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Yesterday, Vertonghen looks ecstatic as the boy unpacks his new toy, cell phone in hand, filming himself in the storm film shelter, outside the dressing room; Today, in the same place, he is all smiles with a warm and dry T-shirt on his body, waiting for his cronies to enter the field and warm his muscles without rain.
Yesterday, masked and leaning against a wall by several microphones wielded in his direction, Rui Cordeiro explained the negotiations that are taking place between clubs, the referee and the League to postpone what should not even have started and reschedule it; Today, without headdress and with the same marbled coat, in the speech of the president of Santa Clara there are the “phreatic”, the “brave Azoreans” and the “island context” to say, without saying, a ‘if all goes well, will play the game. ‘
Without the open sky falling and the fans running, today the game resumed without ceremony, with Pizzi walking towards the bench with the coffee cup in his hands and Pierre Sagna with the ball in his hands, parking in the line and getting ready to the throw-in that, at the whistle, ends at 4:53 am with which this football flash will resume.
There are few choreographies, although clear, it does not take a couple of minutes for Santa Clara to tend to align itself in the coordinates where the Benfica midfielder is closer and closer to the Azorean block, it is usually Taarabt, since Weigl is very aligned. with the centerpieces for a three-way exit – although not even two are pressed – and the Moroccan touches the ball little, without this jamming the team too much.
With the German so far behind, Vertonghen and Ferro (captain and center-back on the right with a left-hander at the side, a perhaps unprecedented context in the Portuguese’s career in the main Benfica team) dare to climb meters with the ball for, once Barley the attention of the opponents, loose on one side and the team tries to speed up the game outside the Santa Clara block.
This is how Benfica came to the outside area, most of the time by Grimaldo, too many times with the Spaniard without support nearby, several times with him having to cross the ball early, but sometimes with a diagonal from Darwin to break the space in front . on the side where the exit was channeled.
Not even in one of them, because the ball came from a kick, the Uruguayan chased it, won it on the right and saved it to touch Waldschmidt, ready to leave the hole in the space enlarged by the forward’s career, to invent the turn in which his pass, his body posture and his running gesture had already indicated to Rafa that he was there to check and leave him free in the area to help Darwin. 0-1 and crossed a defensive line with a table.
Waldschmidt had a shot in the area, later, the only other danger created by Benfica that remained in control of everything, in the intermission the blue was already wanting to sneak the bonanza between lots of fog and until then Santa Clara had about three arrivals on the edge of the rival area, between their attempts to play quickly and directly in the 50 or 60 free meters at the back of the center to force them to adjust their position facing their own goal.
EDUARDO COSTA / LUSA
And the embarrassed Pizzi returned with another deductible cup of coffee, with the caffeine he sat on the bench again and, shortly after, Gilberto and Jean Patric’s heads collided, the violent clash took them out of the game and we are still waiting for the League. and Portuguese Football Federation start testing the additional replacement to prevent concussion risk approved by the IFAB on December 16.
Then the game had a Santa Clara with a readjusted plan. Losing, he advanced the start of his pressure to the centrals and risked going up the lines, annoying Weigl’s easy passer, he made Benfica rush in the passes and lengthen them, forcing a collective midfielder to which Taarabt lost the Step and the German was left with more meters to go.
The Azoreans demanded more ball and caught it with time and space amid the passive reorganization of the opponent. The 1-1 fell at the crossroads between a center behind the last Benfica man, an acrobatic kick from Crysan and the head of Fábio Cardoso, the centerpiece of the 10 goals scored in 76 games for Santa Clara, rocked by the wind. Minutes later, a pass from Lincoln almost left Carlos Júnior with the ball in Vlachodimos’ face.
The last 20 minutes were, in one thing, like the previous ones: not a drop of water falling, the clouds that contain the bladder and finite being a storm, but its dust without the proverbial calm. The bonanza was replaced by a bustle of individual efforts at Benfica with little common glue (except for a singular appearance by Pizzi) and a succession of attacks by Santa Clara from second balls, of which Benfica rarely complained with their spaced lines. and players to react late.
It seemed a matter of doing everything in a hurry and in a hurry, a hustle and bustle that, organized and reciprocal between players – one moves like this because the other roasts, one exploring this space when another gives a pass – is healthy, but yes the offensive will is in individual hot flashes with the ball, the attacks become predictable.
There was Waldschmidt’s game for Darwin’s goal and collectively next to nothing with the end product on goal. After the draw, Benfica was left with predictability of decisions with the ball (from the left center to the wings, the side returned or got into the area) and almost no daring to connect plays, combinations or play-and- go. Yesterday was the storm, today was the depression, for tomorrow or later the calm.
