TORREENSE TRAVEL BLOG
Normally I dread getting out of bed when the sky is still dark but last Thursday morning I was actually happy to hear my alarm go off. In just half an hour I was ready for the day and on the road to Newcastle Airport. As it always is with away games, I went with my dad, his friend and my two cousins so the car journey felt like it was going to be a pretty standard day out and it wasn't until we arrived at the airport that it really hit me how far we are going, and how exciting this opportunity is.
With not much besides the shirts on our backs (which were red and white of course) and a change of clothes for the next day, everybody got through security pretty smoothly and it didn't feel like long until we were on the flight heading for Lisbon. Despite the club not participating in any european competitions for over 50 years, I don’t think there was a single person on that cold, early morning flight that wasn’t a Sunderland supporter which just goes to show how devoted we fans are. After we arrived in Lisbon, there was still more travelling to do as the guest house my dad had booked was in a small town in the middle of nowhere. We quickly checked in and had the rest of the afternoon to explore the town before the match later that evening. The streets were short and of the few shops there, most of them were closed so if it weren’t for the occasional Sunderland fans that waved and cheered at each other as they went past, the place would have felt abandoned. The guest house we stayed in felt pretty abandoned too and the rooms were very rudimentary. “It's going to be so worth it,” my dad reassured us confidently.
A couple hours later, after an annoyingly good goal from Torreense’s Volnei, I started to doubt this. With Torreense being such a small club, so much so that most Sunderland fans were technically sat in the home end because there weren't enough Portuguese fans to fill it, I had assumed this was going to be a very easy game. However, after Regis Le Bris made so many risky changes to the usual starting eleven, the team seemed disorganised and weak against the opposition's defence. It wasn't until the second half we had our first shot on target, never mind scoring. Luckily, Le Bris had the foresight to bring on some of our more familiar players and it wasn't long after that, thanks to Jules Ahoka's crucial header, we equalized in the 67th minute. The team was back on track and starting to take advantage of Torreense's weaknesses. Even after many awful decisions from the referee and two yellow cards we were starting to make a comeback so I was disappointed when only six minutes of added time was announced. It turned out we only needed an extra three and Noah Sadiki scored with a powerful kick that sent the ball straight into the back of the net.
The crowd was ecstatic as Sadiki jumped over the advertising boards in celebration. After such a dreadful first half we had fought back greatly and the win was well deserved, both by the players and the fans. As soon as we were out of the stadium and I got signal on my phone, I looked up the league table. When I read that after such an absence in any major competitions, we were finally in the top ten of the Europa League with a goal difference of plus two, I decided that the trip was definitely worth it.
