This Sunday, Portinado won the men's national title of the 2nd Water Polo Division, by beating CNAc by 15-7, in the final played at the Rui Abreu pool, in Coimbra.
However, the Portimão team does not yet know if it will even return to the 1st National Division, which he had resigned at the start of the current 2013/2014 season, due to the “lack of guarantee of financial support and sponsorships”.
As the situation has not changed, however, Portinado, despite having been crowned national champion of the 2nd Division, does not know if it will be able to return to the top level of the sport.
Speaking to the Portuguese Swimming Federation website, coach Jorge Santos considers that "there are still no guarantees for Portinado to move up to the First Division". “We can't take a step bigger than the leg, we still don't know if we'll compete in the First Division next season”, he reinforced.
According to the Algarve coach, "it was difficult at times to motivate players throughout the season for the Second Division championship, after Portinado has discussed the First Division title in recent years."
“Many of the results we obtained do not reflect the difference to the other teams in this division, as sometimes we relaxed and didn't play what we could play”, reveals the manager who does not forget the previous Portinado coaches: “What we build at the club should and much to the previous coaches Evghenii Trobetcoi and Rui Moreira”.
In this Sunday's game, which decided who would be the national champion, the Mondego team opened the scoring, but the Algarvians managed to turn back in the first partial to 2-1.
The set guided by Jorge Santos accentuated the difference and reached the break with a 7-2 victory.
The men from Coimbra still tried to change the course of events in the third period, with the difference being fixed at 10-6, but Portinado, much more experienced in games of this nature, did not take his foot off the accelerator in the last partial, winning by 15-7. The Algarve's Francisco Borralho, with five goals, was the top scorer in the final.
In the discussion of third and fourth places, Gondomar defeated Coral 15-11.
game sheet
Portinado-CNAc, 15-7
Partials: 2-1, 5-1, 3-4, 5-1
Referees: José Barradas and Raul Vital
Labels: Portinado – Fábio Bota (2), Francisco Borralho (5), Daniel Grácio (4), Cristiano Joaquim (3) and Ricardo Biss (1); CNAc – Hugo Abade (1), José Pereira (1), Filipe Oliveira (1), João Silva (2), Victor Sobetchi (1) and Ricardo Mota (1)
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