Como Women says goodbye to fifth place dream. Sottili: “The Poule Scudetto would have been the right reward for the team”
Como Women was defeated at the “Giuseppe Piccolo” in Cercola, losing 4-2 against Napoli, in the last match of the women's Serie A eBay regular season. A defeat that denies Stefano Sottili's team historic access to the Poule Scudetto.
The first half saw the Lakesiders being more proactive and dangerous. In the 7th minute, Como Women had the first big chance of the match with a first-time shot by Nischler, which went high over the crossbar. In the 17th minute, the first jolt for Napoli came from Andrup, who tried a shot in the area, but Gilardi stood out with a great reflex, denying the advantage goal to the opponents. Sottili's team grew and in the 35th minute almost took the lead first with Del Estal and then after a save from Bacic with a tap-in by Karlernäs, but the lead came at the end of the first half with Kramzar sneaking in ahead of Santoro in the area. The first half ended 1-0 in favour of the Lombardians.
However, the second half was a shock for Como Women, who suffered a comeback by Sassarini's team within three minutes with goals from Sliskovic and Banusic, the latter with a fantastic play in the area. The Lakesiders tried to equalise the match, with several long-range shots from Nischler and Petzelberger, but it was Kramzar again who made her mark with a goal to make it 2-2 in the 77th minute from a cross by Guagni. However, the match turned back in favour of the Neapolitans who immediately found the lead in the 80th minute with Jelcic and then sealed the 4-2 victory on the break with Moretti in the 83rd minute.
With this defeat, Como Women bids farewell to the dream of fifth place and finishes the regular season with 22 points, in sixth place in the standings.
The words of Stefano Sottili
On the moments of the match and the goals conceded: “It often happens in women's football: an episode that could influence the result, unfortunately, tends to affect the course of the entire match. This year, I have learned that improving this aspect is not at all easy, but it is a reality we have to face. On many occasions, when a negative episode occurs, another one often happens shortly afterwards, almost always to our detriment. If we want to raise our level of play, this is what we need to work on. Similar situations also occur in the stronger teams, like Roma, Juve or Inter, but we have to focus on ourselves. This is certainly an aspect we need to concentrate on to improve.”
On missing the Scudetto Pool by a hair's breadth: “At half-time were we fifth? There were still 50 minutes to play. It's not about getting close to the result; it's about achieving it. When you don't succeed, it's necessary to reflect further, analyze what we could have done better, but also on all the good that's been accomplished so far. If someone had told me at the start of the season that the team would be fighting for fifth place on the last day, I would have been very happy, and probably wouldn't have even believed it. Given how we got here, there's regret over not securing it. I believe this is a positive season in many ways: for the points obtained, for the style of play, for the individual and collective goals achieved that had never occurred before. However, there's a bit of regret for not putting the cherry on the cake, for not hitting the target. This must be within us because in the last few games we could have gained more, but that wasn’t the case. Congratulations to Milan for surpassing us. Now we need to recover the players and energy because we reached the crucial stage of the season a little 'short'. I want to publicly thank Petzelberger and Guagni who, despite physical difficulties, fully supported the team. For girls like them, setting such an example is truly valuable, and we can only thank them. And I want to emphasize the work of the medical staff too. For the rest, we move forward."
On the team's growth path and that of the individual players: “There are many positives to highlight. We've set the record for points in the regular season. Nischler was the first Como Women player to be called up to the Italian national team. Del Estal has eight games left to beat her record of 6 goals in a season. There are many elements to emphasize on this journey. However, with the awareness of our journey, we must also realize that the cherry on the cake would have been remaining in the top five, a great reward for the girls. There are those who did better than us, and we must congratulate them. Now we have a bit of time to recover our psycho-physical energy and continue on our path against opponents who will test us. We will need to roll up our sleeves and fight because, at this point, I am not satisfied, and I hope the girls also aren't satisfied with what's been achieved so far. We must fight to maintain the sixth place, which will be very complicated. Teams like Lazio and Sassuolo have top-level squads, and this will require all our energy and quality".
The words of Ds Miro Keci
“It's really a pity because we got to the last minute of the regular season to compete with Milan for the Scudetto Pool. We wasted three match points; we must congratulate those who reached the top five, it's probably right. Where do we start again? From what was done in the first part of the championship where we did things beyond any expectation. If we did it in the first matches it means that the quality is there, surely in the future, we will have to work on the mentality”.
Match Summary
Napoli Line-up: 42 Bacic; 2 Lundorf, 44 Pettenuzzo, 4 Sliskovic, 27 Santoro; 8 Breitner (70’ Bellucci), 13 Muth, 10 Banusic (75’ Di Giammarino); 28 Moretti (94’ Novellino), 12 Andrup (75’ Sciabica), 9 Kullashi (75’ Jelcic). Manager: David Sassarini
Substitutes: 1 Beretta, 3 Sandvej, 7 Novellino, 11 Jelcic, 19 Sciabica, 21 Di Giammarino, 23 Bellucci, 90 Langella, 99 Gianfico.
Como Women Line-up: 22 Gilardi; 2 Marcussen, 24 Rizzon, 44 Bou I Salas, 3 Guagni; 16 Karlernäs (65’ Picchi), 27 Petzelberger, 20 Vaitukaityte (76’ Kerr); 7 Nischler (65’ Engman), 33 Kramzar; 9 Del Estal. Manager: Stefano Sottili
Substitutes: 6 Bergersen, 11 Conc, 12 Aprile, 13 Liva, 17 Sagen, 19 Engman, 21 Picchi, 23 D’Agostino, 25 Marchiori, 28 Kerr, 30 Ruma, 36 Soggiu.
Goal Scorers: 44’ Kramzar (Como Women), 49’ Sliskovic (Napoli), 52’ Banusic (Napoli), 77’ Kramzar (Como Women), 80’ Jelcic (Napoli), 83’ Moretti (Napoli)
Yellow Cards : 14’ Santoro (Napoli), 84’ Bacic (Napoli), 86’ Kramzar (Como Women), 90’ Bou I Salas (Como Women)
Red Cards : 0
MVP : Jelcic
Referee and Assistants : Stefano Milone, Angelo Tomasi, Simone Mino and Alessio Artini
