Napoli - Cagliari Preview

By: Joe | August 23rd, 2007

The Stadio San Paolo should be electric for Napoli’s first home match in Serie A since a 2-2 draw against AS Roma on June 10, 2001. The calendar breaks nicely for
Napoli, at least in the first few weeks, as this must be seen as a match where a full three points is waiting for the squadra partenopei.

Cagliari have completely revamped their front line as every one of last years forwards have left the club. Captain David Suazo finally left the club, after years of speculation and a tumultous calciomercato that saw him “sign” with A.C. Milan before finally going to the nerazzurri where he’ll now be one of the 19 strikers available for Roberto Mancini’s Inter Milan side. Gone also are former star Mauro Esposito, Simone Pepe and Andrea Capone. While Esposito, Pepe and Capone didn’t hit the back of the net with much regularity last season, they did combine for 95 appearances. It will be interesting to see how Cagliari manages without Suazo who scored 14 of Cagliari’s 34 goals last season. Cagliari is depending on Azzurrini star Roberto Acquafresca and former Rimini man Alessandro Matri to replace the firepower of the Honduran international. They’ll both be facing a step up in competition and how they respond to that pressure will go a long way to determining Cagliari’s fate this season.

Coach Marco Giampaolo must also be feeling a little nervous, as last year he was sacked and brought back again (Cagliari, Livorno, Messina and Palermo did the same thing last year). As a side note, Giampaolo is a dead ringer for Al Pacino circa the early Godfather films. If you get a chance to see him on the touchline on Sunday, you just can’t help but picture him teaching Appolonia how to drive in Sicily.

The Azzurri are welcomed back into the top flight after six troubled years which saw them bankrupt, stripped of the “S.S.C. Napoli” name, suffer through two campaigns in Serie C1, a soul-crushing playoff loss denying them promotion to Serie B against neighboring Avellino, and finally a triumphant and nail-biting promotion to Serie A last year where Napoli had to negotiate promotion against storied Italian sides such as Juventus, Genoa, Bologna and Brescia.

President Aurelio De Laurentiis’ ambitious five year plan to get Napoli back into the top flight is a year ahead of schedule. Napoli comes off an exciting and tumultuous calciomercato season where they’ve added three young potential superstars in Slovakian Marik Hamsik (Brescia), Ururguyan midfield destroyer in Walter Gargano and Argentine hitman Ezequiel Lavezzi (San Lorenzo). All three players are 23 or younger and already have considerable experience both in their respective club leagues and at the international level. Additionally, De Laurentis loosened the purse strings enough to also add veteran depth in defender Matteo Contini (Parma), attacker Marcelo Zalayeta and Manuele Blasi (Juventus). All three players have significant Serie A experience and are still at a useful age where they should not be in danger of losing a step.

A Napoli-Cagliari fixture has not been played in Serie A since a 1-1 draw on April 13, 1997 and Napoli have not beaten Cagliari in Napoli in 14 years. Having struggled past Pisa in the Coppa Italia after extra time last week, Edy Reja will have to pick Ezequiel Lavezzi for the debut. In fact, all three young stars picked up in the offseason have starred in Napoli’s preseason and look to become fixtures in Napoli’s starting XI. New signing Matteo Contini is tipped to start at left-back especially since Paolo Cannavaro and Maurizo Domizzi are
suspended due to yellow card accumulations from last season. Blasi and Zalayeta have just joined the squad in training and should at least find spots on the bench.

Napolisoccer.net has the following probable lineups: Iezzo; Cupi, Maldonado,
Contini; Garics, Blasi, Gargano, Bogliacino, Savini; Zalayeta, Calaiò.

Cagliari: Fortin; Ferri, Lopez, Bianco, Del Grosso; Foggia, Parola,
Conti, Fini; Acquafresca, Matri

Update: Cagliari fans will not be making the journey to Napoli for this match. It’s been pegged as a “#3 risk” and fans will be staying away for everyone’s collective safety. This news coupled with the fact that Udinese and Catania’s stadiums are still not up to security standards means it’s more of the same in Italia. Sad, too too sad.