Football | Benfica de Macau hoping to surprise in Taiwan

Head coach Bernardo Tavares

LOCAL football club Benfica de Macau is hoping to make a “surprise” in its visit to Taiwan tomorrow for game five of six of the group stage of the Asia Football Confederation (AFC) Cup, where it will face Taiwanese team Hang Yuen FC.
About the upcoming match, head coach Bernardo Tavares said, “we are going to try to do the best we can.”

“If we can keep this attitude [during the match against 4.25 SC last week] when we are not in the possession of the ball, I think we can surprise there,” Tavares said.

Tavares is still without some important players for the upcoming game, who are unavailable due to injuries. The exception is Gilchrist Nguema, who is not injured but suspended after he received his second yellow card against the North Korean side and will now be prevented from playing in Taiwan.

Tavares refuted the idea of Benfica being the favorite to win tomorrow’s match noting that “the other team is very aggressive and will do everything to win at home.”

To recall the first encounter between the two teams in the first of Benfica’s games, the Macau team won at the Macau Olympic Stadium in Taipa 3-2 in a nerve-racking match that saw the Macau team fall behind 0-2 by half-time.

At the moment, Benfica de Macau is playing only for pride and honor to participate in such an international competition, as the North Korean team 4.25 SC leads the group and has already secured the qualification for the inter-zone play-off semi-finals after gathering 12 points from four wins in four matches.
Benfica is second with six points, tied with the other North Korean team (Hwaebul Sports Club), but with advantage due to the away victory achieved by the Macau team in its second game.

Benfica will face the weakest team of the group tomorrow, which has not yet accrued any points in the competition.

For the inter-zone play-off semi-finals, it was arranged from the start of the competition that the winners of groups D, E, and I would compose a group to be joined by the winner of the ASEAN Zone Final.