International fansite Genoa CFC
Genoa played a good match in Toscany but lost by 3-1 against Fiorentina. The Rossoblu-boys were stopped by goalkeeper Frey who played a very good match. On the other hand Fiorentina got a little help of referee Ayroldi because at the first goal of Fiorentina goalscorer Santana was in offside position so the goal should be annulated. Genoa’s goal was scored by Matias Masiero in his first match after his arrival last January from Uruguay. Well done Matias !!
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After the great victories against Udinese (5-3) and Napoli (2-0) Genoa lost twice against Cagliari (1-2) and Juventus (0-2), so now it is time to earn again some points. Of course the match in Florence against Fiorentina is not easy to win, but with the support of our 1600 fans we possibly can surprise the purple team that hopefully still is a litte tired of their match against Everton in Uefa-cup. Mr. Gasperini selected the following 20 players:
Goalkeepers: Lanza, Scarpi.
Defenders: Criscito, De Rosa, Ghinassi, Konko, Lucarelli, Santos.
Mifielders: Danilo, Fabiano, Juric, Masiero, Milanetto, Rossi, Vanden Borre.
Forwards: Borriello, Di Vaio, Figueroa, Leon, Sculli.
Yesterday-evening 28.151 people watched Genoa-Juventus in Luigi Ferraris Stadium. Only 1.000 (!!) of them were happy at the end of the match with the 0-2 result by goals of Grygera and Trezeguet in the first half. The most succesfull team of Italy with the most supporters (??) brought only 1.000 fans to one of the closest away-matches in the first season in Serie A after the punishment. Knowing this it is easy to explain why players like Criscito prefer Genoa (football, passion and friendship) above Juventus (only money). With Genoa the Belgium player Anthony Vanden Borre made his debut 31 minutes before the end as a substitute of Milanetto that was kicked out of the match by Camoranesi. The referee refused to give Camoranesi his second yellow card, just like Cassano 3 weeks ago. Genoa is now 9th in the standings.
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At the end all the 3 slightly injured players Borriello, Fabiano and Sculli are selected by Mr. Gasperini to go in Sheraton Hotel to prepare for tomorrownights topmatch against Juventus. The following 19 players try to put Juventus in a crisis:
Goalkeepers: Scarpi, Lanza
Defenders: Criscito, De Rosa, Ghinassi, Konko, Lucarelli
Midfielders: Danilo, Fabiano, Masiero, Milanetto, Raggio Garibaldi, Rossi, Vanden Borre
Forwards: Borriello, Di Vaio, Figueroa, Leon, Sculli
This season Genoa sold 21.675 seasontickets and the average of spectators this season is at the moment 24.333. The match with the most visitors is so far this season, of course, Genoa-Sampdoria with 31.618 paying spectators. Because Sampdoria could not sell 1400 of the 2000 seats in the visitors-sector, the authorities forbid to sell 1500 tickets and another 1500 persons (sponsors, guests, etc.) entered the stadium without paying the maximum number of 36.541 was not realized. On the second place so far this season is the match against Napoli (26.417, on a wednesday-night!), just before Fiorentina (24.876) and A.S. Roma (24.107). The match against Siena was with “only” 22.697 spectators the one with the lowest number of people in the stadium.
Thursday-evening the number of sold tickets to see the match Genoa-Juventus was already over 5.000, so at least 27.000 vistors will be present in Luigi Ferraris next sunday-evening. Maybe in the last 2 days (friday and saturday) another 5.000 people buy a ticket, breaking the visitors-record of 31.618 so far this season.
The 2 goalscorers of the 1-1 draw in Luigi Ferraris stadium last year: Ivan Juric and Pavel Nedved don’t play next Sunday. Both players are banned because of their 8th yellow (Juric) and 2nd red card (Nedved) of the season. Besides Juric friendly Mr. Gasperini also misses Paro (5 months out), Bovo (one month), Rubinho (20 days), Santos (10 days off) and Wilson (trains for the first time with ball this week), while it is not sure if Fabiano and Sculli can play after their injuries in the match against Cagliari. Maybe this all means that Anthony Vanden Borre can make his debut against the Old Lady.
On the island Sardinia Genoa lost 3 points against Cagliari but remained on the 8th position in the standings. Of course it was clear it would be a difficult match without Konko, Paro, Santos and Bovo and after 2 great victories against Udinese and Napoli. It also was known that Cagliari would be very agressive and motivated because they lost Friday 3 points behind the green table.
However Genoa started the match very good. In the first 15 minutes there was a header of Sculli over the goal, a shot of Borriello that was saved by goalkeeper Storari, a header of De Rosa and finally the first goal of Lucarelli after a fantastic cross of Fabiano: 0-1. The breakpoint of the match was in the 29th minute. Out of a corner Criscito headed the ball at the crossbar and 20 seconds later, while Criscito was still on the way back to the defense, Acquafresca shot the ball behind Rubinho: 1-1. A few seconds before the halftime whistle of the referee Cagliari got a corner that was headed by Acquafresca on the post, but the ball bounced at the back of unlucky Rubinho into the goal: 2-1 and Rubinho injured. In the second half with Scarpi, Figueroa and Danilo in the team Genoa tried to score the equalizer but only 1 time Leon was close.
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Genoa coach Gian Piero Gasperini and his staff selected the following 19 players to travel with them to the island Sardinia:
Goalkeepers: Lanza, Rubinho, Scarpi.
Defenders: Criscito, De Rosa, Ghinassi, Lucarelli.
Midfielders: Danilo, Fabiano, Juric, Masiero, Milanetto, Rossi, Vanden Borre.
Forwards: Borriello, Di Vaio, Figueroa, Leon, Sculli.
Genoa misses banned Konko (4th yellow card against Napoli) and the injured: Bovo, Santos, Paro and Wilson against Cagliari, number 20 and last in the standings. Yesterday the team of Sardinia was punished with 3 points (from 18 to 15) because of the fact that old-Cagliari player Grassadonia informed the court that in the past Cagliari-players substituted each other at the dopingtests after the match to save their doped colleagues. The old defender also told that the board of the club used the ultras to scare the players at home if they did not play well. Besides the lost of 3 points also Cagliari president Cellino is banned for 1 year out of football. Of course the club and president try to save themselves at a higher court.
Genoa’s 24 years old midfielder Matteo Paro left the field yesterday-evening after only 19 minutes with a heavy injury. Today at the scan in the hospital it was clear: Matteo needs to be operated within 15 days on his left knee. Because of the operation and the rehabiliation the season is over. Genoa Club Amsterdam wishes Matteo Paro all the best and we hope to see him back next season on the midfield of Genoa.
Roberto Donadoni might want to look into securing a permanent base in Genoa. The Italy manager has known since before the season started that he would need to pay close attention to Sampdoria’s Antonio Cassano, who turned in another sumptuous performance during Samp’s 1-1 draw with Inter. But Donadoni would not have expected to be devoting so much time to another striker playing his trade in the same stadium. With his second hat-trick of the season – both of them against Udinese – Genoa’s Marco Borriello lifted Genoa to a 5-3 win yesterday, and himself to joint first in the Serie A scoring charts alongside David Trezeguet with 15 goals. It is by no means inconceivable that he will line up alongside Cassano for Italy at Euro 2008. Coming into 2007-08, Borriello was just another eterna promessa (eternal promise), a powerful forward with the physique, raw talent and model Wag befitting a world-class striker, but nothing like the end product. A product of the Milan youth system, he bounced back and forth between the San Siro subs’ bench and loans at clubs from Triestina right up to Sampdoria, without ever finding his niche. His most productive year had come at Treviso in Serie C1 in 2001-2002, when he scored 10 goals in 27 games.
At 25 years old, Borriello already looked set to finish his career as little more than an “And finally” footnote in calcio history, after he was banned from football for three months for failing a drugs test – he had neglected to check the contents of an ointment his girlfriend, Belen Rodriguez, rubbed on his genitals after she gave him a sexually transmitted infection. Instead he has been reborn at Genoa, after il Grifone bought 50% of his rights from Milan. Effective as the central striker in Gian Piero Gasperini’s 3-4-3, he has been arguably even more effective when the manager adjusts to 4-4-1-1 as in both games against Udinese. At just over 6ft tall and with broad shoulders he is a potent target man, while a pair of scars on his otherwise model features hint at a natural aggression. Last season, while on loan at Sampdoria, he caused two would-be muggers to turn and flee after flying into a rage when they tried to steal his watch as he took a stroll in the Albaro district in Genoa.
Borriello made his Italy debut earlier this month, becoming the first Genoa player to turn out for the Azzurri in almost 17 years when he replaced Luca Toni during the 3-1 win over Portugal. Already he is being discussed by a typically understated Italian press as Toni’s natural heir and, although that is taking things too far, his goals yesterday reflected an impressively complete natural skill-set. If the first was the most technically impressive – Borriello chesting down a cross with his back to goal before controlling the ball with his left foot and then turning to thrash it past Samir Handanovic without letting it touch the ground – the second and third showed he can also be clinical, as he dispatched a low drive and diving header from inside the area with equal ease. “I preferred the third goal, in which you could see all the skills needed by a centre-forward, ” crowed a modest Borriello afterwards. “The feint [to make room for himself to win the header], the counter-movement and then an acrobatic conclusion.”
Minds in Genoa are already turning to how the club will hang on to such a player come the end of the season. There has been no indication that Milan want Borriello back – the Rossoneri having been linked instead to a number of high-profile strikers from Didier Drogba to Emmanuel Adebayor – but the terms of the deal made last summer mean they will set the price Genoa must match. Just like Cassano, who said this weekend that he would accept a 20% pay cut to make his move to Samp permanent this summer, Borriello wants to stay put, but he knows Genoa may not be able to afford him. For the past six months he has been living in a hotel in the city, and until a permanent deal is signed, he has no intention of selling his place in Milan. “Definitely I want to stay, but with every goal my asking price rises and I don’t know if (Genoa president Enrico) Preziosi can break the bank to buy the other half, ” acknowledged Borriello after yesterday’s game. “He tells me he can and I believe him.” Preziosi will doubtless do his best to keep hold of a player who has become the figurehead of a team who have gone from relegation candidates to European contenders in a matter of weeks. Genoa staggered through nine games without a win after losing to Juventus on October 21, and Gasperini’s job was reported to be on the line before a 1-0 win over Parma in the last game before the winter break. Since the break Genoa have won four and drawn one of the seven games they have played, and now sit eighth, just four points behind Udinese who occupy the final Uefa Cup spot. Gasperini admitted after the game that the club may now have to raise their sights from the previous objective of simply avoiding.
Many thanks to Genoa-supporter Pedro to find this article !!!