by Marko Ukalovic
SANTA CLARA, Calif– Benfica looked and played the role of a champion. They dominated from start to finish in a convincing 3-0 victory against Chivas De Guadalajara in their first leg of their three-city USA Tour 2019 in the International Champions Cup series on Saturday afternoon at Levi’s Stadium.
In a game that featured a crowd of 15,724 where the majority was pro-Chivas, the Portuguese champions of the Premeira Liga were celebrating their record 37th league championship and with 82 major trophy wins, they are the most decorated soccer club in Portugal.
They recently acquired Raul De Tomas to bolster an already impressive offensive attack that also includes Caio, Florentino Luis, and Haris Seferovic.
For Chivas de Guadalajara (the Goats as they’re nicknamed) they came into the match with a retooled roster of Mexican veteran players hoping to find the fountain of youth for the famed Liga MX team that finished second to last place in 2018.
“We have a new team and it’s not going to be easy to find results immediately”, said Chivas head coach Tomas Boy. “We have to keep moving forward with the team that we have right now.”
Benfica got off to the start they wanted at the beginning of the match. Caio received the ball along the left sideline and made a back pass to himself and was able to escape the marking defenseman from Chivas. He raced down inside the box before centering a great pass over to Tomas who one-timed the ball into the back of an open net for a 1-0 lead in the 4th minute.
Chivas earned a free kicked in the 18th minute from just outside the box but the shot by Hedgardo Marin was easily saved by Benfica goalkeeper Odisseas Vlachodimos.
Chivas had their best chance to even the score in the 42nd minute when Jose Van Rankin centered a ball over to Miguel Ponce, who was left all alone in the middle of the box, and his header was stoned away by a diving Vlachodimos as well as a subsequent rebound chance that he came out to kick away from any further danger.
In the 59th minute, Alan Cervantes tried to split between two Benfica defenders inside the box. He was taken down, but referee Joe Dickerson didn’t award a penalty to Chivas. Just two minutes later, Alex Vega was on the receiving end of a turnover from 25 yards out and his shot rifled off the top off the crossbar.
Benfica put the game away with two goals in a four-minute span from two separate defensive collapses by Chivas that led to breakaway goals. First, in the 69th minute, Jota fed a ball over to Rafa, who came in as a substitution to start the second half, he got in all alone on Chivas goalie Raul Gudino and chipped in a shot into the lower right corner. Then in the 73rd minute, Adel Tarrabt sent in a ball to Seferovic, who was able to get behind two Chivas defenders and shot the ball past a challenging Gudino into the back of the net.
“We played a good game”, said Benfica head coach Bruno Lage. “It’s important to win but what’s really important is to see the dynamics of the team. Now we have to be more intense so we can play the style that has become known as Benfica (style).”
GAME NOTES: Benfica’s Jardel and Rafa came into the match as substiutions for Caio and Ruben Dias to start the second half. Seferovic was named the Man of the Match after the game.
UP NEXT: Benfica travels out to Newark, New Jersey to take on ACF Fiorentina of the Serie A league on Thursday 7/25 at 5:00pm at Red Bull Arena.
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