Coppa Spam: Parma
(So. Much. Fail.)
Apparently after this match, again, players were crying (and not just Vlada). When you've got grown men in tears on a semi-regular basis, and when they're not tears of joy, you know things are NOT GOING WELL. This tear-jerker is almost too painful to talk about, but it ended with three goals in four minutes in the second period of added time, thanks to good individual work from D'Agostino and Santana, the usual, poaching brilliant from Crespo, and yet another astonishing clanger from Avramov. And, if you're a pessimistic sort, that's pretty much it for the season: The Coppa was the only concrete thing for which the team were playing, and now that that's gone all that's left is to avoid relegation. JFC this is depressing.
PARMA 2-1 FIORENTINA (AET) [highlights|Gazzetta pagelle|ratings table]
Marcatori: 9' sts Santana (F), 10' sts e 13' sts Crespo (P)
Parma: Pavarini; Zaccardo, Paci, Dellafiore, Pisano (11' pts Lucarelli); Candreva, Dzemaili, Morrone; Valiani, Bojinov (36' st Crespo), Giovinco (15' sts Paletta). A disp.: Mirante, Feltscher, De Vitis, Finocchio. All. Marino
Fiorentina: Avramov; Comotto, Camporese, Kroldrup, Gulan; D'Agostino, Donadel (1' st Bolatti); Cerci, Ljajic (9' pts Santana), Marchionni; Babacar (42' st Seferovic).
Tifosi: "YAAAAY!"
Sinisa: "Oh, god. Those poor saps."
Antognoni: *JUDGES*
The spam hasn't even started, and I'm already almost too depressed to go on. Thank god there aren't many pictures. (Comotto: Didn't suck, defended ok when I was watching.)
Camporese, now an old veteran, got another start in the middle of the back.
Things were a little hairy in the first half when Bojinov was turning him with alarming ease, but he seemed to settle down during the break and played ok from there on out.
(Can you tell I only saw bits and pieces before extra time? My opinions are even more dubious that usual.)
I am quite sure, however, that Krol's hair looks admirably Flock of Seagulls here. Werk.
I honestly think some of the players knew I was looking, cos whenever I watched, they were really good. Gulan, for example, was pretty much flawless in the 45ish minutes I saw.
Donadel had his usual solid first half, but his thigh problem got worse, and he had to go off. ARG.
Bolatti replaced him and, despite making a hilariously bad tackle late in the game, didn't suck at all. That's two matches in a row -- enough, at least, for a personal silver lining for him.
D'Agostino is so freaking fun to watch when he's on the ball that it's hard to care or even notice if he's play well or not.
So I've got no clue how he was, sorry.
It was, however, his sweet shot that hit the post, fell to Santana, and became Fiorentina almost-winning goal, so it's probably safe to say he wasn't terrible.
Out wide on the left was Mighty Marco, who for some reason didn't even make the bench against Udine.
He looked, as they say, well up for it -- very lively and eager, and ready to prove when he needs to play more damn often.
Unfortunately, reality let him down, yet again, and he was forced to remember that his team sort of sucks.
Cerci's probably the only Viola player who most of the papers and fan sites agreed was actually good. One of them even called him "perky" -- is that the sort of praise a footballer wants?
Adem seems to have fallen into a rut.
The rut consists of running around very enterprisingly but without focus, and giving the ball away a lot.
Join the club, Adem!
Dear Baba: If you think you're going to succeed going out on the pitch dressed like that, you've got another thing coming.
How can he even take himself seriously when he's dressed like Barney in green boots?
Sinisa: "Who the hell gave him those tights?"
I mean, COME ON!
He didn't do anything. His exasperation alone, though, is worth the price of admission. Well, almost. Assuming it was really cheap to get in.
Haris replaced him for extra time.
I honestly think he lost the ball every time he touched it, apart from when he bottled a great chance. He looked hilariously depressingly lost.
Santana came on for Adem and made everything better nine minutes into the second period of extra time.
He scored, he had his shirt off, babies were touching him, and Fiorentina looked to be through to the next round.
Sinisa: *knows what's coming and is sad in anticipation*
But then Hernan and Vlada struck, and life went from glorious to profoundly shitty in the space of four short minutes.
Poor Krol. Poor everyone.
Up next was supposed to be Inter, but since they're busy with the Club World Cup, that match will be reschedule for some time in 2011, and Fiorentina will get to sit around and think about this match forever and ever.