A bad 30 minutes in the first half was all that took for Benfica to lose their opportunity to leave one point between them and Bwin Leaders Porto. In my previous post i had mentioned that a good start would be one of the keys to the game, and Benfica did have a good first 10 minutes, but the other 35 of the first half were just terrible, missed passes, anxiety, nervousness, naivety, were some of what we saw from Benfica in the first half, a very different Benfica from the one we saw on wednesday, almost unrecognizable. These 35 minutes ended up costing us the the game and the 3 points.
On to the Game
Camacho repeated Wednesday's starting 11, why wouldn't he? ( if it isn't broken don't fix it)
Benfica started well, creating an opportunity before the clock had even reached the first minute,
Nuno Gomes in front of goal completely shanked the ball, and despite having a Porto player intercept the shot, the ball was clearly headed for the corner flag. Benfica dominated the first 10 minutes, but after Porto sorted out their markings, Benfica lost its domination. Petit and Katsouranis lacked passing precision and Benfica could not build out of the back and lost control of the midfield. On the other side Porto was taking full advantage of missed passes to launch quick counters, Tarik gave the first warning sign after Lisandro put through a ball for the Morrocan, who shot just wide of Quim's net. The clock showed 32 minutes and it was a clear sign of Porto's domination. 10 minutes later, it would go from warning to action, as Quaresma in a similar run to Tarik's beat David Luiz ( his only mistake) and put the ball past Quim. Benfica seemed lost, without game flow and unable to string passes together, half time couldn't come soon enough. Porto justified being up at the half, as they were clearly the team that did the most during the last 30 minutes of the half to change the score line. The second half was a complete different story, Benfica came out strong again and took initiative and control of the game, after all, they were down and needed to try to get back into the game. I'd say Benfica controlled all of the second half, but their ineffectiveness in the final third of the field, once again proved to be their Achile's heel. Nuno Gomes allowed Helton to save his shot when Helton was all he had in front of him. At the 65 minute mark, Camacho took out Katsouranis to put Cardozo next to Nuno Gomes and Benfica's game took another dimension, but the final third inabilities continued. Di Maria made his appearance into the game at the 71 minute mark, coming in for Maxi, who was very far from from the "Super-Maxi" from Wednesday. Once again the Argentinian youngster didn't make much of a dent in Benfica's attacking game , picking up a yellow card on what the referee called a dive inside of the box, in Di Maria's defense, replays showed it should have gone the other way.
In a last attempt of changing Benfica's offensive luck, Camacho switched Adu for Nuno Gomes, with 11 minutes to be played. Adu wasn't even on the field 1 minute and he had one of the best Benfica chances with a hard low shot in which Helton responded by making the save of the night. The game ended 0-1, and it was a deserved win for Porto, who took advantage of a lethargic first half Benfica. In the second half Benfica did a lot more than the first half but not enough to have justified the tie.
There were a lot of mistakes in the midfield from both Petit and Katsouranis, a lot of missed passes and flashes of inexperience by the Benfica players. Rodriguez clearly not at his best, finished the game injured and will not make the trip to the Ukraine, Rui Costa did all he could, but the days he could carry the whole team on his shoulders, on a regular basis, are long gone. David Luiz had a good game, with the exception of the play that the Porto goal originated from, he was much better than Luisao in the back. Leo had a subpar performance and Luis Felipe can't cross a ball. Nuno Gomes showed once again why he shouldn't be the highest payed player in the squad. Enough with that, i'm not here to crucify players, i'm just venting.
Few things i wanted to say; there was a lot of anticipation for this game, most of Benfica fans, including me, thought that after wednesday's performance, a win against Porto would be a given, if performance levels carried over. However, we must take into consideration that teams often have hard times keeping up the same level of competitiveness and intensity. Let's not forget that Benfica played a very hard game against Milan, a game that took a lot from a physical aspect. When you have to play to win, it's all or nothing. Benfica saw themselves going the extra mile to get back into the game against Porto, much like the game against Milan. At some point the needle is going to hit "E". I'm by no means trying to undermine the deserved Porto win, but there are a few factors involved, Porto rested 4 players, and did not have the same physical exertion that Benfica had on Wednesday. All things aside it was a deserved win. As a Benfica fan, i'm feeling a bit of frustration that the team wasn't able to carry over their effort from wednesday, I'm frustrated that the team showed a lot of inexperience in the first half and ended up paying dearly for it. I'm frustrated that Di Maria has done a complete nose dive from his initial show of potential, He's a young player and he needs to be given time, but at this moment he needs a complete ovehaul and someone to work with him and take him back to basics. I think the more he plays like he has been playing, the more the Benfica fans are going to grow restless, he needs to be sheltered from that, he is a great talent and shows great promise but he needs to be protected by Benfica in order for his psyche not to be affected. He will get a chance to start this tuesday as Rodriguez will not even make the trip. I liked seeing Adu in earlier, i think he can do great things if given the time. There's still a lot that he has to learn, but, Freddy is a different player from the Freddy that debuted for Benfica under Fernando Santos, he is showing signs of maturity, knows when to dribble, when to pass, a very different Freddy Adu indeed, and Camacho is just the right person to "bring him up".
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Benfica 0 - Porto 1 - Slow Start Dictates Loss
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6 comments:
nobody could finish :(
Good benfica space, poor benfica against porto
I'd just like to say thank you for these great posts!
Do you think the youngsters should see more playing time??
Also there were some ill advised shots taken during the game.
you are very welcome - i appreciate everyone that takes the time to leave a comment and most of all their opinion.
It's tough to say - on one hand there's great potential in the young players on the other hand you have to consider a bunch of factors. Camacho is being very tactful integrating them. Both Di Maria and Adu come from different types of soccer and they need to integrated slowly and carefully. The same doesn't happen with players that played in the juniors. and that's why you have seen good contributions from both Romeu Ribeiro and Miguel Victor. For Dabao is a lot different because playing up front requires a certain level of maturity, which he hasn't reached yet. He will be out on loan this January and hopefully he can get the reps that will give him some of that maturity. Coentrao is also very talented but i think the "weight" of the jersey has somehow constrained him from playing his game and has affected his confidence. As a player, you can't think that this and that guy is better than you, because that will be your downfall. As a player, you always have to think that you are better or as good as the rest of your team mates, like that, your game is not affected by what you think are your limitations, you always have to think you can do better, and your game will grow. bring up youngsters is a very delicate process and you need the right personnel to do it.All aspects of the players game need to be worked on, with high relevance for the mental game. There have been players that have played for the national team all their lives, but when they get to a senior level, mentally they are not capable to step up to the next level and they end up in mid-level teams and eventually fade away having a less than noticeable career. Integration requires a lot of work and it's dependent on the player. The player is presented with situations, and his response to those situations will dictate how he will mature.
afumacas mate, great blog ;)
On the game I agree with your recap, bar one thing: I don't think you should have repeated the XI that faced Milan, it was quite clear that some players weren't at their best, physically speaking, so it would be tough to face a much more fresh Porto.
Also, if Camacho wanted to repeat the XI, then he should have made his subs a lot earlier, Adu was really good when he came on, di Maria also gave you some width to the right flank.
Good luck against Shaktar, hope you win it.
yes - i agree early subs needed to have taken place, at least at the 60 minute mark, after Camacho had enough time to see how the team reacted to the half time talk. My choice would have been Adu in ahead of Di Maria, I've been saying that for the past 2 games.
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