Lecce, Camarda alone: more shadows than lights

Lecce-UAE National Team 1-3

LECCE: Fruchtl (14'st Falcone), Kouassi (14' Veiga), Ndaba (40'st Addo), Gaspar, Berisha (14' Helgason), Morente (14'st N'Dri), Camarda (14'st Krstovic), Coulibaly (14'st Kaba), Tiago Gabriel (18'st Perez), Pierotti (1'st Banda), Pierret (14'st Ramadani). Available: Samooja, Penev, Rafia, Maleh, Gorter, Ubani, Kovac, Esposito. Coach Di Francesco.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES NATIONAL TEAM: Eisa (17'st Almeqbaali), Pimenta (12'st Alhammadi), Kouame (1'st Suarez), Ramadan (12'st Hunt), Lucas Caio (12'st Alvaro De Oliveira), De Menezes (1'st Amaral), Nader (1'st Saleh), Gimenez (12'st Ivkovic), Alghassani (12'st Bruno De Oliveira), Luan Pereira (1'st Almusharrkh), Meloni. Available: Khaseif, Mohamed, Neves, Caio Canedo, Akonnor. Coach Olaroiu.

REFEREE: Yayar (Austria).

GOALS: 2' pt Alghassani, 18'pt Lucas Caio, 21'pt Camarda; 42'st Bruno De Oliveira.

Lecce lost 1-3 in the friendly match played in Jenbach, Austria, against the United Arab Emirates national team. Their performance was more shady than bright, with a few interesting flashes, but it was marred by too many errors in timing and serious defensive blunders. The second half was good, but the start was terrible. In the second half, the lapses in possession and on the way out increased. The mitigating factors for Gaspar and his teammates were their precarious fitness, due to the heavy workload, and the fact that, with Baschirotto out and Gallo out with a hamstring, Di Francesco fielded a completely new defense.

The Pescara coach fields Fruchtl between the posts, Kouassi on the right, Ndaba (a new signing immediately thrown into the mix due to Gallo's forfeit) on the left, Gaspar and Tiago Gabriel in the center, in the back four, Coulibaly, Pierret and Berisha in midfield, Pierotti, Camarda and Morente in the attacking trident.

The Giallorossi (in white jerseys) forgot to… take the field and were down 0-1 after two minutes. Kouassi made a clumsy tackle on Alghassani in the box, resulting in a penalty that, converted by Alghassani, gave the UAE the lead. Lecce appeared stunned and struggling to organize, but in the ninth minute they created a sensational opportunity. Morente crossed from the left with a ball that was just waiting to be scored, but Coulibaly, with the entire net at his disposal, headed the ball past the opposing goalkeeper. With the score at 1-1 lost, Di Francesco's men conceded a second goal, scored by Lucas Caio, who was guiltily left alone in the penalty area. In the 21st minute, an incident that woke Lecce up. Pierotti entered the penalty area from the right and was naively brought down by Kouassi. The referee pointed to the spot, and Camarda converted the penalty, wrong-footing Eisa. The goal fired up the Salento side, who raised their center of gravity and pressed forward, attempting to exploit the flanks, putting Olaroiu's side under pressure. In the 33rd minute, at the height of a confusing move, the Giallorossi team scored the 2-2 with a diagonal shot from the "usual" Camarda, but Yayar cancelled it out, mimicking a handball from the former Rossoneri player. A highly dubious decision.

In the early stages of the second half, which began with Banda (in place of Pierotti) on the left, with Morente subsequently shifting to the right, Lecce attempted to press for an equalizer, but never found the right opportunity to inflict damage in the opposition's half. Then, Di Francesco's 14th-minute substitution, far from providing fresh energy for the Salento side, merely led to confusion, resulting in some glaring blunders. In the 22nd minute, Saleh severely tested the substitute Falcone, and as the play unfolded, Ndaba nearly scored an own goal with a header that hit the top corner. In the 27th minute, the Roman goalkeeper again saved Saleh, who, surrounded by three Giallorossi players, found space in the box and fired a diagonal shot. In the 42nd minute, a gift from Perez, who had replaced Tiago Gabriel, allowed Bruno De Oliveira to secure the final score at 1-3.