Apparently Luisao will be able to play the next two Benfica games.
As I posted here before, Luisao had been sanctioned with a two game suspension as a result of an elbow to the face of Sapunaru during last Saturday’s match. The elbow which wasn’t caught by the referee, but caught by SPORTTV cameras.
As a result, the league’s disciplinary committee decided to apply a 2 game suspension to Luisao. Now mind you, this disciplinary process was only opened because the referee did not see the play, an important fact to keep in mind. Taking into consideration all of Bruno Alves’ MMA displays last season, is it safe to assume that the referee saw them and the league didn’t need to intervene?
On with it…
Benfica will appeal the sanction today, which will set in motion a more intricate and time consuming process, where witnesses and experts will have to be heard on the case. A decision to the appeal could come as early as the 12th of September.
Now here’s how it get’s tricky…
If in fact the 2 game suspension is upheld, after the first appeal, Benfica will then appeal to the FPF’s Justice Counsel, who at the moment is inexistent.
Just a brief run down on that
If you recall, FPF’s Justice Counsel got together sometime in the middle of July to decide about the sentences that were applied to Porto and Boavista as a result of the Golden Whistle case. During that meeting there were some shady events that took place with the Counsel’s president, who prematurely closed the meeting when he realized the vote wasn’t going to go Porto’s way.
FPF’s law states that the meeting could not have been adjourned without the consent of the majority of its members and the members present decided to continue the meeting without their president, a meeting that later deliberated to uphold Boavista and Porto’s sentences.
The Justice Counsel president, later claimed the meeting that was held after his departure was not legal and void for all intents and purposes.
FPF’s president Gilberto Madail, called on Freitas do Amaral, a well known politician and a very credible juristic expert to analyze the occurrences of that meeting.
Freitas do Amaral concluded that the second meeting was in fact legal, and the conclusions reached in that meeting in regards to Porto and Boavista were legal.
Following Freitas do Amaral’s deliberations; Gilberto Madail criticized his Justice Counsel and called for steps to be taken to revamp the counsel. Four of the six members resigned this past month, making the Justice Counsel an inexistent entity at the moment..
With elections only scheduled for October, it’s safe to say no final decision, in regards to Luisao, will be reached before then. Therefore Luisao should have the green light to keep playing.
PS - As I finished writting this post, Maisfutebol reports that the 4 members that resigned have received subpoenas from the Departament of Investigation and Penal Action, in order to answer questions. At this time it's not known what these questions will be about, but it'll most likely involve the events that took place during that meeting.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Loopholes and A-holes
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Luisao punished with 2 games
Luisao will not be able to play the next two domestic Benfica games(P.Ferreira and Sporting) as a result of an agression to Sapunaru in the game against porto.
During the first minutes of the Benfica-porto game, the SPORTTV cameras apparently caught Luisao's elbow hitting Sapunaru in the face, during the usual fighting for position for a corner kick. As a result the league decided to punish the Benfica central defender with 2 games and a 1,000 euros fine.
With this move, the league is setting the standard, let's hope they are uniform throughout the season, and punish all other culprits.
I'm not too big of a conspiracy theorist, but there are people(bloggers) out there with very clear "warnings" for the Benfiquista community that claim that there is a lot of behind the scenes movement to prevent Benfica from having a strong season.
If the images from TV are clear, and in fact the agression took place, then i'm all for the punishment. All i'm asking for is for the league to be fair and apply the same punishment to similar infractions. They have set the standard let's see how that standard is used. All Benfiquista's will be watching.
-END-
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Luisao -v- Katsouranis and other News
The hottest topic around all of Portugal's sporting world continues to be the incident between Luisao and Katsouranis. As you may recall, the incident took place during the second half of the Setubal-Benfica game, in which the 2 players got involved into a shoving match. The two players were immediately substituted by Camacho and were both suspended on Sunday, while an investigation was started by Benfica's SAD.
The incident took place after Katsouranis lost a ball that allowed Setubal to launch a quick counter in which Luisao had to foul the ball carrier in order to stop a dangerous attacking situation. Upon fouling Luisao proceeded to yell at Katsouranis for losing the ball and for costing him a yellow card, which he was awarded from the subsequent foul. Katasouranis didn't like being yelled at and responded in an agressive way, running towards Luisao to confront him, what followed was a sorry display of unprofessionalism, with obscene gestures from the Greek's part that culminated with both players shoving each other while team mates did their best to separate them.
On Monday, Benfica's SAD lifted the suspension imposed on Luisao, and the player was back in training today. Apparently the argument that lead to the suspension being lifted, was that Luisao is a sub-captain and had every right to call out Katsouranis on his mistake. After looking at some of the images, it is clear that Luisao yells at Katso and then turns his back and runs to take his position back in the defense, the Greek on the other hand, is the one that comes towards Luisao to confront him. These are some of the facts Benfica's SAD used in their investigation.
Katsouranis is still suspended and awaits the SAD's verdict. Both players are still waiting to find out how heavy the fine will be, but in the mean Luisao is already available to Camacho. Camacho would like the situation resolved as quickly as possible, so that it the air is cleared in the middle of the squad.
Following this morning's practice, Nuno Gomes, came out to the media room to talk to reporters, during the short press conference, Nuno apologized in the name of the group to all the Benfica fans and reiterated that such incident will not repeat itself.
On other news
Lyon will announce this wednesday the signing of Cesar Delgado, bringing to an end any speculation that the Benfica option was still on.
Also coming to a conclusion is Diego Souza's destination, according to Brazilian media reports the player is headed to Palmeiras. The Brazilian club is reported to have made a satisfactory offer to Benfica and his signing for Palmeiras will happen in the next couple of days.
The Algerian media is reporting Benfica's interest and subsequent preliminary negotiations for 21 year old center back Rafik Halliche. Halliche is currently hailed as one Argelia's best young talents, he currently plays for Hussein Dey and has a contract until 2010. According to the Argelian's club president, both him and Rafik are waiting on a Visa in order to travel to Lisbon to discuss the matter further with Benfica.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Suspended!!!!
As a result of last night's game incident, Benfica has decided to suspend both Luisao and Katsouranis. Both players made their way to Benfica's Futebol Campus this morning, but were informed that they were suspended until further notice.
A decision that i couldn't agree more with.
On Other news
Rodriguez will be evaluated Monday, in order to determine the severity of his injury.
