Gianluca Busio is riding the goalscoring form of his career to date.
Busio scored on Saturday for the third-consecutive match as Venezia claimed a 1-0 home league victory over Ternana. The former Sporting KC homegrown logged 90 minutes alongside fellow U.S. men’s national team teammate Tanner Tessmann.
With fog engulfing the Stadio Pierluigi Penzo for majority of the match, Busio took advantage by slotting home the winning goal with six minutes to play. The 21-year-old’s right-footed shot landed into the bottom-right corner, giving Venezia its breakthrough goal on home soil.
Venezia would hang on for a crucial home three points in its question for promotion back to Serie A. Busio won four duels, drew two fouls, and created two offensive opportunities from his midfield position.
Venezia now sits third in the Serie B standings on 41 points with 16 matches to play.
Busio now has five goals and two assists in 21 league appearances, continuing to play a key role for the club.
Up next for Paolo Vanoli’s squad is a February 3 date with Parma.
With Tessman and Busio at Venezia, Lund at Palermo, and Giaocchini now in Como, there are now 3 of the top 6 teams in Serie B with an American connection. It’s still early but decent possibility of more Americans in Serie A next year.
They’re all so young, too. Giaocchini is the oldest at 23; Tessmann’s 22, and Lund and Busio are 21. None of them except (sort of) Giaocchini are speed merchants so they all look to have 10+ years ahead of them. They all have genuine quality, too. I thought Giaocchini was a lost cause but he rebounded nicely with Orlando last year and it’s good to see him taking another bite at the apple.
Serie B’s a pretty decent second tier, certainly better than the B2 or Ligue 2. It’s actually a notch below MLS level as a whole but the top-spending teams – Parma and Sampdoria – would land above any MLS team except Miami in terms of spending, and Venezia and Palermo would be well into the top third of MLS spenders. So there is good competition for spots on those squads, and the experience of living abroad and adapting to other cultures is huge for those guys and I would argue gives these guys a substantial leg up on players who just stay at home, even on good MLS squads.
Serie B is also a great shop window into Serie A, which MLS certainly is not.
Giaocchini was at St. Louis last year. Also, who wouldn’t want to live in Como. The stadium that Como play in sits right on Lake Como with the Alps jutting up all around.
Commented earlier but don’t see it.
Main points: Giaocchini was with St. Louis last year. Como is beautiful place to live, stadium right on the lake surrounded by the Alps.
Just as I suspected as soon as I repost I see the original.