Monday, February 23, 2009
Viareggio, Ready For The Final Leap
The long voyage which began two weeks ago today will see its final and decisive leap. The Primavera will play the final of the 61st edition of the Viareggio Cup against Sampdoria. The match will kick-off at 15:00hrs at the Pini di Viareggio Stadium.§
Juventus will be seeking to win their 6th title in this competition and the 4th in six years after the victories in the 1961, 1994, 2003, 2004 and 2005 editions.
This time it will be Massimiliano Maddaloni’s team who will try to bring the trophy home. The group has done excellently up till now and deserves the leadership in the championship group (ahead of the blucerchiati current Italian champions) and the Coppa Italia semi-final.
In Versilia the bianconeri confirmed all their potential with an impressive march. It all began two weeks ago on the 9th of February with the 2-0 victory against the Israeli side of Maccabi Haifa thanks to 2 goals by Daud. Two days later on Wednesday 11th the boys registered a 1-0 victory against Parma once again with Daud as protagonist. The victory against Parma meant one leg in the next stage and the revenge against the emiliani for the defeat suffered in the championship.
The group stage (group 2) came to an end on Friday 13th. Defying any superstition a 1-1 draw against Frosinone (goal by Immobile) was enough to place 1st in the group and be among the top seeds for the final 16.
The draws were not so kind: Juventus were drawn against Lazio, absolute dominator of their group in the championship and the last team to have beaten the bianconeri in Viareggio a year ago. Operation Vendetta 2 was accomplished on Tuesday 17th. The goals by Daud and De Paola were not enough since at the end of the 90 minutes the score was 2-2. the match was decided by a penalty shoot out with Pinsoglio the hero of the day handing the qualification to his team mates.
Two days later on Thursday 19th it is time for yet another bit of revenge. The match against Siena is an occasion to pay the toscani back for the defeat in the championship and so it was. Having gone under by 1 goal at the start of the match, Maddaloni’s team reacted in the best manner possible. Daud first equalised at the end of the first half and then put the bianconeri ahead at the beginning of the second. Marrone scored the third with Siena fixing the final result on 3-2.
In the semi-finals it is derby time! Juventus meet Torino on a neutral field. In this case there is no cause for vendetta. After two 3-0 victories in the championship, the bianconeri dish out a third defeat to their “cousins”. Once again the bianconeri scored three (3-1) thanks to Immobile (twice) and the usual goal by Daud who is seriously challenging for the title of top scorer in the competition. Saturday 21st February has thus become a date to remember.
Hopefully Monday 23rd February will also become a date to remember. In order to achieve this Maddaloni will field the same players who won in the semi-final: Pinsoglio,
Duravia, De Paola, Ariaudo, D’Elia, Marrone, Esposito, Giuseppe Giovinco, Castiglia, Daud, Immobile.
Juventus.com
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