Braga v Pompey - a view from the stands

A poor performance from Portsmouth, seeing them beaten 3-0 was only half of the story.
On Thursday ,during Pompey’s first ever UEFA cup group game with Portuguese side SC Braga, fights broke out among Pompey fans, drunks were being sick and the Portuguese police were just sitting back before violently trying to control the trouble.

Although it was a new experience for most of the Pompey fans, a few antics troubling the game were all too familiar in our parts.

Pompey went 1-0 down early on, after a well-taken free kick by Aguiar curled into the top corner, with David James only fingertips away. Despite a good free kick, there were clear signs that the referee had made a mistake, and the Braga player had made a meal of the challenge, this summed up the game on my front.

From the away end of the ground, it looked like the referee, Darko Seferin, had no experience with dealing in the English game, and therefore Pompey conceded a large amount of free kicks, thanks to the 10 out of 10 diving from Braga’s so-called players.

Jermain Defoe went one-on-one with keeper Eduardo twice, but failed to capitalise on either chance.
Pompey looked like maybe getting an equaliser as Crouch and Defoe’s partnership started to flourish, but the half-time whistle came too early for Pompey.



Prior to half time, fights broke out amongst the Pompey fans, upsetting all the surrounding fans and security, causing even more trouble. It had seemed that too fans, both supporting Pompey, had gotten too drunk and began to argue, one thing lead to another and fists were flying. The Portuguese police reacted quickly by hitting people with batons and trying to throw people out of the ground, and showed little organisation as it seemed they had no effect. This was to no credit of the police, neither was it to that of the English fans.

Obviously when Pompey came back on the pitch for the second half there was a big drop in Pompey support, and Pompey’s below average performance in the first half did not support this as the second half started similarly.

Braga continued to push forward,(and dive), but Portsmouth found it in themselves to push on with chances coming from the corners to head in an equaliser, but oh no despite not giving any Pompey decisions in the first half, the referee rules out the goal because of the goalkeeper being impeded, which is later shown on replays to have been by his own centre-back.

The blues were lacking in spirit and passion and it seemed that only Sean Davis, and second-half substitute Nadir Belhadj, were playing with their heart on their sleeve.
It may have been because of niggling injuries, or the heavy fixture list, or maybe even the daunting sound of the passionate Braga fans, but some of the Pompey players, notably the wings and side-backs, were failing to hit any sign of decent form, as the blues looked to be totally outclassed.

As a result of some poor performances, FA cup final goal scorer Nwankwo Kanu came on to try and fight Pompey back, but not even the King could help Pompey and the south coast side fell further behind as Aguiar’s through ball found Renteria through on goal, and unmarked, allowing him to calmly slot it past James.

Portsmouth conceded a third just before time as an unlucky pass-back from Sean Davis hit the post as Braga’s Alan lapsed upon the chance and put the game to sleep, although Pompey fans could debate whether half the team had even woken up in the first place.

Despite problems with the police and Pompey supporters fighting each other, both sets of fans clapped each other as the game drew to an end and send us back to the English seaside with zero points.