Articles tagged with "rumors -amp; news"
Juve Are Cursed (But Also Blessed with at Least One Miracle)
By Martha | September 19th, 2007Negatives have been crashing down on Juve lately, particularly since last Saturday. First, they fell apart against Udinese and lost their perfect record. Boo. And, in the process of being beaten, they lost Mauro Camoranesi (not only one of their best play
Italy Go Top; Del Piero Puts His Foot in His Mouth
By Martha | September 19th, 2007First, the good news: As a result of the draw and win in the recent Euro qualifiers, Italy have climbed two spots to the top of FIFA's world rankings. Woo hoo! (Or, since it's Talk Like a Pirate Day: ARRRRR!) The new top three are Italy, Argentina and
Juve Fans Narc on Their Own; Are Celebrated Far and Wide
By Martha | September 18th, 2007At the end of the first half of the Juve-Udinese match on Sunday, an irate fan by the name of Nicholas Ravasio lobbed a smoke bomb onto the pitch (Aren't they supposed to be frisking people now, so they can't bring that sort of thing into the ground? My,
Lazio, Milan Resume Champions League Play
By Martha | September 18th, 2007Two of the four -- Count 'em, four! -- Italian teams in the Champions League group stages open their play today, with Milan hosting Benfica and Lazio traveling to Greek champions Olympiakos. The Milan match holds an added interest for Rossoneri fans be
Chivu's Inter Career Off to a Flying Start
By Martha | September 18th, 2007As you may recall, Inter are headed to Turkey this week with about 1.5 defenders in their team, and rather than blaming the crew who got themselves suspended for that fight against Valencia last season, club President Massimo Moratti has decided to turn h
Quick Odds and Ends Ahead of the Weekend
By Martha | September 14th, 2007Everyone and his brother are proclaiming mad love for Gila. A memo must have gone out, or something. The FIGC are getting serious: Angelo Pagotto was just slapped with an eight-year ban after his second positive test for cocaine. Wow. If this was in th
Corini Going Back to Palermo; Zaccardo Wants Him to Stay
By Martha | September 14th, 2007Normally there'd be little interest in Torino's trip to Palermo on Sunday (and I'll admit that I might be the only one who cares, even now), but since the visit will mark the return of Eugenio Corini to the team he was a big part of bringing back to Serie
Laugh it Up, Haters
By Martha | September 14th, 2007As you may have heard, Christian Chivu picked up a shoulder injury in Romania's game last weekend, and sat out their midweek friendly as a result. Though the injury was originally thought to be fairly minor, La Gazzatta is reporting this morning that Chiv
Dema, Altidore and Mathis - Injury Updates
By Dave Martinez | September 14th, 2007First off, look at that armband on Dema . . . looks great! Ok folks, here are your updates on our injured Bulls, as we look ahead to Saturday and our encounter with the Fire, @ Chicago . . . . DEMA KOVALENKO Dema did a great interv
Ah, So Pay is Based on Tactical Genius, Then
By Martha | September 13th, 2007Note: I'm being Bob today (which is WAY harder than it looks), so I'll be back later with a WAG of the Week, but probably not much else. Sorry, my brain is just too small to do both. Continuing this week's trend of publicizing everyone in calcio's sala
Nevermind About the Match-Fixing, Or: Another Win for Falsini and Pantanelli
By Martha | September 12th, 2007Gianluca Falsini and Armando Pantanelli are having quite a summer. First, they were frozen out by Catania (Pantanelli has since moved to Avellino in Serie B) and not even allowed to train with the rest of the squad, then they actually won the lawsuit they
Just So You Know, Donadoni's Job is Totally Not on the Line Tonight
By Martha | September 12th, 2007Really, it's not. How do we know this? Why, because Roberto Donadoni himself tells us so -- for your information, he feels he has the full support of the FIGC, no matter what happens in Kiev tonight. Yeah, and it's always such an encouraging sign when peo
Newsie Bits for Tuesday
By Martha | September 11th, 2007•Despite reportedly being outplayed for stretches by Albania, the Azzurrini pulled out a 1-0 away win today on a goal from Robert Acquafresca to remain top of their Euro 2009 qualifying group. Though they didn't play particularly well this week, the U-2
Cassano's Injury Not So Bad; Is Fit to Visit Ne'rdowell Friends
By Martha | September 11th, 2007When Antonio Cassano went down over the weekend in a friendly against Swiss side Bellinzona -- one organized in large part to help him get fit -- it was feared his leg injury was severe enough to keep him out for "several weeks," a dismal occurrence for a
Kaka May Be the Best-Paid Player in Italy, But Real Would So Totally Pay Him More
By Martha | September 11th, 2007There's a long article in today's La Gazzetta (and of course it's not online) detailing the salaries of each team, from the high rollers like Kaka and Francesco Totti to the poverty-stricken trio on the bottom, Marco Mancosu, Jan Koprivac and Simone Iacop
Mmm ... Blood Doping
By Martha | September 11th, 2007Good news, Milan fans: Ronaldo is due back in Italy very shortly. Woo hoo! There is, however, the small issue of that treatment he received in Brazil, which hasn't been approved by the Italian Olympic Committee and therefore has him in hot water with The
Calcio, Porn and Reality TV
By Martha | September 10th, 2007When Francesco Coco revealed last week (You have no idea if this is going to be the porn or reality TV part, do you?) that he was quitting football to become a film star, one assumed he a)meant something beyond the (alleged) gay orgy photographers (allege
Of (Formerly) Porky Brazilians
By Martha | September 10th, 2007Things are very different these days for the Brazilian strikers on either side of Milan. Ronaldo, for his part, is both no longer fat (Who knew it was just a glandular problem?) and also desperately needed by his club. Adriano, meanwhile, remains both fat
Azzurri v France: Yes, I Know I'm Behind
By Martha | September 10th, 2007The good news is that the defense looked surprisingly solid, Fabio Cannavaro seems to have remembered who he is and had a solid game and a spectacular second half (as much as one can defend spectacularly), and Marco Materazzi's tshirt completely confirmed
Azzurri Squad Announced; Limited Room for Bitching Available
By Martha | September 3rd, 2007Roberto Donadoni, who has spent the last two weeks offering up sacrifices to a slew of gods in an effort to winpowers of miraculous recovery for his rickety crew of defenders, yesterday announced his squad for the upcoming Euro 2008 qualifiers. For onc
The Draw For That Other Cup
By Martha | August 31st, 2007Holding the UEFA Cup draw a day after the Champions League groups are set will inevitably make the former pale by comparison, but today is nevertheless a massive day for four clubs in Italy with hopes of finishing the season with a bit of European silverw
Transfer Market Bits, Or: A Run on 31-Year-Old Strikers
By Martha | August 31st, 2007In a bit of news so shocking it needed to be triple checked, it's being reported today that a player is actually moving from Manchester City to a Serie A club. (I know what you're thinking -- "What?! Does Sven know about this?") It appears someone at Man
Catching Up With the Champions League
By Martha | August 31st, 2007The Champions League draw was made yesterday and, as expected given their seedings, Milan and Inter have the easiest paths of the four Italian teams in the competition, with the Nerazzurri in particular coming away with a remarkably favorable group. Ha
Victor is Sick and Should be Excused from Gym Class Today
By Martha | August 29th, 2007Victor Obinna really, really doesn't want to play in Serie B. The highly rated, 20-year-old striker has been engaged in a summer-long dispute with Chievo (and sort of Inter, who originally brought him to Italy and may or may not actually own him still) be
The Latest on Adriano: Still Breathing, Still at Inter
By Martha | August 29th, 2007Ok, this is actually getting sad. At last count, about 137 clubs from 14 nations have turned down the chance to sign Adriano on loan, and the big Brazilian has gone into serious pout mode, muttering about how unjust his treatment has been. According to Ad
Of Coaches Suspended
By Martha | August 28th, 2007As we chortled gleefully about yesterday, the resident genius of French football, Raymond Domenech, has talked himself into a suspension for his team's upcoming match against the Azzurri. After very specifically accusing Italy of buying the referees for a
Milan Totally Almost Signed Henry. Take That, Haters!
By Martha | August 28th, 2007Milan may have done fuck all this summer (apart from signing an infant Brazilian who may or may not be the Second Coming), but they weren't just sitting around, twiddling their thumbs. No, sir! Instead, they were busy doing really exciting things like alm
A New Gig For the Little Inzaghi
By Martha | August 28th, 2007These days, you could be forgiven for forgetting that Pippo Inzaghi has a little (and when I say little, I mean he's a child of 31) brother named Simone who "plays" for Lazio. Just a few years ago, though, Simone was flying high, scoring nine goals in 11
Odds And Ends As Adriano Preens in the Stand
By Martha | August 27th, 2007•Despite a weekend full of loan rumors and the Inter brass practically begging the Brazilian to take his unflatteringly snug Armani tops elsewhere, Adriano's agent today angrily insisted his client would either stay at Inter or be sold full stop. Appare
Your Weekly Azzurri Health Update
By Martha | August 27th, 2007In good news, Marco Materazzi has left the hospital. Woo hoo! Of course, he's out for anywhere from two to four months, so leaving the hospital doesn't do much for Inter or the Azzurri. And, to make things worse, Fabio Cannavaro picked up an ankle injury
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