Well that was fun
By: Joe | August 15th, 2007
Napoli kicked off their campaign in spectacular fashion by crushing Cesena 4-0 in the 1st elimination match of the Coppa Italia. To put that result into perspective, Napoli hadn’t scored four goals since the first match of last year against Treviso. In fact, in 33 of last years 47 matches (including Coppa Italia ties) Napoli scored less than two goals. An offensive juggernaut we are not. More important than the quantity of goals, however, was the quality of play by Napoli’s youngsters.
Through this year’s friendlies, Coach Edy Reja has shown a willingness to incorporate the youngsters acquired by Pier Paulo Marino into the lineup. The average age of the starting XI was a little over 26 and even this figure is skewed by Napoletano keeper “San” Genarro Iezzo who just turned 34 this summer. Napoli featured three MF’s in their early 20’s (Marik Hamsik - 20, Walter Gargano - 23 & Erminio Rullo - 23) and a strike force of Emanuele Calaiò (25) and Ezequiel Lavezzi (22).
The goalscorers were the Calaiò (Napoli’s capocannonieri), Hamsik (the kid), De Zerbi (Garfield) and Domizzi (the gladiator). Four goals to celebrate Ferragosto . Marik Hamsik created the opening goal on a cross which was headed in by Calaio and then scored the second himself with the inside of his right foot. Cesena went down to 10 men following Luiz Gabriel Sacilotto’s late challenge on Rullo and substitute Roberto De Zerbi took advantage by smashing an unbelievable left-foot drive into the top corner for Napoli’s third. Domizzi completed the rout in stoppage time by nodding home the 4th. Napoli will host Pisa on Saturday for the second elimination match of the Coppa Italia.
Lineup/subsitutions: (3-5-2): Iezzo; Cupi (De Zerbi ‘68), Cannavaro, Domizzi; Grava, Hamsik, Gargano, Bogliacino (Montervino ‘74), Rullo; Lavezzi, Calaiò (Sosa 82′).
More Coppa Italia breakdowns after the jump.
Things were a little less free and easy in Genoa’s 2-1 win over newly promoted B team Grosseto at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris. It all seemed to be Genoa’s way when Omar Milanetto curled in one of his trademark free kicks and soon after Marco Di Vaio provided the assist for Ndiaye Papa Waigo. There was a scare from former Genoa star Marco Carparelli, who got Grosseto back into it with a precise header. Even after Bega was shown a straight red card for hacking down Dell’Acqua, Gian Piero Gasperini’s men held on for the win. Chievo’s year goes from bad to worse, as they were relegated to Serie B and today knocked out of the Coppa Italia in the first round by Ravenna. They survived a scare when Succi slammed his spot-kick on to the post, but in the final minutes Fofanà doomed the Flying Donkeys.
Serse Cosmi’s Brescia were kicking themselves after going from 1-0 up to 2-1 losers in stoppage time. Davide Possanzini thought the Serie C team had been dispatched, but Ciotola and Castillo completed a remarkable comeback to set up a dream Second Round clash with Napoli.
Mantova crashed out at the first hurdle in a surprise defeat at Triestina. Massimo Allegretti secured the victory with the only goal, but the visitors had a great chance to equalise when Kyriazis was sent off, only for Lucenti to fire the resulting 85th-minute penalty off target.
There was never any doubt at the Stadio Romeo Neri, as Rimini thrashed fellow Serie B side Frosinone 6-0! Jeda was the star of the show with a hat-trick, although the scoreline only really began to pile up after Argilli’s 37th-minute dismissal.
Ascoli swept through with a 2-0 victory away to Avellino, as Stefano Guberti snatched a brace to set up their date in the Second Round with Genoa.
A goal from summer signing Mariano Martin Donda was enough to see Bari past Albinoleffe. Treviso downed Lecce on PK’s after the sides were level after 120 minutes of play.
Results and Goal scorers Bari 1-0 Albinoleffe
Scorers: Donda 76 (B)Triestina 1-0 Mantova
Scorers: Allegretti 72 (T)
Missed penalty: Lucenti 85 (M)
Sent off: Kyriazis 84 (T)
Rimini 6-0 Frosinone
Scorers: Jeda 12, 49, pen 54 (R),
Vitiello 38 (R), Moscardelli 67 (R), Valiani 73 (R)
Sent off: Argilli 37 (F)
Pisa 2-1 Brescia
Scorers: Possanzini 56 (B), Ciotola 85 (P), Castillo 93 (P)
Napoli 4-0 Cesena
Scorers: Calaiò 21 (N), Hamsik 40 (N), De Zerbi 75 (N), Domizzi 92 (N)
Sent off: Sacilotto 53 (C)
Avellino 0-2 Ascoli
Scorers: Guberti 23, 31 (As)
Genoa 2-1 Grosseto
Scorers: Milanetto 3 (Ge), Papa Waigo 16 (Ge), Carparelli 32 (Gr)
Sent off: Bega 89 (Ge)
Ravenna 1-0 Chievo
Scorers: Fofanà 87 (R) Missed penalty: Succi 61 (R)
Treviso 2-2 (4-3 pk’s) Lecce
Scorers: Scaglia 55 (T), Valdes 61 (L), Tiribocchi 91 (L), Smit 115 (T)
Thanks to Elio and the fine folks at Calcio Napoli for collaborating on this game story.
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Category: Coppa Italia
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