Benfica 0 - Nacional 0 - Stuttering Along

My apologies for the somewhat delayed review of the game, as I was out of town with limited access to a computer.

Here it goes:

Benfica's home woes continue. This past Saturday it was another home tie and another 2 point loss to leaders Porto, the difference is now 10. After cutting down the point deficit to Porto, on the weekend before last, Benfica see themselves giving back 2 of the 3 points they had gained as a result of Benfica's 4th tie of the season at home. This time the tie was at the hands of Nacional, after having beaten Nacional convincingly in the first round, Benfica allowed the 9th place side to come to Estadio da Luz and get the tie.


Camacho fielded the following 11:

Quim, Luis Felipe, Luisao. Edcarlos and Nelson. Petit, Katsouranis, DiMaria and Maxi. Nuno Gomes and Cardozo

Apparently neither Leo nor Rodriguez deserved Camacho's confidence to go the full 90 so they did not start, however, they were part of the positive change that took place in the second half. The back four continue to suffer from the lack of balance in the outside sectors, with Luis Felipe continuing prove time and time again why he has no place in the starting 11(and maybe not even on the squad), and Nelson not playing to his full potential as he continues to play out of position on the left. Luisao has seen better days and Edcarlos continues to adapt to the style of football played in Portugal, even so the latter one seemed clearly the best of the four.

In midfield, Petit continues to be going through a rough spell, much of it because of all the injuries he has had this season. While in the beggining of the season, we saw Petit at an admirable level, these days we see Petit a few notches below from what he has accustomed us to. Katsouranis is also far from what we know he can do and his sub par game was probably because of Rui Costa's absence, as he seemed lost. Perhaps as a result of a different mission Camacho might have given him. Maxi continues to be an average player, with average performances. While he might be someone who plays simple and his pass percentage might be one of the highest ones of the team, offensively he is like a faulty switch - on a good day on, on the rest of the days defective. On the other side, it's been great to see DiMaria evolving, while his game still needs a lot of work, he is appearing more and more as an influential character in this sad story of a season. Quick on the transition game, opting for a quick give and go, and also on his one-on-one game. Off course that, not every dribble, every step over or every change of speed is going to allow him to beat his opponent, but you have to admire his courage and confidence that allows his decision to have a go without hesitation. Up front, Nuno Gomes was a complete nulity while Cardozo seems to be less and less effective when he doesn't have someone who can play behind him.

On to the game

I think all of Estadio da Luz expected the same start of game as the one against Guimaraes - dominating, pressuring and a "take the game to them" posture, but what you really got was a team lost a team without offensive solutions. The absence of Rui Costa was visible as there wasn't really anyone that orchestrated Benfica's offensive game. Despite many of the offensive lack of solutions not being entirely new, the absence of a leader and of someone who assumes control of the game accented those deficiencies. That was the story for most of the first half, lack of flow of play, lack of a someone who links team sectors and also passiveness towards the opposition.

Nacional came out wanting to play their game and did just that, much because Benfica allowed it. Benfica's lack of pressure allowed the Nacional men to combine amongst themselves and a have a few freebies at Quim's goal. Benfica's only significant chance came right at the end of the half, when DiMaria combined well with Katsouranis to free himself for a clear breakaway that Nacional's keeper instinctively saved with his right foot. Benfica didn't do much else the first half, and was forced to make the second forced substitution, in as many weeks right before half time, this time it was Nuno Gomes who had to come out due to an injury. Rodriguez would come in for Nuno Gomes right before the first half whistle.

The second half brought a slightly better Benfica, showing more of a desire to win the game. Camacho, who had placed Rodriguez in the 10 slot, made an adjustment 5 minutes into the half, switching DIMaria and Rodriguez, a change that defined a more attacking left wing and allowed the young Argentinian more freedom to roam and create. Still, Benfica's lack of speed and organized combination play did not cause much danger to Nacional's defense. Benfica's opportunities would present themselves when the team increased play speed and when both DiMaria and Rodriguez tried to solicit Cardozo in the heart of the box. Camacho substituted Leo for Nelson at the 68min mark, in a moved to turn the left side into the more dangerous attacking point for Benfica, as Leo will often cause mismatches with his offensive runs.
While the move to trade defenders while you need a win, might have had many scratching their heads, the fact that it was Nelson coming out and not Luis Felipe was even more baffling to me.

Camacho once again adjusted the team, moving Maxi inside toward Petit, pushing up Katsouranis, while sliding DiMaria to the right wing. Benfica was clearly more offensive in the second half but lacked arguments to go ahead, and their only real dangerous chances came from a line drive shot from Maxi that the Nacional keeper save to corner and another close range shot from Cardozo, which was blocked by a defenders body.
Mantorras made his way onto the the game for DiMaria in another baffling substitution by Camacho. The Argentinian was being the most dangerous man for Benfica and seemed the least conformed player with the ways things were going, which led him to try (and often succeed) to create danger, time and time again. Mantorras did not bring much to Benfica's game, and i have to question Camacho's choices, not only because of him pulling DiMaria, but also because of him not opting for a more creative possession players in Adu or Assis. The way the game was, players with the ability to
carry the ball into the final third would have been a better choice, as the Nacional players were pretty much just playing in front of goal, Mantorras entrance only caused more congestion in the heart of the attack. Benfica lost 2 precious points in a game that ended with some of the fans questioning Camacho's work.

Individually:

Quim - 7
Luis Felipe - 5
Luisao - 6
Edcarlos - 6
Nelson - 5
Petit - 6
Katsouranis - 6
DiMaria - 8
Maxi-6
Nuno Gomes - 5
Cardozo - 6

Rodriguez - 7
Leo - 6
Mantorras - 5

MoM - DiMaria

Last note on the match - Was Cardozo forbidden to take free kicks? or were all of the free kicks indirect free kicks?


So, it is now becoming a routine - gain points, lose points, good performance, bad performance. While Porto has a very good team this year, much of their dominance and point lead is due to Benfica's inability to attain positive results.

Examine Benfica's point loss starting with the Belenenses game on 12/15

12/15- Away - Belenenses - Loss 1-0 - (-3) points
1/5 - Home - Setubal -Tie 1-1 - (-2)points
1/12- Home Leixoes - Tie 0-0 - (-2) points
2/2 - Home Nacional - tie 0-0 - (-2) points

If you add all the points lost you come up with 9. With Porto currently being 10 points ahead, you can see that the difference has been in the team's inability to compete.

Don't think that Makukula is going to be some type of savior, he is not. The squad continues to be unbalanced and Benfica's inability to acquire players to at least balance the squad can only give their fans little hope in achieving some of the goals that are still out there.