Friday, 28th July
Sporting Lisbon v Parma
SPORTING LISBONA 2-1 PARMA
Scorers: Di Vaio 31, Acosta 51,65(both pens.)
Cautions: Lamouchi 37, P.Cannavaro 50, Guardalben 65
PARMA (3-4-1-2): Guardalben, Sartor, Baggio (D'Alterio 55), P.Cannavaro, Fuser (Strada 46), Lamouchi, Appiah, Benarrivo, Montano (Maini 46), Amoroso (Bonazzoli 74), Di Vaio.
Subs left on bench: Micillo, Stirpe, Saccani, D'Imporzano, Basso
SPORTING LISBONA (4-4-2): Schmeichel, Cesar Prates, Beto, André Cruz, Edmilson, Paulo Bento, Bino, Horvath, Rui Jorge, Joao Pinto, Acosta
Referee Jorge Coroado
I watched this game and I thought we were bloomin' awful!! Amoroso was poor; Fuser was poor (why is he so tired-looking and disinterested lately); Lamouchi was a total waste of space; Baggio and P Cannavaro were NOT nearly as efficient in defence as against Inter/Napoli. Appiah was OK. Benarrivo, enthusiastic, as always. Sartor was good. As was Guardalben, who made MANY saves, or else we would've been totally embarrassed! Di Viao (or as the Eurosport bods would call him throughout the game, Diumo) was steady - but nothing special. Of course, cannot judge very fairly on this game, because we were just about playing our reserves - but I don't honestly think that our midfield is good enough. If Conceicao "wants" to play for Parma, then I think he will make a big difference. Almeyda, I am not sure about. We need a steadying influence too (Boghossian where are you?) Our attack is AWFUL. That's what worries me the most. I sure as heck hope that Savo can stir some action up there. Well, I couldn't find anything positive to say about this performance, but the Official site could! Read that and you will be less depressed!!
What the Official Site had to say
Although this was merely a friendly, both sides went out as though it were a European cup match. Alberto Malesani's outfit also confirming their desire for success despite the relative unimportance of the fixture.
With Sporting lining up with their first team, 40,000 fans in the stadium and a festival atmosphere, all the ingredients were present for a great match - which is exactly what the fans got.
Parma began brightly having the lion's share of chances in the opening 10 minutes, although from the 11th the hosts took the game by the scruff of the neck when Joao Pinto's header drew a save from Matteo Guardalben in the Gialloblù goal.
For the following 20 minutes Sporting Lisbon controlled the game and Parma preferred to simply sit back and absorb the pressure. But in the 32nd minute Luigi Sartor's cross-field pass found Marco Di Vaio, who with a burst of pace took the ball wide of Schmeichel and toe-poked the visitors into the lead.
The local fans rallied their troops and the Portuguese outfit again raised the pressure and twice went close, with both Horvath within a minute of the Parma goal, and Joao Pinto twice. But the half ended 1-0 to Parma.
The second half saw the hosts once again on the attack, putting on the pressure and causing some mistakes in Parma's back-line. First Antonio Benarrivo nearly fired into the back of his own net when his back-pass was that bit stronger than he'd intended, then Paolo Cannavaro deflected the ball out with his arm, handing Acosta a golden chance to bring the scores level from the spot. He didn't fail.
From then on it was all one-way, in large part because of the superior fitness at this stage of the pre-season of the Portuguese. In the 53rd minute Edmilson did just about everything short of scoring, then Giampiero Maini also missed a sitter, before Guardalben gifted Lisbon with their second chance from the spot after bringing down Acosta. He took the resulting spot kick himself and took the hosts ahead for the first time in the match.
Despite being behind by one goal and Sporting subbing all 11 players, Parma again left the initiative to the Portuguese and they didn't hesitate to press forward looking for their third goal, but Parma held out to keep the result at a very respectable 2-1 defeat. Respectable, that is, given the level of preparation of the teams.
Undoubtedly Malesani will have learnt much from this prestige friendly, but he will be looking forward to getting all his players back and fit.
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