Santa Clara

Santa Clara finished in style, very close to European spots, losing only to the 3 big teams in the second part of the season with current manager Mário Silva, but, before that, Açorianos struggled quite a lot with first Daniel Ramos and then Nuno Campos unable to keep the team away from the bottom of the table. Marco will remain the trustworthy option for goal. Spanish left-back Xavi Quintilla arrived to replace Mansur (who hasn’t officially left, yet). Tomás Domingos arrived from Mafra, in Second Division, to replace the reference in right-back position in the last 3 years, Rafael Ramos, gone to Brazil. In the centre, Villanueva left, but Tassano and Boateng were already the favourites, last year. In the midfield area, two massive departures which will be very hard to replace: all-round central midfielder Hide Morita and creative Lincoln. 4 Brazilians have arrived, confirming the strong connections between the club and some Brazilian hotspots, especially on the South. In attack, the main reference of last season(s) had already left before the season ended: Carlos Júnior and Cryzan. Rui Costa, Tagawa, Ricardinho and Mohebi proved to be decent options, but there are big hopes over the youngster coming on loan from Palmeiras, Gabriel Silva, to give the area some fresher talent. Allano may be a force this year, now completely cleared from problems with doping. Coach Mário Silva did very well last season, and the fans will be please to seem him on board for the next season. However, the squad seems weaker than last season, mostly due to the aforementioned departures of Lincoln and Morita.