Udinese...

28-09-2012

Focus on the opponent: Genoa at the Friuli

The next guest of the Friuli stadium will be Genoa, opponents coming from a season spent on the rollercoaster and finished still in the Serie A but with the constant fear of relegation. The team has started the new season with a new, calmer, more self-confident squad, which has even given some trouble to Italy’s current winners, Juventus, and won away to Lazio (??), who had never lost until then. We are talking about Genoa, coached by Gigi De Canio, an old friend of Udinese.

What kind of squad are they? After a season of excess (“excesses”?), finally the first thing you can see is balance (“the first thing you can finally see is a balance”?): a close-knit, equilibrated (“balanced”?), young group with a few champions who have also experienced the Champions League (“Champions’ League”?): we are talking about Sebastien Frey, probably one of the best goalkeepers of the last decade, and Marco Borriello, the player who won the shield (“championship title”?) and fought for a European title with AC Milan and Roma and is now back to the place (“back in the place”?) where he grew up. No one has ever forgotten his 19 goals scored in 2007/08 so here he goes again with Genoa to form the attacking couple along with a young talented player who comes from a great season: Ciro Immobile, last year’s Serie B top scorer and winner of the championship with Pescara, he has already become an idol for the North Bank (??) both for his technical qualities and determination.

The offensive duo is usually supported by a playmaker, a role likely to be taken by Bosko Jankovic, who has fully recovered after years of severe injuries. The midfield area is given to Jurai Kucka, back at the levels of his first season, when he had drawn the attention of Inter. Apart from the Polish player, there are plenty of players to choose among (“to choose from”?): Berolacci and his incursions (??), the geometries of Merkel (he’s also a mathematician on the field?), the substance of Seymour and the coolness brought in by Tozsè and Anselmo.

Right behind, the defence is usually made of four men, even though De Canio has lined up a 3-5-2 in Genoa’s latest match against Parma. The benchmark is the Swedish player Granqvist: it took him only one season to be noticed by our top Clubs. This year’s new talented player is Michele Canini, who had been one of Cagliari’s top players for years. Either reserve or first-string player in a three-man defence is Cesare Bovo, back to Genoa after three years with Palermo. The fresh man on the flanks is Mario Samprisi, a 19-year-old player who, after a glimpse of Serie A last year was launched (where, on the moon?) as a first-string right centre-half. Opposite is Antonelli.

The first lunch game (will the players be eating on the field?) of the year is about to begin: we will need, as always, to see the best Udinese possible. After Turin, we are hungry for three points…. (and we readers are hungry for proper English!!!!).