Posts Tagged ‘Antonio Di Natale’
Saturday, March 14th, 2009
All together now: “Thank you Udinese!!”.
The Italian disaster-fest that was the UEFA Champions League this year will not be easily forgotten, but at least there is one team giving us consolation and keeping the peninsula’s pride elevated (to moderate heights at least) as they mantain their presence in Europe’s second-choice cup: the UEFA (soon-to-be Europa) Cup.
With this win, the Bianconeri have demonstrated that their darkest days are finally behind them and to sweeten the deal even further, Udinese’s opponents Thursday night were none other than 2007 Russian Premier League and 2008 UEFA Cup Winners Zenit St. Petersburg, the very same team which not even five months ago was battling it out against Real Madrid and Juventus in the UCL.
Just something to keep the naysayers quiet…
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Tags: Antonio Di Natale, Dick Advocaat, Fabio Quagliarella, Pasquale Marino, Udinese, UEFA Cup, Zenit St. Petersburg
Posted in UEFA Cup, Udinese | 1 Comment »
Saturday, February 28th, 2009
After their nasty performance in Turin and receiving the heavy criticisms of big boss Giampaolo Pozzo, Udinese can breathe some fresh air again. European air. For not only did they turn a 1-0 half-time deficit over Lech Poznań into a 2-1 victory (and subsequent qualification to the UEFA Cup’s round of 16), they are also the only Italian team to have won in Europe this week. Who would have thought?
It was a tale of two halves, in which the Bianconeri struggled considerably after conceding Rengifo’s goal and which almost mimicked the final 10 minutes of the first leg. However, Marino’s team then picked up it with verve & rage in the second 45 minutes, grabbing goals through Pepe and Di Natale. Udinese will now face the current champions, Zenit St. Petersburg, in the next round, and given the things (as many good as bad ones) this team is capable of, we can only hope their European adventure will not end there.
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Tags: Antonio Di Natale, Franciszek Smuda, Hernán Rengifo, Lech Poznań, Pasquale Marino, Simone Pepe, UEFA Cup
Posted in UEFA Cup, Udinese | No Comments »
Sunday, February 1st, 2009
…and Fabio Quagliarella. At the end of the day the main story of Napoli vs. Udinese, without a doubt, will be the Udinese striker’s fantastic 2-2 tally. The kind that Quagliarella has been known to do, the kind that has made us fall in love with this great player: side volley from outside the box, no chance for the opposing keeper.
And as much as Fab Quagl’s goal wonderfully capped the end of an exciting 45 minutes, Napoli vs. Udinese ended at half-time. The score did not change further in the second period and sealed the draw (more or less satisfactorily) for the two teams: Napoli halted their 3-game losing streak while Udinese, after their great mid-week performance vs. Juve, confirmed to be back in the driver’s seat.
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Tags: Antonio Di Natale, Edy Reja, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Fabio Quagliarella, Marek Hamsik, Napoli, Paquale Marino, Serie A, Udinese
Posted in Napoli, Serie A, Udinese | No Comments »
Thursday, January 29th, 2009
As a Bianconero, big disappointment lingers in my mind after Wednesday’s Serie A action. Not only did an unrecognizable (and Del Piero-less) Juve lose away to Udinese, but Inter Milan’s concurrent win over Catania (and AC Milan’s draw to Genoa) restores the Nerazzurri’s +6/+8 lead, leaving us to wonder if the current order of the top three Serie A teams will ever change again.
Maybe I’m being overly pessimistic, but I’ve been following the soccer scene for quite some time now and I’ve got this hunch: usually during a title race, when the top team loses some ground only to regain it the following week, they are keeping their lead till the end. I’ve got no scientific or tactical evidence to support this theory, it is what it is: a hunch. But based on my previous years of Serie-A watching experience, it is somewhat reminiscent of the Juve vs. Parma and Juve vs. Inter title races of the late 90’s.
Secretly of course, I want to believe otherwise…
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Tags: AC Milan, Antonio Di Natale, Carlo Ancelotti, Catania, Claudio Ranieri, David Beckham, Dejan Stankovic, Diego Milito, Fabio Quagliarella, Genoa, Gian Piero Gasperini, Inter, José Mourinho, Juventus, Pasquale Marino, Serie A, Udinese, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Walter Zenga, Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Posted in Catania, Genoa, Inter, Juventus, Milan, Serie A, Udinese | 1 Comment »
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008
The perfect example of “a match of two halves”, Saturday’s Fiorentina vs. Udinese also delighted Serie A fans with a big deluge of goals, courtesy of some often shaky defending (on both sides) but more so of the great prideful reaction by Cesare Prandelli’s boys. One goal down early in the game, La Viola looked over the precipice, reacted and came back as only a great fighter would.
In particular, today’s lasting image was the big “fu** you” message (figuratively speaking) sent by Riccardo Montolivo to all his critics, after his uninspiring mid-week performance for Italy. The Viola midfielder literally took his team by the reins, providing the playmaking and the scoring, and capping a great performance with two nicely taken goals.
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Tags: Adrian Mutu, Alberto Gilardino, Antonio Di Natale, Antonio Floro Flores, Cesare Prandelli, Fiorentina, Pasquale Marino, Riccardo Montolivo, Serie A, Udinese
Posted in Fiorentina, Serie A, Udinese | No Comments »
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