The story coming out of the first week of Portugal’s season could have been the continued excellent of FC Porto or Sporting Club of Portugal, but as they did last year with their turnstile coaching position and curious roster management, the storied Benfica club making themselves into a curiosity is the most interesting headline in the Superliga.

Benfica finished a shocking fourth last season despite having a much better goal differential than third place finishing Vitoria de Guimaraes. This relegated them to the UEFA Cup, which undoubtedly gave them a nice taste in their mouth was they saw Guimares bow out of Champions League before the group stage. Benfica may be right to believe they would have beaten FC Basel.

Benfica is a club that’s been European Champions twice. They’ve been to the final of the Champions League seven times and are part of Portugal’s big three clubs along with Porto and Sporting CP, and in bringing in Pablo Aimar and Jose Antonio Reyes from the Spanish league looked ready to challenge Sporting, if not Porto.

That challenge will have to wait until Benfica can prove able to manage Rio Ave. You know Rio Ave? The club that finished second in the Liga de Honra last season? They, apparently, are capable of competing with Benfica, drawing with the Portuguese giants 1-1 on Sunday. For Benfica, tackling Porto and Sporting CP will have to wait.

In the interim, the other top teams handled their business against opening weekend speed bumps. Sporting Lisbon gave Trofense, last season’s second division champions, a rude introduction to the top tier, defeating them 3-1 in Lisbon. Sporting CP scored their three goals within the first 28 minutes and cruised the rest of the way.

Porto looked to be slightly more bothered in the absence of start Ricardo Quaresma, whose continues to try and recovery from an injury which sidelined him throughout the preseason. For Inter Milan fans this means he will be at the San Siro by the end of the week. If that’s the case, Porto may have shown themselves capable of surviving, with a 2-0 final score belying a lop-sided match. Porto was able to consistent pressure Belenenses goaltender Julio Cesar, who got a rude introduction to Portuguese football, playing his first game after coming over from Brazil’s Botafogo. The 21-year-old will see better days, though if Quaresma stays at Porto, last week’s match may prove to be a blessing. Porto again looks the league’s class.

Whether that class will extend beyond Portugal was the question today as both Porto and Sporting were drawn into their Champions League groups. With both teams in Pot B (the second level), they will be expected to make it into the knock-out stage. Porto faces a tough draw, grouped with Arsenal, Fenerbahce, and Dinamo Kiev. Fenerbahce advances to last season’s Champions League quarterfinals, while Dinamo Kiev destroyed Spartak Moscow in qualifying to get to the group stage. You will see Porto picked anywhere from first to fourth.

Sporting CP was drawn into the thinnest group, with Barcelona being the clear class of a quartet that also includes FC Basel and Shakhtar Donetsk. Though both Basel and Shakhtar proved themselves tough in qualifying, Sporting will not have Porto’s excuse of a tough group should they fail to reach the knock-out phase of the tournament.

Today (Friday), five Portuguese teams will be draw into the UEFA Cup first round. Vitoria de Guimaraes, eliminated from the Champions League by Basel, will be joined by Benfica, Vitoria de Setubal, Maritimo, and Sporting Braga. In theory, Benfica is one of the tournament’s five or six top teams, but does that mean, were they in the UEFA Cup, Rio Ave would also be favorites?

WFP Portuguese Superliga Club Rankings

	Rank	Last Week	Club
	1	N/A	Porto This spot will be theirs until shown they don’t deserve it. It’s just the respect they deserve. Hulk got his first goal.
	2	N/A	Sporting CP Like Porto, started this season where they left off the last.
	3	N/A	Nacional Two goal win on the road to kick off the season gets them an early, lofty rankings.
	4	N/A	Naval Strong showing against Maritimo was a mild surpise, but a second minute goal is often all you need in the Portuguese Liga.
	5	N/A	Vitoria de Setubal Guimaraes my not have shown well in Champions League qualifying, but a point on the road against last season’s third place finisher gets a decent rankings.
	6	N/A	Sporting de Braga Authors of one of the four victories by at least two goals. They will have the chance to show themselves on Monday when they host Sporting CP.
	7	N/A	Vitoria de Guimaraes It my not be fair given these rankings are domestic affairs, but I can’t help but remember their Champions League qualifier against FC Basel when making this list.
	8	N/A	Belenenses They were the sacrifical lambs for Porto on the opening weekend, and while they probably were farther from the champions than the 2-0 score indicated, they won’t be judged too harshly. It was not a match any team would in this league would have been expected to win.
	9	N/A	Estrela da Amadora They got three points at home in a match against two of the lower finishers from last season. It’s the type of win that should help distinguish them at the end of the season, should things go poorly.
	10	N/A	Benfica Made me look absolutely foolish. Just days after I said they could threaten Porto at the top of the league, they draw against the team I predicted to finish last. Nuno Gomes got their goal.
	11	N/A	Rio Ave Congratulations to one of the promoted teams on getting a piont from Benfica.
	12	N/A	Academica Held off the scoreboard in their visit to Amadora.
	13	N/A	Maritimo A disappointing first weekend for last year’s fifth place finisher saw them give a lower rankign team three points. They trailed for 88 minutes of their match.
	14	N/A	Trofense Another of the promoted clubs, were sacrificed to Sporting CP. Is this a Portuguese tradition? To sacrifice the promoted clubs to the Champions League qualifiers on week one? How tribal.
	15	N/A	Leixoes Gave up three goals to Nacional and looks to again be battling relegation. Only the referee bribery scandal saved them last season.
	16	N/A	Pacos de Ferreira Failed to score in their home opener and, like Leixoes, looks destined to struggle to keep their place in the Liga.

One of the trickle-down effects of Robinho’s potential move to Chelsea will be the renewed availability of Shawn Wright-Phillips. Wright-Phillips was thought to be gone from Stamford Bridge this summer as Luiz Felipe Scolari thinned out the bloated squad he’d inherited. Ultimately, Scolari decided to keep Wright-Phillips as an understudy to Joe Cole. But when Robinho comes aboard Wright-Phillips will lose a rung on the depth chart, becoming an extraneous third option at right wing. So as Chelsea continue negotiating with Real Madrid for their Brazilian target, Peter Kenyon is sure to have a subordinate calling around the Premiership looking for a new home for Wright-Phillips.

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Yet another rumor surrounding Fluminense attacker Thiago Neves, though there is another suitor mentioned in this one.  This time, it is Manchester City, a team who is still looking for that marquee name after being used by Ronaldinho early this summer.  Neves, who just finished his Olympics commitment to Brazil, would fill that role, even if expectations of him are a bit high at this point.  Atlético Madrid has also been strongly mentioned in some reports, but Neves’s representation is speaking openly about a City move, something that is both a good and a bad sign.

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A fourth major European league kicks off this week when Portugal’s Superliga starts play on Saturday. Like the Bundesliga and Eredivisie, I could know more about this league and will spend this season educating myself, starting with the leg work I have to do to make these predictions. They may be worth no more than a reference point eight months from now, when I will hopefully be more knowledgeable about a league which is a major source of talent for the big three leagues.

Almost all of these teams I know from what I see when they play FC Porto, which is the dominant club of this league. More than PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands and much more than Bayern Munich in Germany, Porto is the class of this league. They are closer to seven-consecutive Ligue 1 champion Lyon, and as it concerns current distance from their rivals, Porto trounces their French analog. In 30 matches, Porto allowed only 13 goals last season while scoring 60; winning 24 of those games while losing only 3. They are the last club outside the big three to win Champions League, have a world-class winger in Ricardo Quaresma, and would surprise some if they did not advance beyond the UCL group stage this season. The won the league by 20 points this season and have suffered only one significant loss: Jose Bosingwa to Chelsea.

Porto should regress slightly, but if a serious challenge is to be made, it won’t be from them coming back to the crowd. A club is going to half to catch up to them. Two clubs, Sporting Lisbon (second last season) and Benfica (fourth), have loaded up, each having a laundry-list of additions they’ve made. Both clubs should score a lot more goals than last season to make themselves dangerous over a schedule that has only 30 games. Benfica, in particular, seems to have loaded up, though Sporting showed this weekend that they can be formidable when they beat Porto in the Portuguese Super Cup.

Benfica should mount a major challenge. They were already excellent defensively, allowing only 21 goals last season. Regression alone will have them close that difference with Porto, and the roster chances the two teams have made will close the gab a little more. Benfica has lost Rui Costa and Cristian Rodriguez, but they’ve also brought in Pablo Aimar and Reyes. Stabilizing their coaching situation will also help, as the club went through four coaches last season. I think all these changes together will have a dramatic effect.

Beyond these three teams, the table is somewhat of a crap-shoot.  Last year’s third place finisher Vitoria de Guimaraes finish well above where their goal differential would portend, as did fifth place Vitoria de Setubol.  They have more in common with the pack than any of the contenders.  The rest of the league is comprised of Brazilian imports and the seemingly hundreds to players on loan from Porto.  Most of them could “click” and make a run for the last couple of the league’s UEFA Cup births.

I am not picking Benfica or Sporting Lisbon to win the league, but I think at least one of them will make it interesting. Until a club proves otherwise, Porto is the club in Superliga, but this season Benfica should do for Superliga what Bordeaux did for Ligue 1 last season: make it a contest.

Schalke 04 exhibited a new, powerful approach during their 3-0 victory over Hannover on Saturday.

Bundesliga Standings Rank Club GP PTS DIFF 1 Hoffenheim 1 3 3 2 Schalke 1 3 3 3 Stuttgart 1 3 2 4 Hertha Berlin 1 3 2 5 Borussia Dortmund 1 3 1 6 Wolfsburg 1 3 1 7 Karlsruhe 1 3 1 8 Arminia Bielefeld 1 1 0 9 Bayern Munich 1 1 0 10 Hamburger SV 1 1 0 11 Werder Bremen 1 1 0 12 Bayer Leverkusen 1 0 -1 13 1. FC Koln 1 0 -1 14 VfL Bochum 1 0 -1 15 Borussia M’gladbach 1 0 -2 16 Frankfurt 1 0 -2 17 Energie Cottbus 1 0 -3 18 Hannover 1 0 -3 Results August 15, 2008 Bayern Munich 2 2 Hamburg SV August 16, 2008 Bayer Leverkusen 2 3 Borussia Dortmund Arminia Bielefeld 2 2 Werder Bremen Karlsruhe 1 0 VfL Bochum Schalke 3 0 Hannover Energie Cottbus 0 3 Hoffenheim Wolfsburg 2 1 Koln August 17, 2008 Borussia M’gladbach 1 3 Stuttgart Frankfurt 0 2 Hertha Berlin Next Week Home Away August 22, 2008 Hannover Energie Cottbus August 23, 2008 Hoffenheim Borussia M’gladbach Stuttgart Bayer Leverkusen Hamburger SV Karlsruhe Borussia Dortmund Bayern Munich Werder Bremen Schalke 04 Hertha Berlin Arminia Bielefeld August 24, 2008 1. FC Koln Frankfurt VfL Bochum Wolfsburg

When you stack their lineups against each other, Bayern Munich’s seems better, but it is surprising how much talent Schalke has. Announcing it to Europe in their Champions League challenge to Barcelona last season, Schalke is on the verge of transcending the perception of plucky, over-achieving club to league title contender. In round one of the Bundesliga campaign, they were the league’s best team.

Their 3-0 victory over Hannover did not do them justice.  Playing without high-profile summer acquisitions Jefferson Farfán (winger/forward from PSV Eindhoven) and Orlando Engelaar (holding midfielder from FC Twente) - both of whom were hurt in the middle of the week during the club’s impressive Champions League victory over Atlético Madrid - Schalke still exhibited the firepower that should make Bayern, who could have trouble with Farfán and Kevin Kurayni working together, scared.

Bayern limped to a tie against visiting Hamburg without Luca Toni, Franck Ribery and Martin Demichelis.  In round two, they play at a Borussia Dortmund team that confidently put three goals on Bayer Leverkusen in opening their season with a win.  If Bayern does not get healthy for their second match, they could find themselves four or five points behind a rolling Schalke 04 team that plays at a Diego-less Werder Bremen.

Four or five points may not sound like much, but in a Bundesliga that looks a little top heavy, the elite teams may face fewer teams capable of stealing points.  With four fewer matches in the Bundesliga season (compared to the big three leagues), a four or five point gifted Schalke now could be the type of thing Jurgen Klinsmann rues at season’s send.  And if there’s any club that knows about elite teams piling up points in the Bundesliga, it’s Bayern.

Werder Bremen was a near-elite last season (there was only one true elite last season), but without Diego they are a completely different team.  There may be no single player more important to his club than Diego, who is in Beijing for the Olympics.  Seeing them struggle to tie Arminia Beilefeld this weekend, Bremen’s desire to keep the Brazilian playmaker out of the Olympics suddenly made sense.  They weren’t involved in Champions League qualifying like Schalke or Barcelona, but even one match without Diego is a huge loss for this club, whose whole style of play is predicated on the young star’s ability to distribute.

Markus Rosenburg’s two surgical strikes helped Bremen get a point from a Bielefeld side that used the visitor’s wide-open style of play to their advantage.  Bremen is unlikely to alter their style for their match against Schalke, so expect Ivan Ratikic and company to have a big day.

In addition to Round 2’s Dortmund-Bayern, Bremen-Schalke headliners, Stuttgart hosts Leverkusen in another potentially defining match.  Stuttgart efficiently dealt with a Moenchengladbach team that, while having chances, lacked the firepower to play with Thomas Hitzlsperger and Mario Gomez.  Now Stuttgart hosts Bayer with a chance for a six point start.  If they get their win, Bayer will have gone without a point in their first two matches, an early hole for a team that has European aspirations.

There was bad news on the injury front from Round 1’s action.  Dortmund’s Dede, who gave Leverkusen so much trouble on Saturday, suffered a major knee injury and should be lost until spring.  And although Schalke has looked the league’s best team, their depth will take a major hit of midfielder Jermaine Jones, who missed almost all of last season with injuries, is out for more than just Wednesday’s Germany friendly.  Jones is doubtful for Joachim Low’s team.   The German-American midfielder is proving to be a vital cog in Schalke’s attack, running off of Kurayni and onto Farfán’s crosses, but any injury scare is twice as frightening for Jones, given his recent injury history.

World Football Postulant Bundesliga Rankings

As their result was injury related, there’s only so much I’m willing to drop Bayern, though they have looked poor all preseason. Likewise, I can only drop Werder so far, seeing as Diego is in Beijing.

With so many clubs who should finish in the top half of the table playing each other this weekend, a lot of teams have three points without being very high in my first rankings set. Those clubs have thirty-three more rounds to show me their value.

And just as was the case with the Ligue 1 rankings, this early in the season, the whole endeavor becomes worthless pretty quickly. We just need to have fun with it.

1. Schalke 04
2. Bayern Munich
3. Hamburger SV
4. Borussia Dortmund
5. Werder Bremen
6. Bayer Leverkusen
7. Stuttgart
8. Hertha Berlin
9. Arminia Bielefeld
10. Hoffenheim
11. Hannover
12. Karlsruhe
13. VfL Wolfsburg
14. Borussia M’gladbach
15. VfL Bochum
16. Koln
17. Frankfurt
18. Energie Cottbus

Forgot to mention:

Last night I finished and posted my review of the English Premier League’s first week.  It can be read at American Soccer Reader, where I will be posting much of my Premier League content.  Here is a direct link.

The work flow on most pieces has me post a working copy of Premier League material here before editing, reformatting for ASR.  The Premier League content is pretty much always intended for ASR, and it’s getting to where the Brazil updates are in the same boat.  I think Champions League will be ASR-centric, too.

As always, I highly encourage you to visit ASR.

Argentina’s impressive quarterfinal performance made them slightly favorites to beat an underwhelming Brazil side in today’s Olympic semifinal, but there still seemed to be something missing from a team that was expected to be much more dominant than they have been. With Sergio Agüero’s two goals today, we were shown what that missing element was. The Atlético Madrid star, voted best player in Spain last season, pushed Argentina into the final, one match away from repeating as goal medalists.

The Argentinians will meet Nigeria in a final that was expected to be an encore to the Argentina-Brazil main event, but with the Screaming Eagles beating Belgium 4-1, the final now looks like the main attraction it is supposed to be. Nigeria needed a win over the United States in its last group match to make the medal round, but once there they beat a strong Ivory Coast team 2-0 before dispatching Belgium. Given the United States was undefeated before running into the Nigerians, the Super Eagles have been the tournament’s most impressive team over the last three matches.

If Agüero can play against Nigeria as he did against Brazil, it may not matter. Whereas Lionel Messi carried the Argentinians over the Netherlands in the quarterfinals, Agüero stepped up, scored his first goals of the tournament, and returned the favor against the Brazilians. One (or both) of the two star strikers will need to ascend to similar levels in this weekend’s gold medal match, as Nigeria will be their toughest test of the tournament.

Brazil was not up to that label. Argentina went up 2-0 in the second half on Agüero goals that came six minutes apart, but they were the better team even before breaking through. After the goals, Brazil showed some brief life before becoming frustrated by the Argentinians. That frustration came to a head when Thiago Neves as Lucas Leiva were both sent off for a tackles on Javier Mascherano. For a Brazil side disappointed on again missing out on a gold medal, it was an apt end to their hopes.

Brazil will take on Belgium in the bronze medal game, a rematch of a group phase game the Brazilians won, 1-0.  Their inability to reach the gold medal match will hit Brazil hard, as the team brought the biggest name in the tournament, Ronaldinho, as an overage player in an effort to win their first goal medal.  Although Ronaldinho showed some flashes of his former self, Brazil never played up to their talent.  Dunga’s search for a cohesive lineup over the last two matches failed, and Brazil again missed out on Olympic goal. They not only missed out. They crashed out, losing 3-0 in a match that they rarely contested.

Argentina should not expect such little opposition in the final. Nigeria has come to dub their squad the Dream Team and have high expectations. Their athleticism will keep them in the match, their overage Lokomotiv Moscow star Peter Odemwingie is capable of stealing a winger should the the Nigerians stifle Argentina.

While they should be expected to win their second consecutive gold, the tournament has changed for Argentina. Their toughest match will no long be their semifinal, as was expected three weeks ago. Nigeria will be more than Brazil.

Links
Aguero inspires Brazil demise
Nigeria to meet Argentina
Nigeria reach Olympic final
Argentina routs Brazil to reach another final
Argentina knocks out rivals Brazil
Brazil humiliated by final-bound Argentina
Quick Report: Argentina 3-0 Brazil
Nigeria routs Belgium 4-1 to reach Olympic final
Super Eagles dispatch Belgium
Nigeria 4-1 Belgium: Nigeria reach Olympic final
Nigeria’s four-star show
Nigeria thump Belgium to reach Olympic final
Slick Nigeria crush sorry Belgium
Quick report: Nigeria 4-1 Belgium

Nigeria posted the most impressive result of the quarterfinal, getting and early goal from over-age, Lokomotiv striker Peter Odemwingie to take a lead over Côte d’Ivoire which they never relinquished.  The Screaming Eagles were rarely threatening, controlling a match they put away with an 82nd minute penalty kick goal.

This victory, along with having advanced into the medal round after winning the tournament’s strongest group, has to announce Nigeria as one of the tournaments favorites.  They do not have the talent of either Brazil or Argentina, but they have a history of taking this tournament very seriously, and they have the easier path to the gold medal match.

Belgium’s win over Italy puts them in the semifinals against Nigeria.  Nigeria will be favored, and should they advance will have a puncher’s chance against one of the tournament co-favorites.  If Brazil were to advance to the finals, the Nigerians who face a country that, while wanting their first gold medal, may not have the same hunger for the crown as the Argentina side that won the tournament four years ago.  Argentina, however, looks a bit better at this point in the tournament, and if they advance they will be favored over the Eagles.

For Côte d’Ivoire, it was a well played tournament in which they will get no reward.  They finished second in a group into which they were drawn with Argentina.  They played the co-favorites will, but only finishing second in their group, got matched-up with a strong Nigerian side in the medal round.  Côte d’Ivoire might be one of the top four or five teams in the tournament, but they are out at the round of eight.

Links
Nigeria book last-four date
Nigeria Pop Ivory Coast, To Meet Belgium In Semi-final
Quick Report: Nigeria 2-0 C√¥te d’Ivoire

The Netherlands, of whom so much was expected coming into the tournament, stumbled in the group stage and barley advanced out of their group, garnering themselves a quarterfinal match-up with giants Argentina. That stumble almost turned into Argentina’s bane as the tournament co-favorites were faced with a Dutch side that, playing to their potential, pushed them to the limit. After playing at 1-1 for over seventy minutes, Argentina’s Angel Di Maria scored in extra time to give the favorites their margin of victory.

The win sets up the match all followers have been waiting for. Argentina will face Brazil in one semifinal while the Netherlands goes home medal-less.

Lionel Messi, by reports, was dominant, scoring the Argentina’s first goal and creating numerous chances, including the one for Di Maria’s game winner. His efforts help the Argentines control the match in what might have been their best performance of the tournament. Despite this, the side still needed extra time to dispatch a Dutch team which has to be regretting their not winning Group B.

Messi has the ability to dominate a Brazil team which, while being defensively thrifty in their four matches, has not impressed.  I picked Brazil at the onset, but after overcoming the Netherlands today, Argentina holds the best result out of the two team’s eight matches.  With Dunga now second-guessing his tactic, leaving a lot of his talent on the bench, Argentina looks the better bet for the gold medal.

Links
Quick Report: Argentina 2-1 Netherlands
Messie sets up Brazil semi

Italy, possibly the most impressive side in the Olympics’ group phase, was handed their match with Belgium.  The underdogs went down a man and a goal within twenty minutes, left to chase the lead with ten men in China’s conditions.  But just over five minutes later the underdogs evened the score, showing the fight that would eventually lead to an upset of a team that looked to have a clear path of the final.

Italy were given a draw with neither Brazil nor Argentina on their side of the medal round draw.  They played in the group phase and looked poised to use these next two matches preparing for the winner of the other semifinal.  That they were not able to go through give Belgium going a man down is stunning.  Belgium, for their part, continue the great play that saw them cruise into the second round while giving Brazil a tough match in their group phase loss.

Belgium was the better side.  Both of Italy’s goals came from Giuseppe Rossi penalty kicks.  And each time, the Belgians came back quickly.  After Rossi’s second goal in the 73rd minute (which tied the score), scored against Belgium’s back-up goaltender (who was replacing the injured starter), the Belgians answered within six minutes through Moussa Dembele’s second goal, putting them up for good.

Italy, up a man, could have persisted with their man advantage and relied on extra time and the heat to wear down their opponents, though before the ensuing kick-off Italian goalkeeper Viviano was red-carded after an altercation with a Belgian player who was getting the ball out of the net.  Outplayed while up a man, the Italians would now have to play on an even field.

It is a stunning result, and the Italians should be disappointed.  They were handed the group, matches, and quarterfinal match which helped pave their way to the finals, and they blew it.  Not only did they blow it, but they wouldn’t have come close without some penalty kicks.  They did not score in open play.

Belgium gets a deserved win and advances to play the winner of Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire.  The Belgians will again be underdogs, but after today’s match, they won’t be underestimated.

Links
Ten man belgium shock Italy in thriller
Brave Belgium roar into last four