Benfica lost their second game in two in the Champions League Wednesday against Shakthar Donetsk. The 1 to 0 loss almost completely compromises our chance to pass to the second round of Champions League play. Benfica is currently last, 6 points behind Shakthar Donetsk, who was initially the weakest team in the group. But apparently the 70 million Euros Shakthar Donetsk spent on their soccer team is paying off.

Benfica didn´t play a bad game, but in a Champions League game, and against a very good team, not playing bad is not enough. Benfica lacked speed when speed was needed, and also lacked killer instinct to score on the few but good scoring chances we had. Benfica could have actually tied the game, the last 15 minutes it was all Benfica.

Aside from two or three plays, the defense was solid. At midfield Katsouranis had a very solid game, with the only blemish being that he missed a couple of goals, but give him the merit of being there. Like I already said, Benfica had some good scoring chances, but both Nuno Gomes and Cardozo are on a negative streak.

Benfica´s biggest problem at this point is that it doesn´t have a team. Benfica has several good players, but the team just not there.

Camacho has also been a disappointment. I have stated it here several times, he has not been ambitious when it comes time to doing the substitutions. Yesterday, when already losing by one goal, and still early in the second half, he took out Di Maria to put in Bynia. He also never did the third substitution when Freddy Adu was an offensive option on the bench.

We will have to see what the next couple of games bring, but we need a team, and fast!