3 Things You Shouldn’t Forget From This Season: Part 2, Udinese and Napoli

There are many things that will be remembered about the 2010-2011 Serie A season, both fondly and infamously. Of course, people will remember Milan’s Scudetto and Bari’s relegation, Inter and Roma’s thrashings in the Champions’ League and Napoli’s dramatic late goals. Here’s a series that focuses on some of the other things that should be remembered about a fantastic season, full of both the bizarre and the unbelievable.

Part 2 focuses on the teams that finished behind the Milan sides but still remained largely in Champions’ League contention for most of the season: Udinese and Napoli.

1. Udinese’s Incredibly Run. The Bianconeri lost in the league on December 19th, 3-2 away to Lazio. The side then went on a 13 game unbeaten run in the league, going three full months unbeaten until a 2-0 loss against Lecce, of all sides. The run included some incredible games as Udinese picked up steam after steam: the 7-0 thrashing away to Palermo that cost Delio Rossi his job; a 3-1 win over a resurgent Inter under new coach Leonardo; and a superb 4-4 draw away to Milan early in January.

2. Napoli’s Many Heroes. Napoli will be remembered perhaps more than any other side this season, and for good reason. Edinson Cavani emerged as a superb striker and goalscorer. The team had dramatic late winner after dramatic late winner, and were even in Scudetto contention for large parts of the season. However, one of the more unsung heroes of the season has been wingback Christain Maggio. Ezequiel Lavezzi, Marek Hamsik, and Cavani are often given the plaudits, but this has been a superb season by Maggio as well. He has firmly established himself as a great wideman and even nailed down a spot on Cesare Prandelli’s Azzurri, where assured displays against the Ukraine and Slovenia have all but assured the 29 year old as a first choice pick. If only he were a few years younger… He also scored bundled in a goal against Palermo (Unsurprisingly, in extra time) to give Napoli a home win, further demonstrating the team’s nack for scoring late winners.

3. The Emergence of Alex Sanchez. The following article was written by me, back in early March for a now-defunct website. This seems as good a place as any to repost it.

The Cristiano Ronaldo comparisons may not be too far off the mark, which may be the most unbelievable part of his career. A penchant for stepovers? Assuredly. Stop-and-start runs that hoodwink defenders and confound onlookers? Staples of both men’s play. Tan skin? Perhaps no detail is not held in common, with the exception of height. Ronaldo may have seven inches on the forward, but the resemblance is striking, from the cutaneous to the technical. Even more remarkably, Alex Sanchez does not play for a large team in Europe, and instead is earning his plaudits playing for the likes of Udinese. Should his meteoric rise continue, there will be one more aspect of his career that will mirror the Real Madrid player’s: the commanding of a hefty transfer fee to a big club.

The spark has always been there for the twenty-two year old known as “El Nino Maravilla”. He first rose to international attention with Chilean club Cobreloa, where he played forty seven times in the 2005-2006 season and scored nine goals. Udinese were watching even at this early stage, and immediately purchased the then seventeen year old for three million dollars. He was subsequently loaned out to Colo-Colo and then River Plate before finally debuting in Italy at the start of the 2008-2009 season. In between his purchase and deployment for Udinese, there lay two years in which his potential was honed and consequently revealed for all to see.

The two South American teams benefitted enormously from having the prodigious talent in their ranks, even if only for a year each. Colo-Colo were undeniably successful, winning the Torneo de Clausura 2006 and finishing as Copa Sudamerica runners-up. His reputation rose further at River Plate the following year, almost literally from the moment he stepped onto the pitch. His first goal for the club, on his debut on the 23rd of August 2007, was so sublime that it was described as “Shileno”, linking it to the great Chilean and former River Plate player Marcelo Salas. In February of the following year Sanchez dribbled past five players in a darting run to the box, earning his side a penalty during a friendly tournament. Udinese decided that his merit had been proven, and recalled the player that summer.

From 2008 onwards, El Nino Maravilla has been a mainstay in the bianconeri side. His prodigious skill has earned him numerous Player of the Match awards, many of them high-profile, including in his debut against Bassano and in a quarterfinal Coppa Italia victory over Milan in the 09-10 season. His goalscoring ratio has improved season after season, beginning with three, following with five, and currently standing at eleven (Four of which occurred this past weekend against Palermo in merely fifty three minutes). This would seem rather low for an out-and-out striker in the Fernando Torres mold of play, but Sanchez’s attributes lie outside of that of a traditional number nine. His skill, instead of his goalscoring instinct, enables Udinese to play the joga bonito that they so love.

In a word, Alex is tireless. He plays with a slight hunch which only seems to encapsulate his unceasing desire to press forward. His legs defy fatigue as he constantly stops the ball during his run to quickly change direction and speed. Dexterity and dribbling have been mastered by the Chilean, who is about to out-think most defenders in search of driving into the box. It is, assuredly, his hustle that defines his play. In any given Udinese match, Sanchez can be seen darting vapidly about the field, performing stepover after stepover and jinx upon jinx. His prowess is thus twofold: tire defenders out or maneuver the ball past slyly. His technical ability could hardly be overstated- it is, after all, the origin of the Ronaldo comparisons.

For Udinese, the question is thus not how to use the forward but how to hold onto him. Last summer, President Giampaolo Pozzo denied a 20 million Euro offer from Turkish giant Galatasaray, claiming that Sanchez was unsellable. With a current market value of closer to 35 million (which may not seem so ridiculous given Andy Carroll’s recent transfer cost), and the side’s reputation as a selling club, it may prove impossible to keep the Chilean past this summer. Barcelona, Manchester United, and Inter Milan are all rumored to be heavily interested in the player, and four goal performances will surely continue to persuade clubs that he is certainly worth the money.

Should he lead Udinese into the fertile land of the Champions’ League (the side are a mere point off Lazio and fourth spot), the Zebrette may just be able to persuade Sanchez to stay for yet another season. Given the seeming inevitability of his departure, however, this is one talent that Udinese fans must enjoy whilst they can, until football fans the world over will be able to watch his talent, week in and week out, on one of the biggest clubs Europe has to offer.

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Category: Serie A