Dumped out of the Champions League in midweek, Juventus saw their Serie A title hopes suffer a hammer blow on Saturday as they slumped to a 3-1 defeat at Bari to miss a chance to go second.
Ciro Ferrara’s side looked every bit a side suffering a Euro hangover as they struggled to find any rhythm on a heavy pitch and after just seven minutes the Zebras were behind, Riccardo Meggiorini slamming home after eluding a curiously sluggish backline.
After 23 minutes it was all square, as French veteran David Trezeguet leveled from close range after Diego’s effort was half scrambled clear by keeper Jean-Francois Gillet.
World Cup-winning defender Fabio Cannavaro, however, then clumsily fouled Paulo Vitor Barreto and he dusted himself off to strike his penalty past keeper Gianluigi Buffon to send the home fans at the Stadio San Nicola wild.
Five minutes after the restart, Gillet did superbly to block an effort from Trezeguet, before Tiago Mendes fired a great chance wide as Juve tried to respond.
Sergio Almiron then looked to have inadvertently handed the Old Lady a lifeline when he fouled Fabio Grosso in the penalty area, but Diego, seemingly distracted by a laser light in the crowd, fired his spot-kick over the bar.
Juve seemed flattened by that miss and Bari then sealed the points when, from a Pedro Kamata corner, Jose Martin Caceres could only clear as far as Almiron, who completed the shock result with a low drive that eluded everyone including a stock-still Buffon.
Having last week beaten leaders Inter, Juve undid much of that good work as they stay stuck on 30 points from 16 games, five behind Inter and one behind AC Milan.
In Saturday’s other game, there was likewise no shortage of goals as Cagliari and Napoli shared six after the visitors threw away a two-goal lead and then snatched a point with a Mariano Bogliacino strike six minutes into injury-time.
The draw left Napoli seventh — one of six clubs on 24 points — with Cagliari a point further back.
The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
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