Friday 30 November 2007

Serie B Week 15: Weekend Preview

The big game of the weekend in the Cadetti takes place at Brescia’s Stadio Rigamonti, but Bologna are the team to beat at the moment.

Brescia fans know better than to count their chickens, but they must have been stunned to see their promotion-chasing heroes taken to pieces by talent-shy Treviso. Serse Cosmi used his baseball cap to hide his red face during a 3-0 hiding and the outspoken boss will have told his men in no uncertain terms that they must bounce back this weekend.

However, the visitors are Chievo - another side with Serie A aspirations. The Flying Donkeys’ game against Pisa was played on a pitch more suited to water polo and set-pieces unsurprisingly prevailed in a 2-2 draw. The Verona outfit will travel with confidence for what is a local derby, if not a venomous one.


Pisa are comfortable in second place, but they will be severely tested when Lecce come calling. The Salentini eased past Ravenna and are in fifth place with a superb away record of four wins, one draw and one defeat on their travels. But precocious Pisa are scared of no-one and have the strike partnership of 13-goal phenomenon Jose Castillo and Roma-owned Azzurrini starlet Alessio Cerci – a terrifying combination.

Bologna are showing why they were pre-season title favourites. The Felsinei are now in third after beating Albinoleffe last week and have conceded just six goals all term. Serie B’s Scrooges travel to Bari who were hammered 3-0 by Modena last week and sit just above the relegation zone. Boss Giuseppe Materazzi is still at the helm, but, as scary as the Materazzi family can be, his days are surely numbered.

"I’m apprehensive, but not scared," the veteran boss explained. "After five good performances we messed up once and the problem isn’t that we lost 3-0, but that we didn’t take more from the five previous draws." Wise words.

In the weekend’s other action, Albinoleffe are waiting on a fitness test for star striker Massimo Cellino ahead of their game with Treviso on Tuesday and bottom side Cesena have a must-win clash against struggling Spezia.

Source: C4 Football Italia

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