Gianluca Pessotto - out at last! [img]graemlins/salute.gif[/img]


In bocca al lupo, Gianluca

Recovering against severe odds from a 10 metre fall over two months ago, Gianluca Pessotto was deemed well enough to leave hospital today.

A hospital bulletin stated: “The patient’s general condition is excellent and he is also in very good spirits. Sig. Pessotto will be transferred to a private clinic to continue his rehabilitation programme.”

Doctor Marcello De Poli added he was impressed with his patient’s attitude. “He has an extraordinary will, everyone will have a wonderful memory of this man, who proved to be very amiable and friendly.”

No time-scale has been announced for full recovery, though there is optimism it will be before Christmas.


Meanwhile, ahead of this Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier against France, Azzurri coach Donadoni is believed to be dropping his 4-3-3 formation in favour of their World Cup 4-4-1-1. This gives scope to return Gattuso and Pirlo to the centre of the midfield, while candidates for the front are Inzaghi, Gilardino and Cassano. Good news is that Zambrotta will play in defence, though I’ve yet to discover why he was left out against Lithuania?

The authorities are doing everything possible to ward off trouble at this game in France, pledged by the French to be something of a ‘revenge’ match following the Zidane-Materazzi incident at the World Cup. Materazzi was handed a two match International ban, essentially to remove him from being a catalyst. Materazzi has now gone on record in an interview revealing the exchange on the pitch with Zidane. "I was tugging his shirt, he said to me 'if you want my shirt so much I'll give it to you afterwards.' I answered that I'd prefer to have his sister. Perhaps not a particularly nice thing to say, I recognise that, but loads of players say far worse things. I didn't even know he had a sister before all this happened."

The French will have an opportunity to show some civility however. Before the kick-off there is to be a minute’s silence in honour of Giacinto Facchetti. The Azzurri will wear black armbands.


On World Cup qualifiers, Sweden have sent three players home prior to their game against Liechtenstein, one player being Ibrahimovic – no surprise for Kai then. The squad were given the day off after lunch and told to be back in the hotel by 23:00. Ibrahimovic, Mellberg and Wilhelmsson elected to stay out on the p*ss and returned after 1am.

No.9

Great news on Gianluca! Thanx No 9 !

Going to see the Finland-Portugal game tonight. If nothing else the atmosphere should be great as the stadium will be full. Also lots of diving by Mr Ro I presume. And Jari Litmanen showing his talent. We´ll see if that´s enough. The Finnish forwards seem rather weak these days so it´s up to Litmanen-Tainio-Väyrynen-Eremenko jr in the midfield to do the scoring.

Anyway it´s always a pleasure to see Jari play. I know Stevin agrees!

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Good luck tonight Kai , have a great evening and keep making with the positive waves.



No.9

that ought to be good

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"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." -Winston Churchill

Absolutely!! He is one of my all time favorite players. In fact, I think I'd rather see Finland beat Portugal than Holland make a fool of themsleves (again) against Belarus...

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"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!" - Homer Simpson

Well, quite a night, especially for those able to see the games they wanted to like Kai. I’m sure we’ll get a pitch-side report about the 1-1 Finland–Portugal draw when he sobers up . Holland beat Belarus 3-0 so I don’t suppose Stev will be up to see the sunrise – or remember it if he is .

Italy slumped 3-1 to France in Paris, and from the ensuing press accounts, deserved nothing less after an uninspiring performance. Even coach Donadoni stated there was little ‘go’ in the team. He had the players, but, given he was using 4-4-1-1, he pushed Gilardino up front as the poacher with Cassano floating behind him? The team didn’t perform so I’m not suggesting for a moment the odd change here or there would have made any great difference, but the world and his wife knows Gilardino is not a natural poacher whereas Inzaghi is. The overwhelming logical start was Inzaghi up front with Gilardino floating behind him [img]graemlins/no.gif[/img] . Even worse, Cassano did bugger-all and was not subbed till 73 minutes had gone! Anyway, Italy are well down the table now and unless they turn things around starting the next game in October, they won’t be playing in the 2008 Europe Cup – as simple as that.

Couple of surprise results, minnows Northern Ireland decked Spain 3-2 - exactly, go the orange boys. Germany set a new goal record for this championship by beating San Marino - yes the baker, the policeman, the postman etc – by 13-0 . Meanwhile, mighty England scraped a 1-0 win over Macedonia – who - a little place near Greece. Most amusing was probably the British reporters struggling to summarise the match. "Err……it was a professional game…….err.....Crouch did well when he scored", but probably the funniest remark about this non-event was; ”err.....there are no easy games in this competition” . Then again, England got the 3 points and therefore look really good – on paper.

No.9

It´s funny that some games if you could choose a tie beforehand ( 1-1 ) you´d be happy but afterwards rather disappointed (?)....Anyway, the crowd was going crazy and I felt I was watching a game somewhere else than Finland, really. Usually people just watch the game and keep silent over here.

Finland started well but after 15 minutes the Portuguese started putting pressure and through excellent short passes almost cracked the Finnish defence. Ronaldo this time did not keep falling to the ground but I was rather angry as most of his colleagues did, there was one man down every third minute. Then a great pass by Litmanen to the left side and Kolkka got through and passed it in front of the goal and Johansson scored with the goalie totally wrongfooted. It came a bit unexpectedly so actually it took a second before the crow realized what had happened, then huge celebrations!

The game got quite slow and towards the end of the first period the Portuguese got to keep the ball and finally a great ball through by Deco and a masterful finish by Nuno Gomes : 1-1.

The second period was mostly a battle in the midfield until Costa got his second card and had to leave the field. After that Finland dominated the midfield and got several places through Litmanen to try to score. Hyypiä headed the ball three or four times just past the post. Ricardo also had some excellent saves. the Finnish attackers were again rather lame and like mentioned, the midfield created the dangerous situations and also scored the only goal for us.

During extra time Portugal had a very dangerous free kick from some 25 meters and usually "they score". Well, not this time, and we were happy to see that we could get the point from Portugal! Time for a beer or two...

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Sounds like an exciting game, Kai! Glad to see Finland at the top of the table! I watched a reasonably well playing Holland. They played better than against Luxembourg but still need a lot of inprovement. The lack of experience and the youth of the team is cause for concern. We should be able to cruise to the EC in 2008 in this group, but all is less than certain, with Bulgaria and Romania coming up.

In any case, Holland came away with 6 points while other teams clearly let points lie where they shouldn't. What about Poland with 1 point out of 2 games? Of course, the Northern ireland game was the most suprising to me and I wonder about the Azurri. I have no doubt however they will be in Austria and Suisse in 2008. They are too professional not too. This was their toughest game anyway, away against France, so the rest should be a breeze, right No.9!?

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"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!" - Homer Simpson

I don’t believe so Stev, as a current TV insurance advert keeps saying ”It doesn’t work that way.” Italy have won the World Cup, that’s not winning the battle, it’s winning the war. The hunger’s gone.

The Italian papers were writing off the squad before the tournament started and more so after the first game. There has been some slagging after the France game, not that much as it was expected. When Italy last won the World Cup in 1982, they were nowhere in the following Europe Cup. In fact they only beat Cyprus in the qualifiers group, and drew or lost all other games against Romania, Czecho and Sweden. That tournament incidentally, was won by France playing in France.

Maybe if the qualifiers started next year, they might have been able to raise another head of steam. Starting barely a month after the main event was/is too soon. Then again, I have always believed that the top 4 in the World Cup should automatically get seeded through to at least the second round of their respective following continental tournaments.

However, it’s not all gloom and despondency, AC announced today that Pirlo has signed a new 5 year contract – oh deep, deep joy [img]smile.gif[/img] .


No.9

Tea-break over, back on your ‘eds

In the wake of an incredible summer for Italian football in which, contrary to the sentiment of a popular maxim, the sh*t did not hit the fan but instead hit senior decision-making officials, and a quite unprecedented shuffle of players produced dramatic Serie A line-up changes, and an injury and incident riddled less than optimum and oddly managed team won the World Cup, we return to the mundane of league football.

Now is the time to validate all the claims, counter-claims and assured predictions of the men who own and/or run the clubs. On the whole things ran to popular expectations, but...... Without doubt the main talking point has been Juventus in their first Serie B game against Rimini. Rimini may be first Italy choice among German beach-bums, but low, low down the scale in football might. Even after sales and desertions, Juve still boasts Buffon, Del Piero, Nedved, Kovac, Tudor, Camoranesi and Trezeguet, but, playing at Rimini the Old Lady only managed a 1-1 draw . Juve director, Claude Blanc, thinks it will take them 5 years to return to where they were .

Meanwhile, the team spending all the money recently, Inter, pulled a 3-2 win at home to a formidable Fiorentina. Racked by financial ruin 4 or 5 years ago (and now starting the season with a -19 point Calciopoli penalty), Fiorentina have always been and remain a very good side. Main men for Fiorentina are Mutu and Luca Toni, while the new Inter can draw upon Toldo, Materazzi, Zanetti; Vieira, Stankovic, Cambiasso, Grosso, Dacourt; Figo, Adriano, Ibrahimovic and Crespo. But, can these men play as a team? In their first Champions league game away to Sporting Lisbon tonight, an apparent lacklustre Inter lost 1-0 .

On Champions League, Rome thumped Shakhtar 4-0 at home and Milan play Athens tonight .

Re AC, at home on the weekend they beat Lazio 2-1 fielding an almost perfect first side. Deep joy because Maldini and Nesta returned to full active duty - sad becuase Gattuso had to sit out the statutory one match suspension following two accumulated Yellow Cards, but, he'll play against Athens. Personally sad as I wasn’t there to see it as I always am for the first several games of the season. Still, win or lose, the family are back together, greased and ready to kick a***. There are still three changes to make in the squad, Kalac, Jankulovski and Simic, which just have to be left in the hands of the powers that be The new main men signings, Gourcuff and Oliveira, are apparently slotting in really well and Oliveira scored on his first appearance. BTW, it transpires that Oddo (who plays for Lazio) wanted to move to AC, and AC would meet any bill, but Lazio wouldn’t sell him . For the game against Athens, yes, I do feel confident. I wouldn’t care who they were playing as the expected line-up is Dida, Cafu, Nesta, Maldini, Serginho, Kaka, Pirlo, Gattuso, Seedorf; Gilardino and Inzaghi, with Ambrosini, Gourcuff, Oliveira and Costacurta waiting in the wings. Hardly worth the Zorba's turning up really

No.9

Tonight we´ll see if Lyon is as strong a team like , was it a year back, as they beat Real 3-0. (At least I think Alex Ferguson might have realized what he lost as Ruud scored a hat trick plus one failed penalty kick in the Spanish league last weekend for Real.)

Inter playing the usual stuff it seems. And Vieira got the red card...surprised anyone?

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Hmm………Lyon beat Real Madrid 2-0, does that do it for you Kai? Ferguson’s Man U (at home) only beat Celtic 3-2 by virtue of a very dubious penalty award for Giggs falling over Arsenal won away to Hamburg 2-1, and Anderlecht and Lille drew 1-1 at Anderlecht.

’Come on, what about Milan’ . Oh yes, Milan 3 - Athens 0

From combing through the match reports – not being able to be there this year - it was a great game. Coach Carlo Ancelotti, (sounds like a pasta dish doesn’t he), decided to throttle back a bit this game and rest a few good ‘ole boys from the starting line-up. Nesta, Pirlo and Seedorf were not injured and graced the golden bench if needed. The new boys – Gourcuff and Oliveira - were given a carefully measured opportunity and performed impeccably.
Of course, ’Chief Devil’ Paolo Maldini was back at the helm .


On the field for the kick-off and mid match subs were:
Dida
Cafu, Simic, Maldini, Favalli (Jankulovski 78)
Gattuso, Brocchi (Ambrosini 74), Gourcuff; Kakà
Ricardo Oliveira (Seedorf 70), Inzaghi

Simic stood in for Nesta and played his socks off between Cafu and Maldini. Brocchi ran himself ragged standing in for Pirlo till relieved by Ambrosini. The first goal after 17 minutes sounds pure gold. Defender Maldini went forward into space, drawing the defence and getting the keeper to square-up for a shot, then crossed into space which he knew would be anticipated by Inzaghi, who did and put it past a static keeper. Second goal was a debut goal for young Frenchman Gourcuff who headed in a cross from Kaka just before half time. Third goal was a penalty shot from Kaka which came from Inzaghi being brought down.

And, Maldini got carded for a ‘late tackle’. Maldini, late tackle . Someone must have been misbehaving out of sight of the ref and was….ahem….dealt with

No.9

Not really a Lyon fan but must say their team is quite strong especially in home games. Especially I like their Brazilian striker Fred.

Mostly I like to use these matches for betting as the national companies usually rely on the big names and one can use his knowledge on football and get some decent betting odds.


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No goals for Kobenhavn nor Porto last night which looked rather odd....

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Betting eh..........nice to know where the money is .

Wonder what the odds were for West Ham losing at home to Palermo? I thought the result could have gone either way, they both had their moments and they both kept up the pressure for 90 minutes.

Also in the European Cup, I see Chievo Verona continued to get hammered, this time by Portugal's Sporting Braga 2-0, and, had two men sent off. They lost their opening League game, at home, 2-1 to Siena, and, went out of the Champions League to Sofia [img]graemlins/no.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/no.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/no.gif[/img] .

Also read the Spanish press have turned on Cannavaro following Madrid’s defeat by Lyon. I’m neither surprised at Canna’s performance nor the peasant mentality of the Spanish press. As was seen in the World Cup, you can put Canna in the middle of the defence, but do not give him the job of controlling it – that is not what he does. Lippi gave him that role when Nesta was injured, but the back line never shaped-up until control was assigned to Buffon. Madrid has a defence pool of 6 Spaniards, 2 Brazilians and an Italian. What the f**k style is Canna supposed to play? He plays Italian style under Italian discipline – that’s it. IMHO the whole Madrid thing is another Spanish mess. No wonder they were screaming to have Kaka this summer (not that it would help their cr@p formation much), do you know they still only have four main midfield players – and one them is Beckham .

No.9

The big problem with big teams is that everybody expects them to attack all the time and create alot of goals. If you have most of the players attacking there will be huge gaps inside the defence or the midfield and defence are far apart which gives the opponent an area to play in and through. So I can see even one great Cannavaro cannot save it all even what he does.Also Lyon is the kind of team which has many top-level players and can win any team in the world at the moment in my opinion. So not really suprised with the result.

BTW, surprise surprise

"Inter Milan striker Ibrahimovic was one of three players sent home from the Sweden camp ahead of the game against Liechtenstein on September 6 after missing a curfew. Olof Mellberg and Christian Wilhelmsson were the others involved.

Ibrahimovic had issued an apology for his actions, but has continued to insist that he felt the punishment was too harsh.

Maintaining that stance, the 24-year-old has now withdrawn his services from the national team for their games on October 7 and October 10."

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Read about rumours that Noel Gallacher was planning to offer some 8 million £ to get Paolo Maldini to play for Manchester City...Interesting...I´m sure Paolo would agree straight away...

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Sun Sept 17

A hospital which overlooks the stadium of Italian second division side Crotone will be closed to visitors for fear of an invasion by ticketless fans desperate to see their team play Juventus.

With the game at the Ezio Scida stadium a 9,500 sell-out, staff at the San Giovanni di Dio hospital feared supporters without tickets would come into the building to try and watch the match.

The visit of fallen giants Juventus has sparked a frenzy in the Calabrian city with the last 4,000 tickets for the match being snapped up in a few hours on Sunday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060917...t_060917185507

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Soccer Player gets leg amputated after accident.

Amputation

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