Ok, I’m still hesitant on how to cover each matchday in the future, because if I do a full game report for each game it’s going to take me forever. So I guess what I’ll do is write a short summary for the day, and cover the important games in detail. Since there were only 2 games on Saturday and it’s the first day of the season, I guess I can write something a little bit longer.

Juve’s back with a BANG my friends! In my Serie A preview I stated the Bianconeri would be very hungry this season (kind of a given, right?), and it didn’t take them very long to prove it. On the first gameday of the 2007-08 Serie A season, Livorno resisted as long as it could against Ranieri‘s men, keeping their organization & team structure sort of intact even after they conceded the 1^st goal. However, the last 20 minutes were fatal for Orsi‘s troops, and at the end of the day they are looking “piccoli piccoli” (tiny tiny, as we’d say in Italian), trampled by the fury of the Bianconeri players…

The ’Tinker Man’ utilized yet another novel formation today, by dropping Salihamidzic (finally in great form tonight!) to a right-back role, and inserting Nocerino in the starting line-up on the right wing. With the support of Chiellini on the opposite wing and the duo Andrade-Criscito in the center, this was probably the best-organized Juve defense I’ve seen in months (still not perfect, but much much better that what they showed in the pre-season). It must be said that Rossini and Tavano‘s poor form tonight didn’t give them too much concern, but the Juve supporters can nonetheless be optimistic about improvement.

It didn’t take Juve very long to grab the reins of the game. After an initial “studying” period for both teams, the Bianconeri were the first to get on the scoreboard, after a nicely executed short corner combo between Nedved & Del Piero. The ensuing cross of the Juve captain found the noggin of David Trezeguet in the 6-yard box, and you know what that meant… guaranteed goal! 1-0 for Juve in the 25^th. The half ended on that scoreline, although Juve knocked on Amelia‘s door several other times through Chiellini (long-ranger), Trezeguet (from 12 yards), and Del Piero (free kick) –all shots parried by the Livorno keeper.

In the 2^nd half, both managers decided to rotate some personnel: out Del Piero (Ranieri decided to give the captain a rest), in Iaquinta, and for Livorno out Tavano (ineffectual) and in Diego Tristán (at his debut in Serie A). The Spaniard resulted to be much more mobile than his predecessor, and with him Livorno somewhat picked up their pace in offense. However, the real turning point of the game would be Iaquinta, as the Azzurri forward was at the origin of most of Juve’s ensuing goals. Firstly, he obtained (and transformed) a penalty shot following a shirt pull by Galante in the Livorno box. Then, he caused a lucky deflection from a shot by Nedved (sending the ball out of Amelia’s reach for the 3-0), and to finish it off gave the assist to Trezeguet for Juve’s 4^th goal. Not bad for his first official match with the Bianconeri (and much much better than what we’d seen so far in pre-season friendlies).

At this point Livorno was dead & buried, their defense all over the place. That left the time for yet another easy Juve goal: through ball by Nedved for Nocerino, short pass from the right wing, Amelia messes it up, and Trezegol applies the finish. 5-0. Livorno had time to save face with an accurate long-range effort by Loviso (looked more like a shot of desperation really), but there would be only one team walking out of the Stadio Olimpico with their head up high today.

A message for all the Bianconeri supporters out there: don’t get too overly excited just yet: the team still has a long way to go in Serie A this year. For the first 60 minutes (with the score still on 1-0), Livorno could have tied the game on several occasions, especially when Rossini and Galante were allowed to jump high and get too many free headers for my taste. Nonetheless, today was a great result for the Bianconeri because they sent a clear message to all the other title contenders: ’we’re back, and we mean business so prepare yourselves’!! 

Game on!!
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	JUVENTUS-LIVORNO 5-1
GOALSCORERS: 29’, 87’, 92’ Trezeguet (J), 71’, 86′ Iaquinta (J), 95′ Loviso (L)
JUVENTUS (4-4-2): Buffon – Salihamidzic (74’ Zebina), Andrade, Criscito, Chiellini – Nocerino, C.Zanetti, Almirón (79′ Tiago), Nedved – Del Piero (60’ Iaquinta), Trezeguet. (bench: Belardi, Molinaro, Camoranesi, Palladino). Coach: Ranieri.
LIVORNO (4-4-2): Amelia – Grandoni, Knezevic, Galante, Pasquale – E.Filippini (56’ Volpe), Loviso, Pulzetti, A.Filippini – Rossini (74’ Diamanti), Tavano (53’ Tristan). (bench: De Lucia, Balleri, Pavan, Vidigal). Coach: Orsi

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Lazio-Torino

In the other game of the day (played earlier), Torino battled Lazio in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. I didn’t get the chance to watch this one, but apparently it was a fairly exciting game, which included a delightfully chipped shot goal by Alessandro Rosina.

Lazio replied to Rosina’s initial goal with two quick goals in succession, firstly by Pandev (56′) then Rocchi (61′). However, Vailatti put things level only 7 minutes later, for a final score of 2-2 in the opening match of Serie A.

You can find the full report at Channel4.com and full video highlights on YouTube.

Posted in Juventus, Lazio, Livorno, Serie A, Torino |

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 26th, 2007 at 2:44 am and is filed under Juventus, Lazio, Livorno, Serie A, Torino. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.