Estoril Praia defeats Cova da Piedade 5-1 and guarantees Allianz Cup

Estoril Praia received and beat this Saturday, November 14th, the CD Cova da Piedade by 5-1, in a rescheduled match regarding round 8 of the Portugal 2 SabSeg League. In a game that could decide now the qualification for the final 8 of the Allianz Cup, Estoril Praia entered the António Coimbra da Mota Stadium with Dani Figueira in goal, Carles Soria, Hugo Gomes, Marcos Valente and Joãozinho in defense, Gamboa, Crespo and Zé Valente in midfield, Chiquinho, Vidigal and Yakubu Aziz as the most advanced men on the ground. It was not necessary to wait long to see the António Coimbra da Mota score board move. With Estoril Praia completely installed in the opposing midfield, in the 8th minute Zé Valente shoots from outside the area, Cléber saves it to the goal post and the ball is left for Yabuku Aziz, who only needed to touch it to make the net Cova da Piedade and make the 1-0 for Estoril Praia. Cova da Piedade tried to show a reaction, but it was Estoril Praia that was closer to scoring again, the 23rd minute of the match was taking place, André Vidigal on the left of ""canarinhos"" attack, shoot over the opponent's goal. In the 26th minute, a disagreement in the defense of the Magician Estoril Praia, the ball left to João Patrão who shoots to Daniel Figueira's defense, the ball hit the post and left for the goalkeeper of the ""Estorilistas"" networks, who at the second grabbed it safely. With Estoril Praia well organized on the ground, just from free kick or from a long distance shoots, Cova da Piedade was able to bother Dani Figueira. In the 33rd minute, João Meira shot low from the attacking midfield, with the Estoril Praia goalkeeper making another great defense. The Magician replied and in the 34th minute, Crespo passed to Aziz, who inside the area took an opponent out of the way and was face to face with Cléber made the 2-0 for Estoril Praia, a result that reached the breaktime. In the second half, Estoril Praia maintained the attacking attitude and just after the 48th minute Soria progressed through the opposing midfield, combined with Chiquinho who inside the area shoots for Cléber's save. The 3-0 for ""Mágico"" came in the 54th minute, Zé Valente progresses through the opposing midfield pressured by 2 opponents, finds Vidigal on the left, the winger centers on the grass with the defense of Cova da Piedade to cut, however the the ball is left over for Vidigal, who looks for the center of the area and low shot to the bottom of the opposing networks. On minute 61 Yabuku Aziz converts a penalty after a foul suffered by Chiquinho and makes Hat-Trick and 4-0 for Estoril. At minute 66 Bruno Pinheiro moved the team for the first time, bringing in Murilo to replace André Vidigal and André Clóvis to replace Yakubu Aziz. In the 74th minute, the Magician moved the team again, Rosier replaced Gamboa and Lazare replaced Crespo. With Estoril Praia dominating the game, Bruno Pinheiro made changes again, bringing André Franco into the shoes of Zé Valente, after the 82nd minute of the match. Following a corner kick, João Vieira heads down to 4-1. The line team reacted and in the 92nd minute Crespo found Chiquinho from the right, with the winger centering in the heart of the area where André Clóvis, on high, headed in the 5-1 with which the match ended.

Bruno Pinheiro satisfied with the result

At the end of the match, Bruno Pinheiro was a happy coach, starting the quick interview with Sport TV for “wishing the best to coach António Pereira, who is going through a difficult health moment due to the SARS-CoV-2 infection”. About the game, the coach of Estoril Praia said at the Press Conference that “we managed to make our game, we are a team that likes to have the ball. In the first half with the freshest opponent physically it was more difficult, but with the fatigue accumulating we started to have more space and managed to make three more goals ”. “Being ahead of the classification at this point means nothing. We try to enter every game to win the 3 points, luckily we have managed to do so and our focus is always on the next match day and the next 3 points ”, concluded the 44-year-old.

With the victory, Estoril Praia now has 22 points in 9 matches in Liga Portugal 2, leading the league table with one more point than Mafra and 4 more than Académica de Coimbra. A journey from the decision to qualify for the Allianz Cup, Mágico also guarantees qualification for the final 8 of this competition, where he will find one of the top two classifieds of the Liga NOS.

The Man of the Match

Yubuku Aziz scored 3 times in the match and Sport TV chose the “Man of the Match”.

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