Football Season Guide

Won their 2nd Liga Portugal 2 title last season to get promoted. Finished only a point above Alverca and 2 above Vizela, so the campaign was hotly contested from start to finish. Had the equal-best attack, 58 goals in 34 matches, but the load up front was nicely distributed. No individual player scored more than 10 goals, Miro and the departed Ramos had 10 each, but 6 different players had 4 or more. Coach Luis Pinto was poached by Vitroria Guimaraes this summer. Forced to replace him Tondela turned towards the journeyman Ivo Vieira – 12 teams coached in the last 10 years. Due to this unforeseen change the transfer activity is a bit behind but Tondela managed to keep most of their regulars, so this is a positive. Likely to be defending deep in many games this season. To help with that already added 2 new very solid CBs. Brayan Medina and Christian Marques should be starting a lot. The former is seen as a key new addition and if he shines Tondela will be hard to break. To give further stability to the defence also signed young DMs Joe Hodge and Rodriguez. Both of them can also play at CB if needed so this should often see Tondela shift to 5-man defence during games if they need to. Hélder Tavares (35) had 12 assists last season. He is excellent at set pieces. His crosses need to remain precise from these situations if Tondela are to survive.