P. Ferreira - Benfica Preview

Benfica enters the third round of the Liga Sagres this Monday still looking for their first win. In this third round, Benfica will have a hard task at hand when they travel to northern Portugal to face Pacos de Ferreira.
P. Ferreira is not a tough adversary per say, they finished next to last in 07/08, and only stayed in Portugal's top flight because Boavista was sanctioned with relegation by the Portuguese F.A., as a result of their involvement in the Golden Whistle case.
What makes this game so tough, is the pitch in which the game will be played. It is a very narrow pitch which often creates problems to teams that like to use the whole width of the field. Benfica has had their share of problems at the Mata Real Stadium, full proof of that is the 5 win, 2 losses, and 3 ties record Benfica has compounded in their last 10 visits the Mata Real.


Here are the men called up by Quique for this game:

Keepers: Quim and Moreira.

Defenders: Léo, Maxi Pereira, Sidnei, Jorge Ribeiro and Miguel Vítor.

Midfielders: Aimar, Balboa, Reyes, Binya, Carlos Martins, Ruben Amorim, Urreta and Yebda.

Forwards: Cardozo, Di María, Nuno Gomes and Makukula.

Both Katsouranis and Luisao are serving game suspensions, and are not available. David Luiz continues to undergo his recovery program. Aimar makes his way back to the game rosters, after suffering an hamstring injury against porto, an injury which was initially given a possible return date of next weekend, so the Argentinean returning sooner than expected.
Suazo who suffered an hamstring injury this past thursday, following a barbaric tackle from a Napoli man, will not be available for this match. He will be undergoing an ultrasound today(Sunday) to determine the extent of the injury, and subsequent return date. The Cardozo incident seems to be in the past, and the Paraguayan will be an option for Quique.

Here's my projected line up:



With Luisao, Katsouranis and David Luiz unable to give their contribute, it'll be the two 19 year old's in the center of the defense, Miguel Vitor and Sidnei, who were born only seven days apart. On the sides of the defense, Maxi and Leo will continue to figure into Quique's starting 11.
In the midfield, i don't anticipate Quique making too many changes. Yebda and Martins will continue in the middle, while Reyes and DiMaria should be on the flanks. Balboa might be an option for the right flank, but i believe that Quique will give DIMaria another shot, even if he is playing out of his more natural side. Up Front it'll be Cardozo and Nuno Gomes. With Aimar just making his return to full health, and with the derby against Sporting coming up in a week's time, I'm expecting for Quique to use Aimar off the bench and not from the start. Nuno Gomes, seems like the more feasible alternative for the supporting forward role. In my opinion, DiMaria is more productive on the wings, and that's where he should play. He has yet to show the same form he displayed in Beijing. With the porto being his first game back, and playing the Napoli game out of his natural position, keeps me from holding judgment on DiMaria and what he can bring to Benfica.

Benfica needs to win this game. A loss or even a tie would be a tremendous set back for the team this early in the season. With the derby against Sporting one week away, Benfica can't afford to lose any more points to their rivals, porto and Sporting, who will play each other in 2 weeks time.
With a win against P. Ferreira and a win against unbeaten Sporting, Benfica would put themselves in a good position ahead of the Sporting - porto clash.

Expect the team to go all out in search of a win. I feel that Benfica's wing play might be restricted to the width of the field, which can cause for Benfica's attack to have its limitations. Scoring early will open up the game, and put the team at ease, as the deeper into the game Benfica goes without scoring a goal, the worst it'll be as the P. Ferreira defensive third will be overpopulated by the home team, which will have their sights on coming away with the precious point.