Benfica 1 - Feirense - 0 - Cardozo decides

Before I start, i wanted to thank all of you that followed my live commentary here on this blog. I had a lot of fun doing it and i hope you enjoyed it as much as i did and found it helpful.

I wanted to start this post by saying a couple of things. that i did not watch the game, i did follow the game live on Portuguese radio, but there were times where the radio would interrupt the broadcast from Estadio da Luz and go to Sporting's game, leaving Benfiquistas in the dark of what was going on. With that being said, i can't really give you a fair review of the game. I will however, review the game based on what i was able to listen to and what I have read.

Benfica advances into the next round of the Portuguese Cup by beating Feirense at home. A game in which the result was way better than the exhibition. Feirense, currently 10th in the Vitalis league, came to Lisbon and played their hearts out, always looking Benfica in the eye, but feeling the responsibility of the game and the intimidation that a game of this dimension can bring.
Benfica on the other hand, continues to thread dangerous water and can't seem to come out of the "slump" they are currently in. Today's game was a perfect opportunity for the team to get back on the right path, not only on the winning but also on the good performance path, and although the first one was achieved the second one failed, and that worries all Benfiquistas, who know that it's time to sound the alarm.

Camacho started the following players:

Butt in goal, Luis Felipe, Luisao, Edcarlos and Nelson on the left. Katsouranis and Maxi played in front of the defense, while Rui Costa, Assis and Di Maria formed the attacking trident that supported Nuno Gomes.

Once again we're back to the 4-2-3-1. But this time it was an odd 4-2-3-1 as Maxi and Assis both alternated between the middle of the field and the right flank, something that not only broke Benfica's own game flow, it also turned the right side of the attack in a complete unknown and an authentic waste as far as attacking chances from that side, Camacho did make an adjustment to the right side,making Assis the steady right winger, which bettered things a little bit.

One forward against a team from Portugal's second flight?!?!?. You have to be kidding me!! - Which coach wouldn't field a more attack minded team against a weaker team? and when i say attack minded i'm talking about 2 forwards.

The first half, from what i read was not so bad, with the best period coming in the last 10 minutes of the half. Katsouranis hit the cross bar in a play where the Feirense men struggled to clear the ball, in the last 10 minutes Benfica stepped up their cruising pace and brought danger to the Feirense goal, but Benfica just couldn't close the deal.

Cardozo and Adu jumped off the bench into warm up right before the half, in a move that showed that Camacho wasn't happy with what was going on. In my opinion, 45 minutes too late. Both players came on at the start of the half, Cardozo in for Maxi and Adu for DiMaria. 6 minutes later Cardozo would put Benfica ahead after scrapping up a couple of rebounds. Cardozo is still far from the 20 goal mark, but the truth is that he has scored very important goals for Benfica. After the goal, Benfica lost any of the motivation they came into the game with(little), and they allowed Feirense to play. Feirense was clearly better in the second half, having wasted crucial opportunities, one of them, an authentic gift from Butt. Butt saved a shot to the front of the box, where a feirense player, incredibly missed.

I'm not going to criticize the team any longer, as i am going on limited knowledge of the real events, but something is wrong with Benfica. Camacho claims that the players lack desire and will to win. There is a clear lack of confidence in certain players. When the oldest player on your team carries the whole team, there's definitely something wrong. It's time to go back to the drawing board, clean the slate and start fresh, the Uefa Cup will start in February and if Benfica can't improve, we will be in for a lot of embarrassment.

So far, there haven't been any new signings that will give me any confidence on this team being able to achieve anything this season. Mid-Week, Benfica signed Sepsi for the left back position, which was one of the positions that we needed to deepen. But where's the right winger? where's the forward?.

Camacho claims that Benfica has lost out on some of the men he wanted, stating several reasons for it, from financial to prestige as some of the target's choice criteria.

It is now the 19th of January and the team continues unbalanced, and needing crucial pieces in order to improve. The team hasn't had a good performance in a while, and Benfiquistas have started to grow disenchanted with the team, and losing faith that the team can win any type of trophy this season.

Camacho continues to have to do a lot of work with this team, he needs to mentally recuperate this team, and quickly. I would say that he also needs to possibly abandon the 4-2-3-1 and figure out a different system.

Adu got 30 minutes, in what it seemed like a good outing, combined well with Rui Costa in a few opportunities, and had a couple o shots that found opposition bodies blocking the goal. Nonetheless, Adu exhibits a lot more confidence than many other players out there. I know that his integration is a slow and delicate process, but he should be getting a lot more playing time. What does Camacho have to lose? I don't think it can get any worst than what it is. Adu deserves more than 10 minutes every game. He can't do much worst than DiMaria, or even Maxi. I'm just wondering how long it will take Camacho to realize this.

This upcoming weekend Benfica will travel to Guimaraes in a game that will be all but easy for Benfica, not to mention there will be points up for grabs because Porto and Sporting play each other.