Sporting Clube de Portugal finished in second place with 67 points, 7 behind Benfica (74 points), in the Primeira Liga this season. The second spot ensures a place in next season’s UEFA Champions League. What was definitely a great season for Sporting, considering they finished in seventh place last season breaking the record of the worst season ever in Sporting’s history.
That being said, everyone who at least follows a little bit of the Primeira Liga knows that what Sporting did this season was almost a miracle. If we take a look at their players, and compare the value of Sporting’s squad with FC Porto’s or Benfica’s we can take our own conclusions. With that budget, it was a great job by the new president Bruno de Carvalho, the coach Leonardo Jardim (who has just signed with AS Monaco), and of course, the players.
Still, Sporting’s supporters felt like if their beloved team could have done a little bit better. Sporting started this season with a 5-1 win against Arouca. It was a match in which the former Seattle Sounders player, Freddy Montero, scored a hat-trick and started a 13-goal hot streak that would come to an end in December. This Lisbon club would end 2013 in the first place of the Primeira Liga, but in January, Benfica reached first place and held it until the end.
So, what did Sporting need this season that could have avoided some of the matches that ended tied and everyone expected them to be victories, and even the tie against Benfica (1-1)?
Of course that the team options were somewhat limited. They had to be with a short budget and, if they were not going to play in any European competitions, they could not afford to have a big squad full of stars like Benfica did. It certainly was one of the reasons for the breakdown of the team in the second half of the season, but I think there was something else Sporting needed to improve if they wanted to score some decisive goals in difficult matches–set pieces. They needed to score header goals from corner kicks and free kicks, and when defending, stop those from happening to them.
Benfica is a well known team for converting set pieces into goals, and that is often what gives a team the victory. Even though Benfica is the biggest rival Sporting has ever had, they should follow their example.
One attempt to solve the problem is the increased play from 6’4 American, Oguchi Onyewu, who is a bit slow in comparison to other central defenders, but he was the tallest football player in the portuguese Primeira Liga. He was called Capitão América (Captain America) by the supporters and the portuguese press, due to his ability to jump higher than everyone and heading the ball to goal from a place no one could reach it. Because of his size, he could both prevent and create goals from corner kicks and crosses, using his strong body.
Oguchi Onyewu isn’t a top quality centre back, but in Sporting he still earned his starts. Not because he was necessarily more skilled than the other defenders that are currently playing for the club, but because Leonardo Jardim built a team that was motivated and able to defend with all the players keeping the opponent under pressure and blocking passing lanes. Therefore, with the team defending as a whole, he could have used Onyewu with the main purpose of playing with his head and body, not worrying about those one-on-one or two-on-one quick plays that could end up in a goal for the opposing team.
Onyewu wasn’t the formula for the success of Sporting in the Primeira Liga. At 32 years old he may have contributed something that was otherwise missing, making the team better as a result. It was hard not to like him after those magnificent goals he scored that saved the team from some certain defeats during some rough spells.
So then why is he not with the club now? Allegedly, his annual salary was too hefty to take one by Bruno de Carvalho, who decided the team’s “salary cap”. Otherwise, I believe he would still be a Sporting Clube de Portugal player.
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