Greatest Of All Legends

Chapter 139: Liga Bwin Portugal: Post Match Discussion II

“Let’s talk about the game, what do you think happened in the first half that the Porto team was left clutching at straws?”

“Can I say it was a lack of commitment, focus, or enthusiasm?” Pedro Sousa started the conversation with a question.

“Well, after scoring their first goal, I think the defense let down their guards for a second there and Rio Ave somehow found a way to punish them for it,” Manuel Fernandes began the discussion by laying out his view.

“Yeah, Mehdi Taremi somehow found a way behind the Porto defense not just once but twice and managed to punish the Porto team twice in the same game, perfectly displaying the skills that have helped him maintain his lead as the league’s goal scorer,” Nuno Gomes chimed in.

“A bit of a late bloomer, isn’t he?” Joao Salgueiro said.

“We can say that, after joining Rio Ave from Al-Gharafa just this season he has put out excellent performances that have taken the league by storm and he is currently the league’s highest goal scorer with 13 goals,” Pedro Sousa laid out his analysis.

“Needless to say, the first half of the game was a difficult one for Porto because of this man and he would have gotten away with it too had Porto not found it within themselves to pull out enough of the performances that made them league leaders and manage to take the game back,” Joao Salgueiro.

“That is one of the main things, but I’m pretty sure that the manager bringing on Jason Bolu was the best decision he made during the match,” Manuel Fernandes added from his side of the table.

“Let’s talk about that kid for once. Ever since his debut, he has continually displayed excellent performances that have taken the Porto fans to a new level of joy and probably has clubs around the world salivating while waiting for the transfer season to be opened,” Pedro Sousa said with an impressed tone.

“I can’t deny that Porto may have a tumultuous transfer saga in the upcoming transfer window and will have a hard time trying to hold on to the kid,” Joao Salgueiro added.

“Absolutely, ever since his debut in the Europa League round of 16 first leg game against Bayer Leverkusen where he helped the team to stage a comeback, he has continuously displayed exciting performances, racking up five goals and three assists in five games,” Manuel Fernandes stated.

“The crazy part about all this is that the kid has only started one game and even then he didn’t play the full ninety minutes, and he was still able to do this much,” Nuno Gomes added, his tone expressing how impressed he was by Jason’s performance.

“How did that kid even manage to stay under the radar until now with this much talent? There is literally no information about him on the professional stage before that match he played with the Porto juniors where he led the Porto U-19 squad to absolutely trash the Familicao U-19 squad by 9 goals to 2,” Nuno Gomes asked out of curiosity since he had no information about it.

“Exactly! We don’t even know what football academy he trained at,” Manuel Fernandes added in disbelief.

“… That’s because he didn’t train at any football academy,” Joao Salgueiro said after a pause.

“What? What do you mean?” Nuno Gomes asked in surprise.

“I managed to get information that he was signed from a football trial in the United States earlier this year. He wasn’t at an academy before that,” Joao Salgueiro explained.

“Football trials? Isn’t that for washouts?” Manuel Fernandes couldn’t believe his ears.

“Wait… are you trying to tell me that that he isn’t from any football academy and can play like that?”

“That makes no sense… not only is he good at dribbling and has a very good eye for goal, he also has an uncanny ability to read the game and always manages to be in the right place at the right time, not to mention his ability to be a team player is phenomenal despite how he tends to go solo on the defense every time,” Nuno Gomes listed out in confusion.

“Considering the lack of other information about him, this is the only one that checks out,” Pedro Sousa finally butted in.

“I have also heard the story and considering that Jason lived in the USA till early this year and the lack of any information on his file about him being from any academy apart from the one he was in before he stopped at seven years old… there is no other explanation,”

“The only way we can confirm the authenticity of the story is either by asking Jason, the manager, or the scout who happened to sign him, which, funnily enough, no one has thought to ask,” Pedro Sousa said with a laugh.

He was a journalist, but the main part of his job was about anchoring shows and it had been a while since he had done some field work to find out information so the information he had about Jason was not much.

“If that story is true, somebody needs to give that scout a raise,” Joao Salgueiro said while laughing lightly.

“I’m sure all the other Porto fans agree with you, the female fans especially,” Manuel Fernandes added, also laughing.

“I don’t know about that, but I do know that every Porto fan was happy with his performance today that helped the team stage a comeback,” Pedro Sousa said.

“Which of the goals in that match do you like best?” Nuno Gomes asked the group.

“To be honest, that’s quite a difficult choice to make as they were all exceptional goals… but I think I’d go for the last goal scored by Fabio Viera,” Manuel Fernandes was the first to speak.

“I can’t choose, the touch of flair in Porto’s second and third goals make it difficult for me to make a choice,” Joao Salgueiro made known his own opinion, even though he was quite indecisive.

“Well, for me…”

The show went on and all the matches played on that day were discussed.