Odds n Ends (Mostly Results) on a Coppa Wednesday

By: Martha | December 19th, 2007

Supermario action. Note: I’m traveling tomorrow. Will be back on task ASAP.

•For all intents and purposes, it’s all set for Adriano to stay in São Paulo on a six-month loan. Thank Christ.

•Speaking of Adriano, Brazilian home-away-from-home Fenerbahce, once rumored to be a possible destination for the big man, is now being mentioned as a place that other big man might end up. It’s being reported today that the Turkish club have submitted a €9 million bid for Ronaldo, and are prepared to pay him €4 million/year, should Milan be willing to sell. (Why not? With those 30 goals they’re going to get out of Pato in the second half, they don’t really need anyone else.)

•According to their agent, everyone and their brother want Parma’s Luca Cigarini and Daniele Dessena.

•In Bayern Munich’s 6-0 UEFA Cup thrashing of Aris today, Luca Toni score FOUR GOALS. (Thanks, Gabriel, for pointing it out.)

•In the only Coppa match played at an absurdly early hour (even in Italy), Udinese and Palermo played to a scoreless draw in front of 14 people and a dog at the Stadio Friuli. Both sides ran out sides featuring a lot of youngsters, and probably go into the second leg very content with the result.

•On the occasion of what I’m pretty sure was his competitive debut for the club, 17-year-old Supermario Balotelli scored twice in Inter’s 4-1 away rout of Reggina in the first leg of their Coppa Italia meeting. The match featured some crummy goalkeeping for both sides and a whole lot of Primavera players for the visitors, but Balotelli was good, Hernan Crespo actually scored, and all of Santiago Solari’s work finally came to something when he ended the day with a goal and two assists.

•In the other Coppa match featuring one of the leaders, an experimental (Isn’t that what they call a team when it’s crazy mix of regulars and never-used guys?) Roma side lost 3-1 to Torino, thanks to two great goals from Alvaro Recoba.

•And, in the final afternoon match, Lazio earned a 2-1 home win over Napoli, with goals by teenage defender Lorenzo De Silvestri and Roberto Baronio, who scored on a long-distance free kick. Lazio suffered yet another injury blow, though, when French midfielder Mourad Meghni was carted off in the first half.

Some Related Serie A Posts:

Category: AC Milan, Coppa Italia, Inter, Lazio, Napoli, Roma, Rumors & News, Serie A

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Martha

RomaShield, I admit to lying about the dog. There really were 14 people there, though. (And thanks for the link, Milanista.)
Francesco

Balotelli wants to represent Italy and even refused a senior call-up from Ghana in August. The thing is he is a similar case to Christian Manfredini of Lazio, he was born in Africa but was adopted by Italian parents. Whereas Manfredini showed no interest in representing Italy (and went on to represent the Ivory Coast), Balotelli feels Italian and wants to represent Italy. If he's good I think the fans could care less what color he is. Although he's not officially an Italian citizen yet, which means he can't play with and Italian youth side until he turns 18 in August.

And like stated, Okaka Chuka is already playing with the Italy youth sides, Ferrari and Liverani are two other examples. The first player of color to represent Italy at any level however was Joseph Oshadogan, who played with Reggina back in the day and was capped by the U21 side. On the current U21 side Fabiano Santacroce is also a "player of color".
RomaShield27

Wow, great link, thanks Milanista.
Milanista

Good site for statistics on Italian football attendances:

http://digilander.libero.it/st...

http://bp1.blogger.com/_X7SVwj...
RomaShield27

Why does the FIGC continue with playing early games on a Wedneday afternoon in the Coppa (in fact, the whole Coppa format needs a revamp and, dare I say it, possibly even an English style cup competition)? Was their really 14 people and a dog at the Stadio Friuli for Udinese v Palermo? If so, thats quite high for an early afternoon kick-off...

Seriously, does anyone know a good source which shows the attendance's numbers of both Serie A and Coppa games?
chris

Okaka Chuka is already a starter and said that he'll choose the Azzurri over the Super Eagles when his time comes. I haven't heard of any issues, but I'm not sure how many are paying attention to the U-19s.

Also, Matteo Ferrari was born in Algeria.
Tim

I'm wondering how Italians will receive Balotelli if and when he makes it to the azzurrini. Besides Liverani (and he was never a major figure for the azzurri), have there been other players of African descent who represented Italy?

I can see the haters lining up to point out that even Inter's Italian players aren't "Italian" enough ...
Francesco

No, but a host of clubs are after him. The most interested are Juventus, Milan, Inter, and Fiorentina.

However, at Milan he be the sub for Pirlo, which means he will hardly play and that will delay his growth, similar to Gourcuff. Same can be said for Inter who have a wealth of center midfielders.

At Juventus he will find Ranieri, who launched him to the big time at Parma, and would form a nice central midfield pair with either Antonio Nocerino or Cristiano Zanetti. Juve are actually in need of a player that can control the tempo and pull the strings like Ciga does.

Fiorentina is another interesting option, where he could pull the strings in the center and have Donadel as his protector ala Gattuso on his side, and if Liverani leaves this summer they'll need someone like Ciga.
Martha

Francesco, does Cigarini have a likely destination yet?
Francesco

Cigarini will most likely be gone in June.

Dessena at the moment is 50-50. He may stay on for another year.