Benitez played at least two seasons in the American Soccer League. He was second in league scoring with 21 goals while with the Ukrainian Nationals during the 1965-1966 season. He then scored seven goals with the Boston Tigers during the 1967-1968 ASL season before jumping to the Los Angeles Wolves of the North American Soccer League. The Wolves folded at the end of the season and Benitez moved to the Kansas City Spurs for the 1969 season. He was the second leading scorer with fifteen goals in fourteen games as the Spurs won the league championship.
National team
Benitez earned two caps with the U.S. national team. Both came in World Cup qualification losses to Mexico in 1972. The first was a 3-1 loss on September 3 and the second was a 2-1 loss a week later.