A Difficult First Half...

You know one of the main reasons I want Venezia to get promoted? So I can actually watch them on TV. I mean, sure, I want them to get promoted so they play better teams, sign better players, maybe fight occasionally for the dream of Serie A...but right now, mainly I want them to get promoted so I don't have to try and follow them the way I did on Saturday.

What am I talking about? The game was meant to be on Rai Tre - but only in the Tuscany area. I still had a (perhaps foolish) hope that it would be on dad's satellite as he got his box and card in Tuscany...but he phoned me at lunchtime to say it didn't look like it would be. So I told him to check out a channel called 50 Canale, a local Pisa channel that somehow he picks up and which had shown the last game of the regular season. He phoned me 15 minutes before kick off to say it appeared to be on - they were live from the Stadio Penzo, interviewing the Pisa President on TV. I jumped in the car and drove across. By the time I got there, it was clear he was wrong. Well, kind of.

50 Canale was showing the game...or rather, not the game, but the crowd. Yes, that's right, the crowd. And their commentators occasionally. It was something that could only happen in Italy, but the camera was live, filming mainly the Pisa end, occasionally zooming in as it swung round to avoid showing any of the game, leaving us looking at their commentators.

More farcical was the fact that they would occasionally cut to a young guy wearing a jacket and tie in a studio in Pisa, clearly watching the game on Rai 3. Despite the commentator being at the game, he would sometimes pick up his mobile (I'm not kidding) and phone the studio to speak to this young guy for a technical analysis. He would proceed to talk, his sentences pausing as he watched the game, his hand covering his mouth when Venezia attacked. It was comical. But worse than that, it was like watching the game (or not watching the game) with a bunch of mad Pisa fans.

All we got from kick off was how Pisa were better, Venezia were rubbish etc etc. Obviously I couldn't see the game, so I kind of had to take their word for it - except that even through their nerazzurro-tinted glasses it sounded like we were all over them (I have since read unbiased reports to say that we were). But the first half ended 0-0 despite that pressure, our best chance coming from Poggi in the very first minute when he contrived to scuff a shot from a yard out to allow a defender to clear off the line.

After some more bias analysis at half time, we kicked off the second half, Marco Moro (an attacker) on for Taccucci (our right back). Just as we were back in the studio with jacket-and-tie man in Pisa analysing the substitution. Suddenly his face crumpled though and I knew before he had said it - we had scored! MARCO MORO!!!! What a start to the second half!

After that, according to our Pisan friends, it was all pressure from Pisa. The unbiased reports don't quite agree - we had chances to score the second, but they did push on more, that much is true. However, just when the game was almost done, disaster. The 88th minute and as we attack, they hit us on a classic counter attack - 1-1. Cue the biased prats on 50 Canale celebrating as if they had scored the goals themselves. Impartial commentary this was not - I almost put my fist through the TV screen. They then get a man and their manager sent off as they struggle to hold on, but they manage it.

Advantage Pisa - because of the rules of the playoffs, we must win this weekend in Pisa, as they finished above us in the regular season. However, I am not too despondent. True, we've one one game away all season, and that was away to Pizzighettone (17th), but by all accounts (apart from 50 Canale) we were the better team on Saturday. It will be tough, but I think we could just about do it. They're without their best defender as well, which helps. Mister Di Costanzo says that 1-1 is better than 1-0, because we now know we have to attack. True, but I'm not sure I would have felt as gutted on Saturday had we won!

Anyway, the next report will hopefully be a first hand one - my flight to Pisa is booked, but the ticket for the Venezia end is still up in the air. I have my best people on it though, so hopefully I will be amongst the 950 arancioneroverdi supporters in Pisa on Sunday. I admit, I go more in hope than expectation, but something in me believes we can do it.

Remember that famous Tuscan saying: "Meglio un morto in casa che un Pisano alla porta!"

FORZA VENEZIA!

A Return To Form

I know, I know - I haven't posted for a while. This is mainly down to laziness, but also due to the fact that I think there's only about three of you that read this! However, given the position Venezia find themselves in, I feel I must return to my blogging ways...

So since I last wrote, Venezia went through a very up and down period. A horrible run at the start of April where we picked up only 3 points from four games saw us plummet from second to fifth, and any hopes of winning the championship outright were gone. More worringly, it looked like the playoffs were going to elude us as well. The last four games of the season were Grosseto (1st place) away, Sassuolo (2nd) at home, Lucchese (7th) away and Pisa (3rd) at home. Add the fact that one of our main competitors for a playoff spot, Monza, had a better head to head record against us, and it meant our hopes were hanging by a very thin thread.

But in the face of adversity, there's hope - and somehow we threw aside our miserable form to go on a great run. A gutsy 0-0 draw away to Grosseto was followed by a convincing 2-0 home victory over Sassuolo. Another 0-0 away to Lucchese (you didn't expect us to win away?!) meant we had to beat Pisa at home to stand any chance of making the playoffs. But it wasn't that simple. We also needed either Cremonese to hold Cittadella to a draw, or for Pizzighettone (17th) to get an unlikely away victory at Monza. The latter, of course, was never going to happen, but the former? We could but hope...

I actually managed to find out the game was being shown on an obscure channel that dad had n his satellite, so we settled down to watch it - Venezia-Pisa, the culmination of a season in 90 minutes. Pisa needed a win, you see, to try and win the league outright. It was a predictably tight affair with few chances. I kept checking the internet for the Cremonese-Cittadella score. 30 mins - 0-0. HT 0-0. 60 mins 0-0. Please boys, get us a goal...

Unfortunately, it just looked like one of those days it was never going to happen. It was a tight cagey affair (unsurprising given Pisa are the league masters of the 0-0 - they are the true old-school Italian team). 85 mins - I check the score in the Cittadella game. Still 0-0. If only we could score, the playoffs would be ours! But it just didn't look likely. We were pressuring Pisa more, the news of Grosseto winning meaning that they had no chance of winning the league, but we weren't really creating anything. 90 mins. I check the Cittadella score again - still 0-0. If only we could have scored. Me and Dad start saying how it was a good season anyway, but that it may be tough for the team to lift themselves for the challenge next season. It's not an easy league to get out of and they had set themselves up to push for it this season. It was a shame it had to end this way.

Then the 95th minute - Rebecca gets the ball in the left hand corner of the pitch. He looks up and plays a pass across the edge of the box to Romondini, who manages to hit a fairly weak shot...I'm already almost cursing when the net bulges!! GOL!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOL GOL GOL!!!!! YES!!! They did it, they did it! How they did it, I don't know - the shot was crap, but it was right in the corner and the Pisa keeper seemed to see it late and by the time he dived he only succeeded in helping it into the net. Cue myself and dad jumping around like madmen - I look back at the TV. It's over - Romondini scored with literally the last kick of the game!

I checked the internet quickly and awaited the final score from Cremonese - 0-0! We were there, and by the narrowest of margins. Venezia, Monza and Cittadella finished on the same points, but in the little league table involving only games between us, we also all had the same points (5)! However, we had a +1 goal difference, Monza had 0 and Cittadella had -1. Talk about a close call! Monza and ourselves in the playoffs, Cittadella miss out by a goal.

So, here we are. Saturday is the first leg of our playoff semi-final, where incredibly we meet Pisa again. We're at home in the first leg, and given our away form this season, we need a win or we're done for I think. It will be very very tough, but I think the boys have rediscovered their belief after losing it only 5 or 6 weeks ago. Next week is the Pisa leg - a match I hope to go to, if I can get tickets in the away end (and it's worth going to - ie. we don't lose 2-0 at home or something). Exciting times in the Laguna...here's hoping for even more excitement over the next few weeks!

FORZA VENEZIA!