NELASA Week 3 in review:Curral Grande surprised defending champions in Boston.

By Carlos Amado
May 12, 2009

NELASA 09

NELASA’s season is barely underway, yet there have been lots of goals and plenty of excitement all around. This week was no different. Curral Grande hosted defending champions Fidjos Terra and managed to come from behind twice and surprise last year’s champions 3-2 in the city of Boston. Fidjos Terra has now lost 2 out 3 and has been a major disappointment thus far. However, it is too early to count them out as they will have plenty to say as the season progresses. Curral Grande on the other hand was picked by many to be the surprise team in the league and thus far they have not disappointed. They’re a young team with lots of talent and could surprise many this year. Their win over Fidjos Terra lifted them to 1st place in group A with 6 points. Also with 6 points in group A, but in 2nd place on goal difference is Clube Tabanka who was fortunate to score early against Café De Fogo at PIC in Brockton and managed a 1-0 win. Café De Fogo’s inexperience showed as they squandered many opportunities to a get on the scoreboard. Clube Tabanka is stacked with talented and experienced players and will surely be amongst the title contenders at the end, but their performance in the city of Champions left a lot to be desired.

Also at PIC, Emigrantes FC and Mindelo’s match lived up to the hype which preceded the game. It was a lively atmosphere with “Mindelo Torcida” out in full force and the “Emigrantes girls” ever so vocal. Last year’s finalists came out firing on all cylinders and scored two early goals and that was enough for the 3 points. Mindelo was able to weather the storm and gave a good account of themselves in the second half, but were unable to break through Emigrantes’ stingy defense which has yet to concede this season.

Fresh from their trip to Cabo Verde where they represented NELASA and gave good account of themselves and NELASA soccer in general, Alianca CV managed to squeeze by Juventude Caboverdiana 2-1 after trailing most of the game. Alianca made some key additions over the winter and the expectations are high. However two of their key signings, Zico “matador” and Valdano did not feature in the match versus Juventude and their qualities were sorely missed. This was Juventude’s 1st loss of the season and as a result they dropped down to 3rd place in group A with 4 points.

Sporting RI climbed to 1st place in group B on goal difference over Emigrantes with 6 points after trashing Mr. Andrade’s Spiga Midju 7-0 in Brockton. Sporting’s recent signing “Zorro” proved his worth by scoring 5 goals in the game. Spiga Midju appears to be in for a long season as they have given up 16 goals in two games and only scored once.

Tarrafal and Boston FC both went to Ceylon Park looking for their first win of the season however they drew 1-1 and divided the points. The two teams remain at the bottom of group B standings.

The thriller of the weekend was Dinamo Da Brava’s miraculous comeback versus Strela Negra. Dinamo was unable to beat Strela Negra in two tries last year and when they fell behind 3-0 early it appeared they would have to wait for another opportunity to overcome Strela Negra. However, Ernesto “the magician” still had plenty of tricks in his bag and inspired Dinamo to a 4-3 comeback win by scoring twice and leaving the Boston faithful in complete shock.

Week 4 is looking very promising with key matches at PIC in Brockton between Mindelo Vs Clube Tabanka, Fidjos Terra Vs Strela Negra. In RI Dinamo will be looking to overcome Alianca CV and remain unbeaten. Stay tuned!!!!