Vitória with 18 players sick to face Sporting

maniak

Full Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2004
Messages
9,870
Location
Lisboa
Supports
Arsenal
OK, not that this matters much for fans outside Portugal, but this has got people talking here and I'd like to hear opinions from people who have no dog in the race.

Basically tomorrow Sporting will play Vitória Setúbal, but in the last couple of days a virus has spread among the Vitória squad and according to the club they have 18 out of 26 players sick. They had to go to the hospital yesterday and haven't been training.

Vitória asked Sporting to postpone the match to be played in the next day of cup fixtures, since both teams have been knocked out and won't play that day.

Sporting has refused and apparently according to regulations the league can't do anything if Sporting doesn't accept it and Vitória will have to play with youth players.

So if you were a Sporting fan would you want your team to accept postponing the match or would you take an easy game against a weakened opponent? Of course here Sporting fans say it's not their fault and they don't want to have a congestion of fixtures later on, opponents are calling them out for not having fair play.

What says the caf?
 

2 man midfield

Last Man Standing finalist 2021/22
Joined
Sep 4, 2012
Messages
45,666
Location
?
I’d probably fall on the side of agreeing to a postponement, but it’s not really Sporting’s problem.
 

Powderfinger

Full Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2015
Messages
2,196
Supports
Arsenal
Vitoria should take revenge by playing one of the sick players and having him take turns marking each Sporting player extremely closely, breathing right in their face a few times on corners and such.
 

Offside

Euro 2016 sweepstake winner
Joined
Jun 9, 2012
Messages
26,627
Location
London
Why don’t they send one of the sick players on a sneezing mission to Sporting’s training ground?
 

Tiber

Full Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2014
Messages
10,231
The game would be off if there was a tragedy. But if the club served dodgy chicken or something and half the squad got sick? That isn't Sportings problem.
 

duffer

Sensible and not a complete jerk like most oppo's
Scout
Joined
Jun 24, 2004
Messages
50,137
Location
Chelsea (the saviours of football) fan.
Sporting should have no say in the matter, the League should make a call.

If Vitoria have 18 of 26 first team squad players sick, then that means they have 8 first teamers and 3 kids playing. Not THAT bad.
 

top1whoisman

Meet the press(conference)
Scout
Joined
May 18, 2016
Messages
18,506
Location
Helsinki
Sporting should have no say in the matter, the League should make a call.

If Vitoria have 18 of 26 first team squad players sick, then that means they have 8 first teamers and 3 kids playing. Not THAT bad.
Could be that 3 of the 8 are keepers.
 

stubie

Full Member
Joined
May 13, 2009
Messages
9,683
Location
UK
Vitoria should do a Sheffield United and try and get the game abandoned by having 3 players sent off and a further 2 get “injured”
 

lysglimt

Full Member
Scout
Joined
Jun 1, 2008
Messages
15,100
We ll send our main scout - he ll think Sportings players look World-class and sign 3 of them :)
 

Spiersey

Full Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2012
Messages
7,385
Location
United Kingdom.
Supports
Chelsea
Is this game still going ahead? Seen earlier that Vitoria are refusing to play, but may have been a bad translation.

Also, is there a confirmed list of players that are out?
 

Bubz27

No I won’t change your tag line
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Messages
21,502
Sporting at 1.25 is decent odds then.
 

RedCurry

Full Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2016
Messages
4,686
All depends on how close it is in the title race.

Like during the game, opponent might kick the ball out of courtesy to an injured player at the start of the game when it's 0-0. No chance the same player would do it if it was 87th minute and his team was down 2-1.
 

giorno

boob novice
Joined
Jul 20, 2016
Messages
26,141
Supports
Real Madrid
Big time brag: if this was italy the game would be post-poned by police because they couldn't guarantee the safety of players and fans

:wenger:

:(
 

Sandikan

aka sex on the beach
Joined
Mar 14, 2011
Messages
52,710
I don't think anyone would genuinely agree to let a rival off! It's professional competitive football, not your local Cock and Biscuits Village kick about!

Bolton somehow got away without a points deduction for calling a game off very late this season, because their young team were "Knackered". Doncaster were fuming.
 

DWelbz19

Correctly predicted Portugal to win Euro 2016
Joined
Oct 31, 2012
Messages
33,739
Sporting can do as they please, really. Unfortunate, but it do be like that sometimes.
 

Maestro14

OHKO'd a shiny Electrike
Joined
Dec 30, 2011
Messages
4,425
Location
No worries
Only last weekend, a game in the WSL between West Ham and Everton Ladies got postponed due to a flu spreading through the West Ham squad. In that case, it was the FA that made that call for "player welfare" reasons, so it sounds like Everton didn't have to agree to postpone the game.
 

Bubz27

No I won’t change your tag line
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Messages
21,502
Were 1.9 before the info was public. Think they are still value if the replacements are kids/players who are still ill.
Spiersey sniffs out the gambling talk :lol:
 

Mb194dc

Full Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2015
Messages
4,595
Supports
Chelsea
Just play the game and give youth team players a game.

Who knows, kids could be much better than expected.
 

paulscholes18

Full Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2013
Messages
20,111
Well they are one place below them, if United were playing Spurs would you want us to reschedule the match if they had 18 players out, I wouldn’t
 

NewGlory

United make me feel dirty. And not in a sexy way.
Joined
Jul 13, 2019
Messages
4,239
Well they are one place below them, if United were playing Spurs would you want us to reschedule the match if they had 18 players out, I wouldn’t
Yes I absolutely would want our club to behave honorably and respect the extreme circumstances. There is no honor in winning over a club depleted by a virus. I would not want to support a club of a-holes. This is extremely un-sportsmen behavior. It's actually the opposite of "professional" behavior. Everybody who behaves like that has no self-respect and you don't build a winning team on the shoulders of cowards.

Shame on Sporting.
 

duffer

Sensible and not a complete jerk like most oppo's
Scout
Joined
Jun 24, 2004
Messages
50,137
Location
Chelsea (the saviours of football) fan.
Yes I absolutely would want our club to behave honorably and respect the extreme circumstances. There is no honor on winning over a club depleted by a virus. I would not want to support a club of a-holes. This is extremely un-sportsmen behavior.

Shame on Sporting.
F that. If Chelsea were playing Spurs in a league match and Spurs had to field 3 kids alongside 8 first team players (with a bench of kids) then I'd want the game to be played and I'd want to batter them.

Players of all teams act without honour in ever single game. We're not Klingons and it's only football.
 

Ludens the Red

Full Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2009
Messages
17,430
Location
London
Is Bruno Fernandes going to play? I hope they don’t sneeze on him if he does. Can’t turn up here unavailable !
 

Spiersey

Full Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2012
Messages
7,385
Location
United Kingdom.
Supports
Chelsea
u23s playing currently, Ive got Chao (1700 mins), Neymar (1400) Cortzez (1260 mins) Sory (1600), Canadas (800) Langa (1500), Serrao (1400), Valido (900) all missing. Guessing most of these are in first team squad later. Unsure if they'll be starting though or just making up numbers on the bench.
 

beer&grill

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Mar 10, 2019
Messages
317
Sporting should have no say in the matter, the League should make a call.

If Vitoria have 18 of 26 first team squad players sick, then that means they have 8 first teamers and 3 kids playing. Not THAT bad.
I believe that Sporting should make the call, because you wouldn’t want the League to side with one of the teams.
 

duffer

Sensible and not a complete jerk like most oppo's
Scout
Joined
Jun 24, 2004
Messages
50,137
Location
Chelsea (the saviours of football) fan.
I believe that Sporting should make the call, because you wouldn’t want the League to side with one of the teams.
Just make a rule, something like "If an independent doctor says X% of the first team squad are suddenly too sick to play, the game is postponed". That way nobody other than a medical professional has to make a decision.