Candreva show
A goal and an assist for Candreva as Lazio demolish Cesena
Also on this day: September 14, 1958, Lazio Juventus 2-0, Coppa Italia Semi Final. Lazio shock the "Old Lady" and now dream of historic silverware. Non Lazio Player of the day: John Charles
The season so far
Last season had not been good and Manager Vladimir Petkovic had been sacked half way through and replaced by veteran Edy Reja. The latter did not want to continue so Lazio had chosen Stefano Pioli for this year. A controversial decision. Pioli did not have an extensive CV but was considered to be a rising star.
As far as transfers were concerned, Lazio this year did their homework. New arrivals included right back Busan Basta (Udinese), full backs Stefan de Vrij (Feyenoord) and Santiago Gentiletti (San Lorenzo), left back Edson Braafheid (free transfer), midfielder Marco Parolo (Parma) and centre forward Filip Djordjevic (free transfer). Danilo Cataldi had also returned from his loan to Crotone.
Leaving Lazio were André Dias who had retired, Giuseppe Biava who had decided not to renew his contract plus a number of minor players such as Gael Kakuta, Emiliano Alfaro, Brayan Perea and Helger Postiga.
Lazio so far had played a round of Coppa Italia beating Bassano 7-0, thanks to a Keita Balde brace and goals from Antonio Candreva, de Vrij, Parolo, Basta and Miro Klose, and the first match of Serie A which Lazio had lost to Milan 3-1.
Today’s game was the second match of the season
The match: Sunday, September 14, 2014, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
First game of the season at the Olimpico and the first chance of the day was for Antonio Candreva who in the 8th minute whacked a free kick from miles out and goalkeeper Nicola Leali saved into corner. Seven minutes later it was still Candreva who created panic in the Cesena defence. Santiago Gentiletti passed the ball to the Italian, central and close to the box; his shot was wide.
The goal was in the air and arrived in the 19th minute. Braafheid from the left crossed into the box on the far post, Candreva volleyed the ball under the goalkeeper’s legs to make it 1-0 for Lazio.
Lazio insisted. In the 31st minute another cross from the left from Braafheid was headed over the bar by Senad Lulic
In the second half the Bosnian missed a colossal chance in the 52nd minute. Candreva stole the ball off Antonio Mazzotta on the right, went into the box and passed it to Keita Balde who was unable to make contact. In came Lulic, all alone, a penalty in movement, too high. Four minutes later Lazio made it two. Keita to Braafheid who saw Candreva’s movement towards the goal and passed the ball to him. The Biancoceleste winger ran towards the goal line and placed a perfect cross that was headed into the goal on the far post by Marco Parolo.
Candreva tried again a few minutes later but his shot was saved into corner by Leali. Cesena did absolutely nothing the entire game so Lazio made it three in the 90th minute. Felipe Anderson on the left to Miroslav Klose who ran into the box, stopped, looked up, saw that Stefano Mauri was racing in, ball to him, shot, goal, game over.
A good win for Lazio and a good game by all the new players.
Who played for Lazio
Berisha, Basta, de Vrij, Gentiletti, Braafheid, Parolo, Biglia, Lulic (70’ Mauri), Candreva, Djordjevic (60’ Klose), Keita (87’ Felipe Anderson)
Manager: Pioli
Who played for Cesena
Leali, Capelli, Lucchini, Volta, Renzetti (65' Giorgi), De Feudis (46' Mazzotta), Cascione, Coppola, Brienza, A. Rodriguez (46' Djuric), Marilungo
Substitutes: Agliardi, Bressan, Magnusson, Nica, Krajnc, Valzania, Perico, Carbonero, Ze' Eduardo, Garritano, Succi
Manager: Bisoli
Referee: Irrati
Goals: 19’ Candreva, 56’ Parolo, 90’ Mauri
What happened next
Lazio struggled in the beginning. In the following match Gentiletti got seriously injured and the Biancocelesti had difficulty in replacing him. But then things started to work out and Lazio ended the first part of the season in fifth place, two points behind third. More importantly, one could see that Felipe Anderson was in the form of his life and had been devastating in a few matches. It would get even better when Lazio won eight consecutive league games between mid February and mid April. They had overtaken Roma and were second. Not only was the Champions League a possibility, but even a direct qualification (with second place) seemed possible. But then Lazio were re-overtaken and it was all down to the derby to determine who would be second. Unfortunately Lazio lost and in the last game a point was needed at Napoli to secure third. Napoli on the other hand needed to win to overtake Lazio. At the end of the first half Lazio were winning 2-0, but in the second, Napoli equalised and were awarded a controversial penalty. Gonzalo Higuain missed it, and towards the end Lazio scored with Eddy Onazi and Miro Klose to clinch the match and third place.
There were big celebrations. Lazio had played very well all year and possibly deserved even more than third place, but controversial refereeing decisions, especially in Lazio-Inter 1-2, plus exhaustion towards the end did not allow it to happen.
Lazio had had a good run in Coppa Italia. After beating Varese in December 3-0 (Abdoulay Konko, Djordjevic and Felipe Anderson), they won against Torino away 3-1 (Keita, Klose and Cristian Ledesma) and beat Milan at San Siro in the quarter finals thanks to a Luca Biglia penalty. In the semi-final against Napoli Lazio drew at home the first leg 1-1 (Klose the scorer) and won in Naples 1-0 with a goal by Senad Lulic.
The final was at the Olimpico against Juventus. Lazio scored immediately with Stefan Radu but Juventus quickly equalised. In the first half of extra time Djordjevic hit the woodwork twice with one shot and Juventus scored immediately after. Lazio were very unlucky.
The players with most appearances were Miroslav Klose and Marco Parolo (40). The German was obviously top scorer with 16 goals
Lazio 2014-15
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals scored |
Serie A | 38 | 21 | 6 | 11 | 71 |
Coppa Italia | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 17 |
Total | 45 | 26 | 7 | 12 | 88 |
Top 5 appearances
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Klose | 40 | 34 | 6 |
Parolo | 40 | 34 | 6 |
Candreva | 38 | 34 | 4 |
Felipe Anderson | 37 | 32 | 5 |
de Vrij | 35 | 30 | 5 |
Top five goal scorers
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Klose | 16 | 13 | 3 |
Parolo | 11 | 10 | 1 |
Candreva | 11 | 10 | 1 |
Felipe Anderson | 11 | 10 | 1 |
Mauri | 9 | 9 | - |
Djordjevic | 9 | 8 | 1 |
Let's talk about Edson Braafheid
Edson Braafheid was born at Paramaribo in Suriname on April 8 1983. He started his professional career with Utrecht in 2003 and at the end of his first season as pro his team won the KNVB Cup on May 23, 2004, against Twente. In August they also won the Johan Cruijff Schaal. He stayed with Utrecht until January 2007 after 87 appearances and two goals, and moved to Twente.
After proving to be quite a good left back, with Twente he also showed skills as a central defender, attracting the attention of Bayern Munich. In June 2009 he left for Germany. He did not play much and in the winter transfer window he was loaned to Celtic. In this way he could get more playing time and could hence be called to participate in the 2010 World Cup. He then went back to Munich but in January he was sold to Hoffenheim. At the end of the 2011-12 season he was loaned to Twente and there he played the entire year. Back in Germany for the 2013-14 season, he did not play a single game the whole year.
In July 2014 he joined Lazio for a trial period and after a month he signed a contract with the Biancocelesti. He was a very valid alternative at left back and during the year he appeared 18 times. His annual contract was renewed for another year but in the 2015-16 he got very limited playing time. The times he was used, he was not up to par, especially considering the positive first season at Lazio.
In August 2016 he returned to Utrecht, where it had all started. But even there things did not go as planned and in January 2018 he announced he was going to retire. Braafheid however changed his mind six months later and signed for Austin Bold FC in the USL Championship. He stayed there until March 2020 when he decided not to renew his contract. In November 2020 he signed for Palm Beach Stars, a new club in the minor US leagues. On July 1, 2021 he announced his final retirement aged 38.
At international level, Braafheid was part of the team that won the European Under 21 championships of 2006. He debuted for Holland on February 11 2009 against Tunisia. He was selected to play in the Beijing Olympics but his club did not give him the permission to go. He however participated in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. He came on towards the end of the first half of extra time in the final against Spain.
Braafheid had a positive experience with Lazio at least for the first year. His second year was not as good but the team was not playing well either so perhaps it was not all his fault.
Lazio Career
Season | Total appearances | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
2014-15 | 18 | 16 | 2 |
2015-16 | 5 | 5 | - |
Total | 23 | 21 | 2 |
Sources
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