Udinese 2 v 3 Sampdoria

Sampdoria Start Their Revival In Udine.

Sampdoria fought back twice to defeat Udinese at the Stadio Friuli despite coach Luigi Del Neri dropping Antonio Cassano for the game.

Match Action: 1st Half

Udinese by far had the best of the first half chances with Antonio Di Natale chipping the ball over the Sampdoria defence for Alexis Sanchez to spring the offside trap, but the young Chilean lost his footing.

Moments later Di Natale sprinted into the box and was brought down by a careless Cacciatore challenge, as Di Natale beautifully dinked the ball past the Samp defender, only to be brought down. Di Natale converted the penalty sending Marco Storari the wrong way for his 13th goal of the season.

It was nearly 2-0 less than a minute later as Sanchez dribbled past two Sampdoria defenders but his pull-back intended for Di Natale was intercepted by Cacciatore.
Gokhan Inler made a good run down the right flank pulled the ball back for Di Natale to fire a stinging shot at Marco Storari’s palms.

Sampdoria against the run of play where then awarded a penalty as Simone Pepe clumsily tripped Nicola Pozzi. Giampaolo Pazzini converted the penalty, which hit the inside of the upright to ricochet in and draw Sampdoria level.

The Blucherciati nearly took the lead when Semioli’s header from quality Ziegler cross caused Handanovic to punch the ball away, very nearly right into the path of Pazzini.

Udinese restored their advantage just before half time with Mauricio Isla’s first ever Serie A goal. He controlled a Aleksandr Lukovic through ball in the D and chipped the ball over a helpless Storari. It was a goal of real quality.

Match Action: 2nd Half

Sampdoria showed great character in the second half and equalized after a misplaced Pazzini shot found the head of Pozzi who forced a good save from Handanovic, but the goalkeeper could do nothing with the rebound which Pozzi converted.

Incredibly and wonderfully for Blucerchiati supporters Sampdoria made it 3-2 with substitute Fernando Tissone’s through ball allowed Semioli to spring the offside trap down the left flank, control the ball and thump an angled drive into the corner.

Udinese’s Alexis Sanchez was livid when he was booked for diving after clashing with Gastaldello in the penalty area. Antonio Floro Flores pounced on a poor Luciano Zauri backpass, but Storari rushed out to clear off his feet. Sampdoria nearly made it four with Tissone again cutting open the Udinese defence with a lethal through ball for Pazzini who fired straight at Handanovic.

The win moves Sampdoria up to tenth, but leaves Udinese only one point above the dreaded relegation zone.

Di Natale pen 7 (U), Pazzini pen 27 (S), Isla 44 (U), Pozzi 57 (S), Semioli 66 (S)

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Preview: Udinese v Sampdoria

Udinese v Sampdoria
Sunday 24th January 2010
Friuli, Udine

Udinese (15th)

Like Samp, Udinese have frozen this Winter having won only once in the league since October. Giovanni De Biasi has been in charge for a month but seems to have had little impact, having only managed one coppa Italia victory. And everyone knows they don’t count.

Last time out Udinese picked up what looks like a solid point away to Parma. However Udinese were quite fortunate to find themselves playing against ten men for a large proportion of the game. And despite Parma being ham-pered by this ham-dicap, they still had chances to win including a missed penalty.

At home Udinese’s last fixture saw points shared with what at the time looked an improving Lazio side. Preceding this Udinese slumped to three straight away defeats to mostly poor opposition.

Udinese are a typical mid-table Italian side, picking up enough points at home to avoid slipping into the relegation battle, while ritually losing and drawing away from home. But having played four of their last five games away from home, Udinese’s recent form may be a little skewed. They will be glad to get back to the Friuli where they have only lost twice this season.

As of Thursday morning, Udinese appear to have no new injury or suspension concerns coming into this game. Gokhan Inler returns to the fold in midfield.

Sampdoria (13th)

Sampdoria’s decline from the heady heights of the beginning of the season has been dramatic. One win in twelve, with seven defeats, leaves Samp suddenly looking nervously down the table rather than optimistically up.

What has happened to Sampdoria? At the start of the season they were top and had beaten Inter. Now they are 13th and dropping quicker than Cristiano Ronaldo under a slightly heavy challenge. The truth of how good Samp really are is probably somewhere in between the two extremes, but there is no doubt their current run of results is relegation form.

Last time out Sampdoria slumped to a desperately disappointing home draw with unfancied Catania, having gone behind early to a Llama free kick. This certainly gave the Marassi faithful the hump and they made their feelings known at the end of the game. Astonishing reports that Pazzini and Mannini were attacked by unhappy Doria fans after the match indicates exactly how bad things have got. Rumours that Mannini tried to fight back but couldn’t beat the first man are unsubstantiated.

Morale in the camp has got to be rock bottom, and a tough looking trip to provincial Udine is not favourable for any team this low on confidence.

Sampdoria’s away form has been desperate this season, particularly so in recent games with six straight away defeats. On current form, if Sampdoria played against themselves outside of Marassi, both teams would lose.

Nevertheless, there were promising debuts for on-loan pair Marco Storari in goal and Stefano Guberti in midfield in the Catania game, and despite the poor results Sampdoria haven’t been on the end of any big defeats. Yet.

Antonio Cassano is reported as being doubtful for the game with a ‘minor’ injury. Samp can ill afford to be without him and may press him into service in spite of the injury. If he does miss out, this is a serious blow.

Opposition dangerman
Antonio Di Natale. Despite his 5 foot 7 inches, the 32 year old skilful forward and captain hasnt come up short this season with 12 goals to his name.

Head to head
Udinese have the advantage at home with three wins, two draws and one defeat in the last six years. Sampdoria haven’t won in Udine since 2004. Last seasons this fixture finished 1-1, almost exactly 12 months ago and with both teams in similar runs of form.

Prediction
Two teams who can’t win face each other here, and therefore it is logical that a draw wouldn’t be the most surprising result, especially in view of last seasons draw in similar circumstances.

However, home advantage and comparative home/away form should not be ignored and on both these counts Udinese have the clear advantage. If Cassano is out for Samp, this strengthens the case for a home win and more misery for Sampdoria fans.

Udinese to win

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