The Sporting Group of Chaves returns to action on Monday night after having been the protagonist in the quarter-finals of the Portuguese Cup when they eliminated Sporting. The 18th round of the NOS League ends in Trás-os-Montes with the meeting between the flavienses and the islanders of Madeira, now trained by Jokanovic.
Chaves are set to make it their third consecutive game at home, after two duels with positive outings against Sporting. The first one, related to the 17th round of the NOS League, culminated in a two-goal draw with two minutes to go, while the match that culminated with the quarter-final of the Portuguese Cup was also sentenced to fall Of the cloth, thanks to a precise header from Carlos Ponck. In Trás-os-Montes, the departure of Jorge Simão does not appear to have caused negative repercussions, since the Flavia team has continued to accumulate good results and not yet lost under the orders of Ricardo Soares, coach that debuted in the 15th Liga NOS with a victory against Estoril Praia and since then played three more games – the two with Sporting and a tie (2-2) at Arcos stadium against Rio Ave. In nine home matches played for the NOS League, the Flavienses only lost with Benfica (0-2), adding three wins and five draws in the remaining challenges.
Although he entered the field midweek (Tuesday) to play in the semi-finals of the Portuguese Cup, Chaves had practically a week to recover the physical indexes. Since there is still no “white smoke” on the transfer from Assis – coveted by Porto, Braga and Nantes – the midfielder is expected to go to the game on Monday. Guinean João Mário is in the African Nations Cup and Fábio Santos remains unavailable due to injury.
Eleven Likely: Ricardo, Pedro Queirós, Ponck, Freire, Valente, Assis, Braga, Perdigão, Fábio Martins, Davidson, Rafael Lopes
Liga NOSO Nacional de Madeira faces this 18th round of the NOS League in a downhill position as it occupies the 17th and penultimate position of the table with only 12 points won in 17 games. The most results resulted in Manuel Machado leaving two games from the end of the first round and the direction was helped by a “man of the house” to guide the team in the remainder of the championship: Predrag Jokanovic. Their opening match on Matchday 16 culminated in a goalless draw in the reception of Sporting Clube de Braga, a positive result meeting the goals of both teams. In the second challenge under the orders of Jokanovic, Nacional lost in Bonfim with Vitória de Setúbal for a ball to zero and the truth is that there is no prospect of facilities in this visit to Chaves. Without winning four games and with just one win in the last ten, the Madeira National will have an arduous task in Trás-os-Montes. Jokanovic already takes about three weeks of work with the islanders and fans hope this is notorious in this challenge. The record of the out-of-doors team is not encouraging, with ten disappointments in the last 12 trips.
Washington, Nuno Sequeira (suspension) and Víctor García are absences confirmed due to injury. Goalkeeper Rui Silva is close to Granada and the club’s management has already hired Adriano Facchini to the goal. Midfielder Aly Ghazal will be able to go to Chinese football and maybe make the last game with Nacional’s jersey in front of Chaves.
Eleven Probable: Vitor Sao Bento, Nuno Campos, César, Rui Correira, Cerqueira, Ali Ghazal, Tiago Rodrigues, Vítor Gonçalves, Salvador Agra, Willyan, Hamzaoui
The start of the first round culminated with a Flavian victory at Choupana by a ball to zero. The Chaves crosses a good moment and is favorite the new victory, but the need to score can cause Nacional to transcend this challenge
Prediction: UNDER 2,5 GOALS
Odds: 1.50
