Serie A Day One
Well, it looks pretty sparse here, compared to our sister site La Liga Talk.com, so I might as well start blogging here. As much as we have liked the summer and the play of some Italian league players in Copa America or in the preseason friendlies, I’d say all of us are sooper-excited that the new season is upon us.
So let’s get started. Inter looked like the Inter of old, which means they were too reliant on the play of their star players and emotionally fragile. Dejan Stankovic scord early, off a marvelous pass by Ibrahimovic who looked like he was auditioning for another Joga TV commercial, and quickly it looked like the dominant Inter of last year, but they still had more than 3/4ths of a match to play and the Inter of two years ago reared its head sooner rather than later. They let Udinese back into a match that was easily theirs by gifting them a godawful red card on GK Julio Cesar who handled the ball outside the area. Toldo came in, and down a man, they allowed the bianconeri back in with another mistake: an own goal by Cordova who was trying to head the ball over the net. Despite Dejan’s protestations, the heat had nothing to do with the loss.
In other matches, both Milan and Juventus had easy draws, Genoa looked like the Serie B side they really were and Livorno looked like they would soon join them in freefall. Is Cristiano Lucarelli still available? God, their coach looked like he would pop a vein. Can we also say that Serie A is back, as Juve were gifted a penalty that they didn’t deserve and the Tuscans fell apart after that? Don’t hate, commiserate.
My team Roma came out the better side against Palermo, and for the better part of a half they looked like the scudetto winning side that I predicted they’d be, but either they took their gas off the pedal or everyone’s favorite Telly Savalas impersonator Stefano Colantuono, the ex-Atalanta coach, ripped into his charges and Palermo played the more inspired football in the second half, edged on by the inspirational play of their “Is he in or is he Sven” midfielder Mark (don’t call me Marco) Bresciano, Palermo played the brighter more attacking style. Roma were lucky to take 3 points from a Palermo side that were better than the scoreline dictated and will be better as the season comes along. Lazio played well but drew to Torino in the bitter 104 degree heat of the Stadio Olimpico.
Fiorentina, who are coached by a favorite of mine Cesare Prandelli, beat up on Empoli and in his press conference, the ex-Roma coach chimed in with this nugget, “I won’t ask for reinforcements…soon we will have Vieri on top of his form, by then the biggest problems will be for our opponents.” Gotta love him, quote of the week.
Speaking of coaches, did anyone see the kicking match between Silvio Baldini of Catania and Di Carlo of Parma? “I want to excuse myself with everyone, Parma fans included, ” said Baldini, ” but not to him (of Di Carlo), he provoked me.” Catania, beautiful Mediterranean home for crazy people.
God, I love Serie A.
loading…
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
The Palermo-Roma match was the perfect one to introduce the American public to the new look 07/08 Serie A. If that doesn't get people on board, nothing will.
The Gaffer sent me an invite to guest blog and I really want to do it. I have all next week off and am feeling inspired. What are you guys looking for?
The Palermo-Roma match was the perfect one to introduce the American public to the new look 07/08 Serie A. If that doesn’t get people on board, nothing will.
The Gaffer sent me an invite to guest blog and I really want to do it. I have all next week off and am feeling inspired. What are you guys looking for?
Zero on one aspect of Serie A… the tremendous sea change that will occur with the influx of all the young Italian talent would be one angle. Hell, your Viola seem to have the market on the Azzurrini so that might be a cool thing to focus on. Many aren't aware of the young talent except perhaps a guy like Giuseppe Rossi who received so much pub and people know of him because of the Man Utd ties.
You could go the other way and talk about the young International talent that's currently in Serie A. Whatever you do, I'd like to read something about the league in general versus a specific team…because we know it'll come down to seeing the same old same old (no offense to your Roma squad, Mando).
I'd really love to see more emphasis paid to the Coppa Italia. It's almost as if the tournament doesn't exist. Either the “smaller” sides don't give it much thought because they need to focus on avoiding relegation, or the “bigger” sides don't give it any emphasis because they've got their eyes on the scudetto or Champions League or EUFA Cup. I don't know, I think it could be really huge but the decision makers of the world don't seem to think so.
Forza Napoli!
Zero on one aspect of Serie A… the tremendous sea change that will occur with the influx of all the young Italian talent would be one angle. Hell, your Viola seem to have the market on the Azzurrini so that might be a cool thing to focus on. Many aren’t aware of the young talent except perhaps a guy like Giuseppe Rossi who received so much pub and people know of him because of the Man Utd ties.
You could go the other way and talk about the young International talent that’s currently in Serie A. Whatever you do, I’d like to read something about the league in general versus a specific team…because we know it’ll come down to seeing the same old same old (no offense to your Roma squad, Mando).
I’d really love to see more emphasis paid to the Coppa Italia. It’s almost as if the tournament doesn’t exist. Either the “smaller” sides don’t give it much thought because they need to focus on avoiding relegation, or the “bigger” sides don’t give it any emphasis because they’ve got their eyes on the scudetto or Champions League or EUFA Cup. I don’t know, I think it could be really huge but the decision makers of the world don’t seem to think so.
Forza Napoli!
Hey, Mando, well done on the latest podcast with SerieA.tv. I have to say that I wasn't all that impressed with the first week but I expected some problems. They have a good “live chat” support and they are responsive. I've been able to watch some matches on demand in my own time and that's been awesome…frees up space on the DVR for my wife's General Hospital and Rescue Me episodes. Overall, a very nice interview. I would have liked to heard more about when Napoli home matches will start to be broadcast and why they haven't secured Napoli's rights outside of Italy. We're all speculating on BigSoccer that it's because he wants to be paid like Inter, Milan and Juve but who really knows.
Hey, Mando, well done on the latest podcast with SerieA.tv. I have to say that I wasn’t all that impressed with the first week but I expected some problems. They have a good “live chat” support and they are responsive. I’ve been able to watch some matches on demand in my own time and that’s been awesome…frees up space on the DVR for my wife’s General Hospital and Rescue Me episodes. Overall, a very nice interview. I would have liked to heard more about when Napoli home matches will start to be broadcast and why they haven’t secured Napoli’s rights outside of Italy. We’re all speculating on BigSoccer that it’s because he wants to be paid like Inter, Milan and Juve but who really knows.
Thanks Joe. We'll be talking to Maurizio again before the end of the year and I'll get an update on how it's going. He's a good resource for information from Italy and he knows his football too. I think the Napoli deal is still in the works, as most of these are negotiated locally, and Napoli were holding off for whatever reason ( I assume for money), but he said that it would be sorted out sooner rather than later.
Thanks Joe. We’ll be talking to Maurizio again before the end of the year and I’ll get an update on how it’s going. He’s a good resource for information from Italy and he knows his football too. I think the Napoli deal is still in the works, as most of these are negotiated locally, and Napoli were holding off for whatever reason ( I assume for money), but he said that it would be sorted out sooner rather than later.