Football Season Guide

It was an overall good season for Marítimo, last year. However, there was a slight feeling of disappointment in the end, because at one point Marítimo was flying and it really seemed that ‘Insulares’ we’re heading for an historic place on the table. However, a significant drop on performances, followed by some highly questionable moves from staff (coach saying the squad was short in quality and chairman practically accusing a player of under-performing on purpose in a specific match) resulted in Marítimo losing the train to higher places and even the European spots were left to rivals. Marítimo board felt that it was time to shake things a bit and decided to change managers. While Daniel Ramos left to join last season’s direct rivals Chaves, Marítimo signed with relatively unknown Cláudio Braga, who has been out of the country for several years to train abroad, having made a career based in Holland. There were some departures on the squad, but perhaps only one will cause some damage. Centre-half Pablo Santos had a very good debut season in Portuguese league, and Braga’s scouts could help notice him. Besides Pablo, all men departing were already on their descending curve at Marítimo. Such was the case of midfielders Éber Bessa, Erdem Sen or the injury prone Ghazarian. The board quickly brought Marcão and Lucas Áfrico from Brazil to replace Pablo Santos, at the back, while youngster Aloisio, who was promoted from B-team, seems to have quality enough to fight for a spot on first team as well. Iconic ‘Madeirense’, the former Portuguese international Danny signed in to end his career close to home. The best news for fans are, however, the fact that important men such as goalkeeper Amir, defender Bebeto, and particularly the attacking duo that arrived in January Jorge Correa and Joel stayed at Estádio dos Barreiros. There are of course other important players on the squad such as Rúben Ferreira, Zainadine Júnior, Edgar Costa or Jean Cléber, but those first four have it all to make a definite statement on Portuguese league, this season.