Napoli-Fiorentina: Che Allegria!!!

By: fortunato | March 19th, 2008

Despite the fact that my Radio Marte feed didn’t work throughout the entire game, the fanatic in me sat by and watched the minute by minute updates on the Gazzetto Dello Sport web site, so here is my attempt to summarize what I was reading in an attempt to do our boys justice in this huge victory over a very good Fiorentina team.

The atmosphere was electric at the San Paolo (as it always is) as our boys faced a big challenge against a Fiorentina team that sat in 4th place in the standings, 4 points back of the hated Juventus and 4 points ahead of AC Milan in the race for the highly coveted 2008/2009 Champions League qualification spot.

The Viola were also recently promoted through to the UEFA Cup quarter finals due to a penalty kick aggregate win against a very good Bolton team. As my colleague Joe Vivo had pointed out, Fiorentina were entering the game likely a little road weary but posed a very formidable and disciplined foe to our boys, lead by the highly regarded manager Cesare Brandelli (has there been a better manager in Serie A this season) and world class Romanian striker Adrian Mutu.

Our boys had a lot on the line, having suffered greatly with the last minute loss to Juventus on Sunday, and were stuck at 33 points since the Inter win and I believe most fans, if not the players, could see Torino and Siena approaching in their rear view mirror. I don’t say this often, but as I had stated earlier, I really felt this was a must win game, particularly since this was the last game of the difficult Inter-Roma-Juventus-Fiorentina stretch (top 4 teams). A win here could set the pace for the rest of the season and put these devastating relegation possibilities to rest. Much to my delight, the rumors of 85 year old Pampa Sosa starting were just that, rumors and Emanuele Calaio started at the left striker position.

The partenopei came out attacking but Fiorentina defended well. The first shot came in the 10th minute by Mutu but his shot went well high. Soon after Lavezzi took a nice pass from Savini but was called offside (marginal call). In the 13th minute Hamsik and Calaio combined for some nice passing but their pass for Lavezzi was intercepted. In the 23rd, the first break through came as Cannavaro made a rocket of a pass up the right side for Mannini, who made a beautiful left footed pass over top of world class defender Pasqual to a streaking/sliding Lavezzi. Napoli in vantaggio!!!! Mannini, made a world class play, not just to deliver the pass as he did but to wait the pass out and stay on side.

Mutu, though came right back with a couple of nice moves around the Napoli defenders, but Gianello handled his shot rather easily. In the 25th the Viola had a goal called back off of a corner as Referee Rossetti ruled that Viola defender Ujfalusi had fouled Blasi in the box during the corner kick.

In the 31st Lavezzi struck again, as off of a corner, Lavezzi unleashed a streak of lighting shot that completely surprised Frey. Great shot!!! 2-0 Napoli.

In the 39th, the partenopei came close again as Frey proved to everyone how world class he is stopping both Hamsik’s original shot and Calaio’s attempt at the rebound. In the 42nd, Gianello made a nice diving save off of a Mutu shot. Matteo played another strong game today and he is starting to become our unsung hero this year. Gennaro who?

In the 3rd minute of the second half, Mutu had a chance off of a Ujfalusi cross but Gianello made his “save of the day” by leaping and swatting the ball away from harm. In the 25th, Lavezzi found a streaking Hamsik along the left side but his pass for Sosa (who had replaced Calaio in the 23rd) was directed out of harm’s way by Kroldrup. Napoli played a very solid, defensive second half and really limited Fiorentina’s chances.

Our boys have a lot to be proud of tonight. They earned six points against the top four teams in Serie A and it could have been 7 points if things could’ve turned out just a little differently in Torino last Sunday. Last fall, they had earned only 4 points with the infamous Juventus win and the 4-4 “game of the season” (in my opinion) at the Stadio Olimpico against AS Roma. Kudos to them.

Apparently Lavezzi was the best player on the field with his energy and skillful play but honorable mention needs to be sent out to Hamsik, Santacroce, Cannavaro and Mannini. This was truly a team effort so let’s enjoy this over a world class Fiorentina team. Lavezzi dedicated the win to Zalayeta. See the You Tube video below (sorry about the quality) showing the Lavezzi interview.

Now, let’s hope we can parlay this victory into another three points on Sunday, when our boys play Reggina in Reggio, Calabria. FORZA NAPOLI!!!!!!