Juventus Youth Focus – 21/9/14 – Ceria strikes again

By tdf, September 22, 2014

Flying wing-man, 19 year old Edoardo Ceria returned to the Den Bosch first XI last week after serving a two match suspension for a straight red in his third outing for the club. Having scored twice in his first two matches the youngster has repeated the trick by adding twice to his tally in the space of 6 days. Firstly in the away fixture v Volendam, which ended 2-2 and last Friday in the comfortable 3-0 mauling of hapless Helmond Sport at the brilliantly named Brainwash Stadium…

Also at the club, fellow juventino, Filippo Penna, began the season on the bench, received a chance to impress in the same match where his pal Eddy received his marching orders and has since forged a path into the starting XI. Every cloud has a silver lining eh!

Attacking midfielder Elvis Kabashi is finding playing time harder to come by, with less than twenty minutes of action under his belt at this early stage of the campaign.

Den Bosch sit in 7th after 7 games.

Primavera…

The UEFA Youth league swung into action last week in the shadows of it’s senior brother. The format remains the same as seen last term, with Juve’s U19 squad beginning the competition in a group which mirrors the champions league group which pits Juve against Malmo, Atletico Madrid and  Olympiacos. The fixtures are also run along exactly the same lines for the group stages. First up for Grosso’s debut in the competition was none other than Malmo, whom the seniors dispatched 2-0. Last year we failed to escape from the group stage finishing third behind Real Madrid and Galatasaray.

Audero

Rousso Varga Severin De Biasi

Pellini

Macek(Hromada 69′) Vitale(Sakor 54′)

Clemenza(King Udoh 87′) Soumah Donis

Goals – Soumah 24′ Assisted by Clemenza. King Udoh 93′ Assisted by Soumah.

Final Score 2-0

Solid start.

Having just deleted by accident an hour of reportage, quite well put together in places, yet now dead and buried,the corpse never to be exhumed and the anger caused sending me fuming around the garden, pitch-fork in hand, conjuring all my might to resist the temptation, desire, burning need to smash this aging craptop to pieces, instead attacking the fence…indeed, my second run at what was already fine and dandy will be more swift, less jolly and a real fucking annoyance to be revisiting.

Back in the league, after two wins on the bounce, the lads next stop was West Sicily, for the seaside town of Trapani. I was there myself in June of this year and marveled at the beautfiul, ancient cobbled streets of nearby Erice, as well as it’s quaint plazas, magnificent ramparts and deeply rich history reaching back to medieval times and beyond. The cable-car trip into the hills afford the brave a stunning view of the region…Well worth a visit.

Audero

Rousso Varga Romagna Severin

Sakor Pellini Macek

Kastanos Soumah Donis

Goals – Donis 38′ pen. Foul on Macek. Sakor 50′

Final score 2-2

Rather wretched to let a 0-2 win morph into a 2-2 draw in the final ten minutes of a match away to one of our league’s obvious minnows. Still, we have played 4, won 3, drawn 1, scored 11 and conceded 5. Which is not a terrible start to the season. The trouble is that we appear to have the same problems which haunted us last season under both Zanchetta and then Grosso; an over reliance upon individual talent with no clearly recognizable system in place. We do possess stronger individual talent than most the other teams whom we play but not on the coaching side of things with Grosso learning the job, whilst on the job. It seems the wrong path towards making the best of the raw talents we have brought to the club.

Honourable mentions for Pellini, who continues to impress as captain in the middle. Up top, the King is in brilliant form with 3 goals in 3 appearances, solid support shown by Soumah and Donis. Kastanos and Macek are still finding their feet in the higher age group.

The selection appears somewhat odd, given Severin is more comfortable as a CB (as seen in the Malmo game) yet in the league Grosso deploys him as a LWB/LB. Roussos on the opposite flank in the fullback, wingback role, is a natural midfielder. What the devil is Fabio playing at eh?

Moving briefly to Serie B…

Fiorillo had a great game between the sticks for Pescara, despite conceding 3. His saves preventing the scoreline becoming a cricket score. Pasquato also played on his side, yet played poorly. My perennial favourite, Gabriel Appelt remained bench-bound for the duration, I presume due to injury/fitness for he has been a first team starter since the season commenced.

Over at Perugia, Pol Garci earned the plaudits for a mature performance of great promise, completing the full 90 minutes for Vicenza in the 2-2 draw. The towering centre-back fared better than another Juve investment, Goldaniga, whose mistake in the second half directly led to the home side conceding the second goal.

Matteo Liviero was picked out by the papers for a swashbuckling showing on the left flank in Pro Vercelli’s 4-0 massacre of Varese.

Whilst delving through the various leagues where we have placed our fledgling juventini, I came across a man who some of you may well think you recognize>>>

Perhaps the presence in the peninsula of his brother, formerly of Crewe, will help our aim to tie down Paul on a new contract?