He entered almost at the end of the game and everything changed: Éder, the ugly duckling of the national team, gave the European Championship to Portugal, in July, and in the Algarve the party was fierce. The following month, it was Ana Cabecinha, an athlete from the Clube Oriental do Pechão, who, at the Olympics in Rio, gave the Algarve another joy, with the 6th place achieved in the Marcha Atlética.
Portimonense, on the other hand, reached the “almost” three times: they almost rose, in Football, to the I League, almost rose, in Futsal, also to the I League, and almost reached the final of the League Cup. All in 2015/2016. Farense, in turn, completed (even) the descent to the National Championship for Seniors, and Olhanense seems to be heading to keep him company.
Embark on this 2016 overview, to learn about the most relevant sports news… always branded Sul Informação.
January:
The sporting year began with the participation of the Algarvian Ruben Faria in the Dakar, where he was runner-up in motorcycles in 2013. The race even started well for the Portuguese, who finished the initial prologue in 1st place, but a fall, during the 6th stage, in Bolivia, forced him to leave the Dakar due to a broken wrist. The pilot was then in 7th place in the overall standings.
Paulo Gonçalves was another Portuguese featured in the 2016 Dakar. The pilot still led the classification and had a remarkable moment when, in the 7th stage, he stopped for 11 minutes to help Austrian Matthias Walkner (KTM), who had suffered a fall and broken his leg.
From motorcycles to football, January was synonymous with a party in Portimão. 26 years later, o Portimonense beat Sporting, in a game counting for the 2nd round of the League Cup. Ewerton was the hero of the match, scoring the two goals that sealed the victory against Jorge Jesus' team, by 2-0.
This result was halfway to the historical clearance that the Portimonense reached, on January 26, the semi-finals of the League Cup, after beating Paços de Ferreira by 3-2, in Capital do Móvel.
February:
In February, Portimonense's dream of reaching the League Cup final fell to the ground. In a game played in the «caldeirão dos Barreiros», Marítimo beat the Portimão team by 3-1, despite having been Pires who opened the scoring.
The «Atlantic Tour», which also took place in February, brought riders from 28 countries to Vilamoura, as well as equestrian lovers. From February 16th to April 3rd, the “cream” of this sport was in the region and brought thousands of tourists, which exhausted the Algarve's hotel capacity. In the end, it was the British riders who won the most races: 66 out of 160.
And February is, of course, synonymous with Volta ao Algarve. 2016 was no exception, with Sky's Geraint Thomas being crowned, for the second time, the winner of the algarvia at the top of Malhão, in Loulé. In the competition, Louletano/Hospital de Loulé and Sporting/Tavira also participated, with João Benta, from the Louletana team, being the best classified, among the Algarve teams, in the competition, with the 26th position overall.
In football, the Portimonense beat Farense, in a regional derby, thanks to Jadson's goal, in the 80th minute. In February, the Sul Informação he also made known the growth of the Vela Solidária project, which consolidated adapted sailing activities during the year in Portimão, Lagos or Vila Nova de Gaia.
March:
The month started with the news that Raquel Correia, a swimmer from the Cultural and Sports Association Colégio Bernardette Romeira de Olhão, had become national champion of adapted swimming in Class S15, Hearing Impairment. Raquel Correia, who is from São Brás de Alportel, achieved two national titles, in the 50 meters Mariposa and in the 200 meters Freestyle, having also been runner-up in the 50 and 100 meters Freestyle.
O The already traditional “Cross das Amendoeiras” was played on the 13th of March on the Açoteias track, in Albufeira. Salomé Rocha, from Benfica, won the competition in women's, after Sara Moreira, a leonine athlete, until she celebrated the victory… but she was wrong, as there was a lap to go. In the men's competition, Nélson Cruz, from Clube Pedro Pessoa, with a time of 30.44 minutes, cut the finish line in first.
In March, Pedro Martins, badminton athlete, from CHE Lagoense, won the International Cup of Brazil. In football, even if outside the four lines, two young players from Portimonense managed to escape unharmed in the attacks on Brussels Airport, on the 22nd, which killed 14 people.
Alexandre Pimenta and Francisco Pacheco made a stopover in Brussels to go to Venice, where they were going to test at an Italian club. But they escaped with no more sequels than a valiant scare.
March was synonymous with good results for the marchers Ana Cabecinha and Carolina Costa, from Clube Oriental de Pechão, who were in 3rd place, in the senior and junior levels, respectively, at the Dudince International Meeting, in Slovakia.
Beatriz Gago, from Clube Naval de Portimão, became national champion of female juveniles, in Vela.
April:
On the 7th, there was a “psychological whipping” in Farense. Horácio Gonçalves abandoned the command of the lions of Faro, giving way to Antero Afonso. Farense occupied, at the time, the 20th position of the II League. April was, moreover, a black month for the class of Faro. In addition to the change of coach, there was a defeat against Olhanense, who even had the right to a coffin, used by the supporters of the Olhão club, to symbolize the bad moment of the eternal rivals.
In the office, Farense lost 2 points due to the misuse of Harramiz against Benfica B, which turned out to be important in the II League accounts.
In April there was also another derby in the Algarve: Portimonense beat Olhanense, at José Arcanjo, thanks to captain Ricardo Pessoa's goal. Still in football, the Sul Informação Spoke to João Virgínia, a young goalkeeper from the Algarve, who played for Ferreiras, and shone, at the service of Briton Arsenal, by defending five penalties in two games, helping the club to win the Future Cup.
Within the four lines, the project of the new club Algarve Clube de Futebol, which is competing in the 2nd Division of the District Championship, was also made known in April. The investment comes from Singapore and has one objective: to reach the I League.
In bodyboarding, Sagres was, once again, synonymous with victories for the sport. Tomás Rosado, in sub16, and Rafael Cabral, in sub14), athletes from the Sagres Bodyboard Association, thus won the 1st stage of the National Circuit Bodyboard Esperanças 2016.
May:
Maio opened with a party in Armação de Pêra. Armacenenses became district soccer champion after beating the Faro and Benfica 3-0, reaching, for the first time in its history, the Senior National Championship.
In rhythmic gymnastics, the Algarve Dalia Poroknhya, from the Association of Rhythmic Gymnastics of Portimão (AGRP), was crowned runner-up in the national absolute, in youth, in an event that was disputed “at home”.
The month of May marks the end of the Football Championships, an end which, in 2016, did not smile on the Algarve teams. Portimonense, who was always fighting for the climb during the season, succumbed, first, before Chaves, who ensured their presence in the XNUMXst League in the Municipal district of Portimão, and then in front of the Varzim, game that drew 0-0. The dream of the climb fell to the ground and Feirense took the place of Portimonense, even with the Algarveans complaining about the appointment of referees for the Santa Maria da Feira team.
Even worse was Farense, who even beat Gil Vicente in the last round, but dropped out of division. the class of Faro was only 1 point away from achieving permanence, with the misuse of Harramiz in the game against Benfica B proving decisive. Nor suspicions of corruption in the Oliveirense-Leixões game, and in others in the II League, managed to save Farense.
Olhanense ended the 2015/2016 season in a comfortable 7th position, which served for maintenance. In the other sports, in May, Esgrimalgarve, the team from Olhano, won two national titles in the category initiated. In total, this emblem brought seven medals to Olhão in men and women, aged between 12 and 15 years, from the championships that were disputed in Brandoa, in Amadora.
After failing to climb to Division I in Football, Portimonense also failed to reach the highest level in Futsal, as they lost against Vinhais, in the last game of the Championship.
From bad to good news (for the Algarve), José Santiago, resident in Loulé, ranked 2nd in the Great Wall of China Marathon, on May 21st, having run 42 kilometers in 3h46min22s (!).
June:
The 12 hours of Portimão brought the noise of the motorcycles and the noise to the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve. Sul Informação didn't miss the call, with video of a tire change and refueling... in seconds, and lots of up-to-the-minute information.
The Portuguese team Parkalgar and its rider Miguel Oliveira were forced to withdraw after the fall of the Moto3 World runner-up. the race was won by the GTM94 Yamaha team, followed by the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (2nd) and Honda Endurance Racing (3rd).
At Soccer, in addition to having been the month of Portugal's first European games in France, lived intensely in the fanzone de Faro, Junho also brought changes in the technical command of Portimonense, with Vítor Oliveira being introduced as the new coach.
In Farense, António Barão is no longer president, a position he has held since 2009.
July:
July was the month of Portugal's victory at the European and the Sul Informação realized, so much of the Algarve party with the passage want to the semi-finals, wants the final, which even reached… in Wales. On the 10th of July, all over the Algarve there were flags flying, scarves flying and many shouts of victory. All thanks to Éder's goal.
On the road, in July, Rinaldo Nocentini, from Sporting/Tavira, won the Joaquim Agostinho Trophy, in a month that also marked the beginning of the Volta a Portugal, with Sporting/Tavira and Louletano/Hospital de Loulé being the Algarve representatives.
And it was still in this month that De Mateos, cyclist of the Loulé team, took third place in the 2nd stage of the Volta a Portugal.
Portimonense and Olhanense were prematurely removed from the League Cup, at the beginning of the 2016/2017 football season, with defeats in front of Santa Clara e Varzim, respectively.
Outside the lawns, Clube Oriental do Pechão won two gold medals, one silver and two bronze in the National Championship of Youth on Track. Finally, on the last day of July, Portimão received the Portuguese Grand Prix of Formula 1 Motornautics, which was won by the French, who is world champion, Philippe Chiappe. To see the “aceleras” of the waters you can (re)watch the video report here
August:
On August 1th, Vicente de Mateos managed to be the first to cross the finish line of the 5th stage of the Volta a Portugal. The Spaniard from Louletano/Hospital de Loulé needed, at the time, 3:57:58.534 to complete the 153,2 kilometers of the race. Jesus Ezquerra, from Sporting/Tavira, followed in their footsteps and won the 8th stage, which ended at Arruda dos Vinhos.
At the end of the Volta a Portugal, the best placed of the Algarve teams was Vicente de Mateos, with his 8th place overall. AND the bet, confessed to the Sul Informação, is to win the Volta in 2017.
August 14th was the birthday for the Portimonense, who celebrated his 102th birthday with a 3-2 home win against Penafiel. Olhanense, on the other hand, only won 1 point in the 5 II Liga matches played in August and started, from an early age, to be the red lantern. Portimonense had 4 wins and a draw and, unlike their rival, he walked, almost from the beginning, in the top places.
Agosto rhymed with the Olympic Games, with five people from the Algarve taking part in Rio de Janeiro: Pedro Martins, in badminton, João Vieira and Sérgio Vieira, in the men's march, Ana Cabecinha, in the women's march, and José Costa, in Vela. The big highlight was for Ana Cabecinha, who was the sixth to cross the finish line in the 20 km march. The athlete from Clube Oriental do Pechão was received at home with lots of smiles, a party… and even tears.
Pedro Martins was eliminated early in the competition, while João Vieira finished 31st in the 25 km march and Sérgio Vieira finished in 53rd position. In the 50 kilometers of the same modality, João Vieira gave up and didn't finish the race. Finally, José Costa finished 16th out of a total of 20 participants, in the 49er class.
The “novela” Pedro Delgado also took place in August. The Algarve athlete, which was taken for granted at Benfica, ended up signing... by Sporting.
Finally, on the 28th of August, Steven Odendaal was crowned European Moto 2 champion, in a race held at the Autódromo do Algarve, in Portimão.
September:
After the scare came the good news: after having survived the attacks at Brussels Airport in March, Portimonense juniors Alexandre Pimenta and Francisco Pacheco signed for Veneza in September. In paintball the “Pirates” from Vila do Bispo became national champions, in the M5 category.
After the Olympics, September was the month of Paralympics. And the Algarve was also represented at the highest level with two athletes: Jorge Pina, in the T11/12 march, and Luís Costa, in the adapted road cycling and time trial in the H5 class.
The performance of both athletes turned out to be positive: Jorge Pina was 7th in his test, while Luís Costa got 8th place, wants on the roadeither in time trial.
In king sport, September brought the Portuguese Cup party to the Algarve's emblems. In the 1st round there was an Algarvian derby (with the right to a rout). Lusitano VRSA beat Louletano 3-0 and went ahead, as did Armacenenses, Almancilense and Farense. Along the way, in addition to the team from Ivo Soares, Quarteirense and Lagoa remained.
The next round, which Olhanense and Portimonense have already entered, featured the premature elimination of Vítor Oliveira's men, who lost against the historic União de Leiria. Olhanense, Farense and Lusitano won their respective 2nd round matches and continued to represent the Algarve in the premier competition of Portuguese Football.
In the II League, September confirmed the indications of the previous month: Portimonense continued “leader and lord”, entitled to a 3-0 victory against Porto B, while the Olhanense sank in last place in the competition, with six consecutive defeats.
October:
After the party in July with winning the European Championship, Jardim Manuel Bivar, in Faro, was once again the stage of (very) good mood. All thanks… to the Belgians who came to the Algarve to support their national team in the game against Gibraltar, which has been playing the qualifying matches for the major competitions at the Estádio Algarve.
At the stadium, there were also plenty of reasons to party: Belgium won 6-0 and Benteke scored the fastest goal ever at the Worlds, whether in qualifying or in the finals.
Also in October, the Loulé Municipal Pavilion received the 2nd Circular derby in Futsal. Sporting and Benfica fought for the Super Cup, which ended up being won by the reds. Elisandro was the hero of the match, scoring the three winning goals. Also in females, Benfica won the competition, as they beat Vermoim.
From the pavilion to the pitches, October brought the defeats of Lusitano and Farense in the 3rd round of the Portuguese Cup and victory for Olhanense, who thus became the only Algarve representative in the competition. In the II League, the situation was not so good and forced the departure of Cristiano Bacci, who left Olhanense with just one point in 12 games.
Bruno Baltazar replaced him, who entered full of desire to be able to hold the Olhão team in the II League. And the truth is that on the debut tied with Sporting B to 2 goals.
Already Portimonense remained victorious and ended the month with a victory against Vizela, which gave them a 7-point lead to the 2nd place.. On Almancilense, Kennedy, former Benfica player, abandoned the technical command to head to Leixões, giving way to Manuel Matias.
Joana Schenker became (tri) national bodyboard champion in October, by reaching the final of the penultimate stage of the Portuguese Surfing Federation (FPS) national circuit, which was played in Nazaré.
In the same month, it was learned that the Volta ao Algarve is the most important cycling event held in Portugal, as it rose from category 2.1 to 2.HC.
The Autodromo do Algarve was invaded by cars from other times, as you can see here
In the 1st Division of the District of Algarve, Moncarapachense won the Faro and Benfica, by 3-0, and remained the leader.
November:
The change of coach at Olhanense began to bear fruit in early November. The team from Olhão headed to Viseu where they beat Académico by 1-0. But November was, above all, a month of good news for Estádio Algarve.
The «Final Four» of the League Cup (CTT Cup) will be played in January, from 25 to 29, in the main stadium in the south of the country. And as football is synonymous with party, activities will jump from the 4 lines and extend to the historic centers of Loulé and Faro.
Also at the Algarve Stadium, Portugal thrashed Latvia 4-1, in the Quinas team's first game in the region after winning the European Championship. Ronaldo's goals (and jumps) were not lacking, with the right to a special trip for the elderly from Santa Casa da Misericórdia in Vila do Bispo to the ball and a response by Fernando Santos, at a press conference, to a question from the Sul Informação.
The «Impossible Ascent» brought a lot of adrenaline and danger to a hill near Silves, as you can see here
November was also the month when Portimonense knew, for the first time, the taste of defeat in the II League, against Aves, despite having kept the 1st place. In the Portuguese Cup, the Algarve was left without representatives in the competition, result of the defeat of Olhanense, in a game played against Real Massamá.
Joana Schenker won the last stage of the National bodyboard circuit (championship she had already won) and there was also space for the Câmara de Lagos to pay homage to two compatriots: Jamila Marreiros and Cláudia Neto, athletes who were part of the women's soccer team that marked a historic qualification for the European Championship in the sport.
In the Volta ao Algarve, the route of the 43rd edition was known. One of the novelties is the climb to Alto da Fóia, which will have a climbing section with a 17 percent incline. A race that, according to the Portuguese Cycling Federation, can only be won “by a complete runner”.
Algarve district football brought a clash of firsts in November, which ended in a draw: 1-1 between Ferreiras and Moncarapachense.
Lastly, Tavira hosted a half-marathon, with two Benfica athletes being highlighted.
December:
In the last month of the year, the Algarve witnessed the first derby between teams in the region in the II League. O Sul Informação was present at José Arcanjo, in the match in which Portimonense beat Olhanense, 1-0.
The game marked the end of the football competition in 2016. Portimonense turns the year in 1st, with 4 more points than Aves and 14 more than the 3rd place, while the team from Olhão, the result of two consecutive defeats against Santa Clara and Portimonense, 2016 ends up in last place, 9 points below the waterline.
Still in Football, Farense ended the year in 1st place, after beating Moura, closely followed by Louletano. Finally, in the District, Ferreiras and Moncarapachense will enter 2017 tied for 1st position.
But December was also the month of elections for two associations of Algarve sports: Jorge Candeias Santos was elected president of the Algarve Athletics Association, while Alexandre Agostinho is the new president of the Algarve Swimming Association.
Ruben Faria, it was learned in December, will not compete in the Dakar, but… he will still be present in the competition as a consultant for Husqvarna.
Finally, the Volta ao Algarve squad was closed at the end of the month, with the entry of Trek-Segafredo. A total of 25 teams will participate in the Algarve.
Comments