Archive for August 28th, 2007

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…

Serie A day 1 – Sunday

Tuesday, August 28th, 2007

With all the MISN-related craziness (see previous post) and the fact I had my driving exam yesterday (which I passed, yay me) I’ve barely had time to post something about Sunday’s games. By this time I’m sure you’ve all checked the news & results, so I’ll keep this short. Here goes.

Rest of the ‘Big 4′ answer to Juve’s call… well, almost everyone

The 4 big contenders for the Scudetto (see my Serie A prediction post) have all delivered the goods this week-end. All except Inter.

Kakà celebrates his first double in the 2007-08 seasonMilan made mincemeat out of Genoa, dominating the entire game and scoring all 3 goals of the final 3-0 scoreline in the 1st half (courtesy of Ambrosini and a Kakà double). In the evening, Roma delighted the Olimpico supporters by beating Palermo 2-0, in a highly entertaining fixture (goals by Mexès and a marvelous strike by Aquilani).

Meanwhile, the only team that stumbled on the 1st day of the league is Mancini‘s Inter. In the game vs. Udinese, the initial Nerazzurri goal by Stankovic was marred by a silly defensive mistake of Julio Cesar in the 2nd half, which led the Inter keeper to handle the ball outside his area. An obvious red card ensued, forcing Toldo to come off the bench to replace his teammate, but little could he do on Udinese’s equalizer, gracefully gifted by an own goal of Inter defender Ivan Córdoba.

Some Italian soccer blogs I’ve been browsing titled “Nuova stagione solita Inter” (new season, same old Inter), in the sense that based entirely on this first day, everything seems to be back to normal in Serie A: Milan and Juve are winning convincingly, Roma is showing some great creative soccer, and Inter, despite an impressive roster full of overpaid internationals, are stumbling. Yup, it’s glad to have calcio back. :razz:

Here are the match highlights of the ‘Big 4′ games (for Juve, see my Saturday post):

Genoa CFC
GENOA-MILAN 0-3
AC Milan
F.C. Internazionale
INTER-UDINESE 1-1
Udinese Calcio
U.S. Città di Palermo
PALERMO-ROMA 0-2
AS Roma Calcio

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In other news: Baldini-Di Carlo… or ass-whooping re-invented

When Catania coach Silvio Baldini told his players “let’s go out there and kick some ass”, he sure meant it. In fact, he figured the best way to pass the message along would be to make a little demonstration.

In the 85th minute of Sunday’s 2-2 draw vs. Parma, Baldini walked back over to Parma manager Domenico Di Carlo and following a verbal argument, landed his leg in Di Carlo’s backside after the Parma coach had turned away. Now we may all get shocked at the severity of the act (because after all, it’s a physical aggression from one coach to another, and it could have as easily been a punch in the face), but there’s something very ‘Three Stooges’-like about this, and it’s actually pretty funny to watch:

In the latest news, Baldini has been fined €15,000 and suspended for a month for his behaviour. Previously, Baldini had refused to apologize to Di Carlo (even though he apologized to a whole bunch of other people, including Catania & Parma supporters, the city of Catania, the Catania players, the team president, the president’s daughter, the president’s daughter’s dog, etc). Ok I’m exaggerating, but the point is he apologized to everyone but Di Carlo. “You don’t kick someone in the backside for no reason do you?” he declared, “I won’t apologize to him because he does not deserve it”. Ahh Serie A, I’ve missed you so much.

Here are the full results for Serie A’s day 1. Standings can be found here.

Serie A – day 1
Lazio – Torino
2 – 2
Juventus – Livorno
5 – 1
Fiorentina – Empoli
3 – 1
Genoa – Milan
0 – 3
Inter – Udinese
1 – 1
Napoli – Cagliari
0 – 2
Parma – Catania
2 – 2
Reggina – Atalanta
1 – 1
Siena – Sampdoria
1 – 2
Palermo – Roma
0 – 2