Roma v Sampdoria: Two for Totti’s Bionic Boots

By: Martha | December 22nd, 2007

Roma Yays! Roma climbed to with four of Inter on the strength of a brace by Francesco Totti, and assured themselves a second place finish to 2007 — no matter what Juve do tomorrow, than can do no better than third.

After the first five minutes or so, during which Matteo Ferrari just booted the ball out of bounds several times — the first half was all Roma. They were all over the Cassano-less Sampdoria, who looked more than a little desperate on several occasions, dropping slide tackles all over the box and getting crucial last touches over and over again. Given the number of Samp bodies sprawled around the box, it was no surprise when a penalty was given, and Totti dispatched it with a dirty little chip, putting Roma into the lead before the match was even 20 minutes old.

They kept up the pressure, limited Samp to attacks on what can only loosely be called “the counter,” since to the visitors “counter” seemed to mean “win the ball and try to keep it patiently, as if you have no problem maintaining possession and building up from the back.” Which is all well and good, except they had huge problems building up from the back so, when they won the ball and dumped it back instead of driving up field to catch Roma out, all it did was let the Romans get back in, at which point Sampdoria would give the ball away in the midfield, and end up under pressure again. Brilliant.

Though Samp tried to come out aggressive in the second half, Roma immediately took control again, with Totti turning on the style and Simone Perrotta particularly sharp in the attack. All the style came to very little, however, though Perrotta’s dipping half volley off a Totti flick was all kinds of pretty (it was foiled by a great save from Luca Castellazzi, who touched it over the bar). When Sergio Volpi was sent off for a second yellow with 30 minutes to go, it looked dire for Samp, but Roma’s concentration seemed to lapse, and it was after they went down to 10 men that Sampdoria had their most promising moments, calling Doni into action for the first time.

Roma were mostly disinterested for much of the final half hour, and Sampdoria really should have equalized twice in the last five minutes. First, a ball was played over the top to substitute Andrea Caracciolo, who got his timing wrong and unleashed an awkward volley that was well-saved by Doni. Then, off the ensuing corner, Hugo Campagnaro found himself all alone on the far side and somehow contrived to hit the ball high and wide. As you might expect, Samp were immediately punished for their wastefulness when Roma drove the other way and, through Christian Panucci and Marco Cassetti, put the ball at Totti’s feet in front of a gaping net, and he didn’t miss. The goal came just at the start of injury time, and Samp had nothing more to offer, leaving Roma with a deserved, if not over impressive, three points.