I spent three weeks trapesing around Europe trying to find that boy to hit him up with the ol' bladder bag. But alas, my chances were better if I had actually left Portugal. Even in Portugal, the closest I got to hanging with Rui Costa was a lifesize PT/Benfica promotional cut-out at the main CTT Correios post office in Lisbon.
I did get to go to last Sunday's Benfica-E Amadora match at the Estadio da Luz, however. And saw our old friend Fabrizio Miccoli play. So far, the past two matches I've seen Miccoli play live, he's scored in both (though the last time was against Siena in Juve stripes). It was cool seeing his warm reception in Lisbon though -- there are people selling Benfica scarves that say "SuperMiccoli" on them.
Then the guy got his second yellow and was ejected from the match. But then it wasn't exactly all his fault either. The ref, Carlos Xistra, ultimately handed out 15 yellow cards and three reds in the match. I thought I was watching a World Cup match between Portugal and the Netherlands for a moment there ... until I realized that nobody was even fouling each other. Talk about a refereeing travesty -- you know it's bad when the visiting team gets carded and the fans boo the ref anyway. I even learned a new soccer chant: "PA-LYA-SO!" ("palhaço" being the Portuguese word for "clown" ... meaning "palhaço assento" is quite literally Portuguese for "ass clown").
I have plenty of catching up to do, just landing last night. But beware... you all should see my lameass posts more often from here out. (But sending me off to Braga or Guimarães is clearly an effective strategy to shut me up for a while, given my general issues getting ready access to the Internet while up there.)