Football Season Guide

A very pleasant surprise, last season, as Açorianos were an impressive force in the Portuguese top flight with players mostly unknown for the general public. The newly promoted impressed most of the season and granted themselves a safe position quite early on. Coach João Henriques himself was a good surprise after not having been much successful with Paços de Ferreira in the previous season. The Portuguese coach gave a very good image of his work and Açorianos will be thrilled to have kept him around for the new season. The club has been doing an amazing job in keeping pretty much all important players from last season, at least for now. The only significant departure was that of holding midfielder Kaio. Keeping Patrick, Bruno Lamas, Osama, Schettine, Thiago Santana on this modest club despite many stronger teams showing interest is quite impressive. Even players that failed to make a big impact opted to stay on and some of them may be assuming a big importance since their quality is unquestionable. Such are the cases of Malick Evouna, Pablo Diogo, or Dennis Pineda. The quality at the back was perhaps the soft spot on an all in all balanced squad. Despite the signing of João Afonso, that should still be the weakest part. While competent, Marco Ferreira has never been totally consistent in goal.