Daily Calcio News and Notes: 5/6/08

By: Francesco | May 6th, 2008

Daily News and Notes

Here is todays main news from around the Peninsula:

- First let’s start off with news that can severely hurt two teams. The Disciplinary Committee handed out it’s weekly suspensions and it doesn’t look good for Livorno. Livorno, who will most probably be relegated on Sunday, had a few players suspended who did some bad things after the Atalanta game on Sunday. Alessandro Grandoni is suspended for 5 games, Emanuele Filippini is suspended for 3 games, Giovanni Pasquale is suspended for 2 games, and Antonio Filippini and Simone Pavan are suspended for 1 game. I think we can safely say, “See you in Serie B Livorno” (Sorry Marco). The next team that got hit was Fiorentina, who lose Adrian Mutu for the rest of the season after he received a 2 game ban for his protests against the referee at the end of the Cagliari game. Nothing is going right for La Viola in this end of the season.

- Roberto “Il Pampa” Sosa is leaving Napoli at the end of the season and returning home to Argentina to play with hometown club Gimnasia. He did give a hint on who will be his replacement by saying, “Marino surely will buy a South American striker”. That narrows it down to 1 continent.

- It seems that Roma is after Valencia winger Joaquin, who was once regarded as a very talented player, but has faded in the past few seasons. The deal could be concluded for around 15 million. But do Roma want to spend 15 million on one player? I guess the Mancini money could help out, and maybe that American money if it ever comes.

- Speaking of Roma, Captain Totti said that “Inter will most probably win on Sunday, but I have so many regrets about our season. However that’s how calcio works.” He also says his knee feels much better and can’t wait to start playing tennis again. (really tennis? who would’ve thought)

- Siena should be every Roma fan’s second favorite team. Why? Their president Stronati is a Romanista, their coach Berretta is a Romanista, and they have Daniele Galloppa (still co-owned by Roma) and Houssain Kharja (played with Roma two years ago). Siena president Stronati said that he wants to beat Inter on Sunday because he’s a Romanista, and everyone else made similar statements. Let’s see if they hold their promise.

- Fiorentina and Czech international defender Tomas Ujfalusi is still undecided about his future. His contract is running out with Fiorentina, and he has received many offers from Italy and abroad. However, he said that he will not play in England, he will either go to Spain or stay in Italy but only with Fiorentina. He said he’ll make a decision in 2 weeks.

- 24 year old Fiorentina striker Daniele Cacia, who was acquired by Fiorentina in January after scoring boatloads in Serie B, is an object of desire for Torino. La Viola could decide to loan him out to the Granata for a season so he can get some Serie A experience. It seems Torino is also interested in Fabio Liverani.

- Fabio Cannavaro, who has always said he wants to end his career with Napoli, now came out and said that he has no intention to return to Italy at all. He said he chose to play at a big club like Real Madrid, and for Napoli to wait until his contract expires to pick him up he’ll already be too old and they wouldn’t be interested. I still think he winds up at Napoli before he’s done.

- Following in the footsteps of Luca Toni, two more Italians will get to take part in Oktoberfest next year. It looks like Wolfsburg have completed the deal to bring Palermo and World Cup 2006 winning defender Cristian Zaccardo to Germany, while Hertha Berlin are interested in 27 year old Brescia defender Davide Zoboli.

- Sebastian Giovinco can’t stop talking about Juventus. He says he already sees himself at Juve next season and can’t wait to return. He also said that he’s mad he missed the penalty on Sunday, and that he always scores in training but in the game it went wrong. It’s ok Sebastian, you don’t have to worry about taking penalties because they are taken by a certain Alex Del Piero.

- Genoa coach Giampiero Gasperini wants to do the Intertoto Cup to get the Rossoblu in Europe next season, but he says he has to convice President Preziosi first.

- Pippo Inzaghi, who has really been on fire lately, has said he doesn’t really have a contract with Milan. Basically SuperPippo gets paid just like everyone else, except he says that Adriano Galliani has given him the choice when he wants to end the contract and retire. So if wants to keep getting paid until he’s 45, technically I guess he could…

- Alberto Paloschi, one of the good things to come out of Milan’s ok season, has said he doesn’t mind staying at Milan next year instead of going out on loan because at Milan, even though he doesn’t play much, he can still learn from great champions like Kaka and Inzaghi.

- Francesco Lodi, the ex-U21 and current fantasista of Frosinone in Serie B, has had a marvelous season where he has scored 20 goals and has been the reason Frosinone are in a good table position. He feels he is ready for the big jump to Serie A and Genoa and Napoli will probably fight for his services.

- Coppa Italia is on tap this week. Tomorrow Lazio take on Inter in the semi-final second leg after the first leg ended 0-0. The Coppa Italia is Lazio’s only way to get into Europe, while Inter have the chance of winning the double. On Thursday Roma take on Catania, after that first leg ended 1-0 for the Giallorossi. Roma want to be repeat champions, while Catania seem to be more focused on avoiding relegation. Goltv and RAI International (now named Rai Italia) will show these games in North America.

And to make everyone laugh, everytime I watch this video in youtube I laugh hysterically:

Enjoy Alberto Malesani telling off the Greek press while he was the coach of Panithiakos (I think that’s how you spell it) a couple of years ago: