Torino-Parma, a Tale of Two Halves

By: Francesco | February 24th, 2008

In what was most definitely the most action packed Serie A game of the year, Torino and Parma fought to a 4-4 draw (who says there are no goals in Serie A games!) after Parma had scored 4 goals in the first half. However, this was very much a Tale of Two Halves. More after the jump.

First, the highlights, in case you haven’t seen them already:

Second, let’s start the analysis. Watching the game, let’s be honest, I don’t think anyone was expecting a 4-4 blowout. This was supposed to be an ugly 0-0 or 1-0 or some boring scoreline. Di Carlo surprised everyone, leaving Reginaldo on the bench in favor of McDonald Mariga, and Francesco Parravicini started in center midfield. Up front it looked all set for Lucarelli to start, but instead Igor Budan got the nod with Andrea Gasbarroni in support.

Then came the Torino goal. A long ball from Torino’s side of the half was launched over Fernando Couto and Giulio Falcone, and they somehow kept Roberto Stellone onside, who rushed onto the ball and finished past Bucci. Terrible, inattentive defending. That’s when I said to myself, “That’s it, the game is done, the soccer gods just don’t want us to win away from home.”

But somehow, the goal from Stellone inspired the Gialloblu’, and all of sudden woke up. More terrible defending, this time from Torino, saw Torino center back Cesare Natali allow McDonald Mariga to waltz into the box and he layed one low for Andrea Gasbarroni, who calmly slotted it home. 1-1, game on.

Then the sublime free kick from Andrea Gasbarroni. Really nothing Matteo Sereni could do. It had pace, power, and accuracy, and it hit the top left corner. Beautiful strike.

This is when I started to get excited and I sat up in my chair. And just as I sat up another beautiful moment. A cross from Fernando Couto was headed out by the Toro defense to Stefano Morrone who was at the top of the box, and he unleashed a powerful volley that sailed into the net. This was one of the goals of the season. A shot that if you tried 9 times out of 10 you would never get it right.

And after celebrating that goal, another came. This time it was Igor Budan’s turn. He was played into the box, he tried to curl it past Sereni, who got a hand on it, but it didn’t matter because it bounced into the net anyway. The Croatian Bomber gets his 1st goal of the season.

This is when I started to ask questions- What year is it, is this 1997 or something? What Parma side am I watching? Has Gasbarroni transformed into Gianfranco Zola? Has Morrone become Dino Baggio? Has Fernando Couto transformed into Fern…oh wait he was there already…Why are we not challenging Fiorentina and Milan for the 4th Champions League spot? Why are we not at least in UEFA Cup zone? Has Di Carlo read some “coaching secrets” manual and turned into a genius overnight? Maybe the soccer gods do want us to win away this season! Is Torino really this bad? I knew they couldn’t do anything without a striker. Idiots.

And just as I kept rambling on, my rambling stopped at “Idiots”. Because you know what? The “Idiots” scored on us, and it was once more terrible defending on a set piece, and that big oaf Natali put it in to reduce us to a 2 goal advantage.

Half-time arrived, and it was ok, I thought the way we were playing we could at least score a couple of more. But no, that’s not how the story goes.

Instead, out of the tunnel for the second half the Parma that showed up was not 1997 Parma. This was 2008 Parma. The Parma side battling for relegation. The Parma side that gives up goals. The Parma side that looks like it’s out of ideas and motivation.

Torino came out and played their hearts out. Di Michele and Recoba were brought on and were inspirational. Maybe Rosina was too embarrassed to play against his old side, because he was bad. Really bad. The frustrating thing about Rosina, since I am an Italian Calcio fan and like to see young talents develop, is that he has all the talent in the world and when he wants to, he can do things that other players can only imagine of doing, however he just can’t do this on a consistent basis, and he’s too selfish. He rarely passes the ball. Someone needs to tell him that. Anyone got Walter Novellino’s number?

We all know how the story goes. Parma sat back in their half thinking they won already (except for the one moment when Mariga hit the post), and Torino pushed forward and scored 2 goals, and even hit the crossbar through Nicola Ventola. Thank God, because a 5-4 loss would’ve been embarrassing. Hell, the 4-4 is embarrassing. Like the old Italian saying goes, when you let in 3 or more goals, it doesn’t mean the opposing attack is in good form, it means there is something wrong with your defense. I know we still got a point on the road, but the way we through away the 2 extra points shows how Di Carlo has no effect on this team at the moment. He really needs to go, because we are in a bad situation, 3rd from bottom level with Siena, and the other relegation contenders are getting good results. Empoli won today, Reggina won yesterday, even Cagliari won. We need to get back on the horse and start getting good resutls.

This Wednesday we greet Udinese at the Tardini, and the Friuli side will be looking to avenge their loss today, which means they will be attacking. But we need the win as well. Should be fun.

AVANTI CROCIATI!