Serie A day 1 – Sunday

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

.

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



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Posted in Catania, Genoa, Inter, Milan, Palermo, Parma, Roma, Serie A, Udinese |

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  • 5 Responses to “Serie A day 1 – Sunday”

    1. Serja says:

      lol… that’s what I call a good kick. don’t fu** with Baldini :razz:

    2. Jake says:

      Wow that’s a new low for the Italian league. If you ask me, after last year’s match-fixing scandal Di Carlo isn’t the only who deserves an ass-kicking, it’s anyone involved with Serie A.

    3. Please don’t generalize Jake. The Serie A had a few rotten apples, but those were taken care of last year. Calciopoli put a big stain on Italian soccer, but now we’re all trying to start anew and put all that sh** behind us. We’ll no doubt still be talking about it for the next few years to come, but right now it’s got nothing to do with the current topic.

      What Baldini did (even if, you have to admit, is a bit funny to watch) is an isolated incident. I don’t recall a Serie A manager using violence against a colleague for quite some time.

    4. Jake says:

      Taken care of? Please! The whole trial in itself was a joke. They went from the initial decision of relegating all teams except Milan, to the commuted sentence of almost a free pass for everyone (save for Juventus). All that talk about swift justice, but in the end a cheating team won the Champions League. I find that disgusting.

    5. Well concerning Milan, not much I can reply to that, as I’d actually tend to agree with you on that point. But what are you gonna do? What’s done is done. Again though, I fail to see what this has to do with the Baldini-Di Carlo case.

      As for the whole trial being a joke, tell that to Juve, and remind them about the year they spent in Serie B. See if they laugh about it.