Good, Bad and Ugly for Inter

By: Martha | November 19th, 2007

Argies. The international weekend was a busy one for Inter, despite very little actually happening in Milan. Most of the action took place in South America where, you may have heard, a whole lot of Nerazzurri players ply their international trade.

In good news, Inter captain Javier Zanetti became the most-capped Argentine player of all time when he captained his team in their 3-0 World Cup victory over Boliva on Saturday. Despite being left out of the team for World Cup 2006, Zanetti has nevertheless made 116 appearances for his national side, breaking the record set by Roberto Ayala, who retired from the international game this past summer. Zanetti is 34 but, since he seems to have been assembled from steel, fantastic hair, and bits of rubber, can probably play for at least another two decades, thus putting the record far beyond the reach of future generations.

Also from Argentina, though, came the bad: Midfielder Esteban Cambiasso suffered an ankle injury of unclear severity in the Bolivia match, and was stretched off during the second half. Since most of Inter’s season-open midfield is already broken and Cambiasso has been easily the team’s best player not named “Zlatan” through the first three months of the season, seeing him writhing in pain was enough to make any Inter supporter to sick to his or her stomach. Word on the street is that the injury is not as bad as it looked but 10 days is 10 days, and when your midfield is increasingly being patrolled by backs, it’s way, way too long.

On the ugly front, meanwhile, comes news from Brazil, this time regarding poor Adriano. As we all know, the striker is set to spend the next two months or so at home, going through treatment for his depression and training on his own with a member of the Inter staff. (He’s even agreed to waive his wages during that time, so Inter, while they’re paying for the treatment, aren’t actually paying him to lie on a couch and talk about his feelings.) He jetted off over the weekend and, according to the Italian media, the moment he got off the plane he was practically begging the press to save him, telling them that he had to get out of Inter — he said he’d get in trouble if he talked, but let loose the secret that he wants to return to Brazil for good (presumably to play).

Not surprisingly, Adriano’s plea immediately led to rumors that his long-anticipated loan deal would land him in Brazil, either at Flamengo, where he started his career, or Sao Paulo, where his treatment is taking place. The latter’s ownership even made statement that seemed to suggest such a thing was possible (”but only if there is a chance for him to continue playing here for a period of next season”), but Adriano’s agent immediately rubbished all the stories, say his client was contactually obligated to show up back in Milan on January 1, and that he wasn’t going anywhere. Still, no one seems to think the Brazilian will be back in the Inter team this season, so assuming that January return will happen is a bit of a leap of faith.