Torino-Napoli Preview

I have a very busy weekend coming up so there may be a chance that I won’t be able to post a match recap and my boy Joe is out of commission this weekend, thus I will post this preview to get you Napoli fanatics your fix for the weekend with the promise that I will do everything I can to post the match recap. Here goes:

Napoli travel to Torino Sunday at the Stadio Olimpico in the 36th match of this Serie A season minus their captain Paolo Cannavaro who is suspended and with their regular keeper on the bench. Yes, Gennaro Iezzo will be sitting in favor of Argentine youngster Nicolas Navarro who will finally get his first Serie A action since coming over in the January transfer market.

The Torino FC club will be without defender Paolo Dellafiore (due to suspension) and have the following players injured: Defender Gianluca Comotto, defender Cesare Natali e midfielder Paolo Zanetti.

The Grenada are led by 24 year old, midfielder Alessandro Rosina, their top goal scorer who leads the team with 6 goals in 32 matches. They have character players acquired from Palermo in the off season in striker David DiMichele (expected to be used as a sub in the upcoming match) and the face of Palermo soccer for four years, 38 year old midfielder Eugenio Corini. If you speak to many Palermo fans, they attribute the rosaneri’s disappointing 2007/2008 season on the unwillingness of their President Zamparini to keep Corini in pink for another season.

The Torino team sits in 16th place with 34 points, via 6 wins, 16 draws and 13 losses and are coming off of a 4-1 road thrashing at the hands of AS Roma last Sunday. Since the Grenanda sit just outside of the relegation zone they will have a lot to play for come Sunday. Torino has suffered 4 consecutive losses quite handily I might add, since beating Catania on March 30 in Sicily.

This Torino team scares me. On paper it is a good team and it is rather unexpected that they sit where they do. They are a much better team at home than they are on the road thus with their desperation, our boys better be ready to play if they want one point, let alone three. If our boys aren’t careful I can see a repeat of the Catania thrashing cause that’s what happens when you run across a motivated and hungry team and I am betting Torino will be at their best on Sunday.

The expected line ups are below:

NAPOLI (3-5-2): 30 Navarro; 13 Santacroce, 96 Contini, 21 Domizzi; 77 Mannini, 8 Blasi, 23 Gargano, 17 Hamsyk, 19 Savini; 18 Bogliacino, 7 Lavezzi.
BENCH: 1 Iezzo, 14 Garics, 2 Grava, 4 Montervino, 17 Pazienza, 11 Calaiò, 9 Sosa. All. Reja

TORINO (4-1-4-1): 1 Sereni; 7 Motta, 22 Di Loreto, 23 Lanna, 3 Pisano; 5 Corini; 19 Diana, 13 Grella, 10 Rosina, 11 Lazetic; 77 Stellone.
BENCH: 31 Fontana, 33 Rubin, 21 Franceschini, 8 Barone, 4 Recoba, 17 Di Michele, 9 Ventola. All. De Biasi

Audio broadcast as usual on Radio Marte.

In case you guys forgot, back in December when the two teams met in Napoli here is a video reminder. This game really pissed me off as I really felt that it was their game and despite the Torino penalty kick advantage, our boys were all over them but lacked finish.

Other Tidbits:
In the words of Genoa President Enrico Preziosi, he will supposedly make a pitch for Napoli defender Maurizio Domizzi in the summer market as his rossoblu want to make a serious run at a UEFA Cup spot next season. Speaking of Preziosi, with the rumors of Genoa striker Marco Borriello going to AC Milan, he was asked if he would be interested in Napoli striker Emanuele Calaio. Prezosi said thanks but no thanks.
Roberto Carlos Sosa will play next season in Argentina with first division team Gimnasia y Esgrima di La Plata making it official that the last home game of the season on May 11 against AC Milan will be Pampa’s farewell to Napoli. I believe this will be his third stint with the Gimnasia side. Will that game be Iezzo farewell to his hometown fans as well? Rumour has it Juventus wants Iezo to backup Buffon next year. Wow!!!
It has been reported that approximately 25,000 tickets for the Napoli-Milan final home game have been sold.
Francesco Romano, ex Napoli player and current agent of AC Milan striker and Italian national team member Alberto Gilardino in an interview on Marte Radio has stated that the 26 year old striker could end up anywhere including Napoli. What…we can dream can’t we? What a combo: Lavezzi and Gilardino. OK. I am going to wake up now….Fat chance Napoli can afford Alberto!!!!

Category: Team News

Tags: match preview, Napoli, Team News, Torino

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