Teóricos da Bola

Soccer: PSG puts Porto back in its place
Peter Berlin
International Herald Tribune Friday, October 22, 2004

PARIS A year ago, as the Champions League slogged through its made-for-TV group stages, Porto seemed to be no more than a permanent member of the supporting cast: a biggish fish from a smallish pond that would never have the financial muscle to beat the wealthy royalty of European club soccer.On Wednesday, Porto took the field in Paris with a different aura: It is the reigning European champion. The irony is that, on the evidence of its 2-0 loss to Paris Saint-Germain, it is now the team it was supposed to have been 12 months ago: a decent, hard-working member of Europe's soccer middle class, not quite good enough to do more than make up the numbers in the early rounds.Last season was not Porto's first triumph in Europe's top club competition. But like its compatriot Benfica and other former champions from small soccer-crazed nations, such as Glasgow Celtic and Ajax Amsterdam, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord of Rotterdam, it seemed to have been left behind by the financial realities of 21st-century soccer. All are clubs from small countries with one or two large cities, whose leagues are dominated by two or three big clubs. They have the advantage of a less-challenging domestic schedule that leaves them fresher for European games. They can use their smaller local rivals as feeder clubs for new talent. The downside is that the relatively small populations of their countries mean they cannot reap the colossal television revenues that support their English, German, Italian and Spanish rivals. Since the so-called Bosman ruling in 1995 introduced free agency into European soccer, any glimmer of success has immediately attracted the attentions of soccer's wealthy magpies, who instantly pluck away emerging talents.It helps that Porto is a well-run club where the players buy into the team ethos. As Costinha, a Portuguese international defender, said before Wednesday's match, "the star is the team." But after Porto beat Monaco, 3-0, in May to become the first team from outside the big four nations to win the Champions League since Ajax in 1993, it could not keep the "bigger" clubs away. It lost its coach, half its defense and a complete set of midfielders. And although it brought in another boatload of young Brazilians, it banked enough money, according to L'Equipe the French sports daily, to reduce its debts to €35 million, or $44 million. That a club that has just won the Champions League and had a magnificent new stadium built for it by the Portuguese government for Euro 2004, still owes so much is a measure of how difficult it is for clubs from smaller markets to compete financially in Europe.Porto arrived in Paris on Wednesday not only as the champion but also, in the words of its coach, Victor Fernandez, as a young and rebuilding team.Against a Paris team that is languishing near the bottom of the French league and had lost its first two group games, Porto looked the brighter and crisper team for 30 minutes.PSG has gone from being an attention-getting loss-leader for Canal Plus, the French television broadcaster, to an embarrassing drain on resources for a parent that has become an unwanted part of the troubled Vivendi empire.In good times or bad, PSG under Canal Plus has always been run more as a reality TV show than as a soccer club. Nothing has provided more riveting viewing than Luis Fernandez, Vahid Halihodzic's predecessor as coach, twitching toward an emotional breakdown on the sideline. The pressure seems to be getting to the more phlegmatic Halihodzic, too. On Wednesday, it took only a few minutes for his antics to draw a visit from the referee. While PSG defended with energy and discipline, for 29 minutes it looked woeful in attack. The running and passing of its players communicated clearly that they had little confidence in themselves. No player seemed to bear out the coach's complaint that his team lacked talent better than Charles-Edouard Coridon. With tacky white shoes, his socks around his ankles, his shirt hanging out and his tired jog, he looked like a player plucked from bystanders by a Saturday morning team that arrived a man short.Yet on a clammy night, as an electrical storm played above the Parc des Princes, lightning struck on the field. As PSG counter-attacked, Coridon lumbered desperately up the field. Philippe Pichot, wide on the right, hesitated, giving Coridon time to reach the penalty area. The cross was low and a little behind him.Instead of turning to control it, Coridon lurched forward, put his left hand on the ground and swung his right leg up and around, catching the ball with the outside of his foot. It was an upside-down, sideways, no-look, overhead kick. Vitor Baia, the Porto goalkeeper, seemed nonplussed, as the ball bounced under his late lunge and into the goal.A minute later the game was over. With Porto still seemingly stunned, PSG thrust forward. Pauleta slid the ball wide to Reinaldo. As Baia advanced, Reinaldo opted not to shoot but slid the ball back to the onrushing Pauleta, who poked it into the unprotected goal.After that, PSG happily sunk into a defensive shell. Lionel Letizi, the PSG keeper, hardly had a save to make. The mighty did not so much fall as subside gently. Porto is now last in the group, and back among the also-rans.