First loss of the season

di Andrea Rosselli

Bad news from Udine, where Torino suffered their first loss of the season. Udinese defeated the Granata 2-0 with goals by Di Natale (25) and Felipe (65): it was a deserved win for the home team, although our guys were pretty unlucky, especially in the first half. However coach Alberto Zaccheroni still has a lot of work to do, as the team seems to lack pace and chemistry, and hopefully our guys will manage to bounce back on Wednesday night against Siena.

The start of the first half was quite balanced, with a big scoring chance apiece: in the 8th minute, following a free kick by Lazetic, Fiore superbly volleyed from the right but the ball was slightly too high for Abbruscato. A few seconds later, a magic pass by Di Natale put Asamoah right in front of Abbiati, but his left-footer skimmed the post.

Udinese had maybe more ball possession in the first part, but after the 15th minute everything changed: the Granata took control of the midfield and went close to the lead when Barone hit the post with a short-range shot, following a corner kick by Lazetic. Six minutes later, a fantastic play by Fiore and Rosina allowed Abbruscato to shoot from the edge of the box, but the ball was just wide.

Toro's bad luck was confirmed in the 25th minute, when Christian Abbiati didn't control an apparently weak shot by Di Natale and allowed Udinese to take the lead. A bad mistake by our goakeeper, and an undeserved lead for the hosts.

The goal was a big blow for our guys, who didn't manage to react properly: Udinese easily controlled the rest of the first half and went even close to the second goal with Felipe, who missed an easy chance in front of the empty net, and Asamoah, whose last-minute shot went just over the bar.

During the break Zaccheroni replaced Lazetic with Gallo, thus stenghtening the midfield and switching from the 4-2-3-1 to the 4-3-2-1 formation, with Fiore and Rosina behind Abbruscato, but things didn't change much. A continuous but useless ball possession and a weak shot by Elvis in the 56th minute was everything the Granata managed to produce offensively, as Udinese didn't have much problem in controlling our slow and predictable play.

Around the hour mark, Zaccheroni replaced Rosina with Stellone, who went close to the equalizer a few minutes later with a powerful free kick, but Torino didn't have the time to build on that chance: in the 65th minute a perfect cross by Di Natale was perfectly volleyed into the net by Felipe, who gave Udinese the 2-0 lead.

The final part of the match (with Muzzi replacing Fiore) was a confused assault to De Santis' net, Muzzi had a couple of good chances but the result didn't change.