UDINESE CALCIO

[D-Kin]

Originally Posted by Forza_Roma

Iaquinta quietly raising the top scorers sheet. I believe thats 9 for him!

He's the main man for Udinese at the moment, they'll be in trouble if he gets injured.

[D-Kin]

Udinese have signed veteran goalkeeper Fabrizio Casazza from Pavia, he replaces Gabriele Paoletti who signed for Messina last week.

tribalfootball.com - Udinese sign veteran keeper Casazza

[D-Kin]

Gyan Asamoah has apparently agreed personal terms with Lokomotiv Moscow.

tribalfootball.com - Agent: Udinese's Asamoah has agreed Lokomotiv Moscow deal

[D-Kin]

Serie A Week 21 - 27/1/07 (17.00 UK)
Torino - Udinese

Stadio Olimpico

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Udinese take on a sorry Torino in Week 21 at the Stadio Olimpico. The Zebrette will be willing to test their improvements under new Coach Alberto Malesani, while the Granata will be trying to come out of a nightmare run of negative results.

Udinese are holding seventh place in the table, but they are just two points behind the last Champions League spot. Torino have lost their last two matches and haven’t won in their last four. In Week 20 the Bianconeri had a solid display against Messina winning 1-0, while Torino were defeated 1-0 at Parma.

Udinese President Giampaolo Pozzo is satisfied with his decision to axe Giovanni Galeone and replace him with Malesani. Pozzo also claimed that he wasted too much time sacking Galeone. All the players seem very motivated as apparently none of them liked the way the experienced tactician was running the club. Malesani has switched to a 3-5-2 formation, and Udinese are much more balanced now.

Andrea Coda, Cesare Natali and Cristian Zapata should form the defensive trio. Marco Motta should play on the left flank, but Malesani is hoping to recover Brazilian youngster Felipe, who suffered a thigh injury at the start of January. This could also be the last match at Udinese for explosive midfielder Sulley Muntari. Giampiero Pinzi is banned and his place should be taken by Gaetano D’Agostino. In attack Vincenzo Iaquinta and Antonio Di Natale will surely be reconfirmed.

For Alberto Zaccheroni, it will probably be a very sensitive clash. The Coach from Cesenatico started his successful career with the Bianconeri, but on Saturday afternoon he will have to ask his players for nothing less than a victory. The Granata cannot afford to miss out on more points.

After a week of suspension, Christian Abbiati returns to goal. Marco Di Loreto, who was unavailable because of flu, will replace Orazio Brevi. Gianluca Comotto will cover the right flank while on the opposite side Jacopo Balestri will once again be preferred to Giuseppe Pancaro. Toro star man Alessandro Rosina and Serbian winger Nikola Lazetic will play just behind lone striker Roberto Stellone. Former Udinese aces Stefano Fiore and Roberto Muzzi will probably have to watch from the bench.

Man on fire: Antonio Di Natale (Udinese) – The former Empoli striker nearly scored against Messina but hit the post. He will probably enjoy a good day playing against Torino’s ‘slow motion’ defence.

Last season: Not played

Form guide: Torino (W L D L L) Udinese (W W L L W)

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Torino (probable): Abbiati; Di Loreto, Cioffi, Franceschini; Comotto, Barone, De Ascentis, Balestri; Rosina, Lazetic, Stellone

Udinese (probable): De Sanctis; Coda, Natali, Zapata; D.Zenoni, D’Agostino, Obodo, Muntari, Motta; Di Natale, Iaquinta

channel4.com - Football Italia

[D-Kin]

Iaquinta is out with a flu virus.

channel4.com - Football Italia

[D-Kin]

Torino squad: Abbiati, Taibi; Balestri, Brevi, Cioffi, Comotto, Di Loreto, Franceschini, Ogbonna, Pancaro; Ardito, Barone, De Ascentis, Fiore, Lazetic, Music, Rosina; Abbruscato, Oguro, Stellone.

[D-Kin]

Udinese squad:

GOALKEEPERS: Casazza, De Sanctis
DEFENDERS: Coda, Lukovic, Natali, Rinaldi, Zapata
MIDFIELDERS: D’Agostino, De Martino, Gotti, Motta, Muntari, Obodo, Siqueira, Vargas, Zenoni
STRIKERS: Asamoah, Barreto, Di Natale, Gerardi

[Forza_Roma]

With Iaquinta out, Torino should take advantage and look for the win. This is an important game for both teams with a win for UDI they will be in a temporary CL spot and a win for Torino puts them in an sniffing distance of a Uefa spot.

[D-Kin]

Losing Iaquinta is huge, it's a real break for Torino.

Udinese are a different team without Iaquinta.

[Forza_Roma]

What a nice goal by Obodo.......beautiful feed to him in the box....nice

[Forza_Roma]

2-0 Udinese.....goal by Barreto...Udi are playing many through balls to the Torino defense. Torino playing with 3 defenders i believe.

[Forza_Roma]

Torino trying to push foward with Rosina and Stellone leading the way with little success. Things not looking good for Torino

[Forza_Roma]

3-0 Udi...goal by Asamoah........61'

Fiore coming on now...with 3 goals down, might be too little too late for Torino!

[Forza_Roma]

3-1 goal by Abbruscato....cross in the box from Fiore, took a bounce of a slinding tackle from Udinese then Abbruscato for the empty net. 12 minutes remaining!

[Forza_Roma]

Cioffi receives a Red card. for a tackle and shirt tug. Cioffi almost pulls a Totti in hitting his manager on his way off ...he's very frustrated as well!