Sunday, November 2, 2003
Di Vaio's revival
Roberto Gotta
It probably says a lot about Marco di Vaio's confidence these days that he scored his wonder goal against Milan on Saturday with his less-favoured foot, the left one.
It may well have been seen many times around the world, by now. With Juventus 1-0 down with five minutes to go at Milan's San Siro, the visitors took a quick free kick after a foul on Pavel Nedved in midfield.
Di Vaio dummied and let the ball go through for David Trezeguet, who flicked it to his colleague and turned away, perhaps hoping to outrun his marker and get a return pass inside the area, but Di Vaio had other ideas, or perhaps it was not an idea, it was simply an instinctive act of sporting genius, bursting into the realm of sheer madness.
Di Vaio struck the falling ball first-time from outside the area, in a motion that should be copied and shown to aspiring strikers all over the world, and sent it past Dida into the top right corner of the goal.
His celebration included pointing an index finger to each side of his head in the international sign language indicating craziness, as if to admit the sheer idea of trying a volley with his left foot among converging Milan defenders had been just, well, crazy.
Funnily enough, after a listless opening 45 minutes, Di Vaio - who's at his best when running into space or popping up at the near post - had had two easier-looking chances earlier in the second half, without scoring: a right foot volley which had grazed the outside of Dida's left post, and a far post header which the in-form keeper had somehow pushed out in full flight.
Getting Juventus a priceless equaliser is yet another stepping stone in a season which could propel Di Vaio into the full squad for Italy's trek to the Euro 2004 finals.
He'd scored last month in the Azzurri's 4-0 win over Azerbaijan, a game in which Giovanni Trapattoni's side barely needed to break a sweat, but he's never held up a regular place, not with Bobo Vieri, Pippo Inzaghi, Francesco Totti and Juventus team mate Alex Del Piero blocking his ambitions of a regular first-team shirt.
Ironically, it was Del Piero's injury in the opening minutes of Juventus' 2-2 home draw with Roma on September 21 that opened the way for the Rome-born striker, who went in after a quarter of an hour and immediately scored both his side's goals.
One goal in the opening game against Empoli after coming on as a sub for Del Piero, one against Reggina, braces against Roma and Real Sociedad, the cannon strike at the San Siro and now... it's back to the bench, in all probability. Del Piero is fit again and will take his place in the side, and where does that leave Di Vaio?
Not alone among top Serie A sides, Juventus, as is becoming coach Marcello Lippi's policy, change their formation and players constantly, according to their opponents and to the importance of the match.
This season, between the home league and the Champions League, they have started in a 4-2-3-1 twice, in a 4-3-2-1 and 4-4-1-1 once and in a 4-4-2 seven times: Di Vaio has played as lone striker supported by Nedved, and as part of the 4-4-2 along with Trezegut or Miccoli.
Juventus do not have a natural substitute for Trezeguet, who has enough physical presence and height to be deployed as a lone striker supported - in Lippi's ideal tactical choice - by three advanced midfielders-cum-forwards, like Camoranesi, Nedved and Del Piero.
Oddly enough, the latter's absence gives Juventus fewer headaches than Trezeguet's, as Di Vaio and Miccoli, each with different skills, can all stand in for Del Piero, while no-one, not even Uruguayan Marcelo Zalayeta, can duplicate the Frenchman's attitude as a front runner.
It could be a breakthrough for Di Vaio, or perhaps not: Del Piero will be back in the side next week and Juventus will again have no less than five attack-minded players in their squad: Trezeguet, Del Piero, Miccoli, Di Vaio and Nedved, with Zalayeta still recovering from a knee injury.
Ironically, it had been Zalayeta's setback in early August that had first paved the way for Di Vaio's comeback. There had been talk all summer of him being sent away on loan - or for good - in exchange for another forward, since apparently Milan, Lazio and Sampdoria had enquired about his availability. But this was probably another spurious bit of 'calciomercato' chatter, which sadly still fuels more of the Italians' interest than the calcio itself.
After all, had they not believed in Di Vaio, Juventus would not have picked up the option to retain Di Vaio that they had inserted in the deal which took the striker to Turin from Parma in late August 2002, once more - bizarrely - as a consequence of physical problems to one of their players.
Trezeguet had fallen victim to the first of his many ailments, and Di Vaio had just scored against the Bianconeri in the Italian Supercup played in Libya: after seeing him run rings around their own central defender, Juventus directors immediately signed him for 26m euros and the two-year loan of Matteo Brighi.
Given a starting place despite being a different player from Trezeguet, Di Vaio managed to score twice in the Champions League against both Feyenoord and Dynamo Kiev, but also suffered a concussion in the home match against Newcastle United and spent some time on the sidelines.
When Trezeguet regained his fitness, Di Vaio went back among the second choices and a brief revival when Del Piero got injured in February was halted by Di Vaio's own fitness troubles after a collision with team mate Alessandro Birindelli in training.
He ended up scoring seven goals in 26 games, his disappointing second half of the season only rescued by the goal against Perugia that gave Juventus their Scudetto on May 10.
Even before Del Piero's injury, Di Vaio had appeared hungrier, stronger and more positive than before. And his revival may well set him on course for a fruitful season.
soccernet
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I think now Marco showed everyone who attacked him, that he is GREAT!
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