Taca da Liga semi-final
Tuesday saw the semi-final of the Taca da Liga between Sporting and Benfica. It was a game full of controversial moments and big goals as Benfica won 4-1 sending them through to the final where they will face Porto. That game should also be one to watch with both teams playing well but also for the fact that it will be a Classico game. There will be more on that later on with both Jas and I covering it (obviously) so be sure to keep your eyes open for that.
The first controversial moment was a foul on Ramires that led to Joao Periera’s red card. From there Benfica had a freekick that was headed in by David Luiz in the 7th minute putting the away side up 1-0. From then on Benfica dominated posession, being a solid team and breaking down whatever chance Sporting had of regrouping and trying to mount a challenge. In the 29th minute Ramires scored Benfica’s second goal with a gorgeous pass from Cesar Peixoto that seemed to snake its way throught the Sporting defenders. Some would say that the game was well and truly over from that point on.
Sporting seemed to get a bit of a break by Liedson scoring a goal in the 36th minute. It just barely edged past Julio Cesar and allowed Sporting to get back into the game. Or so they thought. Even with the goal they never had a dominate control of posession nor did they ever look like they were going to regroup. They lacked a team unity that Benfica definitely had. They were a team all night long and were able to play together and not be just one player trying to do it all. Combining that will fast paced players and a strong defensive line, Sporting we well and truly doomed.
The second half saw more goals and another red card with Sporting 3rd keeper Tiago sent off for cursing at the ref. Probably not the smartest thing to do. Benfica remained dominant of their posession, captain Luisao scoring the third goal in the 67th minute on a header. Benfica also brought on Saviola, Aimar, and Cardozo in the second half. The latter would prove to be an excellent choice by scoring a gorgeous goal from about 35m out. Sporting keeper Rui Patricio had no chance of saving it. Luckily for them, it wasn’t much long after that the final whistle was blow and thus saving Sporting from anymore misery.
This just caps off a few extremely bad weeks of football for Sporting while Benfica were able to regroup after the draw to Setubal and show their dominance once again. Players like Angel Di Maria, Cesar Peixoto, and David Luiz having very good games and showing their national team coaches what they are made of and possibly givng themselves the chance to be called up. You know you have strength in your team with Aimar, Saviola, Coentrao, and Cardozo all being able to come off the bench. Jorge Jesus and Rui Costa have put together a great team that is definitely capable of winning things.
SPORTING - Rui Patrício; João Pereira, Polga, Carriço e Grimi; Pedro Mendes, Adrien, João Moutinho e Izmailov; Liedson e Pongolle.
Suplentes: Tiago, Tonel, Pedro Silva, Vukcevic, Matías, Yannick e Saleiro
BENFICA - Júlio César; Ruben Amorim, Luisão, David Luiz e César Peixoto; Javi Garcia, Ramires, Di Maria e Carlos Martins; Éder Luís e Kardec.
Suplentes: Moreira, Miguel Vítor, Fábio Coentrão, Pablo Aimar, Weldon, Saviola e Cardozo
Golos: Liedson (36); David Luiz (7), Ramires (29), Luisão (67), Cardozo (90+4)
Goals can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvbZMQIBXOg
