Sporting CP defeat AC Marinhense 3-0, with a Trincão and Luis Suárez on the scoresheet

Sporting Clube de Portugal defeated AC Marinhense 3-0 to secure their place in the Round of 16 of the Taça de Portugal. Coach Rui Borges gave opportunities to young players, but a mature display saw his side go through without significant problems.

Before the opening whistle, the 35,002 Sportinguistas present paid a heartfelt tribute to Júlio Rendeiro, with applause preceding and concluding the minute of silence in memory of the former hockey player and sporting director.

Celebrating his legacy, there was new blood on the pitch: Rodrigo Ribeiro and Salvador Blopa came in for starting roles, and João Virgínia, Matheus Reis, Eduardo Quaresma, Ricardo Mangas, Georgios Vagiannidis, Giorgi Kochorashvili, Hidemasa Morita and Alisson Santos were also brought into the first XI.  Of those who started the match against CD Santa Clara, only Francisco Trincão kept his spot.

The game started slowly, with the ball mostly moved around in midfield. Sporting CP enjoyed a first chance in the sixth minute, after a quick run by Alisson Santos down the left. His cross was not converted by Rodrigo Ribeiro, in a let-off for the visitors. Moments later, Trincão cut in from the right, but his powerful shot went over the crossbar.

On 12 minutes, the Portuguese international repeated the move, this time forcing the opposition goalkeeper into a save. When nobody collected the rebound, AC Marinhense player João Vieira took advantage of the space to shoot from a long way out, without any danger, towards goal.

Sporting CP began to apply pressure, and opportunities followed. On 16 minutes, Rodrigo Ribeiro was fed after a good run by Hidemasa Morita, producing a good save from Ohoulo Framelin. From the resulting corner, Georgios Vagiannidis headed the ball over the crossbar. On 19 minutes, Alisson Santos and Giorgi Kochorashvili also tried their luck, but the ball got lost in a tangle of legs in the AC Marinhense defence. A minute later, it was Ribeiro again, leaving two opponents in his wake with a feint, then shooting straight at the opposition goalkeeper.

Unable to overcome the low defensive block set up by their opponents, Sporting CP circulated the ball patiently, and on 29 minutes they were rewarded. Kochorashvili found Blopa on the right and delivered to the young winger, who went up to the byline and crossed for Francisco Trincão. The midfielder, with a run into the area, headed the ball into the back of the net and broke the deadlock.

Eight minutes later, Trincão scored a second goal, borne out of pure inspiration and talent. Facing the goal, he received a pass from Eduardo Quaresma, unleashed a powerful shot, and made it 2-0 with a piledriver into the top right corner.

The visitors tried to react in the 39th minute, with Filipe Oliveira surging through the middle and shooting harmlessly wide, but Sporting CP imposed their dominance and came close to increasing the scoreline to 3-0 on several occasions: Ribeiro attempted a backheel flick, Alisson Santos hit the crossbar in the 42nd minute, and on the rebound, Blopa also shot wide. Near halftime, Ribeiro had the ball in the net but the striker's goal was disallowed for offside.

In the first minute of added time, João Virgínia was called upon to save from Ricardo Matias, and at the other end Ohoulo Framelin also stretched to deny Ribeiro. Kochorashvili rounded off the first half action with a shot just wide.

To start the second half, Sporting CP could have quickly increased the lead, were it not for another excellent intervention by Ohoulo Framelin to keep out Alisson Santos’s effort.

Playing at a less intense pace, Sporting CP controlled possession without creating any clear-cut chances. AC Marinhense, however, quickly capitalised on a defensive error to test João Virgínia's reflexes: Rayan Santos recovered the ball and shot towards the bottom left corner, and the Portuguese goalkeeper made the stop.

In the 59th minute, Ohoulo Framelin came out of his area and tried to clear the ball, but Ribeiro stretched out his foot and the rebound went just millimetres wide of goal.

With 25 minutes to go, coach Rui Borges made the first changes, taking off Alisson Santos, Francisco Trincão and Rodrigo Ribeiro and bringing on Geovany Quenda, Flávio Gonçalves and Luis Suárez. Sporting CP continued to run the show, but without creating many clear chances to increase their lead: In the 74th minute, Matheus Reis and Hidemasa Morita both had good opportunities, but their shots went wide.

Luis Suárez took his chance, however, scoring his ninth goal of the season and his first in the competition: In the 81st minute, the Colombian cleverly appeared right in front of goal, and only needed to tap the ball in to make it 3-0 after a clinical pass from Quenda on the left wing.

Shortly after, Borges replaced Vagiannidis and Blopa, giving playing time to Iván Fresneda and Geny Catamo. Sporting CP also faced the final moments of the match with a numerical advantage: AC Marinhense, having used up all of their permitted substitutions, defended with ten men after Brahima Diallo went off injured.

In the last move of the game, Geny Catamo cut inside from the right and sent a looping effort just wide of the post. The score remained 3-0 and Sporting CP advanced in the Taça de Portugal, with their next opponents to be decided in a draw on Tuesday, November 25th, at 2:30pm.

Sporting CP: João Virgínia [GK], Matheus Reis [C], Hidemasa Morita, Georgios Vagiannidis (Iván Fresneda, 83’), Giorgi Kochorashvili, Francisco Trincão (Flávio Gonçalves, 67’), Alisson Santos (Geovany Quenda, 66’), Rodrigo Ribeiro (Luis Suárez, 67’), Salvador Blopa (Geny Catamo, 83’), Eduardo Quaresma and Ricardo Mangas.