open up very shortly as a merchandising shop.

The first game this season was a Europa match against Israeli team Hapoel Ramat Gan, which I managed to get tickets for, but only just! Speaking in all honesty, Estoril played very well and although they dominated the ball for the most part, were unsuccessful in actually putting it in the back of the net. Fortunately Ramat Gan didn't score either, which meant that Estoril had all to play for on the away leg. I watched the return match on the box whilst simultaneously following the ticker tape commentary in English on the web. It was a decidedly one sided match, fortunately in our favour, resulting in a one goal to nil away win for Estoril!

The third match, and first of the league, was at home entertaining Madeiran team, Nacional. Last season we beat them 4-0 at home and they beat us 0-1 on the away match, so it could easily have gone either way, with I suppose the odds slightly in Esoril's favour. Twenty nine minutes in and they put one in the net. Calamity! But all was not lost. Far from in fact, and in the closing minutes of the first half we scored not just once, but managed to get two goals! What away to leave the pitch! Even more astounding though was that on coming back onto the pitch Estoril managed to get a third goal in off the very first play of the second half in the 46th minute! What's more, the first and third goals were both pounded between the posts by one of our new boys, Evandro, pictured front row centre. I only hope that his good fortune continues.

I bumped into my neighbour before the match against Nacional, and so we walked up to the stadium together, but on the way there, he led me to the supporters bar, which is where all the hardcore fans hang out before the games. I'd been told about this bar last year but never managed to find it. Anyway, I got myself signed up there as a supporter meaning that my tickets for the matches will be reserved there for me to collect every week. Fantastic! And so tomorrow afternoon I'll be going up there to buy some tickets for the evening's Europa match against Austrian team, Pasching. There's a few of us going, so it should be a good wheeze and especially since the numbers are indicating Estoril as clear favourites.

Come on Yellows!!

*Pictures courtesy of Estoril Praia football club, and their facebook page!