Huge clashes, great tension: that’s Italian Calcio

By Mirko Corli

The Champions are not giving away their title without fighting: a 9-men Inter got a sensational 0-0 at San Siro on Saturday night against Sampdoria.

The result is stunning if you consider that in 6 minutes during the first half Inter lost both of its two centre-backs (Walter Samuel first, and then Ivan Cordoba), playing with 9 men for more than an hour with substitute Lucio and midfielder Cambiasso in the middle of the defense.

Sampdoria was never a danger for Mourinho’s lads, who had the best chance of the match in the second half with a counter attack by Pandev and Eto'o. Sampdoria’s new keeper Marco Storari did have an amazing save off of Samuel Eto'o’s strike.

That was the third draw in-a-row in Serie A for Inter, the second one without scoring but my impression is that the team is still the strongest in the league. Too many nerves to be honest, but my impression is that it’s merely a nervous thing they can now turn into a positive attitude for the big Champions League clash against Chelsea.

The Title race is now more open than before: AS Roma, even playing without their icon Francesco Totti, secured a home 1-0win against Sinisa Mihajlovic’s Catania. In-form striker Mirko Vucinic scored in the first half, and then Roma controlled the game until the end. AS Roma is now only 5 points below league leaders Inter and the second clash between the two teams has still yet to come.

Inter’s other main opponent for the title race is AC Milan. Despite the huge defeat at home on Wednesday in the clash against Man United, Milan won comfortably by a 2-0 scoreline in Bari. It’s a good victory because Bari has been one of the most difficult pitches to play on in the league so far and it’s the best way for AC Milan to get closer to wednesday’s match against Fiorentina. Winning that game may mean getting even closer to Inter: just 4 point below them.

Remember that in case of Inter and Milan have the same amount of points at the end of the season, the title will go to Inter because they defeated their San Siro cousins 4-0 and 2-0 during the championship.

Juventus is in good shape: getting a 2-1 victory in Bologna.
Coach Alberto Zaccheroni has found the key to turn on Juventus’ engine. Since he took Ciro Ferrara’s place as the manager, Juventus have had some good results (as the victory at the Amsterdam Arena against Ajax in the Europa League last wednesday), giving the impression that they are finally developing a defined shape for their football. The 3-in-a-row defense is starting to work now, even if there are some big mistakes sometimes. The attacking side is performing well. Amauri rediscovered his knack to plow through to the back of the net, Del Piero is now playing regularly on the side of the attack, and Diego is taking the position of a semi-striker, just a few yards behind Amauri.

As far as the rest of the league is concerned, details are written below.

Chievo won 1-0 in Bergamo against Atalanta and secured three vital points in hopes of avoiding relegation; they now need only 8 points until the end of the season to reach the 40pts limit that has meant staying in Serie A in previous years.

Astonishing Cagliari is now in 8th place after defeating Parma 2-0 without too much trouble; they can start thinking about an Europa League spot.

Fiorentina got a difficult 2-1 at home against Livorno; the comeback was made by Vargas and Alberto Gilardino, probably the best and most complete striker that Italian Calcio has had since Gigi Riva in the 70s.

A straightforward match in Palermo: the home side, lead by former Lazio coach Delio Rossi, won 3-1 against Lazio. No doubts on the match: Palermo totally deserved to win and Lazio is now facing relegation troubles.

Nil-nil between Siena and Napoli, a match so boring that it does not deserve even deserve a word.

On Saturday’s Serie B (second division of Italian Calcio) games, surprises came on the news: Torino giants lost at home 3-1 with last in the table Salernitana and Sassuolo failed to reach the top of the league by loosing against struggling side Mantova.

I have to point out a couple of strikers I suggest you to track in the next weeks and on Youtube: Ancona’s Salvatore Mastronunzio (the Viper, as they call him) did score a double to equalise his side’s match against Padova (16 goals so far for him) and Grosseto’s Mauricio Pinilla scored again and put the team from Tuscany in the third place on the table (18 goals so far for him).

Best goal of the weekend is a Serie B one: the heel flick from Frosinone’s midfielder Mazzeo is simply wonderful.