Sporting wins in Braga and pushes Minho away from women’s title
Sporting almost pulled Sporting Braga female soccer title by winning 4-2 in the field of the Minho, in the 12th round match in which ‘lionesses’ unbalanced in the second half.
Starting at a very fast pace, the Braga opened the scoring after two minutes, with Keane, with a beautiful header, best responding to a cross from Uchendu.
Sporting responded immediately and tied, by Carolina Mendes who, after a good individual initiative, finished off (04).
Susana Cova’s side rounded up the scoring after 36 minutes with a great goal from Raquel Fernandes in an ‘arch’ shot, but over the interval, Miguel Santos, the current champions, re-established their equality as another great goal, now by Dolores (45).
After the balance of the first half, Sporting re-entered very strongly in the second and, even before the third goal, missed several opportunities to score, with two strikes by Raquel Fernandes (49 and 68), the last of which with the ball hit the bar.
With a Sporting Braga in clear physical break, Sporting went forward again on 73 minutes: Nevena took a free kick near the Minho area and, with some happiness, because the ball hit the barrier and betrayed the goalkeeper of the Minho, made the third goal ‘leonino’.
Two minutes later, Diana Silva, in another fine goal from a shot from inside the area, sentenced the scorer and the lionesses could still have made the fifth shortly thereafter, but Wilkinson struck Marie Hourihan.
Sporting de Braga was practically out of the title fight because it can get to 11 points behind Benfica, with victory on the ground red-lantern A-Dos-Francos, and is eight points behind Sporting.
