Torino v Inter: 12 Wins and Counting

By: Martha | January 13th, 2007

It's all about the Brazilians, baby. It was sort of anticlimactic, but Inter set a league record for most wins in a row today with a pretty easy 3-1 win over Torino. Really, the workmanlike nature of the win is a sign of how good Inter are right now: They played under control and intelligently, content to posses the ball and threaten periodically without taking any chances, or doing anything spectacular. Torino had Inter on their back foot a time or two, but apart from a few nice periods of buildup, they never looked likely to take the game. Even when they (read: “Matrix”) scored and ever-so-briefly drew level, they managed to stay in the game for less than 60 seconds — Inter blew their offside trap open off the restart, and Ibra made a half-volley from a tough angle look like a walk in the park. That dude is so skilled it’s scary. Imagine if he went out and tried for a full 90 minutes — he could rule the world.

Oh, and Adriano scored again. That’s four games in a row — including Cup and walkover friendlies — which is very encouraging indeed. The thing is, though, that he should have had a hat trick. He was in alone on Abbiati once and went so wide he ruined his angle, and on another occasion Ibra set him up so perfectly that it was almost impossible to score (and yet he didn’t). The misses make it clear that he’s not back at full speed, but the goals are great, as are the reactions of his teammates. When he scores, there are smiles of real joy and affection on their faces, not the typical footballers’ “WOO HOO WE’RE WINNING!” grins. (And the fact that they all like him so much makes me feel bad for making fun of him. I am such a girl.)

Two other things I noticed:

•Materazzi has a HUGE new (?) tattoo of the World Cup trophy on his left thigh. Do you think it was a Christmas present?

•Adriano engaged in a long, emotional prayer on the pitch before the game. Like, really long — the camera stayed on him, assuming it would end any second, until things just got really awkward and they cut away. He was still praying. Here’s my question: Did he used to do that? Perhaps he’s had some heavenly help on this recent scoring binge.