Sporting is afraid, but it qualifies for the “eighth” round of the Portuguese Cup

Leões beat HC Sintra 4-2, in a game they won 3-0, but saw the home team reduced to 3-2. Alvalade Club will face the winner between OC Barcelos and USC Paredes in the next round of the competition

Today, Sunday, Sporting qualified for the round of 16 of the Portuguese Cup, by defeating HC Sintra – the last place holder in the second division in the southern region – with a score of 4-2 in Sintra's stronghold of the Monte Santos Pavilion. The Lions appeared to have the game settled in the first half, winning 3-0, but saw the home team approaching the scoreboard.

The match began with an early victory for Joao Soto in the 3rd minute, giving Alvalade's side the advantage, which Antonio Pérez increased six minutes later. The home team was unable to respond to the strength of the visitors, and they conceded a third goal at the end of the first half (19), through Perez again.

It looked as if the match had been decided, and not even the penalty kick scored by Antonio Ingles, in the same minute, to reduce the deficit (1-3), did not change this idea on the way to the locker room. But the resumption of the match was marked by the Sintrenses fighting in green and white.

In the middle of the second half (12 minutes), Joao Pereira called a time-out to adjust his players, and two minutes later Rodrigo Godinho scored the equalizer 3-2, reopening the discussion about the match. Or so it would have been thought, had it not been for the immediate response from Sporting. Henrique Magalhaes scored the first and only personal goal (16 minutes) from a pass from Ferran Font, while the assist was the third assist for the Spaniard, after he did the same with his compatriot, who scored two goals in the match, and achieved the final score.