Álvaro Pacheco was not happy at the start of the season in charge of Estoril and left to make way for Vasco Seabra, but returned to António Coimbra da Mota, now in charge of Vitória SC and took advantage of a very poor first half for the Canarian team and won by 1- 3, leaving his former team struggling for maintenance.
The António Coimbra da Mota Stadium, with rain accompanying it, hosted the duel between Estoril and Vitória SC. On the Canarian side, coach Vasco Seabra made four changes to the starting eleven, compared to the last round, with Bernardo Vital, Winther, Rodrigo Gomes and Márques jumping into the starting lineup. On the Vitória SC side, coach Álvaro Pacheco, returning to the home where he started the season, made two changes, with João Mendes and Nélson Oliveira jumping into the starting eleven.
Effortless massacre
Without André Silva in the lineup – on his way to São Paulo -, Vitória SC abandoned the 3x4x3 and returned to 3x5x2, with João Mendes creating an advantage in the middle and this soon gave Estoril clear difficulties in the construction, as the Canary Islands were unable to that the midfielders appeared in the game to connect sectors, not even when Guitane or João Marques dropped onto the field, as the team lost references up front there. Vitória SC, taking advantage of the flow, needed just eight minutes to open the scoring, with a shot from outside the area by João Mendes, which deflected off Vital and deceived Dani Figueira.
Jota is a headache again @Kapta+
The people from Guimarães didn’t stop there and realized that Estoril’s left side was clearly fragile, given Heriberto’s lack of defensive routines and Winther, who was accumulating mistakes. The construction and attack on that side was constant, so much so that Jota Silva, the most mobile striker – Nélson Oliveira more fixed – wasn’t even that mobile and was practically fixed on that side. The scares kept piling up, but it was in the 22nd minute that Vitória SC expanded, with a dry shot from Jota Silva from outside the area, taking advantage of Winther’s poor approach to a seemingly harmless move.
After this goal, Vitória SC allowed Estoril to have a little more ball, but the Canarinhos were showing themselves to be quite inconsequential and only gave (short) glimpses of life through Rodrigo Gomes’ runs on the right – the best, and only, opportunity. came from a clearance by Guitane on the right of the area – but he was quite alone and the team was being predictable and slow in making decisions. Without needing to accelerate much, Álvaro Pacheco’s men reached 3-0, in the 43rd minute, following a frontal free kick, where a series of deflections isolated Nélson Oliveira and he returned to scoring in Portugal.
Suffer needlessly
The 1st half had been very poor, but Vasco Seabra tried to give life to the team at half-time and replaced Cassiano with the missing João Marques, to provide another reference and relegating Guitane to attacking midfielder. With Guitane coming to play further back, the team once again had more ball and was able to burn stages better – partly also due to the slower Victorian pace -, but remained quite dependent on individual initiatives, so much so that their first good opportunity The goal only came in the 56th minute, with a long-range shot by Mateus Fernandes.
Pace dropped in the 2nd half @Kapta+
Shortly afterwards, at 61′, Cassiano, on a bicycle, forced Charles to make a great save. Estoril was going through its best phase, clearly boosted by Guitane’s growth with the ball, and it was the Frenchman who shot, in the 67th minute, and won a penalty due to a handball from Mangas. Charles still defended, but went inside and Marqués confirmed the 1-3, taking advantage of Vitória SC’s weaker phase, which was allowing Estoril’s embarrassed reaction.
The ascendant was clearly Canarian and we entered a phase where Vitória SC could no longer even have the ball, now that Estoril was better organized and Jota Silva had less shine. Estoril took advantage, had the ball in the final third and even celebrated in the 78th minute, following a confusion in a corner, by Zanocelo, but the Brazilian midfielder was offside. Shortly after, at 85′, João Carlos shot the post and made the goal and the Victorian defense shake everywhere, but time didn’t move, it ran, and it didn’t slow down.
These were the final minutes for Vitória SC, who managed the 2nd half poorly and allowed Estoril to react. The Canarinhos insisted well, especially with crosses – especially since they already had three forwards on the field – and even came close to scoring in stoppage time, through Rodrigo Gomes, but Vitória SC withstood the struggle and ended up winning, fairly, but with unnecessary scare, by 1-3. Estoril is struggling in the relegation zone, Vitória SC reinforces 5th place.
