Daily Calcio News and Notes: 5/14/08

By: Francesco | May 14th, 2008

Here’s what I found interesting today:

-Livorno director Elio Signorelli assumed some responsibility for Livorno’s relegation to Serie B. Why? Because he was the one that chose Livorno’s strikeforce over the summer. He said that he was sure that Tavano, Rossini, Bogdani, Tristan, and Volpe would’ve scored a combined 20-25 goals during the season. Well obviously that didn’t happen.

-Now we move to Spain, where Giuseppe Rossi’s agent Federico Pastorello said thatthe Jersey born striker will not be going anywhere this summer, and will remain at the yellow submarine next year. He said the Spanish club recently rejected an offer of 25 million euro for the U21 star, and that they consider him not for sale at all costs.

-Mourad Meghni, was considered the “Next Zidane”, said that he doesn’t know what his Lazio future holds. He said everything is unclear at the club at the moment, calling it “a chaos”. The director that bought him has resigned and Delio Rossi will most probably be gone and all the players are demoralized. Tough times in the blue side of Rome, and the Little Zidane is worried he might lose his place with the Biancocelesti.

-Michele Canini, who before his injury was considered the most promising Italian defender, is now back in form and linked with a move away from Cagliari this summer. The 23 year old finally shook off the cobwebs this season, and with the arrival of Ballardini (who launched Canini at Sambenedettese) he finally found his form over the last couple of games. Fiorentina has been linked with him, but there is also interest from Milan. Galliani has always been a fan of the young defender and wants to bring him up north. But Canini’s agent says that they are trying to sign a new deal with Cagliari.

-Nicola Amoruso, who has been scoring lots of goals in Calabria for the past 3 seasons, says that he may leave the Amaranto this summer. He says after 3 years he may want to try something new, and he will look at all his options and make a decision soon. Amoruso really became a symbol of Reggina, even wearing the captain’s armband a lot of the time, and was an idol to the Reggina fans.

-Sticking with Reggina, they are looking for a new coach to guide them next season. It seems they are looking at Stefano Pioli, who has safely steered little Grosseto to midtable in Serie B this season and was manager at Parma last season. If he repeats his Parma exploits, Reggina will be in relegation trouble yet again next season.

-Fiorentina striker Daniele Cacia, who arrived from Piacenza in January after scoring boatloads of goals in Serie B, announced that he will be leaving Florence at the end of the season. He said he knew that arriving at Fiorentina he wouldn’t get much of a chance, but he didn’t expect it to be as bad at has been, with Cacia only making limited late sub appearances and a UEFA Cup apperance where he scored vs. Rosenborg. He said in the 4 months that he has been in Florence, Prandelli only spoke to him twice, and that he became good friends with Bobo Vieri. Torino is said to be interested in the striker, as well as Chievo, who is coached by his old boss Iachini and are all set to return to Serie A next season.

-”Il Trap” (Giovanni Trapattoni), said that this Italian side is much better than his Italian side that went to Euro 2004. He said in 2004 he had to deal with an aging squad and he didn’t have players like Luca Toni. Let’s just hope Donadoni doesn’t take our strikers off when we’re winning 1-0 in the 60th minute.

-Parma, who will play their most important game in years on Sunday vs. Inter, have a request from the fans. The fans are pushing The Lord of Prosciutto Tommaso Ghirardi to make Parma wear their old yellow and blue hoop kits from the ’90s on Sunday, to bring them good luck because Parma won a lot of trophies in those kits. There is a petition online with over 1000 signatures already, if you want to sign it go here.

-SuperPippo has named the three young strikers that everyone should keep their eyes on. Alberto Paloschi, Nicola Pozzi, and Roberto Acquafresca. Hmmm…all of these strikers have a similar style of play to Inzaghi, I wonder if that influenced his decision…

-Ranieri wants Giovinco next season to be a supersub. He sees Giovinco as the perfect player to come off the bench and score a goal or change the game. Ranieri sees Giovinco as Anselmo “Spadino” Robbiati, the fantasista that played under Ranieri at Fiorentina and would come in as a sub and change the game and score a goal. Robbiati was a good player, but I think Giovinco will be on a whole different level.

-ESPN, who will be broadcasting Euro 2008 here in the United States, has introduced new Euro 2008 commercials centered around particular teams. Here is the Italy ad:

I thinks it alright, but it has the usual American stereotype of Italian soccer, where the players just whine and complain, which I hate.

And last but not least, La Partita del Cuore was played on Monday night in Rome between the Italian national team of singers and an all-star team coached by Totti. Maradona played on the singer team, along with Napoli striker Lavezzi. Buffon, Materazzi, and Gattuso were some other big names. If you want to watch the game, it will televised tonight at 8 PM EST on RAI International (now called RAI Italia.)

PS- UEFA Cup final today that will not include Luca Toni or Fiorentina. I’m rooting for Zenit.