Leixoes 5 - Benfica 4(pks) - Leaving Too Much to Chance

Benfica's quest for the 08/09 Portuguese Cup came to an end this past Saturday when they lost to Leixoes in the penalty kicks. The two teams played to a goalless draw for 120 minutes and had to go to the penalty kick lottery to decide a winner.
Benfica, who in the previous years had been eliminated every time they went away from Estadio da Luz, fell for a third consecutive year and sees one of their main objectives for the 08/09 season slip away.


Quique basically repeated the same 11 as he had fielded against Maritimo, with the exception of Moretto, who was in goal for Moreira. The supporting cast - Maxi, Luisao, Sidnei and David Luiz in the back. Binya and Katsouranis in the middle, Amorim and Reys on the flanks. Up front, it was Aimar supporting Suazo.
With heavy rain falling throughout the day and at game time, the game wasn't one that was going to favor the more technical players, instead the game ended up an absolute dog fight in the midfield, with a lot of divided balls and missed passes. With the keepers being involved very little.
Benfica started well, but the field conditions did not benefit the team, up front, Suazo was in a complete island, Aimar could not make his presence felt and Benfica found it very hard to get anything together, even so, Benfica went into the locker room as the team that had more ball possession and more dominance, and even the clearest opportunity to go ahead, when Sidnei inside the little box could not put it away, allowing the close range save.

The second half brought more of the same, hard fought balls in the middle, Suazo and Aimar missing from the game, and a strange tendency to call fouls against Benfica from the referee's part. I'm not one to deeply criticize a referee, but the same fouls that were being called against Benfica were not being called against Leixoes. I wish i had the stat sheet to see how many fouls were actually called against Benfica. Yellow cards, there were 5 versus 1 for Leixoes, a really lopsided called game if you ask me.
Quique made his first change at the 66th minute with Balboa for Amorim, hoping to add a little more width to the field, and explore the wings a little more. In the 68th minute Quique put Nuno Gomes in for Aimar, hoping to find someone to connect the midfield to the front line but Nuno Gomes' positioning turned out to make things worst, as he was up too much and Benfica needed someone to make the transition.
Benfica had the best chance to score in a play when Nuno Gomes was brought down in the box, the referee, stayed consistent and saw nothing.
Another 30 minutes were played, but Benfica seemed to be stuck in a hole, and showed very little signs of being able to come out. Quique burned his last substitution in the overtime period, as he switched up Suazo with Cardozo, perhaps already thinking of the penalty kicks and Cardozo's affinity for them.
It's hard to go into the penalty shootout, and think that your chances will increase, no matter who you have in goal. Penalty kicks are always a lottery and this time Benfica wasn't as lucky. Reyes missed the very last penalty kick and Benfica said good bye to the Portuguese Cup.

I have nothing to point out at the team, their effort, and their attitude, however, I thought that Quique mis-read the game, and could have made different substitutions. I felt that Yebda could have made a difference in the midfield in the second half and Cardozo could have come in earlier, to change up the playing of the 2 Leixoes center backs.
I think the weather, the field conditions, and the referee were decisive factors in the game, and Benfica wasn't strong enough to overcome these factors. Leaving to the penalty shots, is leaving too much to chance, and this time, lady luck wasn't on our side.


Last word on the referee.. this was the same character that reffed the Leixoes - Benfica game in the fifth round.. the one that called a foul on Yebda in this video.
How this guy has been pre-selected to the World Cup and carries a UEFA badge is beyond me.

Next is the farewell game for the UEFA Cup, Benfica needs to win 8-0 and hope the result of the Hertha game is favorable. Seems to me like mission impossible, Quique has already stated that he will be giving less used players some time.
We will now need to concentrate on the league and the powers trying to prevent Benfica from suceeding.. if you're keeping count Benfica players have picked up a total of 12 games in the past 2 games.