Let’s Get It Started: Torino-Brescia

By: bingitz2002 | August 22nd, 2008

Amid all the talk about the upcoming Serie A season and this Sunday’s Super Coppa between Inter and Roma it’s easy to forget we have a competitive match tomorrow. That’s right, tomorrow perennial Serie B favorites Brescia come to the Olimpico to take on Torino and I intend to give you the lowdown on the game. Brescia is a club that should prove an interesting opponent, not only because they are a solid team once again favored to win Serie B, but because a number of the players and managers taking the field tomorrow have a number of connections to both clubs.

Note: The graphic is not mine - thanks to Tutto Toro for that.

Our Opponents

Brescia should be a team familiar to most fans of Italian football, most recently as the final home of one of the greatest Italian players of all time, Roberto Baggio, though he is not their only famous alumnus. Andrea Pirlo (a product of the youth system), Cristiano Doni, Luca Toni, Pep Guardiola, Gheorghe Hagi, Marek Hamsik, two current Torino players and one special member of the Toro staff have all featured for the biancoazzuri in the past. Brescia haven’t won much, a couple lower-league titles and an Anglo-Italian Cup, though they do have the slightly dubious distinction of having played in Serie B more seasons than any other team (51, if you were wondering). However, they have a strong squad and off-the-pitch problems have played a large part in their continued stay in Serie B after being relegated at the end of the 2004-2005. To reach this stage of the competition, Brescia defeated Lega Pro side Foligno 2-1.

The Toro-Brescia Connection

Many of the players and both the managers taking to the field on Saturday have a history with their adversaries. First off, both Eugenio Corini and Aimo Diana have featured for Brescia (1987-1990, 1994-95; 1996-99, 2000-01) and both came through their youth system to boot. Another former Brescia player featuring in tomorrow’s match is Gianni De Biasi, who enjoyed the peak of his career at Brescia between 1978 and 1983 and also managed Brescia from 2003-2005. On the flipside, Brescia attacker Davide Possanzini was a product of Torino’s youth system and striker Andrea Caracciolo has been linked with Toro many times over the past couple of years. Brescia manager Sesre Cosmi has had some experience with Torino when we defeated his Perugia side in the 2004-2005 Serie B promotion playoffs. Of course, both sides were later prevented from going anywhere after financial troubles. Lastly, new Torino director of sport Mauro Pederzoli has formerly worked at Brescia.

In terms of head-to-head record, Torino has 31 wins, 10 draws, and 13 losses in 54 matches played against Brescia. In the Coppa Italia Torino has triumphed 3 times, drawn once, and lost once. The last encounter between Toro and Brescia was a 1-0 win to Toro in Brescia during the 2005-2006 Serie B season with Elvis Abbruscato scoring, something which he could do again for Toro tomorrow. The last edition of this tie was played in the same season, with the two sides playing to a 1-1 draw at the Stadio Olimpico, Claudio De Sousa the goalscorer for Torino.

The Squads

Here are the players that Gianni De Biasi and Sesre Cosmi have called up for tomorrow:

Torino

Portieri: Calderoni, Sereni.
Difensori: Colombo, Di Loreto, Diana, Ogbonna, Pisano, Pratali.
Centrocampisti: Barone, Corini, Grella, Saumel, Zanetti.
Attaccanti: Abbruscato, Amoruso, Di Michele, Malonga, Rosina, Stellone.

Manager: Gianni De Biasi

Brescia

Questi i convocati: ARCARI, VIVIANO, BERARDI, DE MAIO, GORZEGNO, MARECO, RISPOLI, ZAMBELLI, MARTINEZ VIDAL, SALAMON, EL KADDOURI, MARTINA RINI, SZETELA, VASS, ZAMBRELLA, CARACCIOLO, FECZESIN, MACCAN, POSSANZINI, NSEREKO.

Manager: Sesre Cosmi

Probable Formations

Here are the probable formations for both teams (Toro’s is from Gazzetta dello Sport, I kinda just guessed at Brescia’s, so it could be way off):

Torino

————-Stellone
———–Rosina-Amoruso
——–Zanetti-Corini-Säumel
Pisano-Di Loreto-Pratali-Diana
—————Sereni

Brescia

———Caracciolo-Possazini
—————Morfeo
—-Zambrella-Vass-Dallamano
Gorzegno-Mareco-Bega-Martinez
—————-Viviano-

Key Players

Torino

Alessandro Rosina - Rosinaldo is a major reason as to why we have stayed up the past two seasons. On his day he is definitely Italy quality, though he has a few consistency issues to sort out. Nonetheless, he will be looking to start the season off on the right foot (left foot, actually) and weave some of his magic against Brescia. He can hit some wicked shots with a powerful left foot and has some magical dribbles up his sleeve. Rosina scored an important winning goal against Rimini at this stage of the competition last year so let’s hope he can repeat the act.

Brescia

Andrea Caracciolo - The Milan-born striker will be Brescia’s main striking threat and could pose serious problems for some of our defenders. He is very powerful in the air and Toro will have to guard closely against him, especially with the good service he will be getting from Domneico Morfeo, another important player for Brescia. Although he has never really impressed outside of Brescia, he is a force to be reckoned with playing for the rondinelle and will have to be watched carefully by the Toro defenders.

My Analysis

Brescia is certainly one of the toughest teams we could have faced in this round though they did struggle against a Foligno side newly promoted to the third division. Caracciolo and Morfeo will have to be watched while Hungarian midfielder Adam Vass will also be a threat. Azzurini Emiliano Viviano will be tough for our strikers to beat, fresh off an Olympic campaign leaving many of the players with something to prove. Nonetheless, I think we should win even if the way GDB has set up the attacking trident is a bit suspect, though it could even go to penalties. If Rosina and Amoruso can hook up though, we should be good. If we win, we will face the winner of the Crotone-Livorno tie, the winner going on to face Fiorentina. The referee will be Mauro Bergonzi of Genova.