[LadyEagle]

I love Benfica.
We should have won. Overall the team played well. Sabry had a great free kick, but it hit the post.

It was a good game. Many fans. Its always great to watch the best.

I would say more, but my throat hurts from,
BENFICA BENFICA BENFICA

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BENFICA--Forever

 

[LadyEagle]

This was the line-up:
Bossio
Andrade (substituted by Sergio Nunes)
Verissimo
Ronaldo
Rojas
Calado
Maniche
Kandaurov (substituted by Chano)
Uribe
Joao Tomas (substituted by Ramirez)
Sabry

(This was how I saw the game)
Bossio played OK. He defended a penalty, which was greatly celebrated by all the fans. I was always nervous when the ball reached him, but he did OK.

The defense overall played well, no one really stood up, but was a whole they did well.

The midfield also played well. Calado and Maniche stood out. Kandaurov seemed tired throughout the game. Uribe missed some passes, but scored the goal (penalty) which gave Benfica the tie.

Joao Tomas showed a lot of speed towards the goal, and also played well. Sabry gave us a great show, but kept on being followed. Almost at the end, he had a superb opportunity to score (free kick), but the ball hit the post.

The players that came to substitute didn’t really have enough time to prove themselves, but played OK.


Roma scored first, at the 20th minute, and Benfica tied at the 26th minute. The referee failed to penalized Roma with two penalties (both fouls on Joao Tomas), and give the red card to Roma’s keeper for grabbing the ball out of his area.

As a whole, I like benfica’s exibition, and think they could (and should) have won. I was also pleased to see the many fans who went to the game. Watching BENFICA is always great.


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BENFICA--Forever

 

[RedEagle]

Very good report LadyEagle on the game. I too was there section 130 and I lost my voice shortly after half time. Benfica looked a bit shaky in the first half...I thought Calado was terrible in the first half but somewhat righted himseld in the second half which belonged to Benfica completely. Tomas was taken down twice in the area and no calls on both clear fouls. The place had about 30,000 fans and about 25,000 of those were benfica fans. It was nice feel.

Even the MetroStars put on a great show...what a goal by my man Peter Villegas to win the game on extra time.

Great show!



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Viva o Benfica!

 

[Pila]

Indeed, we played a good second half.

Like RedEagle stated, Calado was careless with the ball in the first half. In fact, it seemed the whole team was handling passes in a extremely lazy manner, costing them the ball often. In fact, that's how they found themselves down 1-0. Roma scored on a steal (I don't remember who it was that lost the ball) because, whomever that knuckle head was, didn't bother to put in a little effort to protect the ball.

But, the second half was entirely a different story. Roma's 4 or 5 yellow cards made them slow down with the aggressive tackling of the first half. I think that was the difference in the halfs. Benfica controlled the ball much better because of it.

Sabry's free kick was a thing of beauty. I thought, for sure, the ball hit inside the line and bounced back because of back spin. I looked at the giant screen but they failed to show the replay. But I thought it was a goal for sure.

Other than that, officiating stunk. I couldn't yell cuz I had a headache the size of Texas.

BTW, RedEagle. I owe ya $20.

If ye playing tomorrow, and I'm feeling better, I'll give it ta ya then.

 

[Marco]

well Calado is gone now.....so don't worry

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FOREVER PORTO!
FOREVER THE NORTH!
SEMPRE PORTUGAL!

http://www.fcporto-online.com

 

[LadyEagle]

OK I won’t cry if or when Calado leaves. But the truth is that I have been his fan ever since he played for Estrela da Amadora. So I may overlook his mistakes and concentrate more on the good things. I just thought that he had a good second half.

And RedEagle this must be a small world, I was in section 134.

I was glad that there were so many Benfiquistas at the Giant’s Stadium. Every time the few Roma fans started cheering, the Benfica fans just raised their voices and all you could hear was…BENFICA.


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BENFICA--Forever