Z/Web

I wasn’t excited about watching this game and it turned out for good reason. Let me just put it this way: Southampton were the exciting team in the match, if that tells you anything. Charlton never even bothered to attack. The zero-zero draw was rather boring, though there were a couple nice chances, but nothing beat either keeper.

I expected this game to be high scoring: after all, it’s the league leaders against the team at the bottom of the league, but once again, nothing’s predictable in soccer. Bari played with heart, and Roma appeared to take the win too casually. The game didn’t get going until about 30 minutes in, but it was still highly dominated by Roma, though Bari managed a few times to make Roma’s keeper work for his pay. The first goal didn’t come until late in the second half, when, to the astonishment of Roma, Bari’s Mazzarelli brilliantly converted a free kick. After that Roma really began to try, but it seemed like too little too late. But then Bari gave Roma a gift by tripping Totti in the box, and Totti easily scored on the resulting penalty kick. The tie cut Roma’s lead in the league from 8 to six points, as Juventus won their weekend game.