Blast from the past: 1999 Cup Winners Cup Final – Lazio v Mallorca
In 1999 Villa Park hosted the 39th Cup Winners Cup final, it was to be the final edition of the European knockout tournament before it was consumed into the UEFA cup. The final final was contested by Lazio and R.C.D. Mallorca, the two sides had battled their way through four rounds of two legged ties before reaching the final. Lazio beating Lausanne (3-3 away goals), FK Partizan (3-2 agg), Panionios (7-0) and Lokomotiv Moscow (1-1 away goals). Mallorca stopped Chelsea reaching the final, beating the blues 0-1 at Stamford Bridge.
Formations - both sides playing 4-4-2. Mallorca using a diamond in midfield
Lazio won the game 2-1 and took the trophy but anyone who saw the game would have been forgiven for thinking that Mallorca had been mugged. Lazio’s style of play was very stereotypical of their manager. Sven-Goran Eriksson favoured a very rigid 4-4-2, the emphasis was on maintaining shape defensively looking to break as quickly as possible to catch teams on the counter attack. The first goal was indicative of this tactic, the ball was simply played long toward Vieri and Salas who were stationed some 40-50 yards up the pitch from the central midfielders. Christian Vieri used all of his strength to rise above Siviero and put a looping header in at the far post.
The constant distance between the strikers and midfielders remained 40-50 yards whenever Lazio had the ball, this was indicative of how the game was panning out in the first half and how Lazio were setting their stall out. The vast majority of their link up play was left to the central midfield pairing to produce. Roberto Mancini and Hugo Almeyda spent their time on the pitch with a 10 yard piece of elastic between them. They shuffled up and down the pitch as a unit to attempt to get to the strikers, Almeyda was a shade more defensive than Mancini. Link up play with the wingers was very rare, it was all about straight line play.
Mallorca on the other hand were the complete anti-thesis of straight line play, they were holding possession and playing triangles around the Lazio players. This was facilitated by the midfield diamond deployed by coach, Hector Cuper. Engonga sat at the base of the diamond and swept up any second balls that came from the Lazio counter attacks. Whilst Lauren and Stankovic went from inside to out and provided plenty of width, constantly finding themselves in plenty of space to run at the Lazio full backs or link up with Ibagaza in the hole or the strikers, Dani and Biagini. Mallorca were playing better football for the first hour of the match but were struggling to break through Nesta and Mihajlovic at the heart of the Lazio defence.
The game changed when Eriksson brought on right winger Sergio Conceicao for Stankovic. Within 10 minutes of being on the pitch the Lazio players had finally worked out how to get the ball out to their wingers who were finding space to cut inside as well as go to the by line and deliver crosses across the box. The winning goal came in the 81st minute when Vieri and Siviero went up for a 50-50 header and the ball dropped to the young Pavel Nedved, the Czech winger had cut inside and found himself at the right place at the right time to deliver a roundhouse kick that would see the ball nestling into the bottom corner of the net.
Whilst Mallorca started the game as the stronger of the two sides, dominating for the greater portion of the playing time, their inability to find a breakthrough and their lack of concentration in the final 15 minutes cost them. There is also the question of whether the Spaniards had run out of steam and the Romans superior fitness had carried them through to win the trophy.
For Lazio this was in many ways the beginning of the end, they would go on to win the 1999-00 Scudetto but they soon were on the brink of being wound up after running up over €100m of debt under Eriksson, many of the players bought for huge sums, such as Hernan Crespo, were released for peanuts just a few years later.
Guest article: Serie A 2010/11 Preview
I have written a piece for In Bed With Maradona (IBWM) on my take on the upcoming Serie A. This is part 1 of 2, so look out for the second part of the full piece.
I will be writing for IWBM on a more regular basis once the season gets up and running but there are already a number of other writers on many areas of world football so give it a follow, I’m sure you’ll like it.
Biggest shocks of 2009-10 season
While the new season is closer right now than the season that has just passed, I thought it would be nice to take a look back at some of the biggest surprises that were thrown up by the footballing gods last season. Everyone likes a shock once in a while, that is after all what makes the sport an interesting spectacle rather than a pure statistical amusement.
5. Barcelona v Rubin Kazan (1-2)
First up a clash in the Champions League group stages. Rubin Kazan had qualified for the competition as champions of Russia, based in Russia’s 8th largest city deep in the Russian vastness it may have been less surprising had the result come at home. However the Russian’s went to the Nou Camp on the 20th October and came away with all three points.
Rubin’s manager, Kurban Berdyev, revealed his master plan after the match. Having seen Barcelona’s 0-0 draw with Valencia he noted that there was space to shoot from distance because of the Catalan midfielder’s reluctance to drop into the penalty area to screen the defence. Rubin’s players were told to shoot on sigh, in truth they were rather fortunate to score an absolute screamer of a goal and were lucky not to concede late in the second half when Barca forced an oustanding save and Yaya Toure headed against the post. Rubin pulled off a smaller shock at home two weeks later, taking a 0-0 draw in freezing temperatures.
4. Allianza Lima v Estudiantes de la Plata (4-1)
When Tim Vickery asked is the Copa Libertadores more entertaining (better) than the UEFA Champions league, he was served up the perfect example by Peruvian side Allianza Lima. They faced the holders Estudiantes one round after the Argentinians had demolished Juan Aurich, another Peruvian team, 5-1 at home. Estudiantes had also come within a mere minute of being declared club champions of the world when they faced Barcelona at the 2009 Club World Cup.
The game looked as though it would be another rout for the visiting side when Jose Sosa put the holders ahead after just 4 minutes. Wilmer Aguirre, the Allianza striker, was having none of it and scored a neat hat trick before Jose Fernandez put the icing on a 4-1 defeat.The altitude would certainly have been a factor in the defeat, Lima is approximately 5,000 ft (1,500m) higher than La Plata, but the first two goals came in the first half which suggests that fatigue was not purely to blame. You can see the highlights on Youtube here.
3. Spain v Switzerland (0-1)
In the build up to the 2010 World Cup Spain hit Poland for six, pardon the pun. They had held an incredible record over the past 4 years having lost just twice in 45 matches, the curse had been lifted at Euro 2008 and it appeared that they were absolutely unstoppable. Nothing would stand in their way, except for Switzerland’s determined dogged, determined and tenacious defending. Spain were stifled by their own lack of width and they were even showing signs of panic, they appeared to run out of ideas against a Swiss side harking back to the days of the ‘Verrou‘ or Catenaccio. Although Switzerland should’ve had 2 goals, it is safe to say that Spain were well and truly mugged.
We are all aware that they went on to take the trophy, so perhaps it gave them the wake up call required to really knuckle down and grind out the performances. They only won one of their 7 games by over a goal margin (against Honduras), they may not have been playing in the same manner as their pre-tournament friendly win but the Swiss lesson taught them to get the job done.
2. Manchester United v Leeds United (0-1)
The FA cup has a great reputation for delivering upsets to the fans. When these two sides met for their 3rd round tie there was not a vast chasm in leagues between them, just two divisions effectively separated the sides. The writing was on the wall however from the previous round. Leeds were held to a 1-1 draw against Kettering, both home and away, needing to go to extra time before they were able to despatch the conference side. After the initial draw at Kettering’s home ground the 3rd round draw was made and Manchester United together with Leeds United/Kettering Town were drawn as the final tie. Almost as though it had been scripted.
Leeds were by far the hungrier side on the day, after Jermaine Beckford’s scuffed shot trickled under Tomasz Kuszczak and into the United goal the home team appeared somewhat stunned and unable to reply. Leeds were hardly subjected to the kind of pressure cooker style attack that we normally expect to see in these types of game situations.
1. Real Madrid v Alcorcon (1-4 agg.)
Cup competitions are rarely taken as seriously in European countries as they are in England but I still think was the biggest shock of last season. Following the dawn of the new galacticos era Real Madrid spent hundreds of millions of pounds, euros and dollars in an attempt to buy some glory. Real Madrid travelled to Alcorcon with a side consisting of expensive reserves, not a single youth player was included in the side. The side was as follows: -
Dudek; Arbeloa, Albiol, Metzelder, Drenthe; Mahamadou Diarra, Guti (Gago, 46), Van der Vaart; Granero (Marcelo, 63); Raúl (Van Nistelrooy, 72), Benzema.
These millionaires were trounced by the lowly Segunda Division B, Spain’s third tier, side 4-0 in the first leg and were only able to win the home leg 1-0. Dumping Manuel Pellegrini out of the Copa del Rey, defeat was to become a running theme throughout the rest of Real’s season much to Pellegrini’s dismay.
I’d like to hear what your favourite shocks and cupsets have been over the past year or so.
Audacious penalties
Ezequiel Calvente scored an audacious penalty against Italy for Spain in the Under 19 European Championships on Saturday. Spain were already 2-0 up when the penalty was taken and cruising to victory but it is still a good piece of individual skill from the young Spaniard. The technique reminded me of Thierry Henry’s fake kicking skill.
This triggered the image and memory of a number of other audacious penalty attempts that I have seen. This one from Santos’ young starlet Neymar (just 19 years of age and tipped to be the next Robinho) when facing Ceara in the Brazilian National championships. Santos were losing 1-0 when the opportunity to equalise arose, the kid has balls!
This effort was performed on the training ground, but it is still a lovely piece of skill. Francesco Totti glides towards the penalty spot before spinning and backheeling it into the bottom left corner.
When Robert Pires was still playing for Arsenal he attempted a display of pure arrogance together with Thierry Henry and was left with egg and a whole load of Danny Mills’ saliva all over his face. He fails to strike the ball then touches it again, the referee awards an indirect free kick to Manchester City and Pires walks away in shame.
Many have attempted the training ground routine during games successfully before (I’m not aware of the teams involved in this video). But one of the games greatest innovators has to take credit for the trick. Johan Cruyff shows us how it should be done, even pulling off a one-two before putting the ball away.
I would love to see more examples if you have any.
Lazio fans hoping for fewer struggles in 2010/11
The transfer window is at it’s midway point and Lazio fans have seen their club banded about with some of Europe’s biggest names in the papers. Sadly for biancoceleste fans the talk has revolved around the exit of star left back Aleksander Kolarov, long gone are the glory days under Sergio Cragnotti. Lazio were top of Serie A for the first 3 weeks of Serie A last season but following the exclusion of Cristian Ledesma and Goran Pandev the biancocelesti went into free fall.
Fans this season will look to Croatian coach Edy Reja to build upon their survival last season. Reja has suggested that he will take Lazio into European competition next season, a bold claim considering their past few season’s performances. They were involved in Europa League football last season, but only because of their Italian Cup win against Sampdoria.
Problems last season
Under Reja Lazio played a 3-4-1-2/3-4-2-1, Dias and Radu proved to be a terrific centre back pairing and Kolarov together with Lichsteiner terrorised sides with their attacks down the wings. Up front a combination of Zarate, Rocchi, Cruz and Floccari were able to sustain some form of attacking threat over the course of the season despite the problems in midfield.
The link between attack and defence has been Lazio’s problem over the past campaign, the club possess few quality midfielders capable of opening up opposition defences. Reja has stated that the priorities for the transfer window are to find a replacement for Kolarov, who is all but gone, and to buy in some decent midfielders. Lazio will also need a striker, possibly a season-long loan, after Rocchi picked up a long term injury in a friendly yesterday.
Replacements
Starting from the back, the replacement for Kolarov appears to be Luca Antonelli. This transfer has been all but completed it would seem, as soon as Kolarov departs the Parma man will step into his place. It will be interesting to see, should Antonelli sign for Lazio, if he will be able to adapt to the wing back role he is likely to be placed in.
Next up on the shopping list will be a holding midfielder, the responsibilities were shared last season between Brocchi, Baronio and to a much lesser extent Hitzlsperger. This simply will not do for a side who expect to be pushing for a top half finish. Hitzlsperger has moved to West Ham after a pointless 6 month spell in Rome, Baronio has been released after spending 14 years playing second fiddle to a multitude of midfielders and Brocchi is now 34 years of age. However there have been few signs of this type of signing over the past month, with the only concrete signing made so far is the Australian midfielder Mark Bresciano.
Hernanes of Sao Paolo has been linked with the club and both clubs have been discussing terms, varied prices have been banded about between €13m and €30m. It is difficult to see how he has fallen below the radar if he is truly valued at such a high price, at the same time he is held in very high esteem by a number of good sources in South America. He would replace Rocchi very well.
Despite the many promises that signings are in the bag and players are on their way, the roman club have had a terrible window thus far. The majority of the transfers which appear to have been done have fallen through at the last minute. The latest example is the season long loan of Robert Aquafresca from Genoa, the striker has snubbed Lazio favouring a move back to Cagliari instead.
Blockers
Lotito’s foul treatment of Ledesma and Pandev last August appears to have done irrevocable damage to the already suspect reputation of the club. Players do not want to be treated with such contempt, certainly not after having given good performances consistently. The Ledesma saga is still going on now, the player was retreived from his confinement by Reja in February and was instrumental in helping secure Lazio’s Serie A status. Now the club will not meet his wage demands, they are offering €1 million but the Brazilian wants double that.
Another problem for Lazio is the new ruling put in place by the Figc following Italy’s disastrous World Cup campaign. The Italian FA have restricted clubs to signing just one non-EU player per season (down from 2 players), this has put a number of transfers on hold. Pablo Pintos, Alvaro Gonzalez and Hernanes are three players who have been linked heavily with the club but are yet to commit. The ruling is also causing Lazio to mistreat some of it’s current non-EU players, Christian Manfredini for one, in an attempt to convince them to leave. This is because they can sign extra non-EU players if they are replacing players moving abroad.
Conclusion
While there is still a month left in the transfer window I am very concerned with the reputation that the club now holds and how this will affect player’s decision making with regards to signing for Lazio. There are still many items to cross off the shopping list before the squad can be considered complete and the first XI is still an unknown. As it stands then Lazio require 1 Left back/Left wing back, 1 Defensive midfielder, 1 trequartista, 2 strikers (one on loan preferably).
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