Archive for August, 2007

Coppa Italia – 3rd Round

Thursday, August 30th, 2007

We’re still in the early stages of the competition, so I’m going to play the lazy card on this one. No match reports, just a fancy flash graphic for the results, courtesy of Gazzetta dello Sport.

Coppa Italia - Round of 16 scores

Edit: Here, since I’m too kind, I’ll even throw in a few YouTube match highlights. For all the matches below without links, you can find the goals here.

Coppa Italia - 3rd Round
Torino – Rimini
3 – 2
Ascoli – Atalanta
2 – 1
Cagliari – Siena
2 - 1
Udinese – Bari
3 - 0
Napoli – Livorno
4 - 3
Reggina – Piacenza
3 - 2
Triestina – Catania
2 - 4
Parma – Juventus
1 - 3

Pre-season friendlies – Trofeu Joan Gamper

Thursday, August 30th, 2007

It was a very sad atmosphere at the Nou Camp Wednesday, for the friendly match opposing Spanish team Barcelona to Serie A Champions Inter in the Trofeu Joan Gamper. The hearts of players and spectators were still aching for the recent death of Sevilla defender Antonio Puerta, but it was nonetheless decided to play the trophy anyway, as an homage to Puerta and Barcelona legend and former club president Nicolau Casaus. The match that ensued had little competitive meaning, partly because of the sad circumstances, but also because of the appalling technical display of the Inter players.

Trofeu Joan Gamper

During the minute of silence, the Blaugranas all wore Sevilla shirts with the nº16 and the name Puerta on the back. A banner that simply read “We are playing for you” below Puerta’s picture was laid on the pitch.

Here are some match excerpts from the Goal.com article.

After just 6 minutes of play, a great run forward by young talent Giovanni Dos Santos forced new Inter signing Cristian Chivu into a clumsy tackle in the box. Referee pointed to the spot for the penalty kick, duly transformed by Ronaldinho. 7 minutes later, Barcelona went on the double with Giovanni Dos Santos in the heart of the action again: the rising star from Mexico exploited a good Yaya Touré pass, cut back inside his marker and blasted the ball past Toldo‘s arms into the net.

No celebration for Ronaldinho… his thoughts are towards the heavensBefore the break, Toldo had the chance to show off his athleticism by parrying a close-range header by Yaya Touré, then again on an effort by Oleguer, but little could he do against the Ivory Coast midfielder 20 minutes later, as he blasted home a powerful drive from 25 meters. Before the 3rd goal, Inter had timidly attempted a reaction with close-range shots by Adriano and Solari (the best of Mancini‘s men tonight), but the scoreline remained mercilessly a 3-0 lead for Barcelona. Not only that, but the tally of shots on target was 10-1 in favor of the Catalans. Shivering stuff.

After the break, Barça coach Rijkaard decided to finally compose his wonder line-up, and insert Messi and Eto’o to help out Henry and Ronaldinho already on the field. The ‘Fantastic 4′ didn’t last very long together though, as the Cameroonian striker had be stretchered off after twisting his leg 4 minutes into the half. 

With 56 minutes on the clock, the Blaugrana capped a strong start to the 2nd period by adding a 4th goal, as Leo Messi rolled the ball through the Inter defence and provided an excellent pass for Andrés Iniesta, who dummied Toldo before firing into the top corner. Despite the game slowed in pace towards the end, Barça had even time for a 5th goal: when the moment came, it was Thiago Motta doing the honours, against a Nerazzurri team essentially made up of Primavera (U21) players at this point. The game ended on a 5-0 final scoreline which left little doubt on which team had played better.

 FC Barcelona
BARCELONA-INTER 5-0
F.C. Internazionale Milano
GOALSCORERS: 7′ pen. Ronaldinho (B), 12′ Dos Santos (B), 37’ Touré (B), 56’ Iniesta (B), 79’ Motta (B).
BARCELONA (4-3-3): Jorquera (46’ Valdes) – Zambrotta (46’ G.Milito), Oleguer, Marquez (46’ Thuram), Abidal (46’ Sylvinho) – Y.Touré (67’ M.Crosas), Xavi (46’ Iniesta), Deco – Dos Santos (46’ Messi), Ronaldinho (46’ Eto’o; 51’ Motta), Henry. (bench: Ezquerro). Coach: Rijkaard.
INTER (4-3-1-2): Toldo (62’ Alfonso) – Burdisso, Rivas, Chivu (42′ Filippini), Cesar (85’ Pedrelli) – Pelè (46’ Filkor), Cambiasso, Solari (67’ Fatic) – Jimenez (60’ Recoba) – Crespo (59’ Maaroufi), Adriano (59’ Balotelli). (bench: Esposito). Coach: Mancini.

General impressions

Not much I can add, except that this was a Barça show from start to finish. It must be said that Inter fielded their reserve team (as the vast majority of Inter’s starting line-up didn’t make the trip to Spain), but even so the technical superiority of the Catalans was simply staggering. It has been long known and stated that “even Inter’s bench could form a team capable of rivaling with the best of Europe”, but that fact has been severely put to the test tonight, and I’m afraid to report that the grade is an ‘F’. Most of these youngsters aren’t ready to play in Serie A, much less against an European soccer juggernaut of the caliber of Barcelona. Mancini had the chance to test some new signings (such as Vitor Hugo Gomes Passos ‘Pelé’), but given the general team performance it would be hard to make any conclusions from the match.

For Barcelona, this was the first taste of the home stadium for new Blaugrana signings Thierry Henry, Gaby Milito, Yaya Touré and Éric Abidal. All four, much like the rest of the Barça players, had a great performance in a game in which the Nerazzurri were simply unprepared, unfit, and unmotivated.

But I guess that in light of this week’s events in Sevilla, it doesn’t matter all that much.

Italian Players Around the World (26/08)

Wednesday, August 29th, 2007

Continuing my weekly article inspired by Gazzetta dello Sport, here are the performances of all Italian players operating in foreign European leagues.

Cristiano Lucarelli, age 31, is at his first season in UkraineGiuseppe Rossi, age 20, recently signed by Spanish club Villareal

Based on Gazzetta’s info, there are currently 23 Italians playing in first divisions abroad, and 18 of them stepped on the field this week-end (mostly in the Spanish league).

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.
.

ENGLAND
Player Team Opp.
mins.
Contrib.
Score
Rolando Bianchi Man City @Arsenal
15 
/
0-1 
Bernardo Corradi Man City @Arsenal
(stands)
/
0-1 
Carlo Cudicini Chelsea Portsmouth
(bench)
/
1-0 
.
SCOTLAND
Massimo Donati Celtic Hearts
90
1 goal
5-0 
.
GERMANY
Luca Toni Bayern M. Hannover 96 
28
1 goal
3-0
.
SPAIN
Fabio Cannavaro Real Madrid Atl. Madrid
45
/
2-1
Christian Abbiati Atl. Madrid @Real Madrid
(bench)
/
1-2
Gianluca Zambrotta Barcelona @Racing S.
78
/
0-0
Enzo Maresca Sevilla Getafe
90
/
4-1 
Morgan De Sanctis Sevilla Getafe
(bench)
/
4-1
Giuseppe Rossi Villareal @Valencia
77
1 goal 
3-0
Emiliano Moretti Valencia Villareal
90
/
0-3
Stefano Sorrentino Recreativo  Betis
90
/
1-1
Marco Storari Levante  @Mallorca
90
/
0-3
Bruno Cirillo Levante  @Mallorca
90
/
0-3
Damiano Tommasi Levante  @Mallorca
90
/
0-3
.
FRANCE
Fabio Grosso Lyon @Sochaux
90
/
2-1
Flavio Roma Monaco @Lille
injd.
/
1-0
.
 HOLLAND
Graziano Pellè  AZ Alkmaar @Vitesse
26 
/
0-1
.
 BELGIUM
Roberto Mirri Mons Lokeren
90
/
0-1
.
UKRAINE
Cristiano Lucarelli Shakhtar D. T.Symferop.
90
2 goals
2-0
.
RUSSIA
Ivan Pelizzoli Lok. Moscow Saturn
90
/
0-2

The most positive performances this week came from Giuseppe Rossi, scoring his first goal (on a penalty kick) for his new team Villareal (final score 3-0 vs. Valencia) and Cristiano Lucarelli, finally getting on the scoreline with his Ukranian team Shakhtar Donetsk.

In addition, it’s worth noting that Luca Toni and Massimo Donati are having one of their best career season starts. Toni has scored in every Bundesliga match of Bayern Munich so far, and was in for a repeat on day nº3 this week-end. Unfortunately, he had to be substituted just after his goal, due to a pulled muscle. Meanwhile in Scotland, Massimo Donati is rapidly becoming the heart of the Celtic midfield,  producing yet another man-of-the-match performance in their game vs. Hearts (easily won by the Glasgow team 5-0) and scoring a goal.

Nike’s ‘Put it where you want it’ tour ep. 2 – Torsten Frings

Wednesday, August 29th, 2007

After Wayne Rooney’s manor, Nike have launched the 2nd episode of the ‘Put it where you want it’ tour (Nike’s latest TV soccer advertising campaign). This time the Dirty Sanchez boys travel to Portugal to meet Werder Bremen and Germany international Torsten Frings.

Nike’s “Put it where you want it” - episode 2: Frings

The video includes the usual share of human target practice and priceless nike-ball-hitting-your-private-parts fun, although I must admit the Rooney ad was a bit more entertaining (Frings kinda looks like a robot in this one).

I can’t wait to see what they do with Gattuso. :mrgreen:

R.I.P Antonio Puerta

Tuesday, August 28th, 2007

Antonio Puerta

I am like a falling star who has finally found her place next to another in a lovely constellation, where we will sparkle in the heavens forever.
— Amy Tan

Farewell Antonio, you will be missed…