Belenenses 1 - Benfica 0 - 2nd Loss of the Season.

Benfica suffers their second loss of the season, second straight for the Bwin. After losing to Porto 2 weeks ago, Benfica loses again, this time to Belenenses, and see the gap between them and, Bwin leaders, Porto increase to 10 points. Despite having won two games in between these two losses, Benfica see themselves in a losing streak domestically. It's still early to consider the league lost, but if it was already an uphill battle, the gradient just increased.

On to the game

No surprises in the starting 11, Camacho fielded his best four backs in Nelson, Luisao, David Luiz and Leo in front of Quim. In the midfield, Katsouranis was back next to Petit's side while the attacking midfield line was composed of Rodriguez and Maxi on the flanks, while Rui Costa played in the middle. Cardozo was the lone striker. Your habitual 4-2-3-1 if you will.
As i had mentioned in my preview, it wasn't going to be an easy game for Benfica, Belenenses has a very good team, with skilled players, that can create alot of problems if they are given the time and space to play. It was that space that was conceeded to Belenenses that allowed Belenenses to finish the half with close to 70% of percentage against Benfica's 30 something. Once again Petit and Katsouranis were very innefective. It is beyond me, how a team with 2 defensive midfielders can't control the game, and most of all, allow for the opposing midfield to touch the ball anyway and in any direction they please. One of Benfica's mistakes from the first half was giving Belenenses too much respect and allowing them to play while Benfica limited themselves to stay in front of the ball. The other crucial mistake was the lack of build up from the defensive midfield pivots. Benfica could not get any type of transition game through Petit and Katsouranis, instead they used and abused of the long ball which was the easiest to defend for Belenenses. Perhaps the long ball was the only choice being that Belenenses' men were playing a very tight zone, something that could have been evaded with a lot of movement in the midfield in the form of "checkbacks" to the player with the ball. Belenenses created a few opportunities and could have very well gone into half time with the scoreboard in their favor. Halftime rolled around and Benfica had done absolutely nothing with the exception of a shot from Rui Costa, right around the end of the half. Changes needed to be made for the second half, players needed to come out with a different attitude, and the work rate needed to increase, if Benfica wanted to win this game. Benfica did come out more offensive in the second half, trying to control the game but the midfield seemed to be too populated like in the first half with Benfica's men being watched closely. Benfica's incursions were coming from the defensive line, with David Luiz often bringing the ball into Belenenses half of the field, a clear sign the midfield players were allowing themselves to be closed down. Camacho made a double substitution at the 64 minute mark, Nuno Gomes came in for Maxi and Di Maria for Katsouranis. Rodriguez, who was sub par on what he has accustomed Benfica fans to, moved to the right while DiMaria went to the left side. Nuno Gomes stepped into the 9 slot while Rui Costa dropped back into a more central position. Personally i tought the defensive midfielder for a forward substitution should have came right at half time. It was clear that there were too many players in the middle of the field, and this was limiting Benfica on what they could do offensively, there was no room to maneuver in the middle. With the double substitution, the game opened up and Benfica became more dangerous, with Rui Costa taking control of Benfica's game and slicing the defense with precise passes to Benfica's wingers. The game was wide open and Belenenses took advantage of Benfica's all out attacking posture to launch a quick counter that would put them up on the scoreboard. Weldon ran down the line with Luisao in pursuit and cut inside leaving Luisao behind to put the ball past Quim, 71 minutes had gone by. Benfica had their best opportunity when Cardozo "shinned" a perfect cross from Di Maria that allowed the keeper to make an easy save. Adu came in for Rodriguez in the 79th minute but Freddy is fresh out of miracles, and honestly, 11 minutes is an unfair amount of minutes for Freddy, who could very well have been brought on sooner, as he seems to always change the complexion of the game, I'm still wondering why Camacho is the only one who doesn't see this.

To sum it up, not a good performance from Benfica tonight, who lost fairly, to a well organized Belenenses team that took advantage of Benfica's passiveness to assert themselves in the game. The first half ended up dictating the game's "motif" if you want to call it that, with Belenenses believing they could very well come away with the 3 points by playing an unhibited game. It's hard to comprehend the team's performance in this game, several players were rested, the team was coming off 2 important wins and seemed poised to finish up the year on a positive note. What went wrong? Lack of motivation? Looking towards holliday break perhaps? With many players returning to their countries to spend time with their families. No one can really say, both Rui Costa and Petit admitted to a terrible team performance in their post game interviews. One more game coming up this thursday against Estrela da Amadora, let's hope the team can finish the year on a high note.

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