Derby Day Pre-Match Show!! #SLBSCP
Watch the Clasico Pre-Match Show!!!
Episode 110: Women’s Football Update
Player Profile: Kika Nazareth
Teenaged sensation turning heads and making her name heard with Benfica and Portugal.
In this first ever misterbenfica.com player profile I’ve chosen to spotlight one of the brightest rising stars within the club in any sport. Francisca Ramos Ribeiro Nazareth Sousa was born in Lisbon on 17th of November 2002. Fast forward 18 and a half years (more or less) and she is now known simply as Kika Nazareth or even simpler as just Kika as it says on the back of her match jersey. Kika is a creative attacking midfielder that really burst onto scene in a big way in 2021.
Today Kika has 31 Senior level first team appearances but her senior debut was back in April of 2019. She debuted with the first team away to Amora FC in a Portuguese Second Division match back in the Women’s Football team’s first season of existence. Nobody today is surprised that the then 16 year old debuted in the best way possible, by scoring a goal off the bench after being subbed in in the 56th minute. Throughout the rest of that 2018/19 season Kika was doing her thing in Benfica’s Youth team. At that time in Portugal there did not exist and 11 a-side football competition for girls nor was there a National Championship, only regional ones. Benfica was dominant as champions of the Lisbon FA’s U19 Girls Championship playing 9 a-side. The following season the FPF launched the first ever Under 19 Girls National Championship and decided clubs would have to field 11 v. 11 sides in order to compete. Kika was dominant as we would expect playing 9 a-side especially with all the extra touches she would get with 2 less teammates on the pitch. In that season playing U19 Kika tallied 30 goals in 16 appearances.
In 2019-20 Kika was promoted to the first team roster but also featured in 9 youth matches scoring 18 goals from the central attacking midfield position. In addition she gained some more experience with the first team earning minutes in the Liga BPI, League Cup and Portuguese Cup. In total, she would feature twice in the top flight, twice in the Cup and thrice in the League Cup. In total she would find the back of the net 3 times as senior player in 2019-20 which we all know was a season that was cut short and eventually cancelled due to the COVID 19 outbreak.
2020-21 is where Kika would truly announce herself on the main stage with Benfica’s first team. Early in the season she debuted in Women’s Football’s premier club competition the UEFA Women’s Champions League and after Benfica’s exit to tournament favorite Chelsea in the Round of 32 manager Luis Andrade left the club and was replaced by her former youth coach Filipa Patao. Patao’s arrival combined with unfortunate injuries to club captain Darlene and fellow Brazilian National Team midfielder Ana Vitoria opened the door for the now 18 year old Kika to slide into the starting XI and she made the most of the opportunity. The new manager’s preference for a “Diamond 4” in midfield suited Kika’s game perfectly. So far this season Kika has 13 appearances in Liga BPI and has 8 goals to her name playing as a true “Number 10” at the front tip of the midfield diamond. In all competitions Kika has amassed 1178 minutes on the pitch as of today (29 April) in 20 total appearances. She has an unbelievable knack to find the open spaces in between the opponents defensive lines in a league where virtually almost every opponent approaches Benfica with deep lying low blocks in an effort to stymie their attack. Kika possesses the ability to shoot from range with both feet and has a keen eye for picking out her teammates’ runs and delivering deadly vertical passes with pinpoint accuracy. At just 18 years old she has rare combination of high level tactical awareness and fantastic technical ability.
Don’t take my word for it though, as I am not the only who has noticed the talent in this teenager. Earlier this month she caught the attention of Portugal Women’s National Team manager Francisco Neto. Neto not only called Kika into the senior National Team for the first time in what would be the two most important matches of the last 5 years, but put her directly into his starting XI for both legs of the Euro 2022 qualification play off. In the first leg in Lisbon Kika was easily the most influential player on the pitch for the first 45 minutes as the Russian struggled to keep pace with her and scrambled in attempt to cut off her passing lanes. If not for the performance of the Russian goalkeeper the story of the entire playoff may have turned out differently. Unfortunately Portugal were unable to find the goalover the course of the 180 minutes and the Russians capitalized on a lone blunder by Portugal’s Goalkeeper Patricia Morais in the first leg. As a result Portugal will unfortunately not be at Euro 2022. Regardless of that however, Kika is now widely known as a promising talent in the women’s game. So much so that super agent Jorge Mendes was convinced enough to sign her to his Polaris Sports agency making her his first female footballer and adding her name to the other stars he represents such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Bernardo Silva, Jose Mourinho, Renato Sanches and Joao Felix just to name a few.
Kika’s emergence on the scene has corresponded with Benfica’s rebirth this season after it seemed the title was out of reach. With 4 rounds to play Benfica trail Sporting only by 2 points with the Lisbon rivals meeting on the final day at Alcochete. If Benfica can win out they will be crowned Champions of the top flight for the first time and no doubt if that happens this teenager will be a major reason why. She’s an integral piece in a core of talented young Benfica players along with Catarina Amado, Beatriz Cameirao, Andreia Faria, and Ana Seica that could be the heart of Benfica and the Portuguese National Team in the coming years. Obviously as she is represented by Jorge Mendes and that means a move to one of the top leagues in Europe such as the English, French or German could also be in her future and who knows possibly even earn the club a transfer fee as the marketability and profile of women’s football in Europe continues to explode. I believe we are seeing the baby steps of Portuguese Women’s Football’s first bonafide super star. Which other of the club’s up and coming athletes would you like to see profiled here in this space? Let me know by emailing your suggestions to themisterbenfica@gmail.com.
Benfica Eliminated in Quarter Finals of UEFA Futsal Champions League
Joel Rocha’s men were beaten 6-2 AET by defending Kazahk Champions Kairat today in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Futsal Champions League in Zadar, Croatia. The match ended 2-2 at full time meaning the two sides had to play two 5 minute Extra Time periods. It was the Kazahks drawing first blood through Gadeia with 5 minutes remaining in the first half. The Glorioso drew level 30 seconds later through Afonso Jesus taking the teams to locker room at halftime all tied up at 1. In the second half Kairat again took the lead when Edson beat Benfica’s Brazil International Goalkeeper Roncalglio with 10 minutes to play. Tiago Brito leveled for Benfica 5 minutes later sending the match to extra time.
Dauren Tursagulov put the Kazahks back in front 20 seconds from the end of the first extra time, and after the two sides switch ends it was again Kairat finding the back of the net. This time Gadeia doubled his tally and double his side’s lead from the second penalty due to Benfica’s accumulation of direct fouls. Joel Rocha was then forced to employ a “Flying Goalkeeper (similar to an Ice Hockey coach pulling his goaltender to add an extra skater)” but Benfica’s slow and predictable movement of the ball resulted in turnovers and the Kazahks getting 2 goals from essentially empty goals. Benfica bow out and Kairat will wait for the winner of the next quarterfinal between current European Champions Barcelona and Slovenian side Dobovec who will play later today on the same court.
Women’s Football Team Continues To Make History
Aveiro- One year later the competition is finally complete. The inaugural edition of the Women’s League Cup in Portugal took about 13 months to play out, obviously this was due to the break out of the global COVID 19 pandemic in 2020 that shut down practically the entire world including football for months last year. Long gone and probably forgotten are the 3 group stage matches played last winter. The top 4 teams in the Liga BPI at the halfway point of the 2019/20 season qualified for this first edition of the competition and played a round robin. Benfica and SC Braga came out ahead of Sporting and of Futebol Benfica a.k.a Fofo after the group stage and earned their places in the final. Then football stopped.
Fast forward about a year and the League had finally set a date in late November to play that inaugural Final. The Municipal Stadium was selected as the stage, and then Benfica did something amazing, Benfica beat both Greek Champion PAOK and Belgian Champion Anderlecht(If not officially recognized as such, both teams were designated as their respective federations representative in the UEFA Women’s Champions League due to their position in the table at the time play was suspended) to advance to the Round of the 32 of Champions League. That historic accomplishment meant Benfica would be unable to play the League Cup final because it was scheduled for the same day they were to face Chelsea. So on Wednesday January 6 finally the opening in the fixture list was available and Benfica and Sporting Clube de Braga met in Aveiro to fight for the first edition of the Cup. No doubt you only get one chance to be the first name on a Cup and it was Benfica that made better of the rare opportunity by being far more efficient in front of goal and winning 3-0.
The match was played a good tempo with both teams looking for goals, the two sides match up like they always have as more or less even collectively. Braga are still the reigning champions in the Liga BPI having outlasted Sporting CP in the 2018/19, last season’s campaign was aborted due to COVID and while Benfica were top of the table and thus given the opportunity to play in the Champions League but they were not recognized as Champions. Benfica are however still the reigning Portuguese Cup holders from that same season (the 2019/20 Portuguese Cup Final will be played next Wednesday in the same location between the same sides) setting up this interesting final. As even as the sides are collectively, the difference so far in the 3 year history of this rivalry was again on full display Wednesday night and that is the difference in the individual quality of the key players on both sides in front of goal. That said, it can be argued that 21 centimeters may very well be the true difference between two different possible outcomes in the match.
In the first half Benfica appeared to of gone ahead on a set piece as Carole Costa at the far end of the top of the penalty area headed the ball in the direction of the goal onto the run of Catarina Amado. Celebrations were short lived, the referee’s assistant put her flag up for offside. VAR confirmed the call on the field showing Carole was offside by a mere 10 centimeters. Before the end of the half however the Lady Aguias would break the deadlock. A beautiful string of passes starting with Matilde Fidalgo finding Ana Vitoria at the top of the area and the Brazilian international “rainbowed” the ball over the Braga defender playing into the area to her compatriot Nycole Raysla who centered to a wide open and unmarked Cloe Lacasse and the Canadian taps it in to go ahead 1-0 before the interval.
In the second half the two teams continued to battle valiantly and Braga thought the had equalized on a beautiful inside of the right foot bending shot by Cindy König but a Goal Check by VAR invalidated the goal ruling the Braga’s German forward was 21 centimeters offside. Benfica dodge a bullet and minutes a some brilliant combination from Benfica ends with Ana Vitoria again as the catalyst. This time the “Number 10” kept the ball for herself and fired a right footed arrow along the ground into the far post past Marie Hourihan in Braga’s goal making it 2-0. Minutes later Braga’s Diana Gomes handles the ball in her penalty and Nycole converts the spot kick and Benfica will win 3-0 and add to their already impressive history in Women’s Football. In fact had the league been ruled as concluded last season rather aborted Benfica would today be the holder of all the Women’s Football titles in Portugal, at least until next week. That’s obviously not the case but it’s not out of reach either, if our girls can repeat victory against Braga next week and successfully retain the Portuguese Cup then new manager Filipa Patao will have added motivation for her players as the Championship Stage of the Liga BPI’s kicks off at the end of the month and winning the League would complete the feat of owning of every title in Portuguese. In the meantime the new edition of the League will kick off this weekend at the quarter final stage. Benfica will travel north to start their defense of the trophy in a match up against Albegaria before returning to Aveiro for the rematch with Braga. Catch the Podcast this weekend when I review this match in more detail and I’ll also give my thoughts on a few changes I’ve notice since Patao took over for Luis Andrade. If you want here my review of the home and away against Chelsea you can listen below!
Don’t let “Experts” Tell You Otherwise…Benfica go into Super Cup as Underdogs
Key pieces missing as Benfica limp into Aveiro for Super Cup against Porto.
Aveiro– just over 24 hours from kickoff and the biggest news to come from the Benfica camp today is that current top performer and key playmaker Pizzi will miss Wednesday’s Super Cup after testing positive for COVID19 and that will be a huge blow to the Eagle’s chances Wednesday at the Municipal Stadium in Aveiro against the defending Champions and Cup winners F.C. Porto. Normally, this fixture is a reoccurring nightmare for the Glorioso as we’ve become accustomed to watching our team get not just outplayed but outworked, intimidated and flat out bullied by our rivals each time the two sides square off. Supporters of the Eagles lament time after time that it seems we always enter these matches behind 2-0 before a ball is even kicked.
Our rivals are known for their high work rate, efficiency on set pieces and “us against the world” mentality when they take the pitch. Sergio Conceicao is no doubt the perfect man to lead the club into battle as manager leading by example and bringing an unrivaled intensity on the touch line and a demand that his players “die if necessary” on the pitch for the better of the team. The 46 year old manager epitomizes everything the club and fanbase value and look for in both managers and players and his team is no doubt built in his image. His players run hard up and down the pitch and never shy away from a challenge, a tactical foul or a shouting/pushing match when it’s called for just the same exact way their manager carried himself in his two stints as player for the club. Style points count for little at the Dragao and mean little to their fans, what Portistas want to see is “garra” or fight, they want their players to leave every once of blood sweat and tears on the pitch for the blue and white striped jersey they loved and when effort is lacking the “Tripeiros” make themselves heard. What Benfica has failed to understand for the better part of atleast the last half decade is that they need to match this intensity when facing this monster we all know and hate called Futebol Clube do Porto.
The matches tend to follow a familiar formula. Benfica enter trying to build play out of the back in the first phase of construction, usually with slow and predictable passing. It doesn’t normally take long for the opposition to start in with a high press and in the process amplifying the intensity and when the opportunity presents itself the physicality as well. Within minutes Benfica’s slow build up play is either met with a dangerous turnover or a high pressing Porto player will get stuck in and happily come in late with a challenge and put a Benfica player on the turf and make him question how many times he really wants to receive the ball in this match. Porto players and staff know Portuguese referees are quite lenient in the early stages of these Clasicos . They know it’s in the first quarter hour that they will need to set the tempo and environment they want the match to played in. They quickly establish they are the bullies and that will beat Benfica up all 90 minutes unless the boys in red jerseys decide to do something about it. Should a Benfica player get brave and retaliate well then the referee will have 5,6, 7 or more Porto players surrounding him and the Benfica player will also find himself surrounded, see Porto enter these matches with a gang mentality and our side has yet to figure out how to deal with it. Before you know there’s a set piece in a dangerous area and we find ourselves behind on the scoresheet. Going back several coaching staffs nobody at Benfica has been able to consistently come up with a plan to deal with the psychological dominance this club has over us.
So looking to Wednesday’s match without Pizzi or Andre Almeida and possibly missing other players such as Gabriel, Rafa and Otamendi who are all facing fitness questions how do Benfica possibly approach this match and how can they cope with the style of the opponent that has proven time and time again to be horrible match up for SLB. On one side you have a team that all eleven players live by the mantra that the ball may get by but the man will not, on the other you have Benfica the team with the fewest fouls committed in Portuguese Football and who have already surrendered so many goals this season that could have been prevented buy an early tactical foul.
Jorge Jesus needs to instill in his players once and for all so that they understand these matches are not like other matches. Technique and tactics take a back seat to the fact that if Benfica want to beat Porto they need to take the pitch as a cohesive united squad that’s will stand up and fight for each other. There will be egregious fouls and our players cannot back down like they have in the past. Regardless of the XI that JJ selects Benfica will have to keep their shape and protect their backline with their lives. Benfica will no doubt have a fair share of the goalscoring opportunities as Porto are suffering from many of the same defensive weaknesses as we are. The players in red will especially have to hold their territory especially when defending set pieces as the last meeting in last season’s Portuguese Cup final proved to be deadly for the defending champions. Benfica will have to do things they are not comfortable with like committing early fouls to prevent counters as well as holding the referee accountable when he begins to be influenced by Porto. Jose Mourinho is quoted famously in the Amazon Primer Series ” All or Nothing ” (which followed him around his first season at Spurs) as telling his players ” You’re all nice guys, and nice guys don’t win titles, for those 90 minutes you need to be more mean and want to win at all costs”. Once of the players the Special one preached that to was Jan Vertonghen who is now a Benfica player and I’m hopeful the Belgian International (as well as manager Jorge Jesus) will pass that message to Benfica players on Wednesday. It’s true, in this rivalry Benfica have taken much injustice laying down and thus allowing it to continue. Last February in a crucial league match we saw Adel Taarabt get knocked out by a swinging back forearm from Moussa Marega, nothing happened to Marega. Referee and VAR alike failed to address the assault on Benfica’s Moroccan attacker, no Porto player was dealt any type of retaliation and in fact Benfica defender Ferro would be soon after be called for a penalty for handling a ball in the area after being shoved with a two handed push in the back by a Porto player. Benfica responded like “nice guys” and trying to answer with good football. Ferro would never recover mentally from the penalty conceded as he would spiral into an epic drop in form that today has him firmly outside the managers plans. Again we allow Porto to do these things to us match after match. My hope for this Super Cup is a collective response, a team ready to dig in and battle their arch rival for a trophy that we have won far too few times. There’s no doubt Benfica are the underdogs, anyone saying otherwise is either fooling themselves or just being politically correct. But if O Glorioso can answer the bell and stand up to this bully who has for too long been allowed to walk into our house, take our food, kick our dog and make love to our wife and then leave smoking our cigarettes, then that type of brave performance and united stance can catapult this team into 2021 on the right foot and give this side the oxygen bubble it needs to get out of third gear in this 2020/21 season and start stepping on the gas on our way to number 38. Carrega Benfica! Juntos Somos Maiores!!!
Mister Benfica now available on more platforms!!!
It is with great pleasure that I annouced the podcast has recently been picked up by some major podcast platforms! See below!!
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/10e892c2-7723-49fa-b76c-99af705084bd/Mister-Benfica
Amazon Prime subscribers can now hear Mister Benfica on Audible!!! Click the link above and please follow and rate!!!
IheartRadio customers click above to check out the podcast on that worldwide platform! As always please follow and share!
https://www.radio.com/podcasts/mister-benfica-46642
And click above to hear all the episodes of Mister Benfica on radio.com!
Benfica Ladies make History
Brussels- It was a night that this Benfiquista certainly will not soon forget! This past Wednesday night our Women’s Football team faced the biggest the match in its history. On the road against the Belgian giants Anderlecht, Benfica’s Lady Aguias had 90 minutes to conquer their dreams of playing in the biggest club football competition in the world.
In the first Preliminary Round Benfica traveled to Greece to face their champion PAOK. The truth is in the women’s game most countries only send one team to the Champions League. The top leagues in Europe only send two, therefore the opportunity when it presents itself cannot be taken for granted. Against PAOK our side found themselves going ahead 1-0 early and didn’t really look back. The Greek side seemed to underestimate the debutantes from Portugal. Benfica qualified for the preliminary stages by way of being in First Place in the Liga BPI at the time the 2019-20 season was canceled due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Though no one was recognized as champion, Benfica were ahead of Sporting on head to head and goal difference at the time of the shut down so naturally Benfica was selected to participate.
Winning in Greece in a “one off” win or go home play-off Benfica booked their spot in the second preliminary round and it was no doubt exciting for all of us. However, it came in a strange lunchtime kick off and for those of us watching at home on a poor quality, two camera stream from PAOK’s official YouTube page that was far from up to the level of what would be considered acceptable for the UEFA Champions League. I was sincerely disappointed that that presentation was the best a large club like PAOK could do. When I saw the evening kick off time slotted for the Anderlecht match I was officially excited!
Tuning in early as I did on match day I was pleasantly surprised with the level of pregame coverage and discussion on BTV. The television presenters on the club’s network did an excellent job setting the stage and informing the viewer of what they needed to know going into the match. Clearly they all did their homework and should us they knew our opponent and they knew the competition as a whole very well. Finally this FELT like it was going to be a historic night for our club and I had a sense that I was tapping into the feelings and sensations Benfiquistas felt in other eras when these Cup styled matches were the norm in European Football and where our club enjoyed some of its most famous nights. I was certainly overcome with nostalgia imaging how my grandfather for example must have felt on those famous European nights in the 60’s , 70’s and 80’s.
The cloud hanging over the match from our perspective was of course the harsh result against our rivals in the past weekend’s match. Supporters and media alike questioned manager Luis Andrade’s decisions both in the XI he selected and the substitutions he opted for in reaction to going behind. If you want to know more about this match against Sporting below is my podcast episode where I covered the match and gave my honest take.
But that was all in the past now, I stated on the podcast I felt that important lessons were learned in that match and I think the performance in Belgium proved that to be true. Whatever the preparation the manager used, it worked! After a match where we were done in by own mistakes, the ladies played practically mistake-free football in Brussels. Benfica’s movements off of the ball against Anderlecht were the best I have seen from this team in the now more than 2 years I’ve been watching them (I’ve watched since day 1 and that presentation match at the Luz against Deportivo La Coruna). The backline had sorted themselves out and were impeccably positioned all night and dealt with so many balls being whipped in by the Belgian side. Luis Andrade opted to go with Carolina Vilao in goal over Dani Neuhaus and for the most part she was well protected by the defenders in front of her. Silva Rebelo and Carole Costa answered the call time and time again and in front of them the in-form Pauleta continued to be a rock anchoring the midfield and winning balls like she was literally playing for her footballing life. That’s what it takes at this level and I’m so proud of our girls for the level of performance they reached in this match. No honest onlooker would have been able to guess they were playing in their first Champions League. Our girls played like they belong at this level and they proved that they do! Catarina Amado was once again our “máquina” down the right channel. Our attacking players were all at their best as well and again that’s exactly what it takes at this level. Ana Vitoria was once again on top form and so effectively used her pace and physical strength to power right through defenders as did double goal scorer Nycole Raysla who was too strong and too good for Anderlecht to deal with all night. Her two goals were both scorchers and she had herself a career she certainly will always remember. Cloé Lacasse used her pace and intelligence to constantly stretch and wear out the defenders in purple. Andreia Faria showed she quickly moved on from a key mistake on Saturday and was again breaking the opponent’s defensive lines with pinpoint throughballs and even getting stuck in on a hard challenge when necessary. Christy Ucheibe played her best match in a Benfica kit, so smooth and fluid with every movement and brilliantly spreading the ball around. Anita Seiça proved she’s adapting well to her new role as a Left Back having been converted from her normal central position. Check out the highlights below!
Manager Luis Andrade coached a near perfect match as well in this one. He got the XI, the system and the substitutions(or lack there of as the match called for) all on point. This team showed in this match that they are every bit as good as Sporting and that it’s way too early for a coronation for our rivals. The entire second stage of the league still lies ahead as well the Cup finals in the Portuguese Cup and the League Cup and if this team play like this, they will still bring home silverware this season! Next Tuesday November 24th UEFA will hold the drawing for the round of 32 and it’s likely Benfica will draw one of the big sharks of women’s football in Europe. I don’t doubt for one minute that this team will continue to make us proud in this competition no matter who’s name is drawn to face us in the 2 legged tie next month. Thank you girls for reminding me how much I love this game. This performance deserves to go down in the club’s history as another magical European night that I’ll look forward to watching back years from now. Coming soon will be a new podcast episode where I break down this match and analyze this historic victory! Obrigado Meninas, E Pluribus Unum!!!
Mister Benfica 