Genoa Club Amsterdam

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After the victory against Milan the misson was already accomplished, but Genoa also wanted to stay at the 8th position in the standings to be qualified to the 1/8 finals of the Coppa Italia and avoid playing at Ferragosto (15th August) in the 3rd round of the Italian cup. On the other hand: our topscorer Rodrigo Palacio (7 goals) already got permission to return in Argentina and Mr. Gasperini did not protest against his squalification of 2 matches instead of the usual 1 match.

The match was decided in 3 minutes. In the 18th minute Robert Acquafresca could not beat goalkeeper Campagnolo at their eye to eye confrontation, 1 minute later Ivan Juric got his second yellow card and had to leave to pitch, while again 1 minute later Maxi Lopez scored the only goal. Because Parma beat Livorno by 4-1 the yellowblue ended 8th in the standings and we are nineth.

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Sometimes you need your friends to realize your wishes. Because Genoa-fan Claudio Spagnolo was killed by Milan-hooligans in 1995 it is every year very difficult to buy a ticket to this match. Mostly only Genoa seasonticket-holders are welcome in the stadium, but this year also Genoani living in Liguria and officialy registered Milan-fans. Because Milan and their fans never said sorry since 1995 the Genoa-fans wanted to block the visitors-sector of Luigi Ferraris stadium. Because of this the authorities decided Saturdaynight at 23.00 (16 hours before the match) that Genoa-Milan is forbidden to all fans: 25.500 Genoani and 371 Milanisti. I doubted should I enter the stadium with my press-card or should I stay outside together with the 600 Genoa-fans that protested against this crazy decision of the authorities? Because all of these fans wanted only 1 thing: watching the match, I decided to enter the press-sector of the stadium to do what everybody wanted: be present to see Genoa beating the stars of A.C. Milan. And I was lucky, but from the first till the last minute I felt sorry to the fans outside that bought a (season)ticket and should be inside the stadium, just like me!

      

The only positive effect of an empty stadium (while professional football in my opinion always should be played with an audiance) is that you can hear the players and the referee in the field. The game also is more fair, because the public doesn’t influence the match and the referee. To be honest Milan was the best team in the first half and we were lucky that the score was still 0-0 at halftime. In the second half Rodrigo Palacio and Mimmo Criscito took the lead in the field, which brought Genoa the openinggoal by Giuseppe Sculli who headed a corner of Fatic behind goalkeeper Dida: 1-0. After the goal Milan tried everything to score the equalizer, but both Borriello and Huntelaar missed great chances. The most close to another goal was our Robert Acquafresca who shot the ball from outside the penaltyarea against the crossbar. Immediately after the last whistle of the referee all the players of Genoa ran outside to stadium to celebrate the victory with the fans that were still protesting and singing Genoa-songs. They deserved it!

With this victory Genoa still is on the 8th position in the standings, 2 points ahead of Parma and 4 of Fiorentina and Bari. The mission of this season: ending at the left side of the standings is now 1 match before the end officially accomplished. Grazie ragazzi!   

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Genoa missed 8 line-up players against Bari: 3 defenders (Bocchetti, Dainelli and Moretti), 2 midfieldplayers (Rossi and Kharja) and 3 strikers (Jankovic, Palacio and Suazo). On the bench Mr. Gasperini was like a father with Amelia, Fatic and 5 youthplayers. In the 1st half Bari was the best team in the field but the Pugliesi missed serveral chances: 0-0 at halftime. In the 12th minute of the second half our rented player to Bari: Meggiorini scored the opening goal: 1-0. Mr. Gasperini thought Meggiorini made a foul before he scored and protested heavily which costed him a red card and 2 matches squalification. After the goal of course Genoa tried to score the equalizer and assistent-coach Bruneo Caneo substited Zapater, Sculli and Palladino by the youngsters: Cofie, Boakye and El Shaarawi. This all did not help and in the last 5 minutes Bari scored 2-0 and 3-0 which was too much. Because also all our concurrents lost we are still on the 8th position in the standings, but the European dream is definitively over.

  

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Mr. Enrico Preziosi said this was one of the worst matches since he is our President. Against Lazio we had to win to keep the last week in Parma returned European dream alive. It looked like the players did not believe in the dream, or maybe they are tired after match 44 (35 Serie A, 8 Europa League and 1 Coppa Italia) this season with so many injuries. Just as the last 2 seasons we lost at home against Lazio: 1-2.

In the 8th minute Genoa took the lead with a great shot of Palacio, who scored his 3rd goal in 2 matches. After this goal Lazio became stronger and stronger and halfway the first half defender Dias headed a corner behind Alessio Scarpi: 1-1.  Only a few minutes later Lazio also took the lead when Mesto played the ball towards his old teammate Sergio Floccari who since January plays on rent with Lazio and easily scored: 1-2. In the second half Genoa of course was the strongest team in the field but minute by minute it was more clear that the European dream is over, especially after Bocchetti got his red card 20 minutes before the end. We had a dream, game over !

 

The last 2 seasons in Serie A we had a fantastic central-forward who scored almost 50% of all our goals. After Marco Borriello and Diego Milito, we miss such a great topscorer this year. But Mr. Gasperini found the solution and again in the Dutch way: the wing-players !  Yesterday Genoa scored 3 times: 2 goals by right wingplayer Rodrigo Palacio and the 3rd goal by Ivan Fatic who was only 30 seconds in the field when he scored. Again a good substitution of our brilliant coach.

Ivan Fatic already was our 18th player who scored this season which is a record. The victory brought us back on the 8th position in the standings, just 1 place outside the Europa League zone. Sunday we play at home against Lazio and another victory is nescessary to keep the European dream alive.

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With Alessio Scarpi in the goal and Marco Rossi in midfield Genoa started version 102 of the derby della Lanterna. In the first 23 minutes Sampdoria was the strongest team in the field, but after the goal of Ca$$ano it was only the red and blue team that played football. Several chances were missed, a goal of Sculli was regulary annulated because of off-side and the biggest chance was missed by Bocchetti in the 90th minute while Dainelli was in a much better position just a few centimetres behind him. After 3 victories a defeat in the derby, but a draw should be a much more honest result.  

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The wetter, the friendship between the fans of both teams and the whole atmosphere was fantastic to a great match in Toscany last Sunday. Unfortunately the goalkeepers Curci and Ameli were the best players in the field and unbeatable. Genoani Marco Rossi and Raffaele Palladino and striker Ghezzal of Siena almost scored, but the 0-0 stayed till the end on the scoreboard. Both teams were not very pleased with the draw.

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Before the match the members of Genoa Club Amsterdam had a warm welcome by Press-officer Dino Storace of Genoa in the players-hotel in Montereggioni. As Genoa Club Amsterdam Genoano of the season 2008-2009 our members voted midfielder Mimmo Criscito, who played 3 years ago with Genoa in Serie B and now is a line-up player in the Italian National team, unless his young age of only 23. Mimmo was very pleased with the trophy which is clear on the foto: 

For the first time we also voted for the Genoano of the decennium. Of course our coach Mr. Gasperini (Genoano of the Year 2006-2007) and Mr. Enrico Preziosi (Genoano of the Year 2002-2003) were very important the last decade but we chose our Captain who plays with Genoa since July 2003 and wants to stay with us till the end of his career: Marco Rossi, already our Genoano of the year 2004-2005. Also Marco Rossi was very happy with his trophy with the 3 crosses of Amsterdam: