Benfica 2 Sunderland 0
Sunderland's first defeat of pre-season also produced their best workout of the summer.
The Portuguese champions were just too good for Sunderland in Albufeira last night and Paraguayan striker Oscar Cardozo showed why he's one of the most feared strikers in Europe, testing Sunderland throughout and scoring the opening goal in the 29th minute.
He was not the only one to shine though as the Champions League side showed their class and were unlucky to add only a late wonder goal from Carlos Martins to their total.
At times, Sunderland were in danger of being over-run, but they stuck doggedly to a policy of containment with their 4-5-1 formation – Kenwyne Jones on his own up front – proving relatively successful, though Benfica still carved out numerous chances.
If Sunderland spent a lot of the game chasing shadows, at least they chased them with conviction and manager Steve Bruce, who sat alongside an unused Darren Bent, was pleased at the amount of work his players got through in front of a sell-out crowd.
There were also pleasing performances from Jack Colback, not overawed in exalted company, and Simon Mignolet, who produced a genuinely classy display and kept the scoreline down to a narrow rather than a crushing defeat.
Michael Turner returned to action after injury, and skippered the side – perhaps an indication of things to come in the season proper, with the captain's armband up for grabs.
Sunderland got a taste of what they were up against in the sixth minute when Jones won a free-kick, but Jordan Henderson squandered it and Benfica immediately swept upfield and looked sure to score when the ball was moved out to unmarked Cardozo on the right of the box, only for Mignolet to produce a fine save.
It was his first of the game, certainly not his last, but, with his team-mates working hard, there was little real goalmouth action until midway through the first half – if you excluded Cardozo's 19th-minute shot from distance which missed the target or Jones's despairing dive which was a yard away from reaching Steed Malbranque's angled pass to the six-yard box in the 21st.
Benfica had been the superior side from the off and might have made their dominance count in the 26th minute when first Cardozo drove a shot over and then Jara dragged an effort wide from separate moves.
The Black Cats' resistance was finally broken though just before the half hour when a diagonal left-wing cross from Fabio Coentrao invited a header from Cardozo on the right of the six-yard box and his clinical stooping finish left the keeper with no chance.
There was another setback for Sunderland five minutes later when Jones limped off, to be replaced by Martyn Waghorn.
Sunderland persevered with their 4-5-1 formation against Benfica's diamond system, even though it meant no real chances were being carved out by Bruce's men.
Increasingly it became clear that Benfica were just on another level and they should have extended their lead just before the break, only for Cesar Peixoto to shoot over after goal-mouth pressure in the 41st minute and Jara to be crowded out in the six-yard box three minutes later.
Benfica made seven changes for the second half; Sunderland only one – Campbell on for Angeleri, a switch which saw Ahmed Al-Muhammadi drop to right-back.
And Sunderland took advantage of the changes to up their game and get up towards the Benfica penalty area more often, though they still failed to test the keeper.
Despite the improvement, Benfica would still have doubled their lead just before the hour had Mignolet not spread himself to block a point-blank shot from Alan Kardec after the striker's breakaway run.
Sunderland brought on Lee Cattermole for Malbranque in the 60th minute as the Wearsiders switched to a more orthodox system.
But the Black Cats' first – and only – shot on target did not arrive until the 71st minute when Waghorn clipped the ball over from the left and Bolo Zenden, at the far post, saw his shot blocked – the ball popping up into the gloves of keeper Moriera.
Generally, though, the trend of the Portuguese champions having the clear upper hand continued and Mignolet did well in the closing stages to twice deny striker Alan Kardec's testing shots, although there was nothing he could have done about Javier Saviola's blistering shot in the closing stages which flashed inches over the bar.
Just as Sunderland fans might have been thinking it wasn't a bad night's work though, they suffered two late setbacks to put a bit of a dampener on things.
Cattermole picked up the first yellow card of pre-season for a feisty challenge in midfield and then, in the 87th minute, Carlos Martins rocked Mignolet with a 35-yard screamer – the World Cup ball swerving in flight to deceive the keeper and give the Portuguese champions a wonder second goal and guarantee them their first piece of silverware of the season, the Albufeira Summer Cup.
BENFICA: Cesar (sub Moriera 46), Peixoto (sub Gaitan 46, Gomes 74), Luiz (sub Roderick 80), Sidnei, Amorim (sub Luis Filipe 46), Coentrao (sub Faria 61), Garcia (sub Airton 46), Menezes (sub Martins 46), Weldon (sub Aimar 46), Cardozo (sub Saviola 46), Jara (sub Kardec 46). Sub not used: Balboa,
SUNDERLAND: Mignolet, Angeleri (sub Campbell 46), Ferdinand, Turner, Richardson (sub Liddle 83), Al-Muhammadi, Colback, Henderson, Zenden, Malbranque (sub Cattermole 60), Jones (sub Waghorn 35). Subs not used: Carson, Kay, Weir.
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Print this page- Sunderland’s astonishing rise even surprising Martin O’Neill
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Wednesday 08 February 2012
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