PREVIEW-Soccer-Udinese, homeless Cagliari add to Italy troubles
Posted Thursday, August 30, 2012 by YAHOO Sport
Aug 30 (Reuters) - Italian football has been given two more
reminders of the sorry state of its domestic game by Udinese's
failure to qualify for the Champions League and the plight of
homeless Cagliari.
Udinese's penalty shootout defeat to Braga, a side made up
largely of journeymen Brazilian players, on Tuesday means Italy
will have only two teams in the group stage.
After falling to Arsenal at the same stage last year,
Udinese's latest setback has also raised worries about the
future of the team who have habitually overachieved in recent
seasons and been one of the success stories in the league.
Coach Francesco Guidolin, who led them to a third-place
finish last season, fourth the season before that and saw his
best players sold off on both occasions, did not think he would
get another chance to reach the group stage with the club.
"Evidently I am not capable of leading a team into the
Champions League," said a dejected Guidolin, who has been
persuaded to stay on.
"When you get so close several times and can't go through,
you have to learn from that experience and accept the truth."
Before the match, he had warned that failure could be the
end of Udinese's impressive run.
"It cannot be taken for granted that this team can carry on
doing so well as, to do that, we would have to be magicians and
I cannot perform miracles."
Udinese must now try and pick themselves up and face
titleholders Juventus at home on Sunday (1600 gmt).
Their defeat has led to soul-searching in the Italian media
although, rather than looking for solutions at home, some are
suggesting that it is time for UEFA to merge the Champions
League and Europa League into one huge tournament.
Italy had its quota of automatic Champions League places cut
from three to two this season after Serie A dropped below the
Bundesliga in the rankings used to calculate the number of
berths per country.
Udinese's misfortune came on top of a miserable summer
marked by the Calcioscommesse match-fixing scandal, which led to
points deductions for four Serie A teams, and the failure to
attract top names to the country.
If Italy needed a timely reminder of why the top players no
longer want to come, then the confusion over the venue for
Sunday's Cagliari-Atalanta match (1845) has provided it.
The Sardinian side has moved out of Stade Sant'Elia, its
home since 1970, due to disagreements with the local authorities
and growing safety worries.
During the second half of last season, these forced Cagliari
to play home games in Trieste, 1,000 kilometres and closer to
Belgrade than their own base.
Cagliari had intended to move to the Is Arenas stadium in
the commune of Quartu Sant'Elena, around five kilometres outside
the city.
But with workmen rushing to finish necessary improvements to
the new arena, Cagliari said in a statement that permission to
play the match had not been granted.
With 72 hours to kickoff and faced with the option of
another trip to Trieste, Cagliari were still trying to convince
the league that the new venue would be ready.
Elsewhere, AC Milan, stung by a home defeat to promoted
Sampdoria last Sunday, visit Bologna on Saturday (1845) while
the top game is arguably AS Roma's visit to Inter Milan on
Sunday (1845).
- Tag:
- Udinese
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