Video of the Week: Gila
By: Francesco |
14 Comments
After the international break, the man of the moment is undoubtedly Alberto Gilardino. The Fiorentina striker scored 4 goals in 2 matches with the Azzurri, including the impressive hat trick in 14 minutes vs. Cyprus. He now has 16 goals in 38 appearances (now level with Gianluca Vialli and Luca Toni) for the Azzurri and looks to be the headline striker heading into South Africa this June. His time at Milan may have hurt his reputation, with many fans saying he was just a one hit wonder, he could only score for small clubs, he couldn’t handle the pressure of a big team, he can’t score in Europe, he was a diving cheat, etc. However now at Fiorentina he is pretty much silencing all those critics, as he is one of the top goalscorers in Serie A and scores in the Champions League as well. Scoring goals for Fiorentina isn’t easy, and Gila is showing that he truly is one of Italy’s greatest goalscorers. Let’s hope he continues to shine, because the Nazionale needs a reliable striker. Gila video after the jump.
Great Serie A Games: Inter-Sampdoria 2004/2005
By: Francesco | 8 Comments
First, the international week is incredibly boring. Second, I thought I’d start a new post here on the Italy Offside: Great Serie A games. A post that will show videos of some of the greatest Serie A games of all time. For the first post I decided to stay fairly recent. We go back to the 2004/2005 season. Inter-Sampdoria. This is pre-calciopoli. This a time where Inter just weren’t that good, and Sampdoria fans couldn’t enjoy the magical moments of Antonio Cassano. Story of the game and video after the jump.
Roberto Donadoni: What’s his deal?
By: Francesco | 5 Comments
As everyone knows by now, Roberto Donadoni was relieved of his duties as Napoli manager and was replaced by former Sampdoria boss Walter Mazzarri. We can’t deny that Donadoni was one of the greatest wingers Italian football has ever produced. But his managerial career so far? Not great. We really don’t know where Donadoni is at as a manager or if he will ever improve. It’s rather confusing. Is Donadoni a good manager who just hasn’t found the right place to explode? Or is he a raccomandato, someone that just got ahead because of his name? The answer is really up in the air.
Goals of the week: Giornata 7
By: Francesco | 12 Comments
Sorry I didn’t get up a weekend round-up yesterday, it was a really busy day. However I don’t want to disrupt the weekly order so I’ll go straight to Goals of the Week. Last week was probably the worst goals of the week post of all time. I think this week made up for it with some quality strikes. Goals of the week after the jump.
Category: AC Milan, Atalanta, Bari, Bologna, Cagliari, Catania, Chievo, Fiorentina, Genoa, Goals of the Week, Inter Milan, Juventus, Lazio, Livorno, Napoli, Palermo, Parma, Players, Roma, Rumors & News, Sampdoria, Serie A, Serie B, Siena, Udinese
Tags: AC Milan, Atalanta, Bari, Bologna, Cagliari, Calcio, Catania, Chievo, Daniele Galloppa, Dejan Stankovic, Edinson Cavani, Fiorentina, football, Francesco Totti, Futbol, Genoa, Giampaolo Pazzini, Goals of the Week, Inter Milan, Italy, Juventus, Lazio, Livorno, Michele Marcolini, Napoli, Palermo, Parma, Players, Roma, Ronaldinho, Rumors & News, Sampdoria, Serie A, Serie B, Siena, Soccer, UdineseLittle Italy is present in the Bulgarian First Division
By: Francesco | 4 Comments
This was an interesting story I came across today. Apparently there is a “Little Italy” of sorts in the Bulgarian First Division (official named the Bulgarian TBI A Professional Football Group, which is ridiculous), as Bulgarian club PFC Botev Plovdiv is owned by an Italian owner, has an Italian chairman, an Italian-Congolese sporting director, an Italian manager, and a roster that contains 10 Italian players (soon to be 11). More on this curious story after the jump.
Bari’s American takeover falls through
By: Francesco | 4 Comments
It’s not old news that the Matarrese family wants to sell Bari. Although they have been in charge of the Pugliese club since 1977, they no longer have the want to be heads of a football club and have had the club on sale for years. Last year former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz was interested in taking charge of the club, but the deal fell through. Then, this summer it seemed they had been thrown a lifeline. Around mid-August, it was revealed that an American entrepreneur was interested in buying the club. He was revealed to be Tim Barton (pictured), a Texan who was the head of JMJ Holdings Corp.
Goals of the Week: Giornata 6
By: Francesco | 1 Comment
I’m just going to throw it out there: this might be the worst goals of the week post of all time. Nothing spectacular at all this weekend, most goals were very plain and ordinary. Of the 18 goals scored this weekend, about 3 are top goal worthy. But let’s see this week’s goals of the week (hoping that Giornata 7 brings us better ones):
Category: AC Milan, Atalanta, Bari, Bologna, Cagliari, Catania, Chievo, Fiorentina, Genoa, Goals of the Week, Inter Milan, Juventus, Lazio, Livorno, Napoli, Palermo, Parma, Players, Roma, Rumors & News, Sampdoria, Serie A, Siena, Udinese Tags: AC Milan, Antonio Di Natale, Atalanta, Bari, Bologna, Cagliari, Calcio, Catania, Chievo, Daniele Dessena, Fiorentina, football, Futbol, Genoa, Goals of the Week, Inter Milan, Italy, Jeda, Juventus, Lazio, Livorno, Massimo Maccarone, Napoli, Palermo, Parma, Players, Roma, Rumors & News, Sampdoria, Serie A, Siena, Soccer, UdineseSerie A Weekend Round-up: Giornata 6
By: Francesco | Add Comments
Sampdoria are top of the table alone for the first time in 18 years. A week ago I wrote an article saying that Sampdoria could be the surprise of the season, and right now that hypothesis is still holding up. While it’s almost impossible for them to win the scudetto and considering the fact that Gigi Del Neri’s teams usually suffer a drop in form after the winter break, they should be challenging for a spot in Europe next season, whether that be Europa League or Champions League that remains to be seen. Certainly if they perform in every game like they did against Inter they should have no trouble reaching that objective. Serie A and B results and highlights after the jump.
Video of the week: Serie A Bloopers (including a mistake by Buffon!)
By: Francesco | 4 Comments
I always like to watch videos of bloopers, and this time I’ve found a Serie A blooper video from the early 2000’s. Always entertaining, and it includes a mistake from Buffon!! (how often do you see those?)
Video after the jump.
Category: AC Milan, Atalanta, Azzurri, Bari, Bologna, Cagliari, Catania, Chievo, Fiorentina, Genoa, Inter Milan, Juventus, Lazio, Livorno, Napoli, Palermo, Parma, Players, Roma, Rumors & News, Sampdoria, Serie A, Siena, Udinese, video of the week Tags: AC Milan, Atalanta, Azzurri, Bari, bloopers, Bologna, Cagliari, Calcio, Catania, Chievo, Fiorentina, football, Futbol, Genoa, Gianluigi Buffon, Inter Milan, Italy, Juventus, Lazio, Livorno, Napoli, Palermo, Parma, Players, Roma, Rumors & News, Sampdoria, Serie A, Siena, Soccer, Udinese, video of the weekU-20 World Cup starts tomorrow for Italy
By: Francesco | 4 Comments
Despite having a strong U-21 side, Italy’s other youth national teams don’t really have a glorious history. All of Italy’s youth focus is directed to the U-21 team, and you never hear anything about the other sides. In addition, besides the U-21 team Italy’s youth sides have never really won anything, despite participating at many tournaments. The Italy U-20 side has never won anything, the Italy U-19’s won the European Championship once in 2003 and then reached the final in 2008, and the Italy U-18’s and U-17’s last won a trophy in the 1980’s. Since the U-19 team surprisingly reached the European Championship final in 2008 (losing to Germany 3-1), they qualified for this edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, being held in Egypt. As I said, the Italy U-20’s do not have a glorious past, and haven’t participated at many U-20 World Cups.
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