Who are the road warriors on this club?

By: Jeremy | March 19th, 2008

Yes, today we won a game against a team that is the top half of the standings. Teams that arent going to be relegated always find a way to get three points when they dont play their best. Home matches must be won against any non Champions League quality side. You would think that if all these statements are true, then Cagliari is well on its way to Serie A football next year.

But wait, now comes some road matches against teams that can crush you. None of this last minute eek out a victory crap like the wimps in Siena and Catania always seem to do(well maybe Milan since they cant seem to score of late). This explains my current state of mixed emotions with Cagliari.

Obviously I am ecstatic they beat Atalanta today at home in the Sant Elia. To quickly summarize, our hero Acquafresca was gifted a penalty kick after a bogus call and he calmly drilled it home in the 18th minute giving the Sardinians a 1-0 lead(winning teams get a lot of breaks so I will take it). The rest of the match was pretty boring with Storari having to come up big a couple of times to save the match. He will be wearing a Milan shirt next year and will solve their goalie problems now that he has been given a challenge and has shown his worth. His loan period will be revoked by the Rossoneri. If Cagliari survives, Storari is the reason why. I love that guy. But I digress. Again Foggia was only a late sub and any drama really ended after Atalanta was reduced to ten men in the 77th minute. Atalanta is another enigmatic club and while they have talent, they cant seem to do well on the road so thus they are just a mid table Serie A team. They shouldnt even be able to spell UEFA Cup.

While Atalanta has to be disappointed, Cagliari would love to be in their place. For all the great things that have happened over the past month or so, Cagliari is still five points from safety, in last place, and now faces the murderers row of their schedule where points will be hard to come by. With the momentum suddenly kicking in for Reggina and Parma, two strong relegation candidates, how can we really expect to be saved from relegation ourselves.

Can someone please emerge and get this team a road win? I always believed that the losses to Siena and Catania will cost this team in the end but their home streak shows I could well be wrong and that they arent quitting when they easily could have gone to sleep. Losing winnable road games while the teams form was clearly on the upswing will likely be the downfall. Not even I would have predicted a month ago that the team would be where it is now as I truly expected them to be clearly in the relegation zone with no hope in sight. However, for all the great results and positivity within the club, they really dont seem that much closer to safety. The good news is that there are now more teams in the relegation dogfight so we have a shot.

Sampdoria is up next on the road. Any objective person would expect them to crush Cagliari. Then we get Roma at home. Unlike last year, Roma is playing for something when this match appears on the schedule so I dont expect them to send out a half ass lineup. Even at home, this is not a match to expect points. Then we get Milan on the road, which is probably the best chance in the next three weeks to get points via an actual game because Milan is playing poorly at home.

Who will step up and get this team some points in the next three weeks? When you crap out against Siena and Catania, I am not optimistic that anyone will do so. Acquafresca has stepped up so I expect it to be him if anyone. However someone else needs to be involved. Foggia where are you? Get your ass in the game for ninety minutes. Ballardini better throw some offensive players on the field for these games and by that I mean Foggia, Jeda, Matri, and Acquafresca all need to be on the field at once. For all that has gone well these past few weeks, it is clear that against the better teams we are lacking in offense. Ballardini for all that you have done, you need to explain more indepth why Foggia is not playing. Sarcasm does not cut it. The games being on the road magnifies the offensive issues. We are not facing Torino at home.

The giants are knocking on the door and they are coming to take what is left of our Serie A season. It is time to focus and get some road points. Because Cagliari blew it in the first half of the season and did poorly in the second half when they had a chance to truly create a miracle, they must now hope for the biggest miracle possible.

Great win today guys. It was gutsy. You only have this chance to survive because of your recent home play, but reality is that more is needed because you have not done enough.

The football federation needs to give us our three points back over the next three weeks so we dont give back all the ground we have recently gained.

Who will step up and bring glory to Cagliari? I will watch and believe that it can be done. Sampdoria we are coming and Roma you better not take us lightly when you arrive on the island.

Believe Cagliari fans. This is not over yet but we must be aware of what we are facing and do anything we can to give our players the help and support they need and deserve. May the winning streak continue.