Cagliari v. Chievo (Serie A Soccer)

A nice weekend.
Saturday we ran some errands in the morning.

Serie A: Chievo @ Cagliari

Stadio Sant'Elia, Cagliari, Sardegna, Italia

3pm game. No traffic problems going in at 1:45. Didn't pay for parking but as soon as we got out of the car a guys comes up. With my one semester of Italian I figure out that he wants $$ to "watch" our car during the match. Nice shakedown. Parking lot is empty. I gave the guy 3 euros and that seems to make him go away.

We walked around the stadium for awhile since the gates weren't open when we got there. We are myself, my six year old son and my sister who's along with us as our Nanny. The stadium is an old Olympic stadium that sits about 400m from the Mediterranean. It was a beautiful day about 65 and sunny. Of course to Sardinians this is winter so most were in down coats and hats. As the sun started to go down in the 2nd half we did get a little chilly. We eventually figured out our entrance and went in. We had to show tickets and ID. Our passports seemed to work. We then had to go to the first ticket taker and go through a set of revolving gates individually. This did freak out Daniel slightly since it was somewhat daunting and since they were yelling instructions to him in Italian.

Once inside it is a beautiful stadium. It is unclear and I haven't done the research to figure out what Olympic events were held here but I assume they were part of the Rome Olympics. There is a hippodrome not far away and Rome is only an hour by plane. We do see many bikers around. Some of them do seem impressive. I have to wonder if some are not professionals training here given the warm temps and the mountains nearby. The full stadium probably holds 20,000; however for calcio (soccer) there are bleachers at either end and the corners are not used. At the start of the match there were probably only 3500 people but it seems to fill in the first 20 minutes. Don't know if there were people moving from cheap seats or the gates opened or what.

We watched both teams warm up. The first half was very competitive. Both teams are at the bottom of the ladder. Daniel and I have followed Cagliari as much as possible through Fox Soccer Channel back home. As part of getting my son excited about this trip, I introduced him to
the Cagliari team and Italian soccer in general. Our favorite player for Cagliari is Davide Suazo who is a Honduran striker. During this game, he failed to produce much more than 2 or 3 nifty
passes. Quite a disappointment since he had played very well the previous week scoring one and setting up another in a road victory. Cagliari would not be so lucky this week. A very even first half led to a 0-0 score at half. The Cagliari defense dodged two bullets and they would prove to be the team's Achilles heel. The players were clearly skilled enough but there was very poor (even from this American former keeper's vantagepoint) communication.

Chievo had two players that clearly stood out. Largely because they seemed to be 6'7" and possibly were twins. One was a forward who moved well and was often the target of long balls into the middle. Quite capable of finding space for himself this led to 3 good chances in the first half. It is possible that his ability to find space was attributable to the incompetence of the Cagliari defense. His twin was the Chievo goalie. An agile goalie that big makes life hard for an offense. The big difference between the two teams, both of whom are facing relegation to Serie B, is that the Chievo defense was well organized. Suazo never had space to run. For one of the fastest players in Serie A he never got started. Hard to fathom the game plan or the lack of adaptation on the part of the Cagliari side. The one time in the 2nd half that Suazo moved to a wing produced the best chance of the half for Cagliari.

Chievo scored two quick goals to start the second half. Both of the goals were the result of communication failures by the Cagliari defense. Plays where two players went to cover a Chievo attacker and the attacker was able to find a open player. Cagliari spent the rest of the game pushing and Chievo spent it collapsing. Not a surprising chain of events. Plenty of whistles and jeers. Lots of folks left with about 10 minutes to go.

All-in-all a good time. One other thing worth mentioning. There were tons of police and carabieri (military police) Given recent events -- the death of a police officer in a riot in Palermo -- that was not surprising. The level of play was fantastic. The speed and the coordination is phenomenal. These teams are borderline Serie A teams. I can't wait until Rome comes in Cagliari in a couple weeks. Last bit: tickets were 28 euro for me, 18 for my sister (discount for women) and 18 for under 12's. When we went to get the tickets they were running a promotion
that for 30 euro's you got my ticket and an away jersey. It's the white one I'm wearing in the picture.

Ciao for now,