Cagliari-Sampdoria

By: Jeremy | November 26th, 2008

Sorry for the early write up as in laws await tommorow and Sunday cant get here fast enough…I do wish the in laws lived in Sardinia where the boys from Sampdoria will be heading this weekend to take on the continually improving, but still relegation wary Isolani.

Cagliari and Sampdoria both started horribly this year. While Cagliaris results were not a surprise, Sampdorias slow start was a bit shocking considering their finish last year. While Cagliari is one of the hotter teams in Serie A recently with a strong home record including points against Milan and Fiorentina, Sampdoria with the help of Cassano has turned it up even more and sits on 16 points, two above Cagliari. Sampdoria is like Roma in that while they have started slowly, no one expects them to be in a relegation dogfight. The question is did they each start too slowly to end up as more then UEFA Cup participants, and even that result will require some luck and continued strong play.

This matchup between two hot teams again seems to be about the home and away performance with Cagliari being strong at home and Sampdoria not faring too well on the road. If Cagliari can get results against Milan and Fiorentina, why not Sampdoria as well?

Each side has a superstar with bright futures. Cassano for Sampdoria has been in great form including two goals against Catania. If not for his volatile behavior, he would surely be playing for the Azzurri as his talent is top notch and his play shows he belongs on a national stage. Acquafresca for Cagliari is younger and not as flashy but seems to be just as important to his team, especially in home matches where he scores more frequently then on the road. One of these players will have a great match this weekend leading their team to victory.

This is the first of two vital home matches for Cagliari. They have shown they can get points at home against some of the better teams in Serie A. Sampdoria is not quite on Milan and Fiorentinas level, but for some reason seems to have momentum in their favor which might lead to a better performance then either Milan or Fiorentina showed in Sardinia. With the tough games at the end of the first half and the end of the season, against Inter and Udinese, Cagliari has to continue to find a way to get points at home or relegation may be harder to avoid then last year when we only had to beat bottom level teams at the end to survive.

The question is do you want to get into an offensive slugfest with Cassano and his teammates or do you want to slow it down and try to eek out a win like what was done against Fiorentina? With Acquafresca feeling better this week and Cassano on form, this is going to be a wide open game. I am not sure which team will score the goals first, but there will be a response from the opposite side and the fans should enjoy the match. Marchetti is going to have to step it up a notch over his fine performances so far if he wants to see his team win.

This might be a match where we see a bunch of goals and at home against a team with a poor road record, I have to think we can steal another victory even if a draw might be the likely result.

Prediction

Cagliari 3-2 Sampdoria