This competition is so hard to keep track of, I'm just going to do it here. Most of the first legs of the round of 32 were played today, but I haven't found the complete results posted anywhere yet. In parentheses are whether the team is in Serie C1 or C2 and which group they are in (A=west or B=east in Serie C1; A=north, B=central, C=south in Serie C2). A group stage including all of the teams has already been played to narrow the original field to 26 teams, who now join the 6 Serie C teams who took part in the regular Coppa Italia group stages. I believe Napoli was admitted to the league too late to be included in the competition. Played today (Nov 3) Biellese (C2/A) 1 Pavia (C1/A) 2 Castelnuovo Garfagnana (C2/B) 0 Spezia (C1/A) 0 Cisco Lodigiani (C2/B) 0 Teramo (C1/B) 2 Cremonese (C1/A) 2 Rimini (C1/B) 2 Gualdo (C2/B) 1 Pisa (C1/A) 1 Manfredonia (C2/C) 2 Lanciano (C1/B) 2 Massese (C2/B) 1 Lucchese (C1/A) 2 Melfi (C2/C) 1 Acireale (C1/A) 2 Prato (C1/A) 3 San Marino (C2/B) 1 Pro Patria (C1/A) 3 Cittadella (C1/B) 3 Sassari Torres (C1/A) 3 Avellino (C1/B) 2 To be played Nov 4 Padova (C1/B) 1 Como (C1/A) 1 Vittoria (C1/A) 3 Gela (C2/C) 1 To be played Nov 10 Frosinone (C1/A) 3 Benevento 0 (C1/B) Lumezzane (C1/A) 4 Spal (C1/B) 1 Novara (C1/A) 2 Ivrea (C2/A) 2
Well, it's just like the regular Coppa Italia in that teams with larger ambitions, such as Napoli, don't really give a hoot about it. But there are many smaller clubs for whom winning this trophy is one of the best honors they can hope to achieve. Additionally, the two finalists earn qualification into the group stages of next year's "real" Coppa Italia. Granted, that typically gets them three losses in August to Serie B teams - maybe even to a just-promoted Serie A team, if they're lucky. But it's something. BTW, I've been scouring the teams' sites for results and have posted them in the original post. And I've noticed another similarity to the regular Coppa - not much in the way of surprises taking place.
Posted today's two results in the original post above. BTW, I saw one report of attendance at one of these matches as being 100. Another characteristic this competition shares with the regular Coppa Italia - fan apathy.
3 more matches played today (results posted above) to finish off the slate of 1st legs. The only potentially surprising result was Serie C2's Ivrea getting a 2-2 draw at C1 team Novara and maybe having a chance to advance if they can duplicate the good performance at home in two weeks.
That's awesome. Frosinone are currently in 5th place with a game in hand in C1. If they win that game they jump to third place. Not too bad for a team that's wallowed in the depths of Italian football. They've got good management that's willing to spend money to get them to Serie B, which they've never been in. Their only problem is the size of their stadium. Looks like it'll be an interesting season for the gialloblu. They've got a great site as well http://www.frosinonecalcio.com/calciocentral.htm
The first ritorno in the round of 32 was played on Thursday with Pavia defeating Biellese 2-0 to finish off their aggregate tie, 4-1. The remaining matches in this round are all scheduled for next Wednesday.
Hooray, la Gazzetta actually published today's finals, so I don't have to pore through all the websites:- Como 2 Padova 0 (3-1) Ivrea 2 Novara 2 (4-4: Ivrea wins on penalty kicks) Cittadella 1 Pro Patria 1 (4-4: Cittadella wins on away goals) Spal 2 Lumezzane 0 (3-4) Rimini 1 Cremonese 0 (3-2) Spezia 3 Castelnuovo 0 (3-0) Lucchese 2 Massese 2 (4-3) Pisa 1 Gualdo 1 (2-2: Gualdo wins on penalty kicks) San Marino 3 Prato 5 (4-8) Benevento 0 Frosinone 2 (0-5) Teramo 0 Lodigiani 1 (2-1) Avellino 2 Torres 0 (4-3) Gela 2 Vittoria 1 (3-4) Acireale 4 Melfi 1 (6-2) Two upsets with C2 teams Ivrea and Gualdo both squeaking through on PKs. One more game remains to be played with Lanciano hosting Manfredonia tomorrow on a score of 2-2. The matchups for the Round of 16 are: Pavia vs Ivrea Como vs Cittadella Lumezzane vs Rimini Spezia vs Lucchese Gualdo vs Prato Frosinone vs Teramo Manfredonia or Lanciano vs Avellino Vittoria vs Acireale Read the above as a bracket ie winner of Pavia/Ivrea will play winner of Como/Cittadella in the quarterfinals, and so on. The schedule the rest of the way:- Round of 16 - Jan 19, Feb 2 Quarterfinals - Feb 23, Mar 16 Semifinals - Mar 30, April 13 Finals - April 28, May 5
Manfredonia defeated Lanciano 1-0 (3-2 on aggregate) to complete the round of 32 last Thursday, so one more Serie C2 team enters the next round.
They supposedly held a "draw" today, but the matchups were already determined as listed above, so this draw must've been just to determine who plays at home first. These are the first-leg matchups (home team first):- Ivrea vs Pavia Como vs Cittadella Lumezzane vs Rimini Lucchese vs Spezia Prato vs Gualdo Teramo vs Frosinone Manfredonia vs Avellino Vittoria vs Acireale The ties take place Jan 19 and Feb 2.
I still regret not going to a Pistoiese-Lucchese Serie B game when we had the chance 9 years ago. But it was a night game .. and a derby .. and we didn't have a car .. my husband just didn't think it was a good idea. I suppose he was probably right.
I remember Lucchese from their Serie B years in the early 90's. Paci and Simonetta were the strikers. Read an article about one of them in Guerin Sportivo where the guy owned a bar on the side. Neat story. Then I remember Simonetta going on to Padova, and watching a Padova-Roma Coppa Italia game on RAI Intl. I think Simonetta came on and scored the tying goal. Anyway, random memories at 3 'o clock in the morning. Yeah, you're up late too!
Round of 16 first leg matches took place yesterday. Couple of postponements due to snow:- Ivrea 1 Pavia 1 Como vs Cittadella (postponed) Lumezzane vs Rimini (postponed) Lucchese 1 Spezia 1 Prato 2 Gualdo 1 Teramo 1 Frosinone 2 Manfredonia 2 Avellino 2 Vittoria 0 Acireale 1
Rescheduled dates for last week's postponed 1st legs:- Wed Jan 26 Lumezzane vs Rimini Wed Feb 2 Como vs Cittadella The return legs for both ties will be played on Thursday Feb 10. The other 6 return legs are still scheduled for Wed Feb 2.
Five teams advanced to the quarterfinals yesterday:- Round of 16 second-leg results:- Pavia 2 Ivrea 0 (Pavia wins 3-1) Rimini 2 Lumezzane 0 (Rimini wins 2-0) Spezia 1 Lucchese 1 (Spezia wins 3-2) Avellino 2 Manfredonia 2 (4-4 aggregate, Avellino wins 4-2 on PKs) Acireale 1 Vittoria 1 (Acireale wins 2-1) Round of 16 first-leg results:- Como 0 Cittadella 2 The last 3 second-legs will be played next week:- Feb 9 Gualdo vs Prato (Gualdo leads 2-1) Feb 10 Cittadella vs Como (Cittadella leads 2-0) Frosinone vs Teramo (Frosinone leads 2-1) Two of the 3 remaining C2 teams got knocked out, with Manfredonia suffering the heartbreak of going out on Pks to Avellino. Around 100 spectators witnessed the thrilling encounter which finished 2-2. The other C-2 team, Gualdo, could still pull off the upset as they host their second leg next week vs Prato with a 2-1 lead.
Results from the last 3 return legs of the Round of 16: Cittadella 1 Como 0 (Cittadella wins 3-0) Frosinone 1 Teramo 1 (Frosinone wins 3-2) Gualdo 1 Prato 1 (Gualdo wins 3-2) The QF pairings are different from what I thought I'd read in a previous press release. Here they are: Wed Feb 23 Ivrea vs Spezia Cittadella vs Prato Rimini vs Frosinone Acireale vs Avellino with the return legs on March 16.
Yeah, Frosinone's been playing great lately. They're only 4 points out of first place, while Rimini is in first place in their division.
Frosinone needs to tear Rimini a new one and destroy their morale, thus making them lose form and allowing Avellino to win Group B of C1. That, in turn, would give Napoli an easier opponent in the eventual playoff for Serie B rather than facing the possiblity of yet another Napoli-Avellino derby (with associated security headaches for authorities). Uhm, yeah.