Opportunity knocked

By: Joe | October 1st, 2007

…and Napoli didn’t answer.

An opportunity to continue Napoli’s dream start hit a nightmarish speed bump at the Stadio San Paolo yesterday. Roma’s loss to Inter and Palermo’s defeat at Empoli meant a victory would catapult the Azzurri to 3rd place heading into next week’s clash at the San Siro against the Nerazzurri.

All the stars were aligned after Wednesday’s late victory against Livorno:
• Genoa hadn’t scored in two previous Serie A road matches
• Genoa’s starting keeper was disqualified for the match
• Napoli had only conceded two goals (both in the first match of the season) all year and was unscored on in almost 400 minutes
• A raucous San Paolo crowd that had only seen their squad lose once at home in two and a half years

This was three points in the bag, right? Not effing likely.

Things started going badly long before kickoff when Lega Calcio ruled the match was to be played behind closed doors. The offense, you ask? It seems the linesman in the Livorno match was hit by a yogurt bottle and there were some offensive banners displayed for a short while before the stewards took action to remove them. Sticks and yogurt bottles may bruise my shins but names will never hurt me. In other news, all fans coming to my nine-year old’s Park District game will be expected to pass through a metal detector and forbidden from bringing orange slices and Gatorade. Christ. Do you think there’s a chance Roma fans will be punished for throwing fireworks on the pitch? Or Lazio punished because their fans come to matches packing heat like Tony Montana going to a club? Or Juventus fans…just because?

Lazio fan Tony Montana prepares for a night out at the Stadio Olimpico

The crowd ban was simply a foreshadowing of what turned out to be a disastrous day. Ezequiel Lavezzi looked refreshed after sitting out the mid-week clash and began to immediately exert his will on the Genoa defense. He rifled a shot in the 9th minute which was parried away nicely by Alessio Scarpi. Shortly thereafter Paolo Cannavaro anticipated a cross into the box by Leon and looked to knock it away. He succeeded in sticking into the back of his own net past a helpless Matteo Gianello who was subbing for starting keeper Genarro Iezzo. All indications point to Iezzo being ready for next week’s match against Inter Milan.

The goal seemed to have spurred on Napoli as they came at Genoa in waves. For their part, Genoa put 10 men behind the ball and looked to catch Napoli on a counter and break Lavezzi’s ankles anytime he came close to goal. The Argentinean wonder kid will continue to see this treatment throughout the campaign, and to his credit, he doesn’t seem to be effected by the pounding he’s been subjected to. Reja recognized Genoa’s tactics and replaced Cupi, who made a horrible error almost costing the side a goal, with Marek Hamsik in the first half to change Napoli’s favored 3-5-2 with a 4-3-3 attacking formation.

The scoreline wouldn’t change until early in the second half. Napoli fans have seen enough of Lavezzi during the first two months this season to know they have something special in their midst. El Pocho’s punishing runs and dangerous through balls have put Serie A on alert. In the 6th minute one of Lavezzi’s runs led to Napoli’s equalizer. Two Genoa defenders tried to make a Lavezzi pannini in the box. To his credit, El Pocho didn’t dive, unlike his Argentinean teammate Roberto Sosa, when he felt the contact but tried to run through the challenge. To my surprise Napoli defender Maurizio Domizzi knocked home the penalty kick in the lower right hand corner when Scarpi dived left. Emanuele Calaio took most of the PK duties last year and I would’ve figured Lavezzi or Hamsik would’ve had the honors with Calaio riding the bench. It wasn’t the cleanest or best struck penalty but they all count.

Napoli had the better scoring opportunities as evidenced by their shot advantage (14-8) and the number of corners (8-4). However, Zalayeta, Hamsik and Lavezzi weren’t able to capitalize on their opportunities and Genoa stuck the dagger in the dying moments. Napoletano striker, and part-time cokehead, Marco Borriello crossed the ball into Giuseppe Sculli who headed the winner home in the 44th minute of the second half. Napoli was caught ball watching and especially Gianello who was rooted to the spot as he watched the ball come off the inside of the upright.

So Napoli sit in 5th level on points with Palermo and Udinese instead of being in 3rd level on points, but behind in goal differential, against Juventus. I figured the key to the campaign was gathering as many points as possible heading into a brutal October. The three points dropped against Genoa could be extremely cruel. Despite the FIFA break coming mid-month, which will allow some players to rest, Napoli will face Inter Milan at the San Siro next, then travel to the Stadio Olimpico to take on Roma before finishing up with Juventus at home and traveling to Firenze to take on the Viola two days later. Guh.

The Napoli match against Inter Milan will be shown live both on RAI International and in the United States on Fox Soccer. I can’t ever remember a Napoli match being broadcast in English. Let’s hope Ibrahimovic sits this one out with his foot injury picked up against Roma and the rest of the Inter backline are still dead. How did they manage to keep Roma under wraps at home? Inter absolutely dominated their match this weekend. A repeat effort would be ugly…for us.