LIVESTREAM: Italian Semifinal – Lazio Ducks @Milano Seamen, Sunday, June 23, 6p CEDT (12p EDT)

| American Football | 06/23/2019

The 6-3 Lazio Ducks face a daunting task as they head to Milan, Italy, Sunday, June 23 to take on the defending Italian champions, the 7-1 Milano Seamen in the second semifinal game in Italy’s Div. 1.

The last time these two teams played each other, Milano embarrassed the Ducks 51-0. In last year’s semifinal between the same two teams, the Seamen came away with a 45-13 win.

The Seamen demolished Lazio in that 51-0 victory on April 27. But that was a game where everything just fell apart for the Ducks and everything clicked beautifully for Milano. Seamen wide receiver Stefano di Tunisi had a field day in that game scoring three touchdowns and quarterback Luke Zahradka was on target all game long.

Lazio has come a long way since then though. Quarterback Tyler Johnson finished fourth in passing in the regular season in passing yardage with 1,463 yards and 17 TDs. In the wild card win against Parma, he threw for 254 yards and three touchdowns. He has a number of weapons including running back Mike Gentili who has finally returned from injury. He had 79 yards rushing against Parma. The “joker” is Lorenzo Melchiorre who was the game MVP with two touchdowns and an interception. Melchiorre can cause problems on both sides of the ball.

For the Seamen, apart from di Tunisi and Zahradka, who led the league in passing with 1,864 yards and 27 TDs, wide receiver Xavier Mitchell, who was third overall in average yards per game with 74.7, can break a game wide open. di Tunisi is a huge weapon and gained 596 yards in receiving, scoring 8 TDs. The Ducks will be facing the stingiest defense in the league. Milano allowed opponents only 13 points a game. Still, the Seamen can have their off days as witnessed by their loss to Parma when nothing seemed to go right.

Seamen head coach Michael Wood on being heavy favorites in this game:

“We know we are facing a different Lazio team this time. They were missing a few key players including Mike Gentili. We reminded our guys about the Golden State Warriors who were heavy favorites to win the NBA title and lost to Toronto. We have to go out and do the things we do best, execute our plays and play good solid football.”

However, the odds are in Milano’s favor.

Watch the game live here. Lazio Ducks @Milano Seamen, Sunday, June 23, 6p CEDT (12p EDT)

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