Lazio 2 Napoli 1: E Finita La Stagione

By: fortunato | May 18th, 2008

In what many Lazio tifosi believe will be current coach Delio Rossi’s last game with the biancocelesti, his squad did celebrate an end-of-season victory in a rather dry and boring Serie A season finale by downing the Azzurri 2-1. Rossi’s future remains very much in the air after a disappointing season which started with Lazio playing in the Champions League and ending with them not even managing to claim a UEFA Cup berth and twelfth place finish with 46 points.

With really nothing to play for, the game was a fairly dry affair as was evidenced by an empty Stadio Olimpico in Roma. The announced attendance was 23,000 in a stadium that fits exactly 82,307 so more than 70% of the stadium was empty. The only evidenced cheers were for Inter striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s two goals which dashed bitter rivals Roma’s Scudetto hopes.

The game took a while to get going as a rather dull and disinterested Napoli team took the field (apparently not too interested in the UEFA Intertoto guranteed spot). The first real opportunity of the match resulted in the opening goal when Lazio striker Tommaso Rocchi beat the offside trap to put the hosts ahead in the 14th minute. Rocchi latched onto teammate Stefano Mauri’s great pass and, with the entire Napoli team howling for offside, slotted a low shot into the bottom left corner past a somewhat surprised Napoli keeper Nicolas Navarro. For Rocchi it marked his 14th goal of the season.

Lazio’s Swiss midfielder Valon Behrami almost doubled Lazio’s lead in the 26th minute but his low drive just brushed past the right upright from 30 yards out. Soon after, Behrami had another great opportunity but his shot blazed over the bar.

Most of the first half belonged to Lazio and in the 35th minute Rocchi passed to striker Igli Tare and the Albania star picked out Mauri with a perfect ball, but his low drive from the edge of the area was well saved by Navarro with what was likely the keeper’s best save of the match.

Napoli should have equalised immediately after but Lazio’s Uruguayan keeper Nestor Muslera reacted quickly to keep out Lavezzi’s 25-yard strike.

Our boys came out a little more inspired in the second half as they almost leveled the score shortly after the restart but first Roberto Sosa headed a great cross from Michele Pazienza narrowly wide of the right upright and then Muslera easily saved Lavezzi’s 30-yard effort. Midfielder Mirko Savini had a glorious opportunity in the 63rd minute but misfired from 35 yards.

Eventually Napoli paid for their missed opportunities as Lazio extended their lead in the 71st minute as Lazio midfielder Fabio Firmani curled in a 25-yard free-kick through the legs of Navarro.

Napoli did continue to press and could’ve grabbed one back 10 minutes later as Pazienza missed an easy header from close range after a good cross from Sosa.
But they did net a consolation goal two minutes later as Napoli defender Maurizio Domizzi fired a low 25-yard shot into the back of the net.

With rumors flying rampant that Domizzi will join Genoa in the summer transfer market, this may have been Maurizio’s final game with the partenopei. If it is, we will miss his heart, soul, temperament and his great ability to take penalty kicks for us. For the record, Domizzi tied with Lavezzi and Zalayeta with 8 goals, just one behind leading scorer Marek Hamsik’s 9 tallies.

Thanks to Atalanta’s 2-0 win over Genoa, Napoli clinched eighth spot in the classification and guaranteed a spot in the final UEFA Intertoto Cup tournament. Napoli is guaranteed a spot in the third round of the Intertoto tournament scheduled over the weekends of July 19 and July 26 against the winner of either Panionios FC (Greek team) or the 4th place finisher in the Serbian Super Liga.

Napoli finished the season with 50 points, 7 points back of Udinese in quite a triumphant return to the Serie A rank.

However, today’s match result was rather fitting as Napoli continued the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde routine finishing the campaign with a rather brutal road record of 3 wins, 4 ties and 12 defeats (yuk). Compare that to their home record of 11 wins, 4 ties and 4 losses with huge home defeats of Serie A powerhouses like Inter, Juventus, Milan, Fiorentina, Sampdoria and Udinese. Overall 14 wins, 8 ties and 16 defeats…quite an accomplishment considering 24 months ago we were celebrating a Serie C1, Group B title and a promotion to Serie B and we were all dreaming that one day, we could return to Serie A and just survive relegation and be able to play with the big boys once again. Well we did it and I think our team has impressed a lot of people throughout the soccer world.

Where to next? What do we do now? Does Reja stay or do we move in a different direction? Is Catania talented defender Vargas coming to take Domizzi’s vacated spot? Everyone believes that another striker is coming. Is it Saviola? Are Serie B stalwarts Iezzo and Calaio returning? Will we boost our midfield play and get further depth and talent to play alongside of Gargano and Hamsik? These are all questions that Napoli fans will be getting an answer to over the summer and I can’t wait.

I am a little saddened that the season has ended as I love my Sunday morning routine as my colleague Joe so wonderfully covered in his last post. I love to make my frittata, my espresso and watch the Serie A preview show at 8:30 am that airs here in Canada. I normally flip between this preview show and RAI’s La Giostra Dei Gol (yes, I love both Francesca Calligaro and Simona Cantoni so much so that I don’t know who I would take if I had the choice. Beggars can’t be choosers). Salute and augri a Napoli!!

With the season ended I will also take a break from regular posting but I will keep my eye on transfer market news and will post from time to time. I am excited about the Intertoto in July but right now I am pumped up for the Euro Cup starting June 7 and you can rest assured that I will be cheering our Azzurri on. I enjoyed posting and found it quite enjoyable. I hope you enjoyed reading what I wrote half as much as I enjoyed doing it.

One last thing. To all the Napuletani out there, who have been reading us and following us throughout the season, this one is for you: