Sent Off Soccer Podcast

As much as Juventus deserve their near top-of-the-table position, they should have experienced their first loss of the season at the hands of Milan this past Saturday. Instead it was Gigi Buffon’s hands that reached a foot back into the goal to swoop away a clear score for Sully Muntari. You did not need a zoom lens or slow motion playback to see the entire ball cross over the goal line. I saw it in real time, at normal speed and shouted goal.

While I agree with Christopher Sullivan’s FSC analysis that Antonio Conte didn’t put out the right formation, the referee’s error allowed the DT to recover and make all the right substitutions. With the score still 1-0 going into the second half, the introduction of Simone Pepe, Mirko Vucinic and eventual savior, Alessandro Matri, were perfectly timed as Juve grew in confidence with each substitution. In a single flash of brilliance, Matri untangled himself from Thiago Silva’s half-nelson to volley home the 1-1 result.

But we need to rewind for a second and realize what was happening at the moment of the non-goal. The Juve defense was in six and sevens trying to keep up with the pace of Robinho and Urby Emanuelson. Leonardo Bonucci had just made the worst pass of his life assisting on Antonio Nocerino’s goal. Andrea Barzagli was flirting with a red card after a desperate tackle on Emanuelson. A second goal by Milan would have finished the game. With the Rossoneri’s surging dominance and counterattacks, it would have been 4-0 by halftime. Yet, in the blink of an eye, Sully’s premature celebration was overturned and Juve headed down field on a breakaway forcing a diving save from Christian Abbiati off a Marcelo Estigarribia cracker. (By the way, Muntari had the entire goal in front of him and he headed the ball down towards Buffon – I don’t get it). I was completely amazed when they showed the freeze frame of Buffon’s gloves around the ball inside the goal, the linesman is perfectly in-line with the play. How could he have missed it? How did the referee miss it? At this point, I know all Juventus-haters are screaming conspiracy, but that is not the case. My stomach cringes to say it out loud, but Juventus have earned all their points this season. The referee and his assistant simply got it wrong and it cost Milan the game. Sidebar: After polling my Juventini friends, 2 out of 3 no longer support goal line technology.

Did we expect anything less from the Napoli-Inter game? Frankly, I thought it would have been a 3-0 Neopolitan victory. There is just not much left in the Nerazzurri gas tank. A friend of mine made a good point that Inter are depleted because they used most of their energy to get out of the relegation zone. While this is true, the problem goes back to not finding a suitable replacement for Samuel Eto’o. Even though Massimo Moratti only had a week to spend the approximate $36M Inter made from the deal with Russian side, Anzhi Makhachkala, they should have done better than signing 32-year old, Diego Forlan. Making matters worse, a combination of injury and fitness has only the Copa America champion take part in 12 games this season.

Ezequiel Lavezzi is back to his pure, raw self and is getting more mentions than his stike partner, Edinson Cavani. He has always been a threat but hasn’t quite made the impact the Uruguayan has made this Campionato. With two great goals against Chelsea and the game winner versus Inter, this firepower is exactly what Napoli need to make a Cinderalla run in Champions League. If Hugo Campagnaro, Paolo Cannavaro and Salvatore Aronica can stay level-headed in the back, it’s game on. Besides, who wants Christian Maggio steamrolling down the right flank and providing quality service to the trident of Cavani-Hamsik-Lavezzi? Not Ashley Cole.

Roma was spanked by Atalanta on Sunday afternoon and deservedly so. Danielle De Rossi was benched for arriving to a team tactics meeting five minutes late and it was all downhill from there. Unfortunately, Erik Lamela and Pjanic showed their delicate side as a physical Atalanta side flexed their muscle. It doesn’t take much to knock these two over but they were stripped of the ball with relative ease on more than one occasion. It’s time for these two to grow a pair and get stuck in. I have already had enough watching Jeremy Menez fall over from love taps for the last two seasons. But as I mentioned in my last post, Roma does not work without De Rossi. Roma have proven that they are capable of winning games without Francesco Totti. The same cannot be said for De Rossi. This season he has thwarted nearly every attacking threat from the opposition.

Was the decision to sit Danielle right? For the non-Romanista, yes, no single player is greater than the team. If you believe that, then I know a Nigerian government official with a lucrative proposition for you. Against the Bergamaschi, Fernando Gago didn’t bring his “A” game and it had me fuming over the decision to loan out Davide Pizarro. The little Chilean wonder would have done seven cutbacks until the right pass opened up instead of the forced passes the Argentine committed. The truth of the matter is that De Rossi is the glue that holds this team together. Without another player to show composure on the ball, Roma will be always remain at a loss.

Rodrigo Palacio did it again scoring a brace and snatching a draw from the jaws of defeat. This time, however, there was plenty of controversy as former Boca standout scored his second goal in the 95^th minute of play. Incredibly, seven minutes of injury time were added without either Juventus or Inter taking part in the match.

Girone 26
Lazio1 – 0 Fiorentina
Napoli1 – 0 Inter
Bologna1 – 3 Udinese
Atalanta 4 – 1 Roma
Cagliari1 – 2 Lecce
Chievo1 – 0 Cesena
Catania 3 – 1 Novara
Siena 4 – 1 Palermo
Milan 1 – 1 Juventus
Genoa 2 – 2 Parma

Sabato 3 Marzo
Palermo-Milan     FS+ 12pm est
Juventus-Chievo     FSC 2:45pm est

Domenica 4 Marzo
Parma-Napoli     FS+ 6:30am est
Roma-Lazio     FSC 9am est
Lecce-Genoa
Bologna-Novara
Udinese-Atalanta
Fiorentina-Cesena
Siena-Cagliari
Inter-Catania     FS+ 245pm est