Reggina-Cagliari

By: Jeremy | May 15th, 2009

As we wind down towards the end of the year, we are actually going to play some games where we arent worried about survival. Quite a switch and certainly a relief when compared to past years. Before we look at Reggina, I encourage all Cagliari fans or even fans of similar teams to look at the comments from my previous post and read some good insight from Poindexter and Olly amongst others. Every fan has a story and those like Olly who get to see things a little more upclose can remind us all why we like our team and how we became fans. Greats posts and comments all.

As for Reggina this weekend, it is quite a tale of two clubs, both of which have some motivation to bring it this weekend. Reggina is dead last and all but relegated, but they have worked miracles like Cagliari in years past so they arent dead yet. They have played like crap, but they are still just four points from safety, which is not impossible to overcome, even this late in the year. They will expect a win this week and team leaders are begging fans to come out to support the team. I think one could get free tickets without a problem.

Cagliari also faces a four point gap to overcome, but instead of a relegation issue, it is shockingly for a place in Europe. Reality says we pissed our chance away with the asswhipping from Palermo and the choke against Roma. We have lost ground to our rivals and have dropped to ninth. That being said, with Roma being inconsistent and Palermo giving it away on the road to teams like Siena, you almost have to think we need to watch Udinese more then any of them and they are only a point above us. My point is that we still have something to play for and we have shown that we can beat the lower echelon teams on the road.

Reggina will be missing quite a few players but the always dangerous Brienza will want to make things happen for them. While their home crowd will help and the typical improved performance in a last gasp attempt at safety will cause them to play better then normal, they dont have Cagliaris talent even if Cagliari will also be missing some key players.

Cagliaris push for Europe seems to be overshadowed by Robert Acquafresca and his agents attempt to land him a team for next year before this season is over. Genoa is the obvious choice as Inter wants Milito and Acquafresca can be used to get a deal done. Inter seems to be ready to get rid of him, but despite reports to the contrary they wont give him away and he will be used to get a more experienced striker. He isnt ready for first team at Inter, but he will be someday. We still need to hope he can find his way back here for a third year. Dont rule it out even if it is unlikely. Genoa will give him Europe, but Napoli is not a better place for him then Cagliari. That being said, he has some motivation to finish the season strong.

While it might be expected that Reggina gets a win when they need one, I think despite missing Conte, Lazzari, and Cossu, we still have enough to beat them as they are also missing a few first team players and they do not have our depth. A win for us combined with a couple of other results that could happen could find us back in the race for sixth with a game against Inter next week who will rest the first teamers after they clinch the Scudetto this weekend. While we have given away too much recently, this weekend could bring new opportunity for us and make the next couple of weeks a bit of fun. Sorry Reggina but I think Serie B beckons.

Prediction

Reggina 1-2 Cagliari