A Football Report

By Mirko Corli, writing from Torino

19 million Italians had been watching Italy’s opening match against Paraguay last night, official TV data say.

Everyone has probably seen his or her own match, but my opinion is that we are making things far too much complicated. At least, more than they really are. And the man in charge of all this complication is Marcello Lippi.

 Italy did play quite well last night, if you consider the impressive lack of quality we have in the pitch: you will never see Italy play good football in this tournament, because the team is not based on this. They are mentally and phisically strong, always deep in the the game, never losing control even while loosing. If you think about yesterday, Paraguay has been dangerous only when they scored (it was a big mistake of Italy’s defense, to be honest), and the Azzurri deserved to draw looking at how they stayed focused throughout the game.

Daniele De Rossi’s equalizer was a good one (big mistake from Paraguay goalie - what is going on with keepers in this tournament?) and was the best player in the pitch in my opinion. Also right-winger Pepe and full-back Domenico Criscito did quite well. Criscito, in particular, was a nice surprise: focused, strong, confident, awesome.

But it was all so difficult to get a result. Why?

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By Mirko Corli, an ecstatic Inter supporter writing from Italy 

I know, you’re expecting a normal recap of the last Serie A matchday. But I’m sorry, I can’t do it.

I think it’s time to celebrate the best team Italy offered to both Italian and European fans this year: José Mourinho’s Inter.

The last matchday of the season was terrific: for 20 neverending minutes AS Roma was in charge of the Italian title. By scoring in Verona against Chievo, Roma had 80 points in the table, the same amount as Inter, which was getting a draw in Siena. There is no word to describe the feelings that were going through Italian fans at that moment.

Then, Diego Milito came. Twelve minutes into the second half Javier Zanetti, the Captain, stole a ball in the midfield, went forward as he usually does, then flicked a short pass through to Diego Milito who took position in front of the defender and then scored, killing all the ghosts and all the fears; everything was tossed aside.

From that point the only task was controlling the game until the final whistle of the season.

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By Mirko Corli, writing from Torino

Serie A, like other main European leagues, will declare its champion in the very final game of the season.

On Sunday Inter became in charge of the title for at least 60 minutes by getting a huge victory 4-3 at home against Chievo, while Roma was getting a draw and then loosing 1-0 at home against Cagliari. Then, Francesco Totti scored twice (second one from the penalty spot) to secure an important win for the giallorossi.

Now, this is the plot for the final game of the season: Inter will play in Siena (Alberto Malesani’s lads have already been relegated for two weeks) and Roma will play in Verona against Chievo. 

Chievo was not a simple opponent for Inter this week; they actually took the lead in San Siro with an own goal from Thiago Motta and then showed a great attitude to keep the game alive until the end. Maybe they will be able to show the same fighting spirit next week against Roma (considering that both Chievo’s coach and President are Inter fans).

We’ll see what will happen: the only thing we know for sure is that the two teams that are fighting for the title are the best we’ve seen this year in Italy.

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By Mirko Corli

If you don’t know much about Italian football, you may misunderstand something.

Lazio vs Inter was more than a simple game. It was actually Lazio vs Roma, again. Two weeks ago the derby in Rome saw Roma winning it 2-1 after a fantastic comeback (remember Lazio missed a penalty when they were 1-0 up): at the end of the game Roma’s captain Francesco Totti showed both his thumbs down to the tifosi, meaning that Roma’s win maybe was condemning Lazio to relegation.

Of course it wasn’t fair to Lazio’s fans, there has been even a fight in the pitch between the players at the final whistle for that. But this is football in Rome: fans are equally interested both in their team result and in the city rival’s one. And joy comes maybe more from the other team’s defeat than your team’s victory. All this explains Lazio vs Inter.

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By Mirko Corli

Sampdoria’s striker Giampaolo Pazzini (il Pazzo, the Mad, as they call him) did what seemed to be impossible: stopping Roma after 24 positive results in a row. Pazzini scored twice last night at the Olimpico stadium in a fantastic comeback by Sampdoria that puts the team in 4th place, four points above direct rivals Palermo.

But, above all, Pazzini’s double puts Inter back on top of the league. Inter is now first in the table with 73 points, two points above Roma. Three matches to go now: next week Roma will play away against Parma (who lost 2-1 in Bologna this week) and Inter will travel to Rome to face Lazio (2-1 win against Genoa yesterday).

Nothing is done yet in the Scudetto race: Roma will play on Saturday afternoon and if they win, they’ll be back on top of the league, forcing Inter to win against Lazio on Sunday night. Remember that Inter leads by two points, but they have to finish the championship above Roma to win the title. That means they only have one result to pursue until the end, victory. Of course, if Roma lose other points in Parma, everything will most likely be decided. 

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By Mirko Corli

Serie A enters into its final month: four matches to go now & Roma are still leading the table one point above defending champions Inter.

The weekend was tough for both of the two leading teams but they secured two vital wins for the title race. On friday night Inter defeated Juventus 2-0 in San Siro with a stunning goal by Douglas Maicon (probably the best of the entire league so far) and a late goal by Eto’o, putting a huge amount of pressure on Roma.

Ranieri’s lads were in a dramatic situation after one minute of the second half of their Roman clash against Lazio. The Biancocelesti were 1-0 up with Rocchi’s 5th goal in a derby and with a penalty kick in hand. Then Lazio’s Floccari missed the penalty and the game changed. Mirko Vucinic scored a double to put Roma back on top of the league.

To win Serie A you have to be a strong and impressive team, and you also have to be a little lucky. The competition is so intense, so demanding for the players, you definitely need a little bit of lack to be on top at the end of the race. If we look back at the last few matches, Roma’s has luck on their side. The missed penalty by Floccari is just another sign of that, not to mention Inter’s three hit posts in the last three games.

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By Mirko Corli

• It’s time for a big change in Serie A.

Five games to go and Roma takes the lead of the championship, putting
Inter in second place after 4 years of leading the Scudetto race.

On Saturday evening Inter took part in a dramatic 2-2 draw in Firenze against Fiorentina. Many people, especially some press from Rome were arguing about the match, suggesting that Inter and Fiorentina silently agreed to arrange it for Inter. In exchange the Nerazzurri would have lost the upcoming match in the Italian Cup, scheduled on next Tuesday, which is also against Fiorentina. That’s the despicable standard of some of the Italian press. 

Instead, the match was a great one. Fiorentina took the lead in the early minutes with brazilian striker Keirrison and mantained the control of the game despite Inter attacking will full power. The Nerazzurri were able to draw and then took the lead with Samuel Eto’o finishing a fantastic counter attack when only 8 minutes were left in the game. But then a terrible mistake from Julio Cesar let Per Kroldrup score make the final score a 2-2 draw. Inter is not as clinical as it has been in the past, and Roma is taking advantage of this.

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By Mirko Corli

Inter has to defend its lead for just six more games in order to secure its 5th consecutive Serie A title.

On Saturday all the three teams playing for the Scudetto won. It was quite unusual to see them playing all at the same time, but the huge pressure that was shared among them did not overwhelm.

Inter won 3-0 at home against Bologna with no trouble (double from Thiago Motta and goal for Balotelli, who was back in the squad). Roma won 1-0 in Bari thanks to Mirko Vucinic, and Milan won 2-3 in Cagliari (wonderful goal by Huntelaar) with a little bit of luck (it was an own goal by Astori that gave Milan 3 points).

Inter still has a one point advantage on Roma and a three point advantage on Milan. The Champions now have to be perfect for every remaining match and cannot afford to make a mistake. But despite the little lead and Roma’s 22nd good result in a row, Inter look to be well aware of their own strength.

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By Mirko Corli

Serie A is coming to an end, we have only 8 games left and all the races are still open. Inter, Roma, and Milan are still fighting for the Scudetto, while Palermo, Napoli, Juventus and Sampdoria are the main players fighting for the last Champions League spot.

As far as relegation is concerned, Atalanta, Siena and Livorno are struggling to close the gap between them and Udinese, the first squad to now be safe.

The weekend started with the big match between Roma and Inter and the result was the one that everybody apart from Inter fans wanted to have: the Giallorossi secured an important win at home on the champions, and they are now only one point below Inter in the table.

To be honest, the fair result would have been a draw (Inter hit the crossbar in the first half and hit two posts in the second, with the last one at the end of injury time) but Roma took it all and put a lot of pressure on Inter.

Now the fixtures seem to be slightly better for Roma: until the end of the league they will face easy teams, who are not fighting for anything serious, and the only challenge seems to be the derby against Lazio. Inter has still to face important games (Juventus at home, Fiorentina in Florence, Lazio at home) and in between there are the two matches against CSKA Moscow and the second leg of the Italian Cup Semifinal against Fiorentina.

The next 2 or 3 games will tell us who is likely to secure the Scudetto this year.

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By Mirko Corli

This is the question that the past weekend in Serie A puts on the table.

AS Roma defeated struggling side Udinese 4-2 at home with a hat-trick by Mirko Vucinic and a superb game by young French talent Jeremy Menez. Thanks to this win AS Roma is now only 4 point below Inter and next saturday the Nerazzurri will travel to Rome in a clash that smells of Scudetto.

In the meantime, AC Milan was not able to win at home against Napoli: 1-1 the final result with AC Milan deserving maybe a little more than one point but very imprecise in their defensive plays due to the missing centre-backs Alessandro Nesta and Daniele Bonera.

Napoli took the lead in San Siro with defender Hugo Campagnaro and then had some great chances to go 2-0 up. But then, evergreen striker Filippo “Pippo” Inzaghi put a powerful header behind Napoli’s keeper and AC Milan took the control of the game until the end, having some decent opportunities to score.

Inter played on Saturday night a difficult match in Palermo: they took the lead from the penalty spot in the first 10 minutes (17th goal from argentine striker Diego “El Principe” Milito, who became father for the second time just after the game) and then controlled the game until Palermo made the draw with Cavani. After that Inter put the  ”Stamford Bridge squad” on the pitch - as the Italian media keep saying - with Sneijder behind Milito & Eto’o, and Pandev and Thiago Motta in the middle of the midfield beside Cambiasso. 

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By Mirko Corli

Clarence Seedorf’s last-gasp long distance shot into the top-left corner of Chievo keeper Sorrentino’s net re-opened the race for the Scudetto.

Seedorf scored in injury time for AC Milan to secure a vital victory for the title race contenders. AC Milan is now only one point below Inter FC. They have to finish in front of the Nerazzurri in the league in order to win the title, and now every game will be a desperate fight for both teams.

AC Milan played without defenders Nesta, Bonera, and Antonini, and during the game they lost David Beckham: it seems the injury is very serious and David will miss the rest of the season and also the World Cup.

Inter lost 3-1 in Catania on Friday night: maybe their mind was already in London for the game against Chelsea, but the team looked something in between being shapeless and not focused enough.

Jose’s lads now have to get a positive result against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge (playing a defensive game will be like committing suicide) in order to get into the round of the 8 best teams in Europe and to gain some confidence back for the Italian Championship. Key players are now facing strokes of poor form: Sneijder and Eto’o are not in good shape, the midfield has been suffering from injuries and red cards (Muntari, Cambiasso), and the defense is not as protected as before. Of course, a great responsibilty of the loss in  Catania is on Sulley Muntari’s shoulders because in less than two minutes he was booked, committed a foul just outside the box and then jumped with his left arm  over his head, giving Catania a penalty for 2-1 (without mentioning the fact he was sent off for the second yellow card).

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Let me start again by pointing out Siena’s abysmal performance: Alberto Malesani’s lads are now closer to avoiding relegation than ever.

Despite only drawing 1-1 against Parma at home, we have to consider that Siena keep getting points. They are still at the bottom of the league, and now they’re only one point below Atalanta and two behind Livorno.

The safe zone is only 5 points ahead. They can still hold onto their spot in Serie A.

As far as Champions League placement is concerned, Juventus leaped forward in the standings even more by winning against Fiorentina. The Brazilian Diego and Fabio Grosso secured an important victory for the Bianconeri, especially facing the upcoming Europa League match against Fulham. But Diego’s opening goal seemed to be offside, and resulted in lots of scrutinizing of the referee, which is usual in the Serie A. The bad news is that centre-back defender Giorgio Chiellini got an injury, and will certainly miss the match on Thursday as well as some other games in the upcoming weeks.

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