Cacace had a barnstorming couple of minutes in attack here. His team feeling aggrieved at a penalty decision, but have got back to parity and have had a few waves of attack with Libby heavily involved.
Cacace had a barnstorming couple of minutes in attack here. His team feeling aggrieved at a penalty decision, but have got back to parity and have had a few waves of attack with Libby heavily involved.
Full game as S-T (10th) draw 2-2 with Anderlecht (5th). S-T with a late 94th min equaliser.
Subbed on at 62 mins (score 0-1), in a 1-2 loss to top of the table Union Saint-Gilloise.
S-T (11th) scored their goal a min after Cacace came on, but conceded again at 73 mins. Libby actually came on for S-T's Japanese RB. Maybe the starting LB switched sides.
Subbed on around the hour mark in 1-2 home loss to Union St Gilloise. Came on as usual left wing-back role, though the guy who started in that role, Aboubakary Koita, stayed on and was just switched sides, so seems he could keep his spot. A bit surprising that Koita is ahead of Cacace, as he’s apparently quite one-dimensional and very one-footed, but must be doing something right.
Union are very much the fairy tale story in Belgian football at the moment, as they only got promoted last season from Pro League B, and this is their first top flight season for 49 years, yet currently sit 7 points clear of Antwerp and Club Brugge in second and third. Union are very much a case of team being better on grass than paper, as they don’t really have any guys that stood out prior to this year. Their top player for example, Deniz Undaz, who scored both goals today, hasn’t really played at a high level before (German Regionalliga and 3. Liga) yet has 16 goals and 9 assists in 16 games this season.
Either way, Sint Truiden are 11th, but could drop to 14th but the end of the matchday. It’s quite tight in the middle though, so they are still only one point off 8th place, which gets them into the Europa Conference League playoffs. These work by teams placed 5th-8th having their points halved and then having a further 6 home/away fixtures against each other, with the winner getting a second round Conference League playoff spot. So still very much in the running for Europe next season.
Tutto Mercato Web: “Torino is considering a new addition on the left wing. This is the New Zealander Liberato Cacace, full-back who currently plays in the Belgian Jupiler League, more precisely in Sint-Truiden. The need to sell by the club can accelerate the operation, also because the valuation is less than 2 million euros. Cacace, of Italian origins, also played in the Tokyo 2021 Olympics and is the first choice for [Torino Sporting Director] Davide Vagnati's Toro.”
"This needs to happen, please. Libby Cacace to Serie A is obviously a dream for a dude of strong Italian heritage. Already mentioned that he turned down interest from the Juve academy a while back, preferring senior football. Now here comes Torino getting in amongst the conversations ahead of the January transfer window. The same club who recently picked up Matt Garbett for their U19s team. You can already picture Libby and Andrea Belotti getting on like a house on fire.
Cacace has fallen out of the starting team for STVV. Hasn’t been part of the walk-on team since late October, his last four appearances all coming off the bench with Aboubakary Koita getting picked ahead of him at LWB – Koita being more of an attacker, even scoring against Antwerp a couple games ago. Cacace’s lack of goals and assists has been something he’s worked hard on over his time in Belgium and this Koita thing does seem to suggest they’re trying a different option to boost that balance. But also maybe Libby’s being primed for a departure?
The Sint-Truiden model of operating does involve signing prospects like Cacace in order to sell them later at a profit. It’s why they were happy to pay a decent fee for him in the first place. A lot of those prospects are Japanese players given an avenue into European footy (the club has Japanese ownership) but there are other international dudes like Cacace in there too. American Chris Durkin is probably the main guy.
The best example of this strategy is a fella you may have heard of named Takehiro Tomiyasu. Playing super footy for Arsenal these days, he was signed by STVV for roughly the same fee as they paid for Cacace and then sold on to Bologna for €9m only 18 months later. Two year after that he signed for Arsenal for something in the range of £16m. They’re talking about holding our for around €5m for Cacace although this is all mere speculation at this point."
Torino are doing well this year in Serie A. I still don't know if Libby would be ready to be honest. The worst thing for him would be to be thrown to the wolves like Brillante at Fiorentina. I would love for him to make it to Italy and he's on the right trajectory. I just wonder if now is the right time. The Serie A has gone down in recent years but the level of athleticism and tactical knowledge is incredible. I guess we'll wait and see. Libby has shown to have a really good head on his shoulders and must be well advised so I'm sure he'll take the best option
Torino are doing well this year in Serie A. I still don't know if Libby would be ready to be honest. The worst thing for him would be to be thrown to the wolves like Brillante at Fiorentina. I would love for him to make it to Italy and he's on the right trajectory. I just wonder if now is the right time. The Serie A has gone down in recent years but the level of athleticism and tactical knowledge is incredible. I guess we'll wait and see. Libby has shown to have a really good head on his shoulders and must be well advised so I'm sure he'll take the best option
He needs to get out of STVV as soon as possible, so I'd take this shot if I were him. Fans really don't like him, and he's out of favour as the style of WB they play doesn't suit him. Ola Aina would need to leave Torino for this move to really be a winner, though, not sure how well he's doing but he's young and in the way of Libby
Libby excels in dominant teams as a primary attacking option, or close to. He'll get that more in Torino than in STVV I reckon with how high they play their wide players. Juric is an absolutely awesome coach from everything I've heard so that helps
Juric is very very good and Torino play quite well but they have to be very defensive minded when the play all the big teams. He wouldn't start for quite a while either. Does he want to go and risk riding the pine for a year or two? Serie A is very very tough. I wonder if he would prefer Spain or France or The Netherlands first maybe
Edit - 81st sub as S-T (11th) draw 2-2 with Cercle Brugge (16th).
Cacace the hero with a late 97th min goal!! S-T down 1-2 when he came on.
Apparently one of main reasons he'd been benched lately was his lack of goals/assists! Gonna be interesting to see if those Torino rumours have some legs.
Note AP's comment below made when I posted S-T had lost 1-2, and Cacace an unused sub. Soccerway made some late changes to match summary.
Torino are doing well this year in Serie A. I still don't know if Libby would be ready to be honest. The worst thing for him would be to be thrown to the wolves like Brillante at Fiorentina. I would love for him to make it to Italy and he's on the right trajectory. I just wonder if now is the right time. The Serie A has gone down in recent years but the level of athleticism and tactical knowledge is incredible. I guess we'll wait and see. Libby has shown to have a really good head on his shoulders and must be well advised so I'm sure he'll take the best option
He needs to get out of STVV as soon as possible, so I'd take this shot if I were him. Fans really don't like him, and he's out of favour as the style of WB they play doesn't suit him. Ola Aina would need to leave Torino for this move to really be a winner, though, not sure how well he's doing but he's young and in the way of Libby
Libby excels in dominant teams as a primary attacking option, or close to. He'll get that more in Torino than in STVV I reckon with how high they play their wide players. Juric is an absolutely awesome coach from everything I've heard so that helps
Agree 100%, he needs to leave ST ASAP. He's definitely good enough for Serie A.
TBH I’d noticed it in his play a bit- the odd bullocking run, but not finding the final pass or shot. He didn’t seem as direct as he sometimes did at the Nix. Decision making the kind of thing the coach should be working on and with other players getting an instinctive feel for.
At the Nix he was a hometown academy boy so was always going to get the love. Perhaps needs to think about how to get the fans and teammates onside (though I’m sure he is already)- as if they like/respect you combinations and end product is usually better! Also the way a dip is treated goes differently.
I dunno- he didn’t seem vintage for the AWs either. First overseas club etc etc maybe not his best 2nd home yet.
Nice strike Libby, for his disallowed goal. Seems a team mate was deemed offside after ref reviewed with VAR. S-T coach spitting the dummy sideline getting a card.
Eventful little cameo for Cacace, drawing a foul that saw a Cercle Brugge player get sent off (2nd yellow) just prior the non goal.
Hopefully all enough to get him back in the starting lineup. Or as I think Niche Cache may have speculated, is he on his way out of Belgium come January, so S-T giving the other LB game time, in anticipation of Libby leaving??
Impressive cameo on the weekend sees Libby return to the starting lineup as S-TV (13th) visit Anderlecht (5th).
20 yr Joshua Zirkzee who was at Bayern with Singh, upfront for Anderlecht. Looks like he’s also on a loan deal, and has 8 league goals in Belgium this season.
Libby looked like he had a fairly good game from the highlights I saw. Should have had an assist with a wonderful cross that saw two of his teammates get in each other’s way. Made some good other runs that weren’t rewarded. If he’s not getting interest with that kind of play the scouts aren’t doing their jobs.