Venice and Modena met in the Round of 64 of the Coppa Italia on Friday evening, with the visitors holding on for a 3-2 win after a frantic finish. The hosts had seemed set to progress, but two goals in three minutes from Modena turned the tie. It was a result that caught many observers off guard.
G. Ambrosino opened the scoring in the 17th minute, and Venice looked comfortable enough to control the tempo. But A. Adams pulled one back for Modena in the 26th, and Ambrosino restored the lead just before the break with a second in the 39th. And here's the thing — by then Venice had already logged 102 attacks against just 32 from their opponents.
The second half brought a flurry of changes around the hour mark. Venice brought on R. Haps and S. Sohm in the 58th minute, while Modena responded with four substitutions in a single window at the 74th. G. Brugman came on for the hosts in the 68th, and the game grew increasingly open as both sides searched for answers.
Modena's persistence paid off in the dying stages. J. Yeboah netted in the 83rd minute, and Adams completed his brace two minutes later to snatch a dramatic victory. The visitors had been outplayed in possession but were second to nothing in the penalty area when it mattered. They came for a cross they never reached, and yet somehow found the net.
The statistics tell a familiar story. Venice held 62 per cent possession and registered 10 shots on target compared to four, but their expected goals figure of 1.92 did not translate into a comfortable win. Modena created three big chances against two, and their goalkeeper made six saves to one. Shots accuracy sat at 0.43 for the hosts and 0.36 for the visitors — a narrow margin that decided everything.
Venice's recent form offered little reassurance. A 2-2 draw with Stade Brestois on August 8th and a 3-4 defeat to Saint-Étienne on the 1st suggested vulnerability at the back. Modena, meanwhile, had gone unbeaten in their last two outings, including a clean sheet against Vis Pesaro. By then the gap between the two sides on paper had narrowed considerably.
The result sends Modena through to the next round while Venice's cup campaign ends at the first hurdle. The hosts had played in driving rain conditions and had the game won inside twenty minutes, but football rarely rewards early dominance with clean sheets. The clean-sheet run came to an end for Venice, and the relationship between ambition and outcome is once again a complicated one.