The inevitable within Napoli and Roma

Date: 11th October 2016 at 6:04pm
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Napoli host Roma on Sunday afternoon as Serie A returns from the international break. The two will come into the game with outside hopes of challenging for this year’s Scudetto.

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Football, like all sport, is popular because the ending is not known in advance. Unlike a play or an opera, the crowd attend without knowing what will unfold in front of them over the next two hours. Even if a result might feel a foregone conclusion, the way the game pans out is not revealed until the very end.

When Roma meet Napoli in the Derby del Sole this weekend, there will be reams of speculation before the game, but none will come from a position of anything other than projection. Francesco Totti and Arkadiusz Milik can expect to dominate the stories, yet with the Pole definitely set to miss out, it is not impossible that neither will have any effect on the game.

It is early in the season and scripts are still being written. While both sides have started well, neither one knows if their aims for the campaign will come to pass.

It has not always been the way for such games. When the two met in June 2001, Serie A was sliding inexorably towards its denouement. Fabio Capello’s Giallorossi were challenging for the Scudetto, while the Partenopei laboured at the bottom of the table.

There is a French film called La Haine which begins with the story of a man falling from a high building. All the way down, he tells himself ‘jusqu’ici tout va bien’ (‘so far, so good’). It is not the fall that kills you, it goes on to explain, it is hitting the ground.

The pavement was hoving into view for Napoli, as the season swayed from bad to worse, when Roma arrived at the Stadio San Paolo. While neither team’s fate was definitely to be confirmed that day, there was a growing sense of anticipation on both sides.

A run of seven games without defeat had brought the Scudetto within reach for Roma, but even more impressive had been the performance of their forward line.

With just two games remaining of the campaign, the Giallorossi had only lost three times to date. Amongst those 32 matches, just eight games had not seen at least one of Francesco Totti, Vincenzo Montella and newboy Gabriel Batistuta had not found the net.

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Going into the derby, it was an almost cast iron certainty that one of them would score.

For the Neapolitan supporters, the campaign was a nightmare from which they hoped to awaken. At kickoff, a victory might conceivably have lifted Napoli to the heady heights of 12th – which would have been their highest of the season.

Even with the odds stacked against them, things started brightly for the home side, who put the visiting defence under considerable pressure during the first period. The packed away end saw their heroes repelling a number of Napoli attacks, with Edmundo heading a simple header wide from just a few yards out.

Eventually, the defence broke, Nicola Amoruso slotting home from the edge of the box. Naples went wild, but their ecstasy had only let loose the dogs of war.

Batistuta prodded home before half time as Roma took command. Just after the break, a cross made its way to Totti. He brought it down and rifled a shot into the bottom right corner.

As he wheeled away in delight, a protest was launched. Replays show the ball being brought under control somewhat suspiciously close to Totti’s arm. Despite the anger from Napoli, the topless Roman was never called back. Roma led 2-1, and those inevitabilities were looking assured.

With eight minutes remaining, Napoli were awarded a free kick on the edge of the area. Fabio Pecchia struck a weak shot at the centre of Antonioli’s goal. Perhaps unsighted, the veteran stopper could only bundle it into his own goal.

Suddenly, the party in the away end stopped. The championship had been clutched from their grasp, the returning hero Pecchia had helped breathe life into another former club’s title bid.

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Juventus, set to be the last team eliminated from the title race, were still alive. Buoyed by their comeback, Napoli pressed, knowing their Serie A lives might depend on a positive result and looking to go into the last weekend with their fate in their own hands. Eventually, they ran out of time and the game ended 2-2.

To retain the power to tell your own tale is something that is often talked about as the season comes to an end. Roma’s win on the last day went on to make them champions. Nobody could stop them. Improbably, though Napoli beat Fiorentina, five of the bottom six won. The Partenopei were down; Lecce’s win against third-placed Lazio saw them safe.

Football is a game of probability, but it is never a game of inevitability. On Saturday afternoon, Napoli will host Roma again. The only certainty will be the uncertainty.

 

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