I'm sure there are teams more frustrating to support than Napoli. Genoa, for instance. Novara, that must be pretty hard. But the thing is, those teams don't bring your hopes sky-high only to send them crashing to the ground (at least, not recently). Napoli, on the other hand, were headed for third place with all three points against AS Roma when they conceded a late-game equaliser to Fabio Simplicio. Two more minutes, Napoli. Two more and you could've been sitting comfortably. Instead, the 2-2 draw means there's no way the partenopei will sit solo in third-place by the end of round 35. With a win at Udinese, Lazio could pull away, while an Udi win puts them even with Napoli. You do the math on a draw.
Roma Vs. Napoli, 2012 Serie A: Another Day, Another Napoli Let-Down
The scoring began just before the halftime whistle, when Marquinho got on the end of a Aleandro Rossi cross to beat Morgan De Sanctis. This sort of thing typically fires up Napoli -- that or the lashing they get from Walter Mazzarri during the interval -- and sure enough, Camilo Zuniga grabbed the equaliser just after the restart. And what a goal, too, a rocket from the edge of the area that easily evaded Bogdan Lobont.
But it's just not a Napoli game until El Matador steps up. The partenopei poured forth, desperate for all three points. It was Edinson Cavani that put them ahead, of course, taking advantage of a listless Simon Kjær to send in a magnificent curling shot.
Once again, though, Napoli were made to pay for the chances they just couldn’t convert -- and for a defence that just can’t stand up to quality play. Sloppy, so sloppy at times, that Napoli back line...and Fabio Simplicio managed to get behind and evade DeSanctis with an easy little volley. Should the partenopei manage to pull off third in the end, they’ll need to prop up that defence if they want to seriously compete in the Champions League next season.
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