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.

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Benfica 3 - D. Aves 0 - Normalcy and Tranquility

After experiencing some difficulties against Penafiel in the last round of the Portuguese Cup, Quique made it very clear to the squad that the Portuguese Cup is a competition to be taken seriously and one of the team's objectives for the 08/09 season. With the message being heard loud and clear, Benfica easily defeated Desportivo das Aves by the score of 3-0 and will now await Thursday's drawing to find out who their next adversary will be.


Not wanting a repeat from the last round, Quique fielded an 11 that could very well be the starting team for Benfica in any given game.

Moreira in goal. Maxi, Luisao, Sidnei and Leo in the back. Binya, Yebda, Martins and Aimar were in the middle, while up front it was Suazo along side Cardozo. A different look in the midfield, with Binya clearly playing in front of the defense while Yebda, Martins and Aimar formed a triangle in front of him.
Benfica put the game away early with goals by Yebda(2'), Luisao(19') and Maxi(28'), which gave the team tranquility and allowed them to cruise the rest of the way, with a noticeable slower pace, while still creating opportunities throughout the game. The biggest story of the game was the return of David Luiz, who came into the game at the 67th minute. A long awaited return both by the player and fans alike who saluted the player as he came on the field. Urreta and Balboa also got playing time in the second half as they came in at the 59th and 71st minute respectively.

Not much to say about the game, as that should always be the case when Benfica faces a team from a lower division at their stadium. There should be no "close calls", "squeeze bys" or even close games in these circumstances.
A true Benfiquista always goes into a game thinking that Benfica will win, regardless of who the opponent is. In tonight's case, and against a traditionally weaker opponent, a win should be a given and not even something in question.
There's no need to go any further talking about tonight's game, as a win has to be as normal as it comes. Think about something you do through out your day, that you consider it so normal, that's not even worth mentioning it to someone as something you did. It's with that same type of normalcy that wins like tonight's should be regarded.

The return of David Luiz, the change in midfield configuration, and the more serious approach by the team and technical staff to the game, are some of the few things that are worth mentioning about this game, other than that, not much more.

Benfica will now enter another crucial stage of their season, with battles against middle of the table teams and two crucial matches for their UEFA Cup future, it's important to finish out the year strong as making it to the winter break at the top is usually a good indicator for the rest of the season.

Photos - www.slbenfica.pt

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Benfica 5 - Penafiel 3 (pks) - Portuguese Cup Review

Benfica squeaks by to the next round of the Portuguese Cup by defeating Penafiel in the penalty shootout.
I am not going to extend myself in commenting the game, as i thought the game was an absolute bore fest.
It's also unfair to apply the same criticism you usually see here to the team that Quique fielded on Sunday night.


Moreira in goal. Miguel Vitor, Luisao, Sidnei and Leo made up the back four. In the midfield it was Binya and Amorim in the middle while the flanks belonged to Balboa and Urreta. Up front Makukula was supported by DiMaria.


It was no secret that Quique was going to give playing time to players who haven't gotten much up until this point. It was also no secret that Quique proclaimed his confidence in the players that were going to start, whoever they might be. From a players perspective, this was a great chance to show Quique that they can be worthy options off the bench, and not just numbers to make up inter-squad scrimmages. Despite all of this, there were still players that managed to either confirm what Quique already knew or to see their stock move.

Here's a quick look at what they did.

Moreira - Not only did he confirm that he is a great back up for Quim, he also proved to be able to fight for the position, perhaps the only bright spot of the night, when it came to the players who were getting chances.

Miguel Vitor - It was his second straight game playing at right back, and while his defending didn't leave him in a bad position, it was his attacking that lacked. Off course Vitor is a center back, and center backs don't usually come up field into the attack. To judge Vitor when he is playing out of position is unfair, the truth is, while Vitor can be a short term solution for the right back position, he isn't by any means an alternative to Maxi. Off course Maxi also has his own shortcomings, and Benfica needs to hit the winter market looking for a right back.

Leo - Apart from witnessing a miserable game from Benfica, what saddened me the most was watching Leo. Not by his performance, but for what has happened to Leo as a player. Sunday's Leo was almost unrecognizable, he seemed to have lost the happiness that playing brought him, he looked restrained and was an average player. His relegation to the bench has been explained by Quique, as Leo's inability to play in Quique's system of a line defense. I understand that yesterday he tried his best to show Quique that he can play in that system, but what a difference for the worst.

Binya - It's been quite a while since i had seen Binya in action in official games. He has shown very little progress as a player. Excellent recuperating balls, when he wasn't being overly aggressive, terrible when it came time to build. Binya is also a target of biased refereeing, he will always see a yellow quicker than anyone else on the field, there's absolutely no slack on his rope, and it's unfair to see referees not judge Binya by the same standards as other players.

Ruben Amorim - All of Amorim's appearances have been on the right side of the midfield. He returned to his natural position in the midfield but was unable to conduct Benfica's game from his transition role. I've seen him have better games out of his natural position.

Balboa - Quickly becoming the flop of the season. 4 million is what Balboa cost Benfica, so far he has yet to show 500k. You'd think in games like this, against a weaker team, a player like Balboa would come out and shine, but that is not the case, and on Sunday he once again showed why he's 3rd choice for the right side of the midfield.

Urreta - Urreta is probably the only player that showed decline since the pre-season. Between him and Balboa i couldn't really decide which one was the worst. He got an important chance on Sunday night, but was unable to take advantage of it, and justified why he is currently being left out of game rosters.

Makukula - There's no arguing that there's plenty of fire and motivation there, but technically, Makukula still shows great deficiencies. Perhaps a little bit more playing time could change some of the awkwardness of movements Makukula shows. At the time the UEFA roster list was submitted, Makukula's future was uncertain, as Benfica received some interest from other clubs, and that is the reason why Makukula was not signed in the UEFA. He will continue to work hard, and his performance on Sunday was positive one.

Not much to be said about anyone else. These were the players that were given a great opportunity but came up short with the exception of Moreira, and perhaps Makukula, depending how you look at it. Suazo, Reyes and Katsouranis got some minutes also in the second half, trying to change the course of events, and did bring some change, but the path had already been dug in.

Too bad that these players couldn't take advantage of the opportunity, I'm sure Quique will re-think his approach to playing time in the next cup game.
This Wednesday Benfica will find out who their next adversary is for the Portuguese Cup.


Photo - slbenfica.pt

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