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Old 04-26-2014, 12:40 AM   #347
NoSkillz
College Benchwarmer
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
Wed. March 15, 2023

UEFA Champions League - First Knockout Round Second Leg
Dover (1) vs. (1) Benfica
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, England

Betting Odds: Dover: 6-4 (Favourites) Draw: 2-1 Benfica: 13-8
Past Meetings: 0W 1D 0L

Benfica have pulled away in the Liga ZON Sagres, sitting with a 7 point lead on the table over rivals Porto and have already guaranteed a Europa League spot. I expect a full lineup today from Benfica, including leading scorer Carlos Matto, who has 26 goals in 38 total appearances thus far.

Shanon Andrea and Kostas Zagos are suspended for today's game due to yellow card accumulation. Paul Moses will start at striker alongside Chiquinho and Ingo Wilke is back in goal, otherwise we'll start the same lineup as the Chelsea game. Control mentality at home.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, G. Bolis
S - P. Moses, Chiquinho
Bench - D. Traore, M. Yilmaz, S. Spall, G. Fanfoni, G. Allan, W. Rooney, Z. Bardi

Benfica are in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Careca (!?) up front. The 24 year old Italian has only started 11 games this year and only 1 in Champions League play. A bit of a roll of the dice in my opinion. Matto is playing right wing today and Gaston Monzon is back in goal. My assistant wants me to encourage the team today so I'll go with it.

5' - We get an early free kick and Rocca's shot is cleared out. We get it back and Neil Cairney fires with his left foot but Monzon makes the stop. Seconds later, we are in the area again and Bolis has a shot stopped, then Chiquinho follows with a rocket off the post and the rebound is ALSO sent off the post by Bolis!!! WOWOW!!!

10' - And in another WOWOWOW moment, Neil Cairney is fouled at midfield on an innocent looking play but Michal Bognar is given a STRAIGHT RED CARD!!! Wow! He must have elbowed Cairney and I'll have to check that out in the game recap afterwards. Benfica are down to ten men!!!

11' - Chiquinho with a great pass through to Bolis and his shot is turned aside by Monzon.

Matto, by the way, is playing forward now and Benfica are playing the same 4-2-3-1 formation, only without a right winger.

14' - Matto with a dangerous rush up the left, into the area and he lays it off to Djamel El Hadjari but his shot is WIDE. Yikes. Come on guys!

21' - We win a corner and Rocca crosses to the far post and there is little Arsene Bamba, heading it past Monzon and IN! DOVER GOAL 1-0 (2-1 AGGREGATE)

Now Benfica are playing with only one MC but have three attacking mids.

23' - We work a counter and Bolis has the ball. He's in the area, reaches the byline and tries to cross it into the middle but it hits defender Pedro Garcia and deflects into the net! That's an own goal and we're ahead by TWO!!! DOVER GOAL 2-0 (3-1 AGGREGATE)

32' - Matto with another dangerous rush and his shot is off Contreras and going for the far corner but Wilke makes the great stop!

39' - Andrea Rocca with a yellow card.

41' - Now it's Salim Loucif with a yellow.

42' - Cairney with a curling shot from distance and Monzon has to dive to stop it.

HALFTIME - Well, we're dominating but they still have had a few good chances that have gone awry. We hold 58% of first half possession and a 14-6 (7-0 on target) shot advantage. I tell the lads I'm pleased.

57' - Arsene Bamba with a yellow. I instruct the team to be more cautious with their tackling. We don't need all of these yellows!

62' - Off a Wilke goal kick, the ball is sent up field to Moses. He begins a great three way passing play, moving it first to Chiquinho, then back to Rocca and then it's through the offsides trap to a breaking Gianluca Bolis. He is in on goal and shoots low, past Monzon and IN!!! We're THREE AHEAD! DOVER GOAL 3-0 (4-1 AGGREGATE)

72' - Andrea Rocca comes out and Gian Marco Fanfoni is in. Great game by Rocca today! We have a throw in as Fanfoni takes the field and Bamba throws it in to Paul Moses. He cuts in to the middle and passes to Fanfoni and from 30 yards out, the youngster turns and shoots and it's off a diving Monzon, off the post and IN! INSTANT IMPACT from Fanfoni! Wow! DOVER GOAL 4-0 (5-1 AGGREGATE)

With the game out of reach, we bring in Wayne Rooney and Graham Allan and take out Chiquinho and Arsene Bamba.

Superb!

Dover 4 (5) - (1) 0 Benfica
Goals - Arsene Bamba (8.2), Pedro Garcia OG, Gianluca Bolis (8.3), Gian Marco Fanfoni (7.3)
Assists - Andrea Rocca 2 (8.2), Paul Moses (8.1)
Man of the Match - Arsene Bamba
Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.9), Rayane Hamon (7.4), Claudio Contreras (7.9), Renato Gaucho (7.8), Neil Cairney (7.1), Chiquinho (7.2)
Attendance - 17,634

The red card certainly helped us on our way but what a huge win! We hold 54% of possession and outshoot Benfica 26-10 (12-0 on target). Wilke was untested all game. Sensational and we move on to the Champions League quarter finals for the second consecutive season!

-- We are given £2,609,000 for playing in this stage of the event! Love it!

-- I don't talk enough about stats but this is a cool one: Paul Moses entered this game having scored in seven of his last eight games (8 goals in total in those games). He's definitely on fire right now but only picked up an assist in this contest.



Champions League - Quarter Final Draw

-- We're down to the final eight: us, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Dortmund, Manchester City, Manchester United, Olympique Lyonnais and Real Madrid. Out of those teams, I'd definitely choose Dortmund as the weakest opponent. And the draw comes in and we get…Real Madrid. Ugh - the most successful team in Champions League history, having won the competition eleven times. Oh well. We've done well to make it this far for a second year in a row. We'll begin in Spain at Santiago Bernabeu on April 5th. Here are all the matchups:

Atletico Madrid vs. Dortmund
Real Madrid vs. Dover
Manchester City vs. Olympique Lyonnais
Manchester United vs. Barcelona



U18 Team Update

-- The U18s LOSE 3-2 to Southampton. Emmerson Harvey, recently sent back down to the U18s, scores along with Pete Smith.



Injury Update

-- Midfielder Mancini returns to full training. He missed FIVE MONTHS with a broken leg so it's nice to get him back. I don't see him making much of an impact the rest of the way this year. His contract is also expiring at the end of this season and I have to figure out whether I offer him an extension. His agent won't talk to me right now after I played hardball earlier in the season but I expect his stance to soften now that his player is healthy again.



International Update

-- We have 20 players that get called up for international duty next week.



Next Up

-- We have yet another tough match, heading to Emirates Stadium to take on Arsenal in a key Premier League tilt.

Last edited by NoSkillz : 04-26-2014 at 12:44 AM.
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