Benfica's Nelson Oliveira could be loaned out

Benfica 21 year old striker Nelson Oliveira could be moved out on loan as the Eagles are said to be offering his services to French clubs Bordeaux and Saint-Etienne.

The Portuguese U21 year old international is not currently getting much playing time at the Luz and with the signing of Djalo will have even less first team action.

Panathinaikos is said to also be showing some interest in Oliveira and is coached by former Porto headman Jesualdo Ferreira.

Benfica sign Yannick Djalo to 4 year contract

Benfica have come to terms with former Sporting striker Yannick Djalo on a 4 and a half year contract today. Djalo who has been a free agent since his transfer to Nice by Sporting was declared to be invalid due to  the transfer window being closed has not seen any action since August 2011.

The 25 year old Djalo appeared in 98 games for Sporting, finding the twine 23 times. Djalo has appeared once for the National side in a 4-4 draw to Cyprus September 3rd, 2010. Djalo will be joining his new teammates today in training.

Ruben Amorim loaned to Braga by Benfica

Benfica have loaned out midfielder/right back Ruben Amorim to Braga for the next year and a half. Amorim who had a falling out with Benfica coach Jorge Jesus, recently signed a contract extension with the club until 2013 but the club felt it was in their best interest to loan Amorim to Braga never the less.

The 28 year old has appeared in 68 games with Benfica scoring 5 times. Amorim will hope to impress at Braga as he looks to be called up for Portugal's Euro 2012 entry.

Djalo now linked with move to Benfica

Former Sporting player Yannick Djalo is now linked with a move to Benfica and it is being reported that Benfica have offered the striker a contract until 2015. Djalo has not played a game since August do to circumstances involving his transfer from Sporting to Nice. Sampordia and Parma are also said to be interested.

Sporting's Schaars out with injury, bojinov to be loaned out

Sporting have lost midfielder Stijn Schaars for up to three weeks after the player suffered a left thigh injury, while on another front striker Bojinov looks to be headed out of Sporting on loan with possible destinations being Lecce, Dynamo Kiev or Trabzonspor at this time.

Bruno Cesar and Jardel involved in car accident

Benfica's Bruno Cesar and Jardel were involved in a car accident in Portugal around 9pm on the 20th, both players were unharmed and were passengers in a car driven by a friend.

Jorge Jesus was glad that both players were not hurt and revealed that he has also been in a few accidents this season the latest being on Christmas Eve.

Looking back at Week 15 in the Portuguese League

Week 15 saw Benfica maintain their two point lead over Porto as the season hit the midway point. Benfica earned a convincing 4-1 win over Setubal while Porto stayed pace with a 2-0 win over Rio Ave. In what amounted to the game of the week, Braga defeated Sporting 2-1 to move into sole spot of third place in the Portuguese league as Sporting drop to fourth.

Guimaraes moved into sixth spot with their 2-0 win over Academica, Guimaraes at one point were sitting in relegation early in the season terrible but have bounced back going 5-1-1 in their last seven games. Maritimo tied Pacos Ferreira 1-1 and failed to move into a tie with Sporting for fourth spot and sit two points back.

Olhanense moved into eigth place with their 2-1 win over Beira Mar, meanwhile Gil Vicente and Feirense played to a scoreless draw and Nacional drew 2-2 with Leiria.

Road Team of the Week: Guimaraes

Home Team of the Week: Benfica

Player of the Week: James Rodriguez (FC Porto)

Benfica and Porto in Top 10 of club world rankings

Benfica and FC Porto have done Portugal proud by ranking in the Top 10 of the club world rankings from IIHFS for 2011. Barcelona and Real Madrid were one/two as the two Spanish giants continue their battle on all fronts.

Top 10 World Clubs:

1- Barcelona (Spain)
2- Real Madrid (Spain)
3- Velez Sarsfield (Argentina)
4- Manchester United (England)
5- Manchester City (England)
6- Santos (Brazil)
7- Universidad Chile Santiago (Chile)
8- Benfica (Portugal)
9- FC Porto (Portugal)
10- Universidad Catolica Santiago (Chile)

Other Portuguese clubs on the list of Top 400 clubs

35- Braga
36- Sporting
226- Nacional
346- Academica

Looking back at Week 14 in the Portuguese League

Week 14 has finally seen a team take sole spot atop Portugal for the first time since Week 4. Benfica now sits atop the Portuguese League after their commanding 4-0 win over U. Leiria as FC Porto was held to a scoreless draw versus Sporting.

Benfica are two points clear of Porto as the season is one week away from the half point. Braga defeated Beira Mar 2-1 to move into a third place tie with Sporting, while Maritimo's 2-1 victory over Olhanense has them in fifth spot, seven points clear of sixth place Academica.

In other action, Academica drew 1-1 with Setubal, Rio Ave moved out of the relegation zone with their 1-0 win over Pacos Ferreira, Nacional won 3-0 over Gil Vicente and Guimaraes moved into sole spot of seventh place with their 1-0 win over Feirense.

Road Team of the Week: Benfica

Home Team of the Week: Maritimo

Player of the Week: Rodrigo (Benfica)

10 things to happen in 2012

The 2011 year in now behind us and as we now move forward in 2012, we take a look at ten things that should happen for all Portuguese fans this year.

1- Cristiano Ronaldo will win the La Liga Golden Boot

2- Portugal will reach the semi-finals of Euro 2012

3- Porto's Hulk & Benfica's Gaitan will be sold in the summer

4- Benfica will reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League

5- FC Porto will reach the quarter-finals of the Europa League

6- Sporting's Wolfswinkel will win the Golden Boot in Portugal

7- Hugo Almeida will return to Portugal

8- Braga will win the League Cup

9- Sporting will win the Taca de Portugal

10- Benfica will win the Portuguese League title

Looking Back at Week 13 in the Portuguese League

Week 13 saw the see saw battle between Benfica and FC Porto continue as Benfica took the league lead by three points after a 5-1 win Friday over Rio Ave. FC Porto then matched the Eagles with a 2-0 victory over Maritimo as both clubs remain tied for the top spot in Portugal.

Sporting slipped six points back after drawing on the road to Academica 1-1. Braga closed the gap on third place to two points with their 4-3 shoot out win over Olhanense.

Beira Mar jumped into seventh place in the league after their 3-0 victory over last place Pacos Ferreira. Feirense moved three points cleart of relegation with a 2-1 win over Uniao de Leiria and Nacional and Setubal battled to a 1-1 draw.

Road Team of the Week: Beira Mar

Home Team of the Week: Benfica

Player of the Week: Nolito (Benfica)

Looking Back at Week 12 in the Portuguese League

Week 12 saw Braga lay a licking on visiting Pacos Ferreira with a 5-2 victory. The win vaulted Braga into a 4th place tie with Maritimo.

On Saturday FC Porto moved three points clear of Benfica after their 2-1 victory over Beira Mar, quickly erasing their fall from the Champions League a few days earlier.Sporting then defeated Nacional in an uninspiring 1-0 victory.

Sunday's early games saw Rio Ave move out of the cellar after their 2-0 victory over Gil Vicente. Setubal and Feirense drew 1-1 and Uniao de Leiria defeated Guimaraes 1-0. Benfica then scored a late marker to exact revenge on Maritimo for knocking them out of the Taca de Portugal a week earlier defeating the Madeira club 1-0 and moving back into a tie atop the Portuguese League with Porto.

On Monday, Academica closed the week off with a 2-0 win over Olhanense vaulting them pass the Algarve club and into sole position of 6th place in Portugal.

Road Team of the Week: Academica

Home Team of the Week: Braga

Player of the Week: Cristian Atsu (Rio Ave)

Euro 2012: Head to Head all time record of Group B teams

The Euro 2012 groups are set and Portugal find themselves once again in the "Group of Death", what will matter is how the club performs when it counts. Portugal has played numerous games against the Germand, the Dutch and the Danish.

The National side currently has winning all time records against two out of the three teams in their group and if this continues to be the case then the team should be able to get out of their group.

Getting out of the group is the key to getting to possibly to the semi-finals of the tournament as Group B will play the weaker Group A in the quarter-finals knockout phase.

Looking at the Nations all time records versus each other:

Portugal vs Germany

3 Wins 8 Losses 5 Draws

Portugal's last encounter with the Germans was a quarter final loss 3-2 in Euro 2008.

Portugal vs Netherlands

6 Wins 1 Loss 3 Draws

Portugal's last game versus the Dutch was in World Cup 2006 with a Round of 16, 1-0 victory.

Portugal vs Denmark

7 Wins 3 Losses 2 Draws

Portugal's last encounter with the Danes was a 2-1 loss in group qualifying for this Euro 2012.

Germany vs Denmark

14 wins 8 Losses 3 Draws

Germany vs Netherlands

14 Wins 10 Losses 14 Draws

Netherlands vs Denmark

12 Wins 6 Losses 10 Draws

Galatasaray in on the hunt for Benfica's Javier Saviola

Galatasaray look to be back in the hunt for Benfica's Javier Saviola. The Turkish club knows that the striker has fallen to third choice striker behind Cardozo and Rodrigo.

Benfica also look to be leaning towards using U21 portuguese sensation Nelson Oliveira, Saviola could find himself further down the pecking order, with the transfer window set to open in a few weeks. Saviola could be in his final days with the club.

Euro 2012 simulation of possible groups

The Euro 2012 group draw is upon us this week, with the draw taking place on Friday in Kiev. The Euro is always one of the toughest tournaments to win and this edition will be no different.

We decide to take a look at what the groups could look like through our own simulation and this is what we got.

Check out the seedings and pots, CLICK HERE

First Simulation

Group A: Poland, Italy, Sweden, France

Group B: Netherlands, Russia, Greece, Ireland

Group C: Spain, Germany, PORTUGAL, Denmark

Group D: Ukraine, England, Croatia, Czech Republic

What we see in our first simulation is that Portugal has been place in the "Group of Death" facing the defending champs, the second favoured Germans and the country that defeated them in the Group Stage of qualifying.

Second Simulation

Group A: Poland, England, PORTUGAL, Denmark

Group B: Netherlands, Russia, Croatia, Ireland

Group C: Spain, Italy, Sweden, Czech Republic

Group D: Ukraine, Germany, Greece, France

The Portuguese avoid the group of death but barely but would find themselves in tough with the hosts, the English and a Danish side that just keeps joining us in group stages.

One thing is for certain, no matter where Portugal find themselves come Friday, the Euro 2012 will be one tough tournament.

Looking back at Week 11 in the Portuguese League

Week 11 kicked off after a long hiatus due to International play and the Taca de Portugal qualifying. Beira Mar defeated Academica 1-0 to move into sixth place in the league.

Saturday was Derby day in the league as Nacional played Martimo to a 2-2 draw in Madeira, while Benfica hosted Sporting at the Luz. Benfica who were down to 10 men for most of the second half, held off Sporting 1-0 and move into top spot in Portugal.

Sunday saw Feirense move out of the basement with a 2-0 victory over Rio Ave, Gil Vicente then got the best of Leiria with a 2-1 win. FC Porto held of a late charge by Braga at the Drago to win 3-2 and Olhanense and Pacos Ferreira played to a 1-1 draw.

On Monday, Guimaraes whipped a 10 man Setubal 3-0 moving them into 8th place in Portugal after a poor start to the season.

Road Team of the Week: Beira Mar

Home Team of the Week: Guimaraes

Player of the Week: Toscano (Guimaraes)

Euro 2012 Finals Seeding revealed

The final seedings for Euro 2012 have been revealed ahead of the group stage draw on December 2nd. The hosts Ukraine and Poland have already been placed in their groups with Poland in Group A and Ukraine in Group D.

The remaining pots will have two countries in pot one and four countries in the other three pots, no team in the same pot can be placed in the same group.

Pot A: Spain, Netherlands

Pot B: Germany, Italy, England, Russia

Pot C: Croatia, Greece, PORTUGAL, Sweden

Pot D: Denmark, France, Czech Republic, Ireland

This means that you could see a Group of Death with Spain, Germany, Portugal and France, scary though.

Portuguese Players that could be heading to Euro 2012

Portugal are ready to head to Euro 2012 in Poland-Ukraine and now the next task for coach Paulo Bento will be to select a 23 man squad. Bento has made it be known that Ricardo Carvalho and Bosingwa will not be a part of the team but which players do have a chance?

We name our Top 50 list of players that could be a part of the Portugal National side come Euro 2012.

Goalkeepers:

Rui Patricio (Sporting)
Beto (CFR Cluj)
Eduardo (Benfica)
Daniel Fernandes (CFR Cluj)
Mika (Benfica)
Quim (Braga)
Hilario (Chelsea)
Mario Felgueiras (Brasov)

Defenders:

Bruno Alves (Zenit)
Pepe (Real Madrid)
Fabio Coentrao (Real Madrid)
Joao Pereira (Sporting)
Silvio (Atletico Madrid)
Rolando (FC Porto)
Daniel Carrico (Sporting)
Sereno (Cologne)
Ricardo Costa (Valencia)
Pedrinho (Lorient)
Tiago Pinto (Rio Ave)
Miguel (Valencia)
Miguel Garcia (Orduspor)
Nuno Coelho (Braga)

Midfielders:

Raul Meireles (Chelsea)
Miguel Veloso (Genoa)
Joao Moutinho (FC Porto)
Eliseu (Malaga)
Vieirinha (PAOK)
Duda (Malaga)
Paulo Machado (Toulouse)
Sergio Pinto (Hannover 96)
Ruben Amorim (Benfica)
Hugo Viana (Braga)
Andre Santos (Sporting)
Castro (Sporting Gijon)
Manuel Fernandes (Besiktas)
Carlos Martins (Granada)
Ruben Micael (Zaragoza)

Forwards:

Crisitiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
Nani (Manchester United)
Helder Postiga (Zaragoza)
Hugo Almeida (Besiktas)
Ricardo Quaresma (Besiktas)
Danny (Zenit)
Varela (FC Porto)
Liedson (Corinthians)
Wilson Eduardo (Olhanense)
Nuno Gomes (Braga)
Eder (Academica)
Nelson Oliveira (Benfica)
Helder Barbosa (Braga)

Portugal get it right in Bosnian thrashing

Portugal finally put all the pieces together today in Lisbon with a 6-2 thrashing of a outplayed Bosnia and Herzegovina squad. This was a game many felt could have gone either way before the whistle to start this game was even blown.

Ronaldo played what may have been his best game for Portugal scoring early in both halfs, silencing his critics at least for one game, that he does not show up for Portugal when their is a big game on the line.

Portugal knew coming in that a win was the most likely route to Euro 2012 with just about any draw giving the Bosnians a spot instead. The Portuguese dominated both halfs controlling the ball possession. The Portugese earned 10 corners to Bosnia's 0 and scored 6 goals on 9 shots.

Ronaldo and Nani scored in the first half with two beauties from a distance to give the Quinas the 2-0 lead just 24 minutes in. The Bosnians only bright spot of the half, was earning a penalty kick late in the half to cut the lead at the half to 2-1.

Ronaldo then timed a Moutinho pass to perfection and undressed the Bosnia keeper Begovic o restore the two goal lead. Lulic then earned a double yellow card right after the goal, a dumb move by the midfielder who though it was a great time to mouth off to the referee.

The Bosnians then once again cut the lead to one as the Portuguese defense fell asleep at the back end but this was to not happen again in the game. Postiga with a pair between a Veloso free kick goal pushed the Portugal lead to 6-2 and their ticket to Euro 2012 was complete.

Congratulations to the Portuguese Squad for making next summers tournament attractive to all the fans around the world, who would we cheer for if not the Quinas, now if only Bento would kiss and make up with Carvalho and Bosingwa before then.

The Keys to Portugal victory at home

Portugal get side to play the second leg after a disappointing scoreless draw in Bosnia. The Portuguese face a tough task knowing that a victory is essential, with Bosnia holding the upper hand on away goals with virtually any draw except 0-0.

The Keys to Portugal victory over Bosnia:

Score First

Portugal will need to find the net first in this encounter and the earlier the better, an early Portuguese goal will have Bosnia opening up from their defensive shell. Portugal have the fire power to punish the Bosnians if this happens.

Cristiano Ronaldo

The Captain missed a glorious chance in the first leg, some may say the bad condition of the field had something to do with that but never the less # 7 will need to bring his game to another level. A Ronaldo goal not only inspires the confidence in the player but also the squad.

Control the set pieces

The kryptonite of the Portugal National team, Portugal will need to contain the Bosnians on set pieces, the game could be won or lost with just one miscoverage.