Sunday afternoon was Milan Futuro's first Serie D city Derby with Group B rivals Club Milano. With two games in hand, Milan Futuro were secretly poised to jump into second place should they continue winning and win both of those matches as well. However, just before they were ready to launch their two week ascension on the table, the first team had an injury crisis of apocalyptic proportions. Amorim was forced to call up five of Milan Futuro's best players for their trip to Udinese on Sunday, which meant they were not available for Navarro. That proved costly for Futuro, because, despite an early lead, Milan Futuro drew 1-1 with Club Milano. And it is impossible not to believe the match would have gone very differently with these missing persons.
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| With so many players missing, it almost felt lucky to even be able to field a starting 11. |
Due to injuries in the first team, Luca Menon, Perera, Silvano Vos, Malick Cissè, and Captain Ossola were all missing for this match. That is on top of the injured Castiello, Di Siena, and Karaca, who are all out with lengthy recoveries. Obviously, the first team takes priority, but given that half of Futuro's starters merely traveled to Udinese to sit on the bench and did not play in either match felt costly toward Milan Futuro's bid toward promotion this season. Particularly with Club Milano coming into this match near the relegation spots in Group B.
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| Asanji got the party started. |
All seemed like it would be right in the world when Asanji opened up the scoring with a powerful header in the 25th minute. 1-0 Milan Futuro. A few minutes later. Cappelletti's effort was deflected dangerously, and Club Milano's goalkeeper forced into a great save to push it over the crossbar. Pagliei was shown a yellow card, but it was still 1-0 for Futuro at halftime.
Things continued to be physical, with Zukić earning a yellow card in the 48th minute. Just a minute later, Club Milano went down to 10 men when Ferrante was shown a red card for a bad tackle on Borsani. Borsani himself saw yellow in the 55th. With only three outfield players on the bench, Navarro had to carefully use his subs, and the first was to send Pandolfi on for Idrissi in the 64th. Cappelletti had another shot saved, then Federico Colombo replaced Borsani.
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| Cappelletti nearly made it two goals for Futuro a couple of times. |
Navarro's final sub was in the 78th minute, when he brought the 16 year-old Borsa on to replace Gernier. Bonomi took a shot from distance that unfortunately went over. In the 87th, Borsa also attempted from distance, but his shot was saved. Then, despite managing the first 89 minutes with such a sparse squad, Futuro conceded. It was the 90th minute, and from a free kick, Conti took a shot 1v1 with Pittarella, who saved the first effort, but Conti's second shot did not miss. 1-1 all. Captain Sala was shown a yellow card in the 94th minute. Brief highlights are available, or you can stream the full match replay.
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| Navarro doing all he can with a virtually empty bench. |
Milan Futuro have been playing so well under Navarro. And this was a very winnable match, so definitely feels like two senseless points dropped. Everyone is talking about the injury crisis in the first team, but I don't think people realize what it is costing this fantastic Futuro team, who really seem to be building a strong team identity and unity that could actually potentially help them earn promotion this season. And they, too, have a rough schedule for the next two weeks, playing every three days. But they won't be able to do it if their best players keep getting pulled to sit on the bench for Amorim. They can't do it with so many missing persons.
This post inspired by the music of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Heads Will Roll"
Pavonese vs. Milan Futuro
Wednesday, October 28 • 17:30 CET (12:30pm EDT)*
Wednesday, October 28 • 18:30 CET (1:30pm EDT)*