Vojvodina v Sampdoria – Preview: Blucerchiati look to restore lost pride in Serbia

Date: 4th August 2015 at 2:30pm
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Sampdoria meet Vojvodina at the Stadion Karadjordje in the second leg of their Europa League third qualifying round tie.

The Blucerchiati travel to Serbia with a great deal of trepidation having suffered a shock 4-0 first-leg reverse at the neutral Stadio Olimpico di Torino last week after a UEFA-enforced change of venue.

The first leg result has immediately placed new coach Walter Zenga under severe pressure.

Late Sampdoria legend Vujadin Boskov, who famously delivered the Scudetto to the Genoa-based outfit in 1991, represented and coached Vojvodina early on in his illustrious football career.

However, that fondly-held connection counted for little when the underdogs from Novi Sad turned former goalkeeper Zenga’s competitive debut at the helm into a horrible nightmare.

Serbia’s Super Liga season is already well underway, whereas the Serie A campaign doesn’t begin for more than a fortnight, and the disparity in match sharpness between the two teams appeared clearly evident throughout a truly harrowing experience for Il Doria.

Vojvodina went on to record a first victory in three domestic league games following the demolition of their Italian foes, while they previously knocked out unheralded Hungarian opponents MTK Budapest and Spartaks Jurmala of Latvia in the earlier qualifying rounds of the Europa League competition.

Sampdoria, meanwhile, warmed up for their continental test with a friendly draw against Serie B club Trapani, then an easy 3-0 win over Greek side Kalloni, prior to the unexpected capitulation in Turin.

The hosts have no serious injury worries ahead of the contest, while locally-born naturalised Bulgarian coach Zlatomir Zagorcic may seek to employ five men across midfield in an attempt to stifle Samp’s urgent requirement for an early breakthrough.

Visiting defender Vasco Regini has been laid low by a stomach bug, which has also been affecting other members of the squad over the past week or so, but is hopeful he can prove his fitness in time to make the journey.

Goalkeeper Christian Puggioni, centre-back Niklas Moisander and attacking midfielder Joaquin Correa have been working individually on their respective recovery programs and won’t feature.

Sampdoria will certainly need to produce several more accurate shots than the paltry three on target they mustered in the opening leg, if they wish to stand any chance of prolonging their first foray into Europe since 2010-11.

Zenga’s future as Blucerchiati boss may just depend upon it.

Form Guide (competitive fixtures): Vojvodina (W-L-D-D-W-W) Sampdoria (L-W-L-D-D-L)

Expected Starting XIs

Vojvodina: Zakula; Pankov, Nastic, Vasilic, Duric; Maksimovic, Puskaric, Sekulic, Stanisavljevic, Ivanic; Ozegovic.

Sampdoria: Viviano; Cassani, Silvestre, Zukanovic, Palombo; Barreto, Fernando, Soriano; Eder, Muriel, Wszolek.

 

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