“OMG How did he miss that? (…) Goal! No… post! It crossed the line! (…) OMG Another woodwork (…) Yawn yawn yawn“.
In a nutshell, the last paragraph would be a good summary for Sunday’s match at the Stadio Olimpico of Turin. Juventus’s efforts, over the 90 minutes, were insufficient to overcome a tenacious Sampdoria team, but in all honesty bad luck had a big say in this game. Especially in the 1st half, during which three super-chances for the Bianconeri miraculously (for Sampdoria) failed to cross the goal line for a well-deserved goal. In 2nd half, a lot of sweating but not a lot of producing.
If you want to add your drop of controversy in the mix, here’s something for you: Tiago was once again kept on the bench for the entire 90 minutes (nothing new there), but get this, Juve captain Alessandro Del Piero (who up until then had been one of the best players in the match) was substituted at half-time due to tactical choice!! To quote KwSport’s live text-commentator Diego Costa: “Someone urgently needs to submit Claudio Ranieri to a breathalyzer test“.
From minute 1, this match started off with Juve in control of the ball, and the Bianconeri’s dominance just kept increasing from then on. Not exactly something you would have bet a fortune on, especially due to the Ranieri-style experiments at work here today: Zdenek Grygera center-back in place of injured Giorgio Chiellini, and Hasan Salihamidzic in a most unusual center midfield role. That last tactical choice being the obvious (and nth) kick in the ass for Almirón and Tiago, the great (and costly) summer transfer hopes, sitting side by side on the Juve bench.
The offensive activity of the Bianconeri, especially on the left wing (with Cristian Molinaro continuously pushing up, and Pavel Nedved seemingly back to his Ballon d’Or award form), was in ebullition. It all started in minute 12, when Del Piero set off a Juve counter by sending Nedved through on the left, and the Czech midfielder hypnotized his marker to send the ball across for Marco Marchionni. Astoninglishly however, the Juve winger ballooned an open-net chance that would have put his team ahead. Bad stuff. Wait it gets worse.
A few minutes later, a good Molinaro cross was deftly touched by David Trezeguet in a sort-of-backheel shot-fashion, but the ball ended narrowly wide with Luca Castellazzi rooted to the spot. The real hair-pulling moment however, for any Juve supporter watching this, was to be in minute 37: a double save right on the Samdporia goal-line, first by Hugo Campagnaro then by Pietro Accardi on two point-blank range touches of Trezeguet. On that second one, doubts remain on whether the ball crossed the line or not, even though it looked more outside than inside the goal in all honesty (and that’s a Juve supporter saying this).
Wait, it isn’t over yet. Just the following minute, a cross-shot by Marchionni turned into an assist for Trezeguet (in an onside position) who executed an acrobatic scissor-kick, only to find his effort denied by the crossbar. What a #&$#& rotten luck for Juventus, but the score was still tied 0-0 at the half.
Sampdoria in all of this? Absent, or almost. Christian Maggio did hit the post following a corner-kick, but other than that there was not much evidence of the Blucerchiati’s presence on the field today. You know, other than the fact they were valiantly defending the incessant Juve siege on Castellazzi’s goal. The absence of the creative verve of Vincenzo Montella and Antonio Cassano was all too evident, something that Claudio Bellucci and Emiliano Bonazzoli couldn’t compensate for (today at least).
Fortunately for Walter Mazzarri’s team, Ranieri had the “brilliant” idea of substituting Del Piero at the break (Gazzetta suggested it might have been in anticipation of the Coppa Italia Quarter-finals, scheduled for Wednesday this week against Inter, but Ranieri failed to mention it in his post-game interviews to Raisport), which gave Sampdoria some time to breathe in the 2nd. Indeed, Del Piero’s replacement (Vincenzo Iaquinta) might have played with true fighting-spirit, but he just didn’t have the playmaking quality of the Bianconeri captain, and Juventus considerably dropped in rhythm in the final 45 minutes. There was very little worth mentioning in the match commentary after the break, except two almost-penalty interventions in the Sampdoria box, first on Marchionni then on Trezeguet (ref waved play on). Some playing time was given to Palladino and Almirón (not Tiago) in the final quarter, but they could do little to change the scoreless situation, and soon enough (or late rather, considering the match was such a drag by then) the final whistle of the referee echoed at the Olimpico. 0-0 the final score.
On a consolation note for the Bianconeri, the first part of the Serie A season has been very positive when you look at the rankings. Sunday’s result was the 10th consecutive match without a loss, and considering the limited technical baggage of Juve (at least compared to teams like Inter, Milan, and Roma), seeing the team at 3rd spot is an excellent performance. As for Sampdoria, they are in a moment of form after 2 consecutive victories and an useful pointed obtained in Turin. Considering they were playing without Montella and Cassano, that’s something to be quite happy about. Gennaro Delvecchio (pictured below) surely won’t be contradicting me…
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0-0 [Match Highlights] |
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| GOALSCORERS: / | ||
| JUVENTUS (4-4-2): Buffon – Birindelli (83’ Almirón), Legrottaglie, Grygera, Molinaro – Marchionni (74’ Palladino), Salihamidzic, C.Zanetti, Nedved – Trezeguet, Del Piero (46’ Iaquinta). (bench: Vanstrattan, Boumsong, Tiago, Castiglia). Coach: Ranieri. | ||
| SAMPDORIA (3-5-2): Castellazzi – Campagnaro, Gastaldello, Accardi – Maggio, Sammarco (22′ G.Delvecchio), Palombo, Franceschini, Pieri – Bellucci, Bonazzoli (80’ Volpi). (bench: Mirante, Sala, Lucchini, Zenoni). Coach: Mazzarri. | ||
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