Benfica Weekend Review

Benfica traveled to Madeira this past Friday to face Nacional, in a game that was part of the festivities belonging to the inauguration of the Cristiano Ronaldo Futebol Campus. Benfica came away with the win with Dabao getting the winning goal in the closing minutes.
Camacho started the following players:
Butt in goal; Luis Felipe, Edcarlos, David Luiz and Ruben Lima; Romeu Ribeiro played defensive mid, Andres Diaz, Assis and Coentrao composed the more advanced line of midfield. Up front it was Di Maria supporting Bergessio. Also making appearances in the game were: Moreira, David Simao, Andre Carvalhas, Mantorras and Yu Dabao. While the game served as a celebration for the madeira team, the biggest celebration has to come from Benfica fan's everywhere. Not only for the victory, despite of not counting for anything, but for what the game really meant. Let's examine:
- Moreira's first official match since suffering a knee injury that has kept him out of the team for a lengthy period of time. Moreira has been the darling of many Benfiquista's and is the choice of many to be Benfica's number 1. Seeing him in action again has certainly brough joy to many Benfiquistas.
- David Luiz's return, and what a return! Safe, secure, with a man of the match type of performance. It won't be too long before he is playing next to Luisao.
- Juniors: Ruben Lima, Andre Carvalhas and David Simao all made their first team debut and showed where Benfica's future lies. Let's not forget that Romeu Ribeiro and Miguel Victor are also juniors still. With this type of talent, the future is bright and as a Benfiquista i can only be happy with the fact that there are youngsters being brought up through our youth system that are future senior team players.
Mantorras - it's always nice to see the Angolan international come into the game and make a difference. The Benfica goal comes from Mantorras' long distance shot, that Dabao puts away after the ball rebounded off the crossbar.
Even tough it was Nacional's night to celebrate, Benfiquista's everywhere should eb the ones celebrating for the reasons i just mentioned above

On Saturday, The US national team beat South Africa by the score of 1-0 with an assist of Freddy Adu which started for the Americans. Also on Saturday, Petit told the media that he will be ready to integrate training this starting week and may even be 100% to play the Academica match (countdown on the side)

On Sunday, Christian Rodriguez, started in Uruguay's WC qualifier against Chile, in a match that ended in a draw

Remember these faces:
Simao, Carvalhas, Lima