Roma Women Return to Action Against Verona

When we last left the women of AS Roma, they were fresh off a bitter loss to Sassuolo in their inaugural match. Plagued by missed opportunities in attack, some inopportune lapses of concentration at the back and, naturally, a few penalties, the Giallorosse’s first ever match was oh so Roma; exhilarating, elating and painful to the bitter end. Betty Bavagnoli’s side may be new to the stage, but for one evening they stuck to the Roma script verbatim.

Still, as we wrote after the match, despite falling in their opener, there is an awful lot to like about this team. Bavagnoli’s side is creative, well organized and, my god, they are fast. Led by the speedy legs of Giada Greggi, Agnese Bonfantini and Annamaria Serturini, Roma will likely run circles around their opponents. And while they struggled to score in the run of play at times, forward Martina Piemonte was an ever present threat, working her way into high percentage scoring areas, so you get the feeling that it’s just a matter of time before that quartet starts producing goals regularly.

Verona v. Roma: October 14th. 15:00 CET/9:00 EDT. Stadio Olivieri, Verona.

Unfortunately for Roma, with international call-ups wreaking havoc on their roster, their home tilt against Tavagnacco was postponed, giving them an unexpected three week break, which makes predicting the form and function of Sunday’s match, let alone the outcome, almost impossible.

And, again, since this team is literally brand new, we have absolutely nothing to go on—why do I do this to myself—but in all seriousness, I am, as you may have noticed, quite excited about this new team. Even considering all the new anxieties and frustrations it brings, the new names, the new faces, the new tactics, the beautiful sponsor-less jerseys, all of it, it’s very exciting. It’s not often you get to build an entirely brand new football team, and as I mentioned at the outset, this team has all the looks of an exciting, attacking side.

And, given the newness of this venture, that’s all we have to go on...looks. Roma’s true identity will be revealed as the fixtures roll on—we’ll learn who the real leaders are, how the team responds to adversity, their tactical flexibility, etc—but for now, we have no option but to speculate, so you’ll have to forgive the amount of “gut” that’s going into these early write ups, but I just have a feeling their going to make waves sooner rather than later.

Speculation and intuition aside, as one of four clubs to go pointless in round one, Roma simply needs a win, and if their first match was any indication, they can’t leave anything to chance; they have to come right out and let their speed and creativity be their advantage.