Didn't he begin playing professionally with Sporting KC when he was like 16 or 17? Dudes been playing professionally forever and he's still only 22. But in the last year or two he has taken his game to another level. Its good to see because other American midfielders have stagnated or even regressed.
Busio went 89 minutes against Monza today in a 2-2 draw. Credited with a couple of chances created, a yellow card, and a shot. The point pulls Venezia out of last place. Baby steps.
They have the joint-third worst defence and the join-second worst attack and they face Inter after this, followed by two 6-pointers against Parma and Lecce. It's going to be a long season
BTW, huge comeback win for Venezia. Win 3-2 after falling behind 2-0 in the first 25 minutes. 53rd minute red card to Udinese did not hurt. Venezia now tied on points for 17th, with teams 13-17 all at 9 points.
This was a really big win for Venezia, keeping them in the hungry pack of the dog eat dog relegation struggle. They unexpectedly fought from behind in this match against their local rivals, and look better this year than they did in their last serie A season, when they died without a whimper. This year they should fight to the end, as long as they don’t have too many injuries to their key players, including Busio, who is emerging as a good prospect in Serie A.
Busio almost had a goal against Udinese. His shot was well saved but he should have done better with the chance.
Not sure what it says about the leagues but I was surprised they are still in the relegation zone with 2 wins and 2 ties. In England the bottom dwellers have no wins.
That was a phenomenal save. Sure... Busio could have done better on the shot by putting it a foot further to the right or into the top corner but it was hardly a weak effort. I think that shot goes in most of the time. AAR... I was pretty pro Busio when he started to play well in the MLS despite a plus in the speed or size trait columns... but I was left wanting more early in his Venezia career. I think he may have turned a corner after a year in Serie B. Really hope he stays healthy and continues to improve.
I think the midtier of the Premier League is just way better than Serie A, so it's harder for the teams at the bottom to scrape points. The bottom half of the Premier League has 2 teams that were in last season's Champions League and another that won the Conference League in 2023. Even with how bad a team like Manchester United has been this season, they still smoked Southampton 3-0 away. If Venezia is playing like...Empoli at home, they'd be confident in their ability to win.
For some reason Busio doesn't start against Inter. Might be following Tessman soon, just my reading of the situation.
I take it back he was subbed in at the half. Still weird to not start him this game. Unless they are treating it like a scheduled loss.
He's not exactly a defensive wrecking ball, so keeping him on the bench away to Inter is totally reasonable. Kept it 0-0 through halftime.
Inter win 1-0. It looked like Venezia had equalized in literally the last second of added time, but the goal was called back on video review for a hand ball.
He was removed from the squad in pre-season with the coach saying "he's leaving, so why include him in the project?" or something to that effect. Nobody wanted to risk him picking up an injury that would reduce his transfer fee or scupper a move altogether and, having spent a bit of money on a midfield rebuild - 4 midfielders came in, 2 of them late on - Venezia needed the money.
He also started on Wednesday and last Sunday. In the league game before that, against another good team in Atalanta, he...was on the bench and came on at halftime. There's nothing unusual about the way Busio was used today, either in the general squad management sense or in the specific way that Venezia has been using him this season.
I didn't watch the game, but here are his defensive/1v1 stats for today: - 4/5 in ground duels - fouled twice - dribbled past once - 2/2 in successful dribbles - three recoveries I don't think his defense is as bad as people think. There was a similar sentiment after the recent Mexico game, where he won 6/7 ground duels, was fouled three times, three recoveries, two blocks, etc.