Udinese-Cagliari;Thank You Robert Acquafresca

By: Jeremy | May 29th, 2009

Well we made it. Final game of the 2008-09 Serie A season. Although we were hoping this game might be for a place in europe, it is not to be but it is better then needing a win to survive yet another year in Serie A. Ultimately it is a meaningless game between two teams who had their ups and downs this year, but who are solidly in 7th to 9th place when the year is over.

Udinese comes in playing very well but after a tough draw on the road to Samp last week, their great run at europes final place ended. They will be missing quite a few players including captain DiNatale, Tissone, and Coda. They will have Quagliarella, one of the top players in Serie A, available and he will no doubt want to give the home fans some nice memories for the summer. The team faces many uncertainties about players moving on to bigger clubs and they have that much in common with Cagliari.

Cagliari with a win can overtake Udinese and finish 8th on 56 points. After the horrid start it would be quite an accomplishment. However fans will rue the missed opportunities late in the season when we gave away too many points. The team really could have finished higher.
As with Udinese, Cagliari has many a talented player who may not be back next year. The obvious departure will be Robert Acquafresca. He has given us two great years of play and while inconsistent and tempermental, its always great to see a young player develop and stand out a bit before they move on to another team. Usually we get other teams rejects or players on the downside of their careers. While there is always the chance he could come back, this chance is small so this will likely be his last game for Cagliari. He isnt the only player who we could lose as Marchetti could be gone and with his pick for the national team, he will get noticed even more.

Once the season is over, I will try to do a review of not only the season, but each player etc. We now need to start looking at the squad for next year and it will be fun to see who we can keep, but also if Allegris presence and the top half of the table finish will cause potential transfers to look at us assuming Cellino will open up the wallet.

For now, enjoy the last look at this seasons players and expect the home team to come out with just a little more passion like we did last week against Inter.

Prediction
Udinese 2-1 Cagliari