Benfica - Nurnberg UEFA Cup Preview

Benfica gets their European campaign underway, this thursday, with a home game against Germany's Nurnberg. Having failed to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League, Benfica gets another chance in Europe by means of the Uefa Cup.
In the first round Benfica was matched up with Nurnberg. Nurnberg is currently 16th in the German Bundesliga, with a record of 4 wins, 11 losses and 4 ties,having only won 1 game away from their home pitch.

Perhaps that explains the recent sacking of their coach, Hans Meyer. Thomas Von Heese was just announced has the Nurnberg's new coach. Meyer's sacking comes as a surprise to many, as he was the one that recommended the new winter signings. The most notable winter signing for Nurnberg was Kohler, the Chech Republic giant. Kohler was signed from Monaco in hopes that he could save the team from relegation.
Another familiar face on the Nurnberg team is Greece's Charisteas, if you remember, Charisteas scored the winning goal against Portugal in the final of Euro 04. Last time Benfica played Nurnberg was in 61/62, where Benfica won with a 7-3 aggregate, Benfica would go on to become European Champion that year.

Nurnberg qualified for the next round of the Uefa Cup by placing second in group A, right behind group winners Everton, they haven't lost in their last 3 away games in European competition compiling a win and 2 ties in the group stage.
They will look to continue that streak, and hope to come away from Lisbon with a close enough result to be able to win on aggregate when they finish the round in Germany.

Benfica comes into the Uefa Cup with hopes of going far, and of achieving a secondary objective in Europe. Benfica reaches the Uefa Cup after placing third in the Champions League group stages, losing out to Celtic and group winners Milan, but finishing ahead of Shakhtar, with a very important win in a frigid Ukraine that saw them edge out Shakhtar for third place.

For Thursday's game Camacho has called the following players:

Keepers: Butt, Quim
Defenders: David Luiz, Luís Filipe, Luisão, Nelson, Edcarlos, Léo, Sepsi
Midfielders: Katsouranis, Rui Costa, Petit, Nuno Assis
Forwards: Rodríguez, Mantorras, Di Maria, Adu, Cardozo and Makukula

Maxi did not make the roster as he currently suffers from myalgia. Petit is back as he seems to have recuperated from his injury, he has trained without limitations during yesterday's and today's training sessions.

It's hard to say how Camacho will set up the team, the 4-2-3-1 is his preferred system, but playing with 2 forwards would make sense being that the Nurnberg defense is tall and physical. Nonetheless he will most likely go with 2 d-mids to have numbers in the midfield, which would usually mean one forward, unless he opts for some kind of a dynamic 4 man midfield, which is possible but unlikely.
Camacho has also said that Petit is a starting 11 choice, but his start will depend on how he feels during the pre-game warm up.

Here's the most likely starting 11:

Quim in goal. Nelson, Luisao, David Luiz and Leo on the left. Petit and Katsouranis in front of the back four. Rui Costa , Rodriguez and Assis on the right. There is a strong possibility that DiMaria will start on the right, as he is more of a winger than Assis, but Assis oftens drifts to the middle something that will create mismatches in the attacking third.
Up front it'll be another toss up between Makukula and Cardozo. It'll all depend on the game plan that Camacho draws up. With the Nurnberg Central defenders being around the 6'2" mark, it would make sense to keep the ball on the ground, in the envent that Benfica plays with one forward. The choice would fall on Cardozo, has he has a better feet game than Makukula, if the decision is to go high, in the way of crosses looking for a head, the choice would fall on Makukula, who has a better aerial game than Cardozo. In my opinion, going high might seem the wrong choice because of the height of the 2 central defenders, especially if there is only one forward.
In any event, it is probable that both Makukula and Cardozo will be on the field together at some point. Other choices off the bench will be DiMaria if he doesn't start and Adu, as Freddy can provide another option on the wing.


Look for Benfica to come out playing behind the support of the fans, who should be considerably more than the 10,000+ that showed up for this weekend's Portuguese Cup game. Benfica needs to try to get a positive result, or even sway the aggregate towards them in a favorable away. No team wants to go play away with everything still to decide. Benfica's main objective will be to win by more than 1 goal and not let Nurnberg score any goals, as away goals will usually count as 2 towards a tied aggregate. On the other side Nurnberg will be trying to pull off at least a tie, and with a new coach at the helm, we will most likely see a motivated Nurnberg, with the players wanting to make a good impression on the new coach.