Juventus primavera and youth update…12th March, 2013
SERIE B
Alberto Masi seems to be gaining momentum at Ternana, following up his début last weekend with a full 90 minutes under his belt in the 0-0 draw with Spezia. After spending the first month of his loan move to the rossoverdi on the bench, the central defender who showed so much promise in his pre-season at Juve last year must now push on, cement his name in the starting XI and perform well enough to encourage a team in the top flight to take a chance on him next term. Still…at only 20 years of age, he has time on his side. I am just keen to see another Italian defender step up to the senior ranks in the coming years and we will likely have to wait longer to see how Rugani and Magnusson fare when playing with the seniors. With his side sitting in 15th, its still possible for Alberto to dream of the play-offs which are only 7 points away. Recent form, however, suggests the 3 points standing between Ternana and the trap-door are more of a pressing concern.
Gabriel Appelt continued to enjoy his return to first team action managing 53 minutes in Pro Vercelli’s disastrous but expected home defeat to Nicola Leali’s high flying in 11th Virtus Lanciano. The Brazilian midfielder put in a good shift until been hooked off in the 53rd minute with his Juve buddy Elio de Silvestro arriving late on in the game to make his 14th appearance of the season. Pro Vercelli find themselves further adrift of safety, with 10 points needed to catch Bari in 19th. An step too far for the newcomers to Serie B ,and we can only hope that they go down fighting for we need Gabriel to get as much work as possible as he bids to continue his development. On the other side of no-mans land, Nicola Leali continued his slow, steady march towards stardom. The goalkeeper said by many to be Buffon’s heir has made 26 appearances during the maiden serie B season of Virtus Lanciano. And surely there can be no doubt that come May, plenty of sides in the top flight will be eager to bring him into their ranks next season. Team-mate and former primavera golden boy Leonardo Spinazzola failed to add to his 7 starts for the season for the visitors.
22 year old wide midfielder Fausto Rossi started and finished Brescia’s annoying 1-1 draw with Novara. With Buoy once again in the treatment room, its encouraging to see Rossi flying the flag with pride in his absence. His contract is up in 2014 so it will be interesting to see what we do with him in the Summer. Brescia remain well placed for an assault on the top six, with our Dutch flair-merchant Buoy hopefully back in contention soon enough. Their opponents Novara are home to Albert Libertazzi, former prima punta star of the youth team who has managed a grand total of 17 minutes of the 2-0 coppa defeat to Fiorentina in August of last year coupled with two appearances on the bench since leaving the nest last year. Questions need to be asked…such as…if Libertazzi has no chance of playing at Novara, why did we not move him elsewhere in January? And…what the hell has happened to a player who was performing consistently well last season (9 goals in 14 games) and was earmarked for glory???
Sassuolo extended their dominance as Kings of the Castle, coming out on top in a 3-4 manic affair with Varese. It seems that Richmond ‘Biggie’ Boakye is having some trouble regaining his spot in the free scoring league leaders attack since returning from his observer status at the African Cup of Nations with Ghana. Plenty of time left for the powerful striker to add to his 9 goals and 4 assists for the season.
SERIE A
Ciro Immobile v Apollo Creed
In the upper tier, Ciro Immobile continues to struggle at Genoa, forced to wait until the 59th minute before been called from the bench to play his part in the 0-2 home mauling by Milan. The striker’s team are now a mere 2 points away from the relegation scramble and yet still Ballardini seems unwilling to adopt a more adventurous line-up which is surely something to consider when goals are presently. so hard to come by. Over at Bologna, Freddy ‘kruger’ Sorensen continues his fine form in the heart of defence starting and finishing the impressive 0-1 away victory over our arch rivals Inter Milan. Manolo Gabbiadini also played the whole match, making his 23rd appearance of the season.
PRIMAVERA
Last Thursday, our primavera returned to Nextgen action with their second round do or die knockout match against Rosenberg. The big man up top, Padovan, was a steady thorn in the side of our foes, forcing three efforts on goal before the game was won by his strike partner Stefano Beltrame, who pounced on an error by the opposing defence, rounded the keeper and scored his 7th goal of the season. The Norwegians did have a chance or three, hitting the post in the second half, but Baroni’s troops held firm and now face a glamour tie in London in the quarter finals where they face Chelsea who reached this stage by beating Barcelona 0-2 in Spain.
Branescu
Untersee Rugano Magnusson
Laursen Kabashi Cavion Gerbaudo Ruggiero/Tavanti
Beltrame Padovan/ Bonatini
GOALS- Beltrame
(for reports of our previous matches head here> http://tearsforthesheep.com/forum/vi…c.php?f=5&t=96)
After the shock defeat in the primavera league to Genoa last weekend which ended an astonishing run of 12 consecutive victories, it was important to produce a solid showing against local rivals Torino in the derby. Coach Baroni opted, probably wisely, to rotate the squad, with yet another big game coming this week against perhaps an even more hated rival, Napoli, in none other than the primavera coppa italia final.
For the Torino grudge match, all three of the January additions to the squad played from the start (Pepic, Cevallos, Sakor)
JUVENTUS (3-5-2): Branescu; Bertinetti, Magnusson, Pol Garcia; Tavanti, Cevallos, Sakor, Pepic, Mattiello; Lanini, Bonatini.
GOALS- Padovan (pen)
Stefano Padovan – 10 goals in 13 matches.
The match started at a frenetic pace with both teams playing with aggression and intensity. Clearly the spirit of the turn derby is not lost on the youngsters. Albanian Elvis Kabashi was the first to make it into the ref’s book for a scything challenge on Gatto. After 20 minutes the sides seemed to be cancelling each other out with only one shot by Juve striker Lanini to shout about. Soon after, 16 year old Vajebah Sakor won the ball in midfield, released our new Ecuadorian wizard, Cevallos, whose charge towards goal was thwarted by the defence. Positive signs from the Norwegian midfield dynamo, still so young yet mixing it well enough with player several years his senior. Unfortunately, Sakor was soon after involved in the move which brought Torino’s goal, losing the ball which was then delivered into the centre for Coccolo to finish past a stranded Branescu. 22 minutes gone and a goal down. What would the reaction be of Baroni and his beastly boys???
Mattiello and Tavanti had efforts blocked before Bonatini almost scores a freak goal! Torino goalkeeper Gomis cleared the ball into the body of our Brazilian front man with the ball rebounding just over the bar. The second half trod a predictable path with Juve chasing the equalizer and Torino attempting to sit back, absorb our attacks and hit us on the break.
Coach Baroni saw red when protesting too vehemently against a foul on Kabashi and soon after he was banished, Tavanti was replaced by ace goal-poacher Padovan. It took the burly striker just over 10 minutes to make his mark on the game, slotting away the equalizing penalty after Sakor was brought down in the box.
Chaos then rules as Lanini applies the pressure, leading to a corner, the clearance from which ends with a debatable foul by Kabashi, but the ref has lost his mind, and instead sends Ceria for an early bath! A manager down, and now a player down, Juve fight onwards, always onwards with their oars beating fiercely against the tide…Sakor smashes one towards goal late on but its turned away. Surviving the late onslaught from Torino, Juve emerge from a strange match with a creditable 1-1 draw.
We remain comfortably top of the league,-
1st Juve 45 points from 20 games.
2nd Fiorentina 44 points from 21games
3rd Torino 41 points from 19 games.
Which brings us up to speed…but before I end this rather clunky update on youth affairs, let’s preview the coppa final against Napoli…which kicks off this Wednesday at 845pm in Turin.
Napoli lie presently 4th in Girone C of the primavera leagues. (juve play in Girone A. The 42 primavera teams are divided into three leagues of 14, with 16 qualifying at the end of the season for the knock-out competition which produces the season victors). They have amassed 43 points from 21 games, with a goal difference of +23.
Juve league form WWWWLD
Napoli league form WLLWD
The most obvious threat from Napoli comes in the form of Roberto Insigne, who has plundered a fearsome 17 goals in 21 matches so far this campaign. We will need to be at our best to keep him quiet.
Forza Juve.
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