八字万年历

Chapter 369: The Race for Trophies VII

{It’s the first game of the Taca da Liga and Oporto welcomes Pacos de Ferreira at the Dragon Stadium here in Porto}

{Oporto have had a good run of form lately, having gone nine games undefeated and among those nine games, they had only one draw against Manchester City in the Champions League}

{Pacos de Ferreira have a lot to do if they’re going to make sure they don’t become another number in Porto’s undefeated streak!}

{We’ll see how it goes} The commentator gave opening remarks as the players of both teams walked out of the tunnels and onto the field.

A few minutes of pre-match formalities later, the match began at the sound of the referee’s whistle.

Oporto was the one that kicked off the game and true to their status as the stronger team, they didn’t hesitate in going on the attack.

They played boldly and confidently, passing the ball around and constantly sending players into dangerous areas as they looked for the goal that would give them the lead, but the opposition team did not hesitate to prove that despite being the underdogs, they wouldn’t just roll over and let the dragons trample on them.

The match soon became heated with the ball flying in the direction of the goal at both ends of the field, but it soon became clear that Oporto did more attacking than defending, yet despite this, the scoreboard operator remained untroubled all through the first half.

At the referee’s whistle, the players walked off the field, already feeling the heat of the cup match.

In the locker rooms, the managers of the two teams began taking their players through the game plan again while also pointing out their mistakes on the field and giving them revised instructions.

Some changes to the line-ups were also made and by the time the two teams were coming out of the tunnel for the second half of the game, Jason was joining the team as well.

He had been sitting on the bench in the first half of the game, but the manager had substituted him on for Diaz during the break.

The second half began and football resumed to its peak.

It did not take long for the Oporto team to once again take the reins of the game and begin oppressing their opponents as they searched for a goal that would help them take the lead but despite their efforts, another twenty-five minutes went by and they had nothing to show for it.

For once, even Jason was unable to create the spark that would bring his team to life, and to any professional eye, it was clear that for some reason he was off his game a bit.

He had already been caught offside three times since he came on which for Jason who had an uncanny timing ability, was a lot.

And not only that, he had lost the ball half the times he tried to dribble past his opponent which didn’t normally happen either.

Thirdly, he had been poor in front of goal and had wasted two chances that he would normally find a way to get past the goalkeeper.

Despite that however, he was still doing reasonably well and hadn’t caused any defensive problems for the team and the team was getting closer to their first goal with his help up front.

#73rd minute…

Oporto had a corner kick that Jason swung into the penalty box with as much precision as he could manage and Ivan Marcano rose to meet it and send it goalward but the opposition goalkeeper had been alert and was there to block the header.

The Pacos de Ferreira players immediately chased after the ball to clear it, but Sarr was there first and sent the ball flying at the goal.

The goalkeeper wasn’t able to react in time and the ball smashed into the back of the net, giving Oporto the lead in this hard-contested game.

{GOAL!}

{It came late, but they’ve finally taken the lead in this game!} The commentator’s excited voice filled the stadium as the Oporto players took off in jubilation.

#80th minute…

Oporto was on the attack and Otavio sent a through pass behind the back line into Jason’s path.

Running in from the left wing, Jason pushed hard against his marker to keep him at bay as he raced for the ball.

He managed to get the first touch on the ball and continue his run with the ball into the penalty box, but his marker just wouldn’t go away.

The guy kept pushing against Jason, contesting for the ball and Jason just barely managed to reach the penalty box before he gave up on running any further and took a shot at the goal.

As the ball left his feet, the Pacos de Ferreira goalkeeper got ready to leap and he managed to reach the ball in time with a spectacular save, deflecting the ball ever so slightly so that it flew off target and smashed against the right post instead of the back of the net, but before the goalkeeper could recover and scoop up the ball, Viera appeared behind the ball and smoothly tapped it into the back of the net.

{GOAL!!!}

{What a time to take a two-goal lead!}

{They’re running away with it!}

The Oporto camp once again burst into celebrations as it became apparent that they would end up on top after the final whistle was blown about ten minutes later.

The celebrations as usual didn’t take much time and the match soon continued, but not long after the shrill blast of the whistle that put an end to the game sounded loudly in the stadium.

{It is over!}

{Oporto advance to the semi-finals of the Taca da Liga!}

{It was a hard-fought match, but they didn’t let up halfway through and they did enough to win it!}

{Oporto fans must be feeling ecstatic to be moving closer to some silverware this early in the season and they will keep their hopes up in other competitions as well}

{It’s Porto’s tenth match undefeated in all competitions so far and it looks like they can keep this run going on for much longer!}