Sometimes You Kick, Sometimes You Get Kicked. Fior 0-1 Roma

Today in the Coppa Italia quarterfinals, Fiorentina dominated nearly every statistical category except the one that matters most, the score.

Fiorentina held 58.5 % possession, nearly double shots taken, 33 to 17, nearly double shots on net, 9 to 5, hit the woodwork three times and still lost 1-0 on a single defensive lapse in the first session of extra time.

Fiorentina pushed back madly after the goal, while Roma held on for dear life as the match turned into a very messy affair late, with Taddei getting two yellow cards late and Juan Cuadrado and Dodo getting into a shoving match and both being ejected.

AS Roma earned their first win of the year while Fiorentina bows out and is yet to get a result in 2013.

Report Cards

Neto(6) - made some very good saves, kept the game scoreless in regulation. But had no chance on the Roma goal. His defense gave him up. Great save late to avoid the second goal.
Savic(5) - poor header back, almost gave up a goal, lots of very bad clearances. Very frustrating to watch this defence today.SAvic did save a goal with his head in the end of regulation. No where to be found on the goal
Rodriguez(5) - probably should have been red carded late, lots of horrible clearances. not his best game by far
Tomovic(5) - bad back pass nearly turned into a goal, but for neto's heroics. No where to be found on the goal
Cuadrado(6.5) - struggled in teh first half, appeared he was told to focus more on the defense and it seemed he felt out of place. Second half he played more forward and won a lot of fouls and looked much better. Off the post in extra time. Showed some fire late
Aquilani(7) - nearly put Fior in front with a free kick. Was a little invisible until he moved into the center spot with migliaccio's sub, almost scored again later on a free kick.
Migliaccio(5.5) - Plays a good holding midfield role, just isn't a field general like Pek. Subbed for Romulo in the last half hour ; Romulo(5) - Didn't have a huge individual match, but just coming in changed the whole Fior outlook
Valero(6.5) - Not a very good first half, played much mcuh better in the second, looked a lot like his old self. Hits the pole in stoppage.
Pasqual(5) - Pasqual in a nutshell: 10 yards from the net and he crosses it 12 feet high and all the way to the other side of the field. no touch, no control, all he can do is kick it as hard as he can. Only reason i can see that he keeps starting is there's no one else to play the position.His crosses were better in the second half, admittedly. Pasqual made 15 crosses, TEN of them unsuccessful. Subbed in the last 15 min for Llama; Llama(5.5) - he's younger, faster and his crosses are no worse than pasqual, i'd like to see more of him
Jovetic(6) - looked more like himself from a ball handling point of view, took more shots from farther out, but his shot has seemed to have left him.
Toni(5.5) - Was close on some headers, but never reallly was served a great ball he could get onto. subbed late in the second for Ljajic; Ljajic(6) -

Montella(6) - Made the changes we were looking for in the first half, with the mid field wings playing more back to counter the roma attack, in the second half they revert to the attacking style, but managed to protect against the counter.
While Romulo didn't have a large effect, moving aquilani over made a big difference and made Fior much more dangerous.

ref
Nicola Rizzoli(5.5) - Great first half for Nicola, only bad call i saw was a clear Roma dive that had a free kick given near halftime. Missed a card on Rodriguez for a tugged jersey when he was the last man late in the second. Pasqual was knocked over in the box and roma was given a corner in extra time. missed a push in the box in the last 15 minutes and didn't call the penalty. Lost control of the match late, which was a shame because he had about 100 minutes of excellent officiating. Might have gotten a 7 if teh game ended in regulation.

beIN sports announcers(1) - called aquilani and valero holding midfielders. On the third or fourth offside called on Fior, "There's the first offside..." Whether it was migliaccio or valero on the ball, they were called valero. Called Jovetic a defender. A direct quote: "No chance to jump to get the jump there" (On aquilani's free kick off the crossbar), really not sure what he was trying to say.kept calling Burdisso, Burdissa. Pure amateurs.

Quotes

Montella:

"Did we have bad luck? Do you think?" said the Coach with a sarcastic laugh.

"We played a great game against a quality side that defended with nine men, as they were packed with midfield players.

"We created a great deal, but were unlucky and also need different characteristics in the final third."

Looking Ahead

Big match up this weekend with Napoli. Fiorentina are going to be tired and have to be a little upset with how this year has gone so far. Possible disciplinary action against Cuadrado looms as well.

In other news, ACF Fiorentina announces that the rights to footballer Francesco Della Rocca have been transferred to AC Siena.

Also, Soccernet Serie A schedule is showing the Inter match as being postponed, but I can find no reason or story on other sites. Inter have Europa league matches on Thursday, so it's possible that match might be moved to Monday.

Sunday, January 20 9:00 ET Fiorentina v Napoli
Sunday, January 27 9:00 ET Catania v Fiorentina
Sunday, February 3 9:00 ET Fiorentina v Parma
Saturday, February 9 12:00 ET Juventus v Fiorentina
Sunday, February 17 2:45 ET Fiorentina v Internazionale ????
Sunday February 24 9:00 ET Bologna v Fiorentina

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