Football Season Guide

Setúbal had a listless season last year. Despite managing to avoid relegation some time in advance, it was a whole campaign of inconsistent results. While creating many upsets to the big teams, Vitória were also losing points in games they should have taken something more out of. The fans are hoping for a more passionate season and perhaps some more points by the end of it. The team for this edition of the Portuguese League will be formed by many youngsters. While in goal, the experienced Cristiano arrived to replace the much younger Bruno Varela, in the field positions there will be a lot of young talents hoping to impress in order to return to their parent clubs or catch the attention of the big clubs. Probably the most exciting signing was the striker Gonçalo Paciência, arriving on loan from Porto. Gonçalo Duarte is an efficient centre-half, and Postawski has been a constant presence (and captain) of the Portuguese national team youth system. Patrick and César come from Benfica on loan to strengthen up the defensive line. On the bad side, Setúbal will again be a team formed by many loaned players, which will force them to start all over at the end of next season. They will also have some line-up problems during the campaign, when they meet each player's parent club. From last year, key players like Agu and João Carvalho and Bruno Varela returned to their parent clubs, forcing Setúbal to spend some time, yet again, rebuilding the squad and passing the ideas of José Couceiro to the new members.