Sampdoria 0-2 Udinese: Pair of first half strikes hold true for Zebrette

Date: 10th December 2012 at 9:49pm
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Udinese defeated Sampdoria 2-0 on Monday night at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa in Week 16 Serie A action.

Danilo and the talismanic Antonio Di Natale each struck in the first half to round out the scoring for the day, whilst Nicola Pozzi saw his 64th minute penalty saved by Zeljko Brkic in a frustrating encounter for Ciro Ferrara’s men.

Mauro Icardi and Roberto Soriano each had chances inside 10 minutes on for the Bluerchiati, but were unable to hit the target as the opportunities went begging.

On 17 minutes, Sampdoria were made to pay for their profligacy. Sergio Romero made a fantastic save to deny Di Natale on the volley from the centre of the penalty area, but Danilo came free at the far post on the ensuing corner to give Udinese the lead with his head on the bounce.

Dusan Basta and Di Natale each went for goal from distance, but were unable to locate requisite accuracy. At the other end, Enzo Maresca whistled a free-kick just past the post as the hosts desperately tried to equalize.

However, Francesco Guidolin’s men would strike again before Sampdoria get could on the scoreboard. Emmanuel Badu surged forward on the counter attack and found the ever-present Di Natale lurking at the edge of the area with a through ball. The prolific veteran proceeded to neatly round the charging Romero before easily depositing the ball into an open net to increase Udinese’s lead.

Nicola Pozzi replaced Maresca at half in a bid by Ferrara to provide extra offensive firepower up front, whilst defender Daniele Gastaldello was withdrawn on 53 minutes in favor of speedy wide-man Marcelo Estigarribia.

The Bluerchiati appeared to have found their way back into the match when Icardi was felled by Allan in the box to bring about a penalty, but Brkic guessed right to beat away Nicola Pozzi’s relatively tame attempt on the spot-kick.

Sampdoria were monopolizing possession in a drastic effort to salvage something from the match, but had trouble both creating and finishing as the situation became more dire.

Icardi fired directly at Brkic on 69 minutes in the last instance that required a save of the Serbian net-minder. Fernando Tissone, Gaetano Berardi, Pedro Obiang, Soriano, and Estigarribia each claimed shots in the closing stages, but could not hit the target as the final whistle closed in.

The loss is Sampdoria’s fourth at home on the campaign, whilst Udinese rose to 8th in the table with their second straight victory in Serie A.

 

One response to “Sampdoria 0-2 Udinese: Pair of first half strikes hold true for Zebrette”

  1. Vito Doria says:

    There was some bad defending on the goals but Sampdoria were too wasteful.

    For the record, Icardi is known by his first name Mauro, not his middle name.