Brace yourself blogging world!! After Soccerlens, the great Marco Pantanella has conquered yet another mountainous peak and landed at… The Offside. Ok using ”great” and “mountainous peak” might be exaggerating a tad, but it looked cool when I wrote it.
For those of you have been living under a rock since the 2006 World Cup, The Offside is a blogging network which… Ah, why bother? I’ll just copy-paste their “About” page here below (yeah, the great Marco Pantanella is also a big lazy bum):
The Offside is part of the BootsnAll Travel Network. The site will take a humorous (we think), irreverent (we think) and occasionally insightful (possibly) look at club football from leagues around the world. If there is a sex scandal in England, we’ll be stuck in the middle of it. If a player is traded for a thousand pounds of beef in Romania, we’ll cook the steak. If something interesting happens in MLS, we’ll be just as surprised as you.
Launched after the success of the World Cup Blog, which featured a blogger for each of the 32 teams in the 2006 tournament, as well as one about the referees and another for general tournament news, The Offside will follow the major football leagues from around the world, with an ever-growing community of individual team blogs and a general football blog on the front page.
Now you’ll say: “Ok great Marco thanks for the background info, but where does Alessandro Del Piero fit in all this?”
(From Gazzetta): For the 4th consecutive season Roma will once again face Inter in the Coppa Italia final. The only difference this time around will be that the umpteenth encounter between Spalletti’s men and those of Mancini will be decided by a single match (no more double legs in finals) to be played at the Stadio Olimpico of Rome on May 24. But before they got there Roma had to first dispose of Catania, something that the Giallorossi achieved without too much heartache, as they scored first at Stadio Angelo Massimino and kept their cool after the Elefanti drew level.
CHOICES AND AIMS - When a team reaches the Coppa semi-final after never having been so far in the competition, one would expect the team in question to field their best possible line-up, especially if the prize (besides pride, glory and all that crap) is a place in next season’s UEFA Cup. Catania however were in no way tempted by European dreams and rested numerous first team players, their Serie A match away to Juventus firmly in mind: The main aim of the Sicilian club is in fact to avoid relegation and retain their Serie A status for next season, but it was certainly a real pity not to be able to assist to a game played by the best possible Catania side, especially when Roma’s 1-0 first leg win (thanks to a goal by Francesco Totti) had left their chances of reaching the final very much intact. Every manager however, obviously has the right to make the choices he retains wisest…
THE LINE UPS - Speaking of that manager, for tonight’s match Walter Zenga put his faith in Inácio Piá in attack, supported by the two Giuseppe’s (Mascara and Colucci). In defence Lorenzo Stovini was given a round of rest, while in midfield there were places for Mariano Julio Izco and Marco Biagianti. Not that Roma fielded their strongest team either: forced to play Christian Panucci and Marco Cassetti as his central defensive pairing (due to the injury of Juan and Philippe Mexes’s suspension), Luciano Spalletti chose to field Cicinho and Vitorino Antunes at right and left back. In midfield, Matteo Brighi partneredDaniele De Rossi, while Alberto Aquilani playing second striker behind Mirko Vucinic. Completing the line up were Simone Perrotta and Ludovic Giuly on the left and right wings respectively, while Pizarro and Mancini were left on the bench.
A GOAL A PIECE - The initial exchanges were played at a rather slow tempo, with Roma looking to retain possession and create changes and Catania cautious and not too willing to attack. The game continued in this manner until the 26th minute, when Izco showed more than just a little inexperience by (unnecessarily) tripping Vucinic inside the penalty box. Alberto Aquilani then made no mistake from the penalty spot, and put the Giallorossi in the lead. 1-0 Roma (and 2-0 aggregate).
Catania fans did not have to wait long for their team’s reply however, as Cristian Silvestri was at hand just a couple of minutes later to score with a perfect header and level the score. 1-1. At this point Catania really had nothing to lose (they needed two more goals to go through), and the team began to push forward with much more conviction. Without troubling Roma too much before the break however, as the first 45 minutes ended in a draw.
DULL SECOND HALF- After the break however it was all Roma as the Giallorossi came very close to scoring on a number of occasions, first through Aquilani assisted by Giuly, then through Perrotta smartly getting behind Vucinic’s pass. On both occasions Catania’s nº1 Albano Bizzarri managed to keep his side in the game. The woodwork then came to the Argentine goalkeeper’s aid in minute 57, when Perrotta’s header connected with a cross and sent the ball on the upper right corner.
The remainder of the half did not offer much excitement: there were a number of changes but very little in terms of scoring chances (a few for Roma and zero for Catania). In addition, neither team seemed willing to put more energy into changing the course of the game, and eventually the referee called full time. In the end, it will be the same old story all over again: Roma in the cup final against Inter. Let’s just hope that on May 24 at the Olimpico, the Coppa Italia will be able to provide just a little bit more entertainment than this. No doubt that Roma will have added motivation after Inter’s (almost certain now) Scudetto celebrations.
In Italian, there’s an expression that perfectly defines the nature of Inter’s Coppa Italia performance of Wednesday night: “massimo risultato con il minimo sforzo“, which translates to “maximum results with the minimum amount of effort”. Any additional comment would be superfluous.
Ok fine, I’ll tell you just a little bit more. To use the words of Gazzetta (who defined the team as “an expert vulture, awaiting its prey to punish it“), the Nerazzurri played the ‘waiting game’ on Wednesday night. It’s really a fun little game, and it goes something like this: “let your opponents run around the pitch, allow them to keep ball possession & create most of the scoring chances, then rely on them missing those chances and hit them on the counter-attack”. Sounds like a lot of fun, right? Delio Rossi wasn’t too amused though, especially since he drew the card “Your 44 year-old goalkeeper has butterfingers, and gifts the opponent a goal. Go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200“…
Such a shame too, because the Coppa Italia was originally supposed to Lazio’s “tournament of redemption” (you know, after a kinda crappy season and all). There was little doubt manager Delio Rossi was going for victory tonight, especially because of the highly offensive 4-3-3 starting line-up, featuring the Pandev-Bianchi-Rocchi trio up front. On Inter’s end, Roberto Mancini had to deal with post-Derby della Madonnina repercussions (losing to AC Milan is never an happy event) but decided to rotate his team nonetheless, fielding Francesco Toldo in goal and relying on the youth and energy of Primavera Francesco Bolzoni. The Nerazzurri’s 4-4-1-1 formation includedLuis Jimenez operating behind lone striker David Suazo.
During the first half, and serving as a representative of pretty much their entire season, we saw two faces of Inter. In the first 20 minutes, the Nerazzurri appeared lazy, uninspired, and out of gas, which is a face we’ve been seeing more and more often in Serie A after the Winter break. Not even the two woodworks hit by Lazio in the initial minutes (the 2nd minute free-kick post by Cristian Ledesma and the 15th minute strike by Tommaso Rocchi) gave Inter the necessary “wake-up” signal to stick their heads out of the hole. The Biancocelesti were pressuring high up, exerting complete domination on central midfield, and there was little that the inexperienced Bolzoni and Pelé were doing to counteract the situation. The absence of a player like Esteban Cambiasso (on the bench) was all-too-evident…
Eventually, Mancini decided to reposition Javier Zanetti in the center, and things finally started to work out for the Nerazzurri. Their wing distribution became more efficient, Luis Jiménez could operate a little more freely in his offensive playmaker role, and began getting closer to Marco Ballotta’s net. His 39th minute sliding finish, one-on-one with the Lazio keeper (after a great heel set-up by Suazo), was narrowly wide of the post however.
In the second half Lazio continued their offensive efforts, and immediately brought danger close to Toldo’s goal. The Inter defense however kept close guard, and soon the Biancocelesti would be biting their nails for their missed chances. On virtually the first shot on goal of the second period, Inter grabbed the lead: like a speeding bullet, Suazo got through on the right wing and made a low cross for Pelé. The Portuguese U21 international waited for the ball to arrive, and then popped a one-time instepper that finished its course straight into Ballotta’s top-right corner! A great goal and 1-0 Inter.
The goal was a tough slap in the face for Lazio, who up until then had essentially dominated the encounter. On the contrary, galvanized by his team’s lead Mancini switched his formation back to two strikers, inserting Julio Cruz for Bolzoni and re-positioning Jiménez on the right wing. Grabbing back the reins of play wasn’t sufficient for the Inter manager however, who somehow managed to get sent off for dissent just a few minutes later. On the other end, Delio Rossi seemed to maintain faith in his current formation, only replacing Zauri with Aleksandar Kolarov.
As time passed by, Lazio became more and more active in the Inter box (especially through Pandev, Dabo, and Kolarov) but were always a few feet away from hitting the target, and the fact the Nerazzurri coach (Mancini’s second-in-command) had inserted Marco Materazzi and Maicon for Burdisso and Chivu certainly wasn’t helping in making the Inter defense more penetrable. It seems ironic then that during this period, much like what had happened to Mancini a few minutes earlier, the team that seemed to be “in control” of their situation got one player sent off and came dangerously close to finishing the game with 9 men (first a punch by Cruz on Kolarov was punished only with a yellow, then Materazzi received a direct red for an overly mean tackle from behind).
Even more ironic was that despite playing with 10 men, Inter increased their lead to 2-0, putting their qualification on ice. A right-wing cross by Pelé was “intercepted” by Ballotta, but the Lazio keeper ended up colliding with a defender, released the ball, and Julio Cruz simply had to apply the finish into the empty net. 2-0 Inter and game over. This will be the Nerazzurri’s 4th consecutive Coppa Italia final, and considering how close their 16th Scudetto title is, this will also be Mancini’s opportunity to make a double this year. Perhaps over Roma and perhaps as the last trophy as Inter manager, who knows?
There could be tough times ahead for Luca Toni. The Bayern Munich striker, just recently crowned Bundesliga champion and currently leading the scoring charts with 21 goals, may soon be confronted with an unsurpassable obstacle… of the robotic kind. Its name is Goalias (or GoalIAS if you prefer), and it’s the first robot-goalkepeer capable of defending a regular-sized football goal.
IAS stands for Institut für Automatisierungs und Softwaretechnik (”Automation and Software technology Institute”, or something along those lines) and is the University of Stuttgart department responsible for the creation of the mechanical goalkeeper. If you’re thinking about a cyborg with a humanoid shape though, you’re way off. The robot in question is simply a cardboard on wheels, shaped in the form of a goalkeeper and moving alongside a track placed on the goal line. The real engineering marvel of GoalIAS comes from its three videocameras and computer processor, calculating with lightning-fast velocity (under 400 ms in fact) the best position to make a save every time a shot is taken.
It works like this: the player takes a shot, the cameras (placed on top of the crossbar) analyze the trajectory the ball is taking, and relay the information to the central processor. The computer then calculates the best position to make the save and moves the “goalkeeper” accordingly. All this is done in under 400 milliseconds.
GoalIAS was recently tested by somewhat of a VIP of German football, namely currently 2nd-ranked Bundesliga topscorer Mario Gómez (I guess Toni was unavailable). The German International took a series of shots on net, and it turned out robo-keeper saved 50% of Mario’s efforts. I bet he wasn’t bragging too much at practice the following week…
Anyways, after Mario Gomez the next test of ‘robo-keeper’ is set for May 22. This time GoalIAS will be facing the German Women’s National football team. Who knows? Perhaps by that time the robot (already in its second version) will have been perfected even more.
Continuing my weekly article inspired by Gazzetta dello Sport, here are the performances of all Italian soccer players operating in foreign European leagues.
Based on Gazzetta’s info, there are currently 22 Italians playing in first divisions abroad, and 9 of them stepped on the field this week-end.
The table below includes the team the player belongs to, their opponents for the week, the number of minutes they played, their contribution (goal, assist), and the final score of the game. .
No goals for them (actually even an -undeserved- red card for Fabio), but plenty to celebrate for Mr. Cannavaro and Mr. Toni: Real Madrid and Bayern Munich were crowned respectively La Liga and Bundesliga champions this week. Joining the fun, Mr. Maresca who provided good passes an an assist in Sevilla’s 2-0 match vs. Valladolid.
The Offside is part of the BootsnAll Travel Network. The site will take a humorous (we think), irreverent (we think) and occasionally insightful (possibly) look at club football from leagues around the world. If there is a sex scandal in England, we’ll be stuck in the middle of it. If a player is traded for a thousand pounds of beef in Romania, we’ll cook the steak. If something interesting happens in MLS, we’ll be just as surprised as you.
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THE LINE UPS
At this point Catania really had nothing to lose (they needed two more goals to go through), and the team began to push forward with much more conviction. Without troubling Roma too much before the break however, as the first 45 minutes ended in a draw.
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During the first half, and serving as a representative of pretty much their entire season, we saw two faces of Inter. In the first 20 minutes, the Nerazzurri appeared lazy, uninspired, and out of gas, which is a face we’ve been seeing more and more often in Serie A after the Winter break. Not even the two woodworks hit by Lazio in the initial minutes (the 2nd minute free-kick post by 
In the second half Lazio continued their offensive efforts, and immediately brought danger close to Toldo’s goal. The Inter defense however kept close guard, and soon the Biancocelesti would be biting their nails for their missed chances. On virtually the first shot on goal of the second period, Inter grabbed the lead: like a speeding bullet, Suazo got through on the right wing and made a low cross for Pelé. The Portuguese U21 international waited for the ball to arrive, and then popped a one-time instepper that finished its course straight into Ballotta’s top-right corner! A great goal and 
As time passed by, Lazio became more and more active in the Inter box (especially through Pandev, Dabo, and Kolarov) but were always a few feet away from hitting the target, and the fact the Nerazzurri coach (Mancini’s second-in-command) had inserted 
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