Sporting - Benfica Game Preview

Forget about any other game in the Portuguese championship, Benfica-Sporting, or Sporting-Benfica, is THE quintessential fixture of the Portuguese league. It always has been and it'll always be. Forget about porto, Benfica and Sporting have one of the biggest rivalries in Europe. The two teams have been at it since the early 1900s, and will continue to be at it, long after my time and yours. This Saturday they will meet once again in a game that is very important for both team's aspirations, but that is far from being a decisive game.
Currently Benfica is in second place, 3 points ahead of Sporting, and have not lost in 9 outings. Sporting on the other hand, have lost only 1 game in their past 14 outings, but have had their trials and tribulations as of late.
The way in which the two teams come into the game has never been an indicator as to who the winner will be, as reality is thrown out the window, and the two teams play for season bragging rights.

Quique called on the following players for the derby:

Keepers: Moreira and Quim

Defenders: Luisão, Maxi, David Luiz, Sidnei and Miguel Vítor

Midfielders: Katsouranis, Aimar, Balboa, Ruben Amorim, Binya, Carlos Martins, Yebda

Forwards: Di María, Urreta, Suazo, Nuno Gomes, Reyes and Cardozo

20 players in all, which will mean that 2 of them will watch the game from the stands. Ribeiro and Matorras were left out by option, while Moretto seems to be struggling with an injury and is the only player that is listed in Benfica's clinical report.
Returning to the game roster squad are Urreta and Suazo. The first returns from a month long absence in which he helped the Uruguay U-20 squad qualify for the U-20 World Cup. The second one, from taking a much deserved rest following a cross Atlantic trip for his National team, this all after coming off an injury. Quique felt that Suazo needed to re-charge his batteries, and is hoping that the Honduran comes back in style and mends his relationship with the goal.

20 players to confuse the media and the opposition, and what is a Quique starting 11 without a surprise?
But i suspect that this time there will be no surprises and the 11 should be very identical to what we saw against Porto.
Moreira in goal. Maxi, Luisao, Sidnei and David Luiz in the back. katsournais and yebda will be back in the center, while the flanks will once again be handed out to Amorim and Reyes. Up front, Aimar should support the hopefully renewed Suazo.
No surprises, but you never know.
Personally, I'd like to see, Amorim in the middle and the flanks patrolled by DiMaria and Reyes, but i think that, despite being too ambitious from Quique, it's also not a very good choice, as Yebda has a much clearer understanding of Quique's system and has logged more minutes with Katsouranis.

So what can we expect from this game? - I'd say a well played game where the difference will be made by the team who commits the least amount of errors. Benfica's biggest weapon has to be on dead ball situations, but will also try to capitalize from the talent of Reyes, Suazo and Aimar, who, if all 3 start, will only be their fifth game together.

There's a lot at stake, but the loser won'tt necessarily be out of the running, as there's still a lot of games to be played in the second half of the season.
With a win, Benfica would put some distance between them and Sporting and would keep pace with porto, who has already won their game this weekend.
With a tie, Benfica would see themselves 3 points back from porto.
With a loss, Benfica would not only fall back to4 points from porto, but they would also open the door for Leixoes to join them in second. Leixoes, off course, being the adversary that comes after Sporting.
Being that next round Sporting and porto will clash, it'd be within Benfica's best interest to keep the 1 point difference to porto, as a less favorable result for porto against Sporting would create an opportunity for Benfica to jump ahead. But all in due time, the win is the only result that should matter, the tie wouldn't be bad, but the win is what will suit Benfica the most.

I'm hoping for a good, well officiated game and for a clear Benfica win.

As always, derbies and classics will not be live broadcast in the Northern American continent in your home, so I will be posting links up for streams in the morning and up to game time..
I will also be "tweeting" about the game. If you want to follow some of my thoughts on the game, point your browsers here .