Jumping Poppies in the Land of Tulips

Benfica wrapped up their participation in the Amsterdam Tournament by doing what no other Portuguese team has done before, winning the trophy. Clearly the best team of the tournament, more wins than any other, and more goals scored than any other, Benfica showed themselves at an higher than usual level in this phase of the pre-season.
While winning a pre-season tournament of a considerable importance may not contribute to the team's success at the end of the season, the win, nonetheless, is very important to the team's morale has JJ has pointed out.


Although the two games were only 1 day apart, JJ did not change the two starting 11s too much, instead he continues to give the players reps with each other so that he can fine tune the team. While in the past we might have been seeing an authentic petri dish of experiments at this stage of the season, JJ is all business and seems to have a very good idea who will be the 11 that will start come mid August.

Against Sunderland...
Moretto. Maxi, Luisao,David Luiz and Shaffer. Javi Garcia, DiMaria, Ramires and Aimar. Saviola and Cardozo.

Against Ajax...
Moreira, Maxi, Luisao, David Luiz, Shaffer. Javi Garcia, DiMaria, Ramires and Carlos Martin, Saviola and Nuno Gomes.

As you can see the only changes came at the goalkeeper, attacking midfielder and central forward positions.
JJ has moved on from the one goalkeeper per half, to one goalkeeper per game, and while he might have already decided who will be the starting keeper, none of them can complain they haven't gotten a chance to show themselves. Quim will most likely get his start in the Guimaraes tournament, while Moretto will be in goal the second game. The goalkeeper that starts against AC Milan can very well be the one in goal for the first game of the season 1 week later.

A few thoughts on both games...

Ramires and Garcia made their debuts, and despite both of them not having a lot of time with the squad, their contributions are noticeable.
Ramires has not gotten any time off since January, he needs to be handled correctly in order not to be lost to injury or fatigue.
As far as Garcia goes, much has been written in the blogsphere about the Spaniard's real value. A big majority questioned the 7mil Benfica spent on him, and although he has yet to prove he is truly worth that amount of money,a few things have to be taken into consideration.
For one, he has been a staple in Spain's youth national teams, he came up through Real Madrid's youth system, but due to stiff competition(Emerson, Julio Baptista, Gago) he was unable to break into Madrid's second string in 06/07. He was then sold to Osasuna where he excelled in the 07/08 season, prompting Real to activate their buy back clause, and get this, buy him back for more money than what they sold him for. He played very little last year, as a matter of fact, most of his minutes were off the bench.
The obvious comparison to Balboa jumps out, but trust me, Garcia is no Balboa.
A position of this importance needed to be filled with a quality player, we certainly hope the 7 million were spent on quality, so far it seems that way. From what I was able to see in these two games, Benfica seems to have gotten it right.

Sunderland is still going through their pre-season, and despite showing themselves at a decent level, Benfica didn't really play a constant high pace game, but when they did, they were able to create danger. Cardozo and Maxi scored the goals. The first off a pk on Saviola, the second one a blast from Maxi following some passiveness of the Sunderland defense. Sunderland would pull one back, but Benfica never seemed in danger of losing this game.

The Ajax game was for all the marbles, and Ajax proved a much more difficult adversary. With a much faster playing style, and in front of their fans, Ajax took initiative of the game, but Benfica evened out the game after the initial goal, an own goal. After that it was all Benfica. Martins was in the "10" slot and it's interesting how much the team's complexion changes. Nuno Gomes played up front with Saviola, and that too, seemed to add another dynamic to the front line, a much more mobile one, but missing a presence in the box.

I enjoyed watching Garcia and Ramires once again. DiMaria stood out in the midfield and Saviola continues to show he is very far from being a wash up. Tremendous play on the second goal, which started out in the defense and finished with DiMaria tucking it in, with possibly no more than 6 first touches on the ball, with Saviola's first time pass to DiMaria being the difference maker in the play.
The other goal, was off a defensive blunder from the Ajax defense, that David Luiz took advantage of in the best away.
Although the 3-2 score may be a bit misleading, the truth is that Benfica never seemed like they had lost control of the game, as a matter of fact, the winning margin could have been larger, had Benfica not wasted a few other opportunities.

Coentrao continues to impress me off the bench, and Shaffer has shown good potential in the attacking front, but his defensive game has yet to adapt to the European style. Still too early for Weldon, who might be a very important role player, but at this time he still hasn't been with the team long enough.


The team continues to show a healthy and interesting development. The changes from last year are apparent and if JJ stated that he will have this team playing double what the team played last year, he is well on the way to get that accomplished.
It's very noticeable how the team plays in a block with two clear lines when defending, and then exploding out with very little touches on the ball to get into the final third.
The combinations between DiMaria, Aimar and Saviola are some of the most refreshing football i've seen the team play in recent years, but the team needs to continue to work, and build up on what they have shown so far.


Photo Credit - AFP/Getty