toro
di Andrea Rosselli
Sixth point of the season for Toro, but what a scare: the scoreless draw the Granata collected tonight in Cagliari came only thanks to a superb performance by Christian Abbiati, whose saves...
di Andrea Rosselli
Sixth point of the season for Toro, but what a scare: the scoreless draw the Granata collected tonight in Cagliari came only thanks to a superb performance by Christian Abbiati, whose saves in the second half prevented Zaccheroni's men from leaving Sardinia with a deserved defeat.
Toro's second part of the match recalled the collapse against Lazio, and to make things worse the Granata didn't manage to create a single scoring chance in 90 minutes, while at least the defence worked well for the entire first half.
Toro's starting lineup was as expected: same 3-4-2-1 formation that faced Chievo last Sunday, with Brevi and Rosina filling in for injured Cioffi and Muzzi.
The first half was everything but attractive, played at a slow pace and almost exclusively in the middle, with plenty of fouls. Both teams paid more attention to the defensive than to the offensive phase, and neither managed to create the shadow of a scoring chance before the 20th minute, when Cagliari defender Diego Lopez skimmed the post with a header on a free kick by Suazo.
It was a flash in the pan, however: the hosts had more ball possession, but Toro's defence (led by a great Oscar Brevi) did a great job against forwards Suazo, Esposito and Pepe, thus confirming the great defensive improvement already shown against Chievo. In fact, Cagliari's lone attempt in the rest of the first half came in the 41st minute, when Pepe deflected a shot by Suazo and went close to Abbiati's post.
The other side of the coin for the Granata was a slow and predictable offensive play, with Stellone isolated upfront and the Rosina-Fiore duo helping more the midfield than the Roman striker, whose innocuos headers in the 31st and 36th minutes respectively were Toro's lone shots at goal in the entire first half.
That opportunity completely changed the match and marked the start of a 15-minute nightmare for the Granata, who literally disappeared from the pitch. From the 60th to the 75th minute Cagliari created at least six great scoring chances with Esposito, Suazo and Budel, and in each case Abbiati denied them the lead with as many fantastic saves: the masterpiece came in the 71st minute, when the former Milan goalkeeper incredibly managed to deflect a header by Suazo that looked already inside the net.
Toro were just unable to react and only Cagliari's tiredness allowed Zaccheroni's men to end the match without further problems.
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