Training for the Sporting CP squad

This Saturday, Sporting Clube de Portugal began preparing for their home game against CS Marítimo (Tuesday, December 13th, 8:45pm, Estádio José Alvalade) with a training session at the Academia Cristiano Ronaldo in Alcochete.

The presence of Hidemasa Morita, returning after his participation with Japan in the World Cup, was the biggest novelty, and Rúben Amorim also called up young goalkeeper Francisco Silva for the session.

Luis Neto, Jeremiah St. Juste and Daniel Bragança underwent treatment with the medical department.

"It was a consistent victory from a team that still have a lot to improve," says the coach

At the end of Sporting Clube de Portugal's 0-2 victory away against Rio Ave FC, coach Rúben Amorim analysed the match and praised the performance of his players.

"We are facing every game in the same way. We have to win, which is the weight that being a big club carries. We have to win the game against CS Marítimo. Today was a consistent victory for a team that adapted well to all the situations in the game," he explained.

“Rio Ave FC didn't create great opportunities, but forced us to run after the ball. We created danger in the first half and in the second half we tired Rio Ave FC out. We were very strong and could have scored more goals. We scored from two dead ball situations with a team that were not very tall, but that showed aggression. It was a consistent victory from a team that still have a lot to improve.”

The coach also spoke about how his players are earning their minutes, giving two examples.

"Looking at Dário [Essugo's] game, he managed to earn more minutes with his quality. There's also Mateus Fernandes, who didn't come in today and may have the opportunity to feel what it's like to start a game. They will have to train well. because all of the training sessions and games have an impact on the team. We have to take advantage of every day to create a team that is stronger all the time.”

Finally, Amorim reminded journalists that "difficult times are coming, with big decisions and a league table in which Sporting CP are off the pace.”

“We have to be much better, but today we were consistent against a good team. We didn't let Rio Ave FC create great opportunities and we created many.”

A 0-2 victory over Rio Ave FC keeps them top of the group

Sporting Clube de Portugal beat Rio Ave FC 0-2 on the second matchday of the Taça da Liga group stage, maintaining their 100% record in the competition. A goal by Gonçalo Inácio and an own goal by the home team's Boateng -both in the second half- moved the team one step closer to advancing in the competition.

Coach Rúben Amorim made only one change in the starting lineup from the clash against SC Farense, bringing in Antonio Adán in place of Franco Israel.

The first half started at a relatively slow pace, but Sporting CP had a good opportunity after just three minutes, when Nuno Santos shot wide following a clever move by Pedro Porro. Moments later, José Marsà also tried his luck, but missed the target.

Rio Ave FC responded in the 15th minute, with Leonardo Ruiz shooting over. At the other end, Pedro Gonçalves found a good position in the area, but was unable to finish off the chance.

After a Paulinho header saved by Jhonatan, Rio Ave FC could have scored when Leonardo Ruiz went through on Adán, but the Spanish goalkeeper prevented a goal with his block.

In the 41st minute, Nuno Santos had a shot saved by the goalkeeper, and the game went into the halftime break with the score at 0-0.

Sporting CP's dominance was accentuated in the second half and both Nuno Santos, Marcus Edwards and Francisco Trincão tried to make it 0-1 in the opening minutes.

Porro then crossed, Paulinho's shot forced a save from Jhonatan defense and, on the rebound, Francisco Trincão was unfortunate not to hit the target. Rio Ave FC had one of their few dangerous attacks of the second half, with Leonardo Ruiz shooting narrowly wide.

Finally, the deadlock was broken in the 62nd minute. Off a direct free kick, Edwards sent the ball into the area and Gonçalo Inácio, with an excellent header, scored for Sporting CP..

With the score at 0-1, Jhonatan once again denied Paulinho and Trincão, before Amorim brought in Arthur Gomes and Manuel Ugarte in place of Marcus Edwards and Dário Essugo.

The second goal was not long in coming as, in the 73rd minute, Porro sent in a free kick from the left and Boateng deflected it into his own net.

Doubling the lead brought tranquility to the team and to the match itself, which ended 0-2. Sporting CP are the outright leaders of Group B with six points, three more than Rio Ave FC and SC Farense. CS Marítimo, last placed in the group, are the next opponents on Tuesday, December 13th.

Sporting CP: Antonio Adán [C] [GK], Gonçalo Inácio, José Marsà, Matheus Reis, Pedro Porro, Dário Essugo (Manuel Ugarte, 71'), Pedro Gonçalves (Sotiris Alexandropoulos, 84'), Nuno Santos, Marcus Edwards (Arthur Gomes, 71'), Francisco Trincão (Rochinha, 84') and Paulinho (Jovane Cabral, 84').

The coach gives his thoughts on the upcoming Taça a Liga game

Rúben Amorim is not expecting an easy game in Vila do Conde, where Sporting Clube de Portugal play this Wednesday, against Rio Ave FC in the Taça da Liga.

“It will be a decisive game, even if nothing is decided yet, but what we want is to win, continue to play well and not concede goals against a team that like to play with the ball, that have a very good dynamic and good finishing. They are always dangerous when they can impose their ideas, and they have a coach that I like a lot, in Luís Freire," said the Sporting CP coach.

"We have to pay attention to the individual characteristics of a team that are growing, who are playing at home and that in the cup competitions have an even greater ambition. We have to win and extend a run of consecutive victories to four -which for this group is nothing special because we had a long winning streak last year and we have to get back to normal."

Amorim added that “It's going to be a difficult game, but I'm very excited to see the team, their evolution and what we've practiced. I expect a good game that, as always, we have to win."

Manuel Ugarte, returning from the World Cup, will be among the options available to Amorim.

“He came back earlier than the others, he needs to have a few minutes and he will be called up for the squad. As the game unfolds, we soon see what is best to do, because the important thing is to win”.

One player who won't feature is Jeremiah St. Juste.

"It's a difficult time for him and I know what he's going through, because I've also been through it in my career, but he's very positive about things. He has suffered a lot with this last injury, he's recovering, but we don't know when he'll be back. We will look to find the balance so that he gets to play many games. The important thing is that his quality is there and that he also has a lot of human qualities."

Of his renewal with Sporting CP, signed last week, Amorim stated that “I feel prepared for everything. What I want is for Sporting CP to reach a point in which we can keep our players. I want to be an important part of this project and I really enjoy being at Sporting CP, as well as working with people like Hugo Viana. That, perhaps, has more value than some other things."

Monday training at Academia Cristiano Ronaldo

Sporting Clube de Portugal returned to training this Monday morning at the Academia Cristiano Ronaldo in Alcochete, with their focus on the match against Rio Ave FC scheduled for Wednesday night.

Targeting another win in the Group Stage of the Taça da Liga, the players continued with the preparation for the game in Vila do Conde. They remained without Luís Neto, Jeremiah St. Juste and Daniel Bragança, who are undergoing treatment with the club's medical department.

A further session will be held on Tuesday at 10am, and at 12:15pm coach Rúben Amorim will preview the match in a press conference.

Sporting CP win 6-0 in Taça da Liga debut

Sporting Clube de Portugal opened their Taça da Liga campaign with a comprehensive 6-0 win over SC Farense in the group stage. A Paulinho brace, plus goals from Marcus Edwards, Pedro Gonçalves, Arthur Gomes and Mateus Fernandes, helped the team to victory.

Rúben Amorim made five changes to the starting lineup compared to the visit to FC Famalicão, bringing in Franco Israel, José Marsà, Dário Essugo, Nuno Santos and Marcus Edwards in place of Antonio Adán, Jeremiah St. Juste, Sebastián Coates, Hidemasa Morita and Manuel Ugarte, respectively.

Sporting CP started at full throttle, and racked up eight shots in the first ten minutes. Just four minutes in, Francisco Trincão had a strike saved by goalkeeper Ricardo Velho, and, off the follow-up, Pedro Porro also tried his luck and was inches away from making it 1-0. Soon after, Nuno Santos' shot deflected off a defender and Velho intervened again.

On eight minutes, Porro set up Paulinho, who missed the target.

The deserved opener came in the 20th minute, when Santos found Trincao, whose ball into the heart of the area was met by Paulinho to finish.

Sporting CP scored again two minutes later. Dário Essugo recovered the ball in midfield and the counterattack ended with Paulinho shooting. Velho's save came back to the striker, who converted second time around to make it 2-0.

SC Farense tried to respond with their first shot shortly after the half-hour, Rui Costa hitting his effort just wide, but the play was still controlled by Sporting CP.

Before the break, Porro provided a pass for Marcus Edwards, who danced through the opposition defence, finished classily and took the score to 3-0 at the interval.

Upon the restart, in the 48th minute, Porro advanced down the right and worked a ball into the area, where Pedro Gonçalves placed a shot into the back of the net.

In the 61st minute, Trincão was replaced by Jovane Cabral and the intensity of the game began to drop, but Sporting CP were always close to scoring again. With just over 20 minutes left, it was Arthur Gomes and Mateus Fernandes' turn to come on, replacing  Edwards and Santos.

Cabral's best contribution was a shot wide in the 74th minute, but a few moments later Sporting CP made it 5-0, when Porro's through ball was latched onto by Paulinho and he laid off to Arthur Gomes for the finish.

Mateus Fernandes won a penalty kick, and the 18-year-old midfielder himself was called upon to convert and past Velho, taking the score to 6-0 and scoring on his debut for the first team.

After a 6-0 win, next Wednesday the team play their second game of the group stage away to Rio Ave FC.

Sporting CP: Franco Israel [GK], Gonçalo Inácio, José Marsà, Matheus Reis, Pedro Porro (Ricardo Esgaio, 80'), Dário Essugo (Sotiris Alexandropoulos, 45'), Pedro Gonçalves, Nuno Santos [C] (Mateus Fernandes, 69'), Marcus Edwards (Arthur Gomes, 69'), Francisco Trincao (Jovane Cabral, 61') and Paulinho.

New contract made official this Tuesday

Sporting Clube de Portugal and Rúben Amorim have signed an extension to the first team coach's contract through to 2026.

The 37-year-old coach joined Frederico Varandas, chairman of the Board of Directors, at the Estádio José Alvalade on Tuesday for the celebration of the renewal.

Speaking to Sporting CP media, Varandas announced that it was "a very happy day for Sporting CP."

"We signed Rúben Amorim in March 2020, we are now in November 2022 and we have just renewed his contract until June 2026. This renewal demonstrates a lot about how Sporting CP work today: With discretion, efficiency and a clear direction. It is also a very strong sign of how today Sporting CP are a strong and stable club, with stability being the basis of all success. A contract of this duration always obliges that the parties involved are 100% committed to the sporting project and that there is an extremely high level of trust between them. As president of Sporting CP, I am very happy that we have a contract until 2026 with one of the best coaches in the world and because we will continue to make Sporting CP grow."

Rúben Amorim was equally satisfied with the continuation of his tenure in charge.

"For any coach it is very important to receive the trust of a club when you still have a contract in place, and especially in the worst time we have been experiencing as Sporting CP coaching staff. Renewing with me for a longer period now is a sign of great confidence. Even with the problems that all families have, we have managed to solve them and we are ready for another very difficult three-year cycle. I want to thank all Sportinguistas and tell them that there will be three difficult years ahead; we know that. We are going to have a lot of joy and, sometimes, disappointment too. We will do everything to make Sporting CP a much better club in three years. Thank you for your trust, I am very happy and I am where I want to be."

Since joining the club in the final stretch of the 2019/20 season, Rúben Amorim has already won, a Liga Portugal title (2020/2021), the Supertaça (2021) and two Taça da Ligas (2020/2021 and 2021/2022) as coach of Sporting CP.

The squad prepare for their first appearance in the competition

Sporting Clube de Portugal held a training session at the Academia Cristiano Ronaldo in Alcochete on Wednesday morning, ahead of their debut in the Taça da Liga next week.

Coach Rúben Amorim ran a session in which several players from the youth team joined the squad.

Sotiris, who had played for the Greece national team in recent days, returned and was part of the workout.

The team take the next two days off and return to work on Saturday morning, with another training session scheduled for 10:30am local time.

"It's always nice to have fans close to us," says the forward

Rochinha and Paulinho took part in an autograph session at Suits Inc, sponsor of Sporting Clube de Portugal, on Monday afternoon. The pair had the opportunity to meet Sportinguistas after training.

“It is always good to have the fans close to us and also to realise how much they love the club. This is even more important when we aren't in the position where we want to be in the league," said Paulinho to journalists after the signing session, saying: “I feel a lot of affection at Sporting CP."

“We have to work hard and run a lot. That has to be present in every game and, as we have seen in the last few, when we do that, we will also have a moment to wear one of these suits for a celebration."

Asked about the pause in domestic action for the World Cup, Paulinho commented that “This break is a novelty because it's the first time it's happened, but it could be good because we have more time to train. We had been growing, but we are going to take advantage of this break to improve and continue to grow."

“We are working hard. There's no Liga Portugal games, but we have the Taça da Liga and we have to win. It's strange that we're not all here and there's a competition like the World Cup going on, but we have to continue with our work."

The striker has two goals and three assists in 2022/2023, and assessed what he is lacking this term.

“I feel that I can improve, but above all I hope the season will get better for Sporting CP. That's what I'm focused on; I don't care about the individual aspect, and neither do my teammates. We know that we are better as players when the team are doing better, and we also know that Sporting CP have to do well. Individual accolades are an extra."

Capped by Portugal, Paulinho was in national team coach Fernando Santos's initial shortlist for the World Cup but ended up being left out of the squad.

“We would all like to be there, but the important thing now is that we are all supporting the team. Will I give my all to play in the European Championships? I have to go all-in in the next game for Sporting CP. It will be my work here that will give me the opportunity to go or not."

The coach's verdict on the win over FC Famalicão

After a 1-2 victory for Sporting Clube de Portugal away to FC Famalicão, coach Rúben Amorim thanked the fans for making the trip to watch the game.

"The way they support us is different, in a good way. We really appreciate their support and it will help us in the future. We will get back to being as competitive as we were before, and we are taking steps towards that," he told journalists in his post-match press conference.

"It was a fair victory. We started well, dominating and controlling the transitions. We could and should have scored more goals. We mixed up our movement of the ball a little and that's when the goals came. We went into the break winning deservedly and were looking for the third goal, but we weren't as agile in looking for positions or as quick to change switch flanks. We conceded, and from there it was a question of maintaining the scoreline until the game ended," he said, admitting that the team "needed this victory a lot."

"Big teams live off consistency. It's the result that counts, so winning is relevant in improving the team's performance. We have not been consistent in our results, but we have been in our performances, and today we brought the two things together. In the second half we didn't have the same speed, which was dangerous. We had several chances for a third goal and, from the moment they made it 1-2 onwards, things switched. FC Famalicão started to have more of the ball and to launch it into the area. It was a very important victory. Moving up the table is important, as we are far off our targets and we know it."

Finally, the coach commented on the work that will be done during the break for the World Cup.

"My feeling today was that maybe we shouldn't stop. Two weeks ago, when we were in a more difficult moment, we needed a break. The break will be important for players like Sotiris Alexandropoulos, Jeremiah St. Juste, Dário Essugo and Mateus Fernandes. We will have more time to do what we have been doing all year: Work with scouting and prepare the future of Sporting CP. This victory is good for us to face the break with optimism," he stated.