Sporting 0 - Benfica 0 - Good for Some.

Last time i posted to the blog was prior to the Everton game in Liverpool, so it has been sometime. I swear it's a lot easier to fill this space when things are not going well, and the frustration mounts from watching a bad game/performance.
The transition from the couch to my current position comes a lot more naturally. With that being said, a quick breeze through the last 3 games is in order, before i get into the Sporting game.

In what was perhaps the hardest away game of the group stages of the Europa League, Benfica came away with 3 points, and with proof that the 5-0 2 weeks prior was no mistake, case closed on that speculation.

The next game brought Naval to our home pitch in the type of game in which championships are won. We battled the whole 90 minutes, but it was our relentlessness that won us the game with Javi Garcia getting the clincher in added time.

After a week off for international duty, and UEFA zone World Cup playoff fixtures, Benfica came back to action for the Portuguese Cup against Guimaraes. An uncharacteristically bad first half ended up dictating our elimination from the competition. The team showed to be a little rusty from the break and gave up a goal early and was never able to turn the scoreline around. I don't want to take away any credit away from Guimaraes and especially their keeper who saved everything that came is way.
It's a shame that we are out of a competitions whose trophy eludes us for quite some time, but perfection was never the goal for this season, and i'd honestly give up every single competition we are in just to be able to hoist the Portuguese league trophy at the end of the season.

Now for more current events...

This past Saturday, Benfica traveled a few blocks to Sporting's tile showroom, in a match that opposed the first place team, against the 8th place team. The game which was a lot more important for Sporting's title hopes, was also the beginning of a new cycle for a team whose coach of 4 years had just stepped down, victim of the teams' poor performance so far, which included 5 ties in 10 games.
With all of that as a backdrop, it was easy to look at this game with a certain degree of confidence.

For this game JJ fielded the following 11:
Quim returned to goal after sitting out the past 2(3 if you count the friendly in Azores) games as a result of JJ's competition rotation policy. In the defense, it was Maxi and Peixoto on the sides, David Luiz and Sidnei in the middle, as Luisao was submitted to an appendectomy right before international duty, and has been unable to give his contribute to the team. In the midfield, the all too familiar quartet - Javi Garcia, Ramires, DiMaria and Aimar. Up front, Cardozo returned from his two game suspension to join Saviola.

It wasn't a bad start for Benfica, but it wasn't a good one also. Playing in our arch-rivals' pitch, with the home team hoping to make this game the high point of their early mediocre campaign, wasn't going to be easy. Proof of that was the tactical setup Sporting came out with, a clear 4-5-1 with all the intentions making Benfica's passing game a lot more difficult. Up front, Liedson was the only weapon for a team whose clear intentions were to not be embarrassed. Even so, It was Sporting who benefited from the first real chances on goal. The rest of the half was pretty balanced as Sporting's defensive scheme fit like a glove into Benfica's system. JJ tweaked the team, moving Ramires to the middle to help out Garcia while Aimar drifted more to the right, which seemed to balance out the middle of the park.
Benfica ended up going into the locker room with more possession, more corners, and more time spent in Sporting's half, yet the half time score seemed fair for the chances both sides had. With DiMaria clearly on one of his off days, and Aimar without many passing lane options, Benfica had a hard time bringing their game into the desired level.

The second half brought some more of the first half balance, but with Benfica's control much more pronounced, at least in the initial 10-15 minutes, but Sporting seemed to want to turn the tide in their favor, as Miguel Veloso and Moutinho both threatened from the outside following 2 corners. Veloso saw his perfect picture shot denied by Quim, and what was perhaps one of the best saves i've watch Quim make throughout his years at Benfica. It was Sporting's best period which prompted JJ to make his first change at the 68th minute, bringing in Amorim for Aimar, and moving back Ramires to the right.
Off course the constant in and out Javi Garcia was submitted to, as a result of an open wound in his head, following a head clash with Matias Fernandez, didn't help much, i counted at least 3 seperate times in which the Spaniard had to leave the game to be cleaned and bandaged.
JJ's first change seemed to bring more balance to Benfica's game, and it wasn't too long before Benfica was back in control of the game. In the 78th minute Sidnei suffered an injury and had to be brough out, Miguel Vitor took his place.
A few chances graced Benfica, but neither, DiMaria, nor Ramirez, nor Cardozo were able to put the finishing touch. JJ burned his last sub in the 68th minute, bringing in Coentrao for Saviola, but the result looked to be on the way into the books.

There's two ways to look at this result, for one it can be a favorable result, being that it was an away game in a traditionally difficult pitch, not too mention the conditions of the pitch, of which both JJ and David Luiz complained about.
The loss of two points ends up being not that critical in relation to our most direct adversaries. On the other hand, tying against an 8th place team, and a team who is clearly at a very accessible level, can be seen as something negative, not so much because of the points we lost, but because 4 of 6 teams ahead of Sporting into this game, we can easily beat.

Whichever way you want to look at it, i can't help but to think how Sporting was applauded by their fans at the end of the game for tying the game against their arch-rival.
A tie that is the 6th in 11 games for the Liga Sagres. Funny how mediocrity seems to all of the sudden be accepted by a fan base who hasn't seen their team win for the league since the 21st of September, when they beat last place Olhanense. In that aspect i think the result ends up being a negative one for Benfica.

It's too early to tell what ramifications this result will have in May, but the truth is that the tie ends up hurting Sporting's aspirations more than ours to the title.
JJ called a spade, a spade, and stated that with this result Sporting is virtually out of the race for the the title.
For Benfica, it's the possibility of going two points down to Braga, and seeing our lead over porto reduced to 3 points with a head to head coming up in the middle of December.

Next up is a trip to Belarus where 1 point can clinch us a spot in next round's Europa league.
Despite the loss to Guimaraes and the tie to Sporting, there are no signs of any type of breakdown by the team, as a matter of fact the team exhibits the same level of confidence they have had to this point.

# Photo Credit - Getty/AFP/Francisco Leong