Guimaraes - Benfica Preview

Benfica travels to Portugal's birth city to play locals Vitoria de Guimaraes. Not an easy game for Benfica, as Guimaraes, despite having been promoted this year, is having a great year.
Guimaraes is currently 3rd, 2 points behind Benfica with 28 points, from a 8-4-4 record. That record also shows no home losses in the Bwin. So despite having their second place at risk, Benfica will also try to inflict Guimaraes their first home loss this season.


For this game Camacho has called the following players:

Keepers - Butt and Quim;
Defenders - Luís Filipe, Nélson, Edcarlos, David Luiz and Sepsi;
Midfielders - Petit, Katsouranis, Rodriguez, Maxi Pereira, Rui Costa, Di María, Adu and Nuno Assis
Forwards - Nuno Gomes, Mantorras and Cardozo.

Looking at the call up list, both Luisao and Leo are missing, the first one is serving a 1 game suspension from picking up 5 yellows, the second one is still troubled by a back injury and has not made a full recovery. Both Petit and Rodriguez return to the game roster, both recuperated from muscular injuries that kept them out of action. The most notable change to the game roster is the debut of Sepsi. Camacho had called a junior left back in the previous game, but with Sepsi at an acceptable stamina level, the young Romanian gets the call.

Call me skeptical, but i see Camacho going back to the 4-2-3-1 for this game. Despite the team being more productive with 2 forwards, Camacho will most likely go with his preferred tactical system in order to control the midfield. Unless, he feels Petit is not 100%, then he will most likely just go with Katsouranis in front of the defense.

Here's the probable 4-2-3-1

Quim in goal, Luis Felipe, Edcarlos, David Luiz and Nelson, from right to left. Katsouranis and Petit ahead of the defense. Rui Costa, DiMaria and Maxi in the midfield. Nuno Gomes up front.

If Camacho decides to go with the 4-1-3-2 it will look something like this
Quim and the same back 4, Katsouranis as the lone D-mid, Rui Costa in the middle, Di Maria on one side, Maxi on the other. Nuno Gomes supporting Cardozo up front.

We will most likely see Rodriguez sometime in the second half, i don't think he'll start as he only completed one full training session this week, and will not hold the 90 minutes. The rest of the subs will be based on the tactical set up Camacho decides to go with. In the event of Benfica only starting with one forward, you can bet on seeing another forward coming into the game in detriment of a midfielder.

Not an easy game for Benfica, Benfica is currently going through a tough moment having obtained less than positive results in the past couple of games, results that have also gone hand in hand with less than desirable performances. Camacho has recently made statements to the media in an attempt to challenge his players to perform better. This will be the game to do it, to prove that the team still has a pulse. The league might be a distant spec on the horizon, but there's still a lot up for grabs. One of the things up for grabs is a Champions League spot, and this game is crucial because it is against one of teams in the fight for that spot.

Coincidentally Benfica has not beaten any teams that are currently in the top 6 (Porto,Sporting, Guimaraes, Setubal and Braga).

A loss in Guimaraes would finally establish the team's mediocre potential this season. Luis Felipe Vieira spoke of the best squad in 20 years before the beginning of the season, and perhaps the expectations he gave all Benfica fans were unrealistic. The truth is that the squad is unbalanced and lacks the necessary depth to compete in all of the competitions Benfica is and was involved in. Camacho inherited the squad from Fernando Santos, and he has had a lot of work to do. I'm not saying that he doesn't have something to do with Benfica's current situation, i'm saying he got a slow start and he hasn't been able to put the team playing attractive soccer. Part of it, off course, falls on his insistence on playing in the 4-2-3-1 without the right personnel. That to me is one of Camacho's biggest downfalls. The other part lies on the inability that Benfica has to acquire above average level players, which has nothing to do with Camacho and all to do with Benfica's leadership, but that's a whole discussion all together.

In conclusion, look for a very competitive game with Benfica needing to step it up to the plateau it needs to be in - one of the big 3 in Portugal. The league may be out of reach but giving other teams a chance to fight for second place, is something that shouldn't be allowed by Benfica.

I'm curious to see how the team will respond to Camacho's challenge.

Miki Feher died 4 years ago this past friday, playing against Guimares, I'm sure he will be in many people's minds.


In the first half it was like this. (Camacho's first game at the helm)

source: zerozero.pt - click on the image to enlarge

highlights


unrelated.
i will save my Makukula announcement when he has been confirmed by Benfica