The Winter break, other than being the precursor of the ever-active January transfer window, is a time for Serie A teams to recuperate.

Well kinda. The Inter players, back from their short week of Christmas holidays, are already actively preparing their return to Serie A with a tournament in Dubai. And while it may only be friendly matches, the opposition they’ll be facing should help provide plenty of entertainment (and motivation, given the prize money involved).

From the tournament’s official website:

Inter Milan, champions of Italian Serie A, Internacional de Porto Alegre of Brazil (FIFA Club World Cup 2006 champions), Dutch Cup winners Ajax Amsterdam and current German Bundesliga champions VfB Stuttgart are confirmed to head the line up of the 2008 Mohammed bin Rashid International Football Championship in what promises to be the most spectacular football tournament ever held in the UAE.

They will compete will in the tournament held in Dubai from January 5^th to 7^th 2008. A total of 4 matches will be played over 2 days with a day of rest in between. Matches will be played in one of Dubai’s most prominent stadiums and officiated by international referees and line staff according to Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) rules and regulations. Teams will compete for the prestigious Dubai Cup and US $2.5 million prize money. The winners will take home total prize money of US $1 million with the runners up being awarded US $700,000. The 3^rd and 4^th place teams will receive US$500,000 and US$300,000 respectively.

Following their cousins in Dubai, the AC Milan team will be spending next week in the United Arab Emirates as well (taking advantage of the warm temperatures to get ready for their return to Italy on January 9).

And yes, Ronaldo‘s in Dubai with the Rossoneri. So for the moment, the rumours of his transfer to Flamengo are put on hold. And while you laugh about Dida’s goalkeeping mistakes (yes, in practice too), have a chuckle with me on Ronaldo’s “ball-in-face” picture (see below).

Here are the latest photos of the Inter Milan and AC Milan practice sessions (courtesy of KwSport).

Posted in Inter, World News |

This entry was posted on Friday, January 4th, 2008 at 1:33 pm and is filed under Inter, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.