Coppa Italia: The Kids Are Alright
By: Martha | January 31st, 2008
After playing mirror games on the first leg, both having players sent off very early in their matches, Roma and Inter managed to keep 11 men on the pitch this week and both picked up wins, taking another step toward what is becoming an increasingly likely rematch of last year’s final.
In their match, Roma beat Sampdoria 1-0, thanks to yet another goal from the ludicrously in-form Amantino Mancini, and they’ll move on to play surprise package Catania, who snatched a last-minute win over Udinese thanks to an 89th-minute goal from little-used Japanese teen Takayuki Morimoto. Udine had traveled south with a 3-2 lead but Catania can play at home and, despite going behind inside the first minute, they hung tough and got the two goals they needed to move on. (They were excited.)
The big match of the round, though, was always going to be Inter’s visit to Juventus, the Coppa version of the Derby d’Italia. The first leg ended in a 2-2 draw after 10-man Inter went up 2-0, only to give up the lead in the last 20 minutes of the match, conceding two precious away goals in the process. The stands for Coppa Italia matches are generally very, very roomy, but since this was Juve and Inter, there were bodies in the seats, and the match had unusual intensity, despite the injury problems faced by Juve, and the fact that Inter were resting Juve Enemy #1, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. In Zlatan’s stead, Roberto Mancini started 17-year-old Mario Balotelli, who responded with a goal in each half, bookending a penalty kick by Julio Cruz and leading Inter into a wild 3-2 away win that also featured a gorgeous free kick goal from Alex Del Piero.
Juve’s defense has been absolutely decimated by injury, but Balotelli’s goals were impressive nonetheless: He brought the first down with his shoulder on the run, and had the presence of mind to ignore the closing defender and wait for it to settle, rather than snatching at it and skying it over the goal, and the second came off a great, powerful turn in the box, which displayed a level of strength and skill more than a little scary in someone so young. (Balotelli was born in Palermo of Ghanian parents, was adopted by an Italian family, and has lived in Italy his whole life. He’s played for Italian youth teams and refused a call to the senior Ghanian team, but does yet have an Italian passport. When he turns 18, there is going to be an outright war over which full national team he chooses.)
In the semis, Inter will face Lazio, who beat a disinterest Fiorentina 2-1 yesterday, going through by a 4-2 aggregate score. Lazio are have a dismal season, and Coppa success is really the only thing they have left — apart, that is, from getting enough points to make sure they don’t slide further down the table. If they could pull a semifinal miracle and beat Inter, a Roma derby in the Coppa Italia final — a single match this season, already schedule for Rome’s Stadio Olimpico — would be an absolute dream for them.
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Category: Serie A
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