THE The tenth round of the I League kicks off, early in the evening this Friday, at the Municipal Stadium of Rio Maior, with the clash that will pit Casa Pia and Sporting face to face, which comes at a particularly delicate time for the coaches of both teams, Filipe Coelho and Rui Borges.
Let’s start with the Mirandelenense, who is under more pressure than ever following a start to the 2026/27 sporting season that was below expectations, particularly in the national championship, where they occupy third place, with 18 points, as many as Santa Clara and nine less than the leader, FC Porto.
In recent days, rumors have gained more and more strength reporting an imminent ‘psychological whiplash’, with names such as Abel Ferreira, Leonardo Jardim, VÃtor Pereira or Sérgio Conceição being appointed to the succession, if the decision of the management led by Frederico Varandas goes through this scenario.
On the other side of the ‘barricade’, the ‘tightness’ is also making itself felt, the result of a cycle of mere two victories after nine rounds (plus one, for the Portuguese Cup, over Alpendorada, by 0-1), which leaves the geese in 16th and second to last place, with the same seven points as Rio Ave and Nacional.
Casa Pia-Sporting’s kickoff is scheduled for 8:15 pm (Mainland Portugal time), and will be judged by Miguel Fonseca, from the Porto Football Association, who will have João Martins and André Costa as assistants, Bruno Vieira as fourth referee, Manuel Mota as VAR and Paulo Miranda as AVAR.
Coaches in direct speech
Filipe Coelho
Approach: “We know that Sporting will want to come out very strong and want to resolve the game early. We will try to postpone this resolution of the game. Every minute that passes could play in our favor and make the opponent uneasy. We hope that this plan we have drawn up will have an effect. We know that, if we cause problems for Sporting, the uneasiness could come to the fore, but we are very focused on how we are doing.”
Expectations for the game: “Regardless of the current situation, Sporting is an excellent team, which will make the game very difficult for us. We have to take care of the opponent’s strengths and we can take advantage of some weaknesses, but we will have to show consistency, which will also give us growth. Things have to go really well for us, we have to be very focused and concentrated”.
Casa Pia growing: “I want to highlight the competent, energetic and committed manner of the group, which is united. We moved some pieces and everyone continues to push. Everyone is very connected and without a doubt the points will arrive in a more consistent manner. Based on the performances we have already had, we could have more points in the table, but we have seven and that is the reality we have to live with. We are building something good, but we need points to validate this idea”.
Rui Borges
Lack of time: “I know very well at the club we are at, the dialogue is very, very positive, in the same sense, since I arrived at Sporting. We know very well what the club’s strategy is, the future… It was always in agreement on what the options were. I could say that we need time, but, in football, there is no time. The coach is on deadline from the first day he enters the club, it’s not when the results are good or less good”.
Dispute: “The force of noise only has what we want. For me, it has no impact at all. I’ll be as honest as possible, there’s only one thing that hurts me… It’s not me who suffers, it’s my son, my wife, my parents, my sisters… That hurts me, because there has been a lot of lack of respect towards Rui Borges. It’s not towards the coach, it’s towards Rui Borges, since I arrived at Sporting, and that hurts me. My son plays football and was messed up in the last game for being the son of who he is, and I won’t admit that.”
Expectations about Casa Pia: “They have grown, defensively and offensively, despite not being a team with many goals scored. They have gained collective consistency. They defend better within their strategy, sometimes in a medium-low block, but they are very competitive. They are a very strong team in duels, in set pieces… The difficulty will be great, we won’t have much space and we will have to make good decisions, understanding where we can lose balls so we don’t always end up counterattacking.”
Latest results
Casa Pia: DVDVV
Sporting: VVDDV
Last eleven
Casa Pia: Patrick Sequeira; André Geraldes, Khaly, David Sousa, Pedro Rosas; Sebastián Pérez, Lawrence Ofori, João Rego; Mohamed Salah, Benjamin Pauwels and Cassiano.
Sporting: Rui Silva; Georgios Vagianidis, Eduardo Quaresma, Eduardo FelicÃssimo, Moncef Zekri; Silas Andersen, Pedro Lima, João Simões; Geny Catamo, Jesse Derry and Fotis Ioannidis.
Absences
Casa Pia: André Gomes (injured).
Sporting: Zeno Debast, Nuno Santos and Rodrigo Zalazar (injured).
