Benfica - Nacional Preview

This Saturday Benfica hosts Nacional da Madeira in the 18th round of the Bwin. 12 points separate 2nd place Benfica and 9th place Nacional. Last time Benfica and Nacional officially met was at the "Choupana"(Nacional's home grounds) back on the 9th of September. It was the third game for Benfica with Camacho at the helm, Benfica was coming off a win against Copenhagen and the Camacho factor seemed to be leading the team in the right path. Benfica won 3-0 with goals from Cardozo and Rui Costa in a game where Camacho played with 2 forwards.

For this game Camacho has called the following players:

Keepers - Quim and Butt
Defenders - Leo, Luisao, Edcarlos, Sepsi, Nelson and Luis Felipe
Midfielders - Katsouranis, Nuno Assis, Maxi, Rodriguez, Di Maria, and Petit.
Forwards - Adu, Cardozo, Nuno Gomes, Mantorras.

Rui Costa will be serving a 1 game suspension for accumulating 5 yellows, a fifth yellow that he picked up against Guimaraes, which should have resulted in a yellow for the defender instead of Rui Costa.
Leo returns to the game roster and seems to have recuperated from his back injury.
Also returning will be Luisao, who served a 1 game suspension.
David Luiz did not make the game roster, as the young Brazilian sprained his ankle last weekend and has been recuperating for the most part of the week
Without Rui Costa we will most likely see 2 forwards in action. With that being said, here's my projected line up.

Quim in goal; Nelson, Luisao, Edcarlos and Leo from right to left. In the midfield, Katsouranis and Petit will be in front of the defense, while Rodriguez(DiMaria) and Maxi will work the flanks. Up front it'll be Nuno Gomes and Cardozo, with Nuno Gomes being the link between midfield and the attack.

Rodriguez should be ready to go, but his start is doubtful, as Camacho has stated that for a player like Rodriguez, who relies heavily on changes of speed and acceleration, is a lot harder to be 100%. If he does start, he'll will most likely relegate DiMaria to the bench. It's a shame, because only continuity can better DiMaria's form and confidence. I can't see Camacho sitting Maxi to start DiMaria on the right though.

Look for Benfica to build up on the success they had this past weekend, when their hard work paid off and got them the win. They will once again come out strong and hope to go up early so that they can manage the game. It'll be interesting to see Benfica play without Rui Costa, who is clearly the brains of this team. I'm curious to see how the team will organize itself and establish a style of play without Rui Costa. On the other side of the ball, Fabio Coentrao will be in Nacional's starting 11, look for him to be ready to go also, as he will want to prove to Camacho that he can fight for a spot on the roster next season. Benfica's other new signing, no not Makukula, Rafik Halliche will be in the stands as he has been loaned out to Nacional.

Shouldn't be a very hard game for Benfica, playing at home, looking to build momentum for a very tough and crucial February

2-0 Benfica -


Last time theses 2 teams met for the Bwin was like this

click on the picture to enlarge (from zerozero.pt)


Nacional 0 - Benfica - 3 Highlights