Serie A: Bologna v. Hellas Verona
View attachment 290797Sunday, 30 August 2015
Curva Sud is packed and boisterous. The main stand is fairly full and two thousand or so Gialloblu occupy a heavily supervised and guarded corner of Curva Nord. It's a beautiful late summer day and a great day for calcio.
Verona posted a defensive formation and starting eleven: 4141 and their right midfielder is often their right back. I shook hands and hugged Vangelis Moras at the side of the pitch. Only two changes from Wednesday: Luca Ceccarelli replaced Gyorgy Garics who couldn't have gone 90 minutes; and Simone Pasa because Michele Pazienza was in the same condition Garics was.
It took us ten minutes to get rolling but when we did we didn't let up until halftime. By the 16th minute, Matthias Lepiller, Shawn Parker and Gaël Kakuta had all squandered multiple gilt-edged chances.
In the 22nd, Captain Archimede Morleo robbed their right midfielder Romulo and hoofed a ball forward. I say
hoofed because we play a short ball, possession game and long balls are not our style. But he must have known something about Moras who misjudged the flight of the ball and it got over his head. Parker was on to it in a flash and raced goalward. The keeper raced out and blocked Shawn's attempt but the ball lay their invitingly.
Parker had planted his foot and was about to tap the ball into the gaping goal when Moras took out his planting foot with a desperation tackle. Thirty thousand screamed their disbelief as Moras cleared the ball over the touch line.
I sprinted over to the fourth official to enquire about FIFA's Law 12 when the tackle is in the Group of Four category that also prevents a clear scoring opportunity and the perpetrator is the last man. I wanted to know how Moras' tackler wasn't a foul. Eventually, I was told he'd gotten the ball. Then I enquired how the ref saw all that when he was 40m or further away. I got no answer to that one.
The play continued mostly in their end, but Verona had occasional forays into our end. Primarily, their possession was confined to their half as we pressured them high up the pitch and forced them to make sideways pass after sideways pass.
In the 36th minute, Federico Casarini lofted a pass into the left corner. Parker got their first and blazed a cross across the face of the goal. Lepiller met it on the far side with a volley that whistled back across goal and millimeters wide of the far post.
I was starting to worry we weren't going to convert any chances and that Verona would score at their first try. At half time I praised them for their solid defending, tenacious pressure and urged them to keep playing like they were playing. I told them that the goal we needed would eventually come.
As they got ready for the restart, I yelled at them to concentrate. I didn't want to give up a sloppy goal right after the break. They listened and continued to stifle Verona and play in their half.
In the 48th, Parker's shot got blocked but it fell invitingly to Casa. Federico hammered a shot goalward but the keeper managed to block it and his defense cleared it.
At the hour mark I got several players warming up. Their entire midfield was tiring but I was hesitant to pull anyone off as we were playing really well.
In the 64th minute, Verona got their first attempt on goal but Dejan Stojanovic handled it easily. Phewh!
In the 67th, I pulled off an exhausted Lepiller. I replaced him with Daniele Cacia. Cacia would play up top and Parker would switch to right wing.
In the 71st, Franco Zuculini and Parker exchanged passes out right. Then Parker zipped a pass across the top of the box toward Casarini. Casa smashed it first time into the top left corner. The keeper never had a chance! That was a highlight reel goal.
1-0
After the restart, Verona brought the ball into our half and Ceccarelli felt it was necessary chop down substitute striker Gonzalo Mastriani. The ref rightly pointed immediately to the spot.
My forehead met my palm with a slapping sound.
Mastriani was traveling toward the corner flag at the far right side of the box -- the furthest you could be from the goal yet still be in the box. What. The. ****? Absoluteyl unforgivable for a defender of Ceccarelli's experience. Absofknlutely ridonkulous!
Mastriani lay on the turf for a while. Javier Saviola replaced him and scored from the spot with his first (and nearly only) touch of the game.
1-1
Zukes was clearly exhausted so I replaced him with Antonio Vacca. It didn't matter, Verona sat back happy to have stolen a point. I didn't want to but I replaced Casa in the 84th as he was so tired he might hurt himself. Leonardo Guerra got a few minutes.
The only talking point was Verona central defender Norbert Gyomber ran over Kakuta in the box in the 81st. The ref immediately waved away the protests.
View attachment 290795Three clear fouls in the box and the ref didn't see fit to see the fouls when it would benefit us. This was utter bull****. The simplest explanation was somebody paid off the ref. This is Italy, after all, and this kind of **** used to happen all the time. Since the mafia was still as strong as ever despite the government's best efforts, it was certainly within the realm of possibility.
While his teammates tried to console Ceccarelli, he wouldn't look anybody in the eye and just stared at the floor until he left. I told the players that this was just plain bad luck.
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