Benfica 2 - Belenenses 1 - Liga Intercalar

Benfica got their consecutive win in the Liga Intercalar. All 8 players from the main squad started the game. Yartey and Makukula were the goal scorers.
Benfica is now tied for 2nd, 3 points behind leaders Mafra and their next game will be against Sporting.

Video Report

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Benfica News 11/11/08

Benfica announced today that DiMaria will be unavailable for an undetermined amount of time as he was diagnosed with a small tear in his peroneal nerve. DiMaria apparently suffered this injury in the game against Galatasaray. Benfica's clinical bulletin does not project a return date, but have announced the player will not be available in the next couple weeks.

Benfica will play Belenenses for the Liga Intercalar at Seixal Wednesday, and Quique has made 8 players available for Diamantino, who will be in charge of the team. These players are: Moretto, Zoro, Miguel Vítor, Fellipe Bastos, Balboa, Urreta, Makukula and Mantorras. I'm sure all of these players will be in the starting line up tomorrow.

Benfica's next opponent, Estrela da Amadora, is going through a serious financial crisis, most of the players have not yet collected a check since the beginning of the season and a few others have not been paid since April. The players have given the club another day to come up with a solution for the situation.
Although a player strike has been equated by the team in order to bring about a response from the club's directive, the strike will not take place against Benfica as the formal warning needs to be forwarded to the league 8 days in advance, so the team will be on the field this coming weekend against Benfica.

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Liga Intercalar 2nd round

This past Wednesday Benfica played another game for the Liga Intercalar. The game which was supposed to have taken place 2 weeks ago (postponed because of UEFA clash) was against Torreense and Benfica won 2-1. Unlike the last round, in which Benfica only fielded junior players, this time some of the players less used by Quique got a chance to play.
Here's the starting 11:
Moretto in goal. Pedro Eugenio, Zoro, Joao Pereira and Ivanir Rodrigues in the back. Fellipe Bastos, David Simao, Lassana Camara and Yartey composed the midfield. Up front, Mantorras and Makukula, with Mantorras wearing the captain's band. Also getting playing time were - David Luiz in at 59', Jose Alves in at 67, Andre Soares, and Nelson Oliveira both in at the half.
Benfica's goals were scored by David Simao and Mantorras.
The team was coached by Diamantino, who at the end of the game, spoke about the steady progression of David Luiz, who should start being part of Quique's options very soon.


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Liga Intercalar First Round

Benfica opened up their Liga Intercalar campaign with a loss against Mafra by the score of 1-0.
Mafra who currently leads the competition, after beating both Benfica and Sporting, are also the leaders of Second Division Serie D(third flight)and fielded their best 11.
Benfica on the other hand, was coached by Juniors coach, and old Benfica glory Joao Alves, and did not dress any player from the senior squad. Some of the Junior players in action that you might have heard of were: Yartey, Lassama Camara, David Simao, and Nelson Oliveira, who as you may recall, did Benfica's whole pre-season with the team.

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Liga Intercalar, What is It?

This year Benfica will participate in another competition on the senior level, that competition is the Liga Intercalar. What is the Liga Intercalar you might ask? Well the Liga Intercalar is nothing but a supplementary competition to domestic competition. Not all teams from the Liga Sagres compete in the Liga Intercalar, as the competition currently only involves two associations, Porto and Lisbon.

As far as i know, the Liga Intercalar was born last year as an initiative of the AF Porto, this year the AF Lisboa got involved and the competition will be divided in the two zones, until the grand final.

The competition involves teams from the 3 different flights of Portuguese futebol, with the only prerequisite being that the team must be affiliated with the conresponding A.F.

There will be a total of 15 teams participating in this years competitions, 9 from the north, 6 from the south. The competition's model will not interfere with the rest of the domestic competitions as the games will all take place on wednesday afternoons.

The purpose of the Liga Intercalar is to give the less used players and young budding talent an opportunity to showcase themselves to the training staff. The Liga Intercalar is also a great way to get your players competitive rhythm after they have been out with injuries. The competition is divided in two tournaments - Winter and Spring, and will follow the home and away format for both.
First place and second place teams from both tournaments will be found and will enter a playoff, the winner of each zone playoff will meat for the grand final, where the national champion will be found.

North Zone teams:
Freamunde, Feirense, Varzim, Desportivo das Aves, Porto, Boavista, P. Ferreira, Gondomar and Leixoes

South Zone teams:
Benfica, Sporting, Mafra, Torreense, Belenenses and Estrela da Amadora.

There's no word on what roster will be part of tomorrow's game, and don't count on it being televised. There's a chance that David Luiz will be in action though. Perhaps a good opportunity for Moretto, Zoro, Fellipe Bastos and Mantorras to shine also.

I have the complete winter schedule up on my google calendar.

The competition's site

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