3-0 in the derby, a very impressive showing! It also puts Lazio in 5th place, just two points out of a Champions League position! I haven't watched it yet, because my DVR crapped itself and didn't record it, but I downloaded it (the Fox Sports World broadcast is available on Bittorrent) and will watch it soon. Full recap then. For now
FORZA LAZIO!!!
I shouldn't do things like plan out posts for a whole week, especially when I know that I won't have the time to follow through on it. Here's the condensed version of Derby Week:
Curva Nord
The Irriducibili have pledged to suspend their protest for the Derby. They are claiming that they're doing it as a favor to the Laziali who usually sit in the Curva Sud at home games. Since all of the Laziali will be crammed into the Nord, the IRR say it wouldn't be fair to subject them to a somber atmosphere. I think the protesters have really wanted to be cheering, singing, and lighting things on fire all along.
Roma merda in Champions
Roma merda advanced to the knockout stage with a 1-0 win over Valencia on Tuesday. Totti didn't play, and there was some doubt as to whether he'd be ready for the Derby. All indications currently point to the fact that he will start on Sunday.
Preview
Lazio will be fielding its number one team, with no injuries or disqualifications lousing up the lineup. Behrami is ready to go, but will probably start on the bench. Rossi is right not to start him in his first game in six months in a derby situation. The defense will have to be very strong and Mauri will have to be the keystone of the offense in the trequartista role. Prediction? I'm not gonna tempt fate on that...
Why I'm not watching live
Tomorrow I'm making the drive down to South Bend for the second game of a home and home hockey series between Michigan and Notre Dame. Say I'm low on Lazialità, but I have lots of pride in my other teams, seeing a game live is important, and jeez after last night's dismal performance they'll need someone cheering them on. I am of course recording the game and I'll watch it later Sunday evening.
Apologies for the cursory treatment of all of this.
FORZA LAZIO!!! NON MOLLARE MAI
In celebration and preparation for Sunday's upcoming derby, I am going to try to make a post every day this week (despite having a very busy time of things in "real life"). Here's a tentative schedule of what's coming up.
Tuesday: The IRR and the Curva Nord's preparations for the match
Wednesday: Roma merda - Valencia and general Champions roundup
Thursday: TBD
Friday: traditional match preview
Saturday: Why I'm not watching the derby live
Sunday or Monday (or maybe Tuesday, it depends): derby recap
What should have been a strong Lazio side struggled mightily against La Viola in Firenze on Sunday. I was unable to see the game, but I listened on Radio Incontro and gleaned most of the important points. From what I gather, Lazio and Fiorentina had about equal chances to score. The balance tipped due to the midfield play of Fabio Liverani (ex-biancocelesti, and how we miss him) and the fact that Luca Toni is...well, Luca Toni. The man scores, however necessary. Even if that means putting his boot in Stendardo's face.
This photo accompanied every article recapping the match. How this isn't a dangerous play, I have no idea. I suppose that because the ball found the back of the net, there's no way that the referee could call it back. Still, when two players have an equal challenge on the ball, but one goes in head first and the other cleats first, the header should get possession.
The biancocelesti are lucky to have allowed just the one goal. Another strike by Toni just after the half time break was disallowed as offside. The offensive rush by Fiorentina in just the 4th minute of the second half was probably due to the fact that Oddo was pulled in favor of Sivigila at the break. Vicious rumors abounded over at Laziofever that Oddo was hurt. This was not the case, and Delio Rossi confirmed this after the match.
Oddo ha avuto problemi in settimana, non si è allenato benissimo per l'influenza, l'ho sostituito per questo.While Oddo's misfortune and the club's loss were disappointing, the worst news of the day came from outside the stadium. Four Lazio supporters were arrested for firebombing a police car that was on security duty. That is truly shameful, and something that I'd like to think that even Romanisti di merda wouldn't do. If the Irriducibili need something to protest (more on their preparations for the derby tomorrow), let it be those four people. They did not show Lazialità, and this is the week we will need it most. Avanti Lazio, la prossima è il derby!
"Oddo had problems during the week, he didn't train well because he had the flu, I substituted him for that reason."
Fiorentina (5 pts, 18th place)Sarà un'emozione forte, anche se non sarà come giocare a Roma. A Roma ho fatto cinque anni importanti della mia carriera, sono andato via perché non ero in sintonia con il presidente Lotito. Non sentivo da parte della società la fiducia di cui avevo bisogno. Mi auguro di essere il più lucido possibile in campo. Non posso permettermi di lasciare spazio ai sentimenti."It will be a difficult feeling, and it will not be like playing in Rome. In Rome I played five important years of my career, but I left because I wasn't in agreement with president Lotito. I didn't feel confident that they needed me as part of the club. I hope to be as clear-headed as possible on the pitch. I can't allow myself to leave room for emotions."
A bit of humorous news via Gazzetta today. Christian Okpala, striker for the German C-league team Stuttgarter Kickers was indefinitely suspended after punching one of his own teammates, Sasha Benda. The reason? "Benda provoked me, he kept farting in my presence." I can only imagine if the whole Zidane-Materazzi confrontation had been sparked by a bunch of flatulence...
Some more relevant suspensions were also handed down today. After a video review, Ascoli's Simone Pesce was given a three-match ban for his flying elbow that hit Gabi Mudingayi across the face. The blow didn't even earn Pesce a yellow card during the match, and there were some protestations about the fact that Mudingayi stayed down on the pitch for a while after the incident, even though he was clearly in the right and had been hit quite hard.
Also, Stefano Mauri has been suspended for one match, apparently for his yellow card offense in the match against Ascoli. He has only received three yellow cards on the year, so this was not an automatic suspension.
Delio Rossi got a great 46th birthday present from his players in the form of a 3-1 home win over struggling Ascoli. But as usual, Rossi kept his critical edge even in the face of the great success the biancocelesti have had over the past three matches:
In serie A se pensi di non soffrire sei un presuntuoso. Oggi abbiamo saputo soffrire, ma abbiamo mostrato anche qualità, perchè se fai 12 gol in 3 gare vuol dire che hai qualcosa in più degli avversari. Oggi non riuscivamo a tenere bene palla davanti, soffrivamo in po' a metà campo, poi abbiamo risolto la situazione e la vittoria l'abbiamo meritata."In Serie A you never think that you're suffering from overconfidence. Today I think we did suffer, but we also showed quality, because if you score 12 goals in 3 matches it means that you have something more than your opponents. Today we didn't succeed at controlling the ball well at the front, we suffered a little bit at midfield, but then we resolved the situation and we deserved the victory." Grande Delio, always thinking like a coach, full of constructive criticism.
And as for the players, nearly all of them met or exceeded expectations. Goran Pandev had a solid day, including a masterful piece of ball control that allowed him to beat two defenders and score his goal; his only major miscue was failing to secure an easy tap-in for another score. Tommaso Rocchi didn't have a stand-out day, but he ran well off the ball and was instrumental in occupying defenders and generating chances. Stefano Mauri was the disappointment, but only so because he had been so incredible in his previous two performances; he did score the own-goal, but that is more due to the weakened defense and a tricky play by Ascoli than any other fault. The midfield performed as usual, weak in the center but strong up the wings, and the defense held well considering they were lacking their leader at right back. The defense also did well to help press in the offensive end, as noted on the scorecard by the fact that Belleri got credit for the first goal (even though he wasn't the author of the shot). Foggia's insertion late in the game bolstered the central midfield and his fresh legs let him score the clinching goal.
Champions League group stage matchday 5 came and went this week. There are two pieces of big news. First, a few more teams clinched spots in the knockout round. Second, another world-class player sustained a major injury. After Samuel Eto'o went out earlier in the group phase, this past week Milan keeper Dida suffered an injury that forced him off the pitch. Although it did not seem major at first, it has since been determined that he injured a tendon in his quadricep and will miss three months.
As for the qualifying squads, let's see how they're standing up against my predictions:
Barca, Bremen, Bayern, Inter, Liverpool, Eindhoven, Valencia, Olimpiacos, Real Madrid, Lyon, Man U, Benfica, Arsenal, Porto, Milan, Lille
A guide to my notations:
Bold teams have clinched a spot in the round of 16
Italic teams are currently not in a qualifying postion, but are not eliminatedStriked teams are eliminated from a qualifying position
My only pick that is certainly out is Olimpiacos, and I mostly chose them so I wouldn't have to pick Roma merda to advance. The good news is that even though the Greeks are out, merda has not clinched a spot. They'll need to play poorly to be eliminated (a win or draw clinches for them), but considering their embarassment against Shaktar this week, anything could happen.
Lazio (15 pts, 10th place)Apologies for the long break between posts. I've had an extremely busy week, but now it is the Thanksgiving holiday in the US and I have some free time. So, on to last week's match!
Lazio kept the newly retooled offensive machine rolling on the road against Messina, despite some pregame concerns. It was revealed on Sunday that Tommaso Rocchi would not be starting due to continuing troubles with his knee. Stephen Makinwa, now back from his own injury, got the start in his place alongside Goran Pandev, with Mauri at the back point behind the strikers. I was unable to watch the game, because there were no TV feeds, but from what I could discern from the radio broadcast, the 4-3-1-2 is still working very well, letting Lazio defend consistently and also create offensive chances. Makinwa proved to play well for all 90 minutes, ultimately earning his goal in the 84th minute. I hope we will see more goals from him, for the celebrations if nothing else. Also, Messina keeper Marco Storari is my new favorite keeper to score goals on...he goes nuts, angry either at himself or at his defenders after every score! Naturally, the video tells the tale on these better than I can:
While the highlights are fun, the most important thing to consider coming off of another huge win is this: in the past two games Lazio scored 9 goals, compared to 10 goals in the entire rest of the season. Will the biancocelesti's norm be what we've seen in the past two weeks, or the lackluster offense of the first ten matchdays? Sunday's return home to face Ascoli will tell, for the time being.
All week I've been poo-pooing the hype about tomorrow's football game between #2 Michigan and #1 Ohio State and how the media has in earnest portrayed it as the coming of the apocalypse. Today all the hype has been put in a bit more somber perspective, with the passing of Bo Schembechler, the winningest coach in Michigan football history.
This doubly serves as notice that I will be totally engrossed in what is (probably accurately) being billed as the biggest game in college football history, and for that reason I doubt I'll have much of a Messina - Lazio preview unless I do one later this evening.
GO BLUE!!! on Saturday
FORZA LAZIO!!! on Sunday
Lazio had scored just two goals in its previous five games when they stepped onto the pitch at the Olimpico on Sunday. The tide was about to turn. Delio Rossi was giving the 4-3-1-2 another try, after it found only moderate success at Empoli the week before. 90 minutes later, that looked like the best idea possible, and could be the future of Lazio's formation.
From the outset Lazio pressed well. It is obvious that the weakness still lies at central midfield, because the biancocelesti rarely if ever are able to possess and control the ball there, but they moved the ball well along both wings. Usually Lazio can only push up the right side, with Oddo trying to both drive the offense and hold the defense steady. Not only did Oddo get excellent assistance on the right side from Mauri but they were also able to move smoothly up the left wing with Zauri. Once the ball was in the attacking zone, the 1-2 attacking force was extremely effective. The extra man running up the middle drew the defense off of Pandev and Rocchi and allowed penetration into the box.
The attack paid off in the 33rd minute when Rocchi was able to run free up the middle. One on one with Udinese's keeper De Sanctis, he chipped the ball over him. A defender had a chance at a goal-line save and even got a foot on the ball, but it bounced off the inside of the post and over the line to put Lazio on the scoreboard. Just 8 minutes later, Oddo took a free kick from outside the box and a defensive lapse let Stefano Mauri go unmarked and head the ball to the back of the net.
2-0 seemed a satisfactory lead (equal to the past five matches' goals, after all!) but the onslaught continued. In another 8-minute span Lazio scored three more incredible goals: Mauri on the volley from the top of the box after a scoring chance was kept alive, Oddo direct from a free kick just outside the box, and another chipshot from Rocchi after he embarrased the Udinese defense and wove through three men. By the 90th minute, Udinese wanted nothing more than to hit the showers.
So was this a fluke? Is the whole season going to be like this, with four- or five-game-long droughts and then sudden offensive bursts like the 4-0 victory over Torino? If Delio Rossi goes back to the 4-4-2, probably yes. There is no reason for him not to stay with the new system, because it appears to be working well. It has allowed some of our bench players to come off of the bench in the trequartista position, but when the entire midfield is healthy it will still work with the first-team personnel. It is a new look for Lazio, but if it works and can move Lazio towards a UEFA cup spot (only four points away as the classifica stands now) Rossi should have no choice but to utilize it. It finally allows our strong scorers (sorry Goran, you haven't earned that distinction yet this season) to put the ball in the net. It is no coincidence that Rocchi, Mauri, and Oddo are all called up to the national team friendly match this Wednesday against Turkey. They are the heart of the current Lazio squad, and are world-class.
I'm back from a week of stewing about Lazio's draw with Empoli and otherwise being generally busy. I figure I have to lay this one to rest before moving on to this weekend's match against Udinese at the Olimpico. So, just a quick summary:
The Good
1. Pandev scored! Goran finally got his first goal of the season in the 10th match. Maybe he's finally breaking out of his slump.
2. Lazio scored in the first half! Believe it or not, this was the first time the biancocelesti scored before the 46th minute this year. If it seems like Lazio has always been fighting from behind, this is why.
The Bad
1. MORE RED CARDS. Honestly, this has to stop. It's obvious that there is lots of frustration running through the team, and it needs to be dealt with. This is the responsibility of Delio Rossi as coach and Massimo Oddo as captain. Their men need to be in line.
2. The miraculous tying goal. It's hard to fault anyone for this. A lot of credit has to be given to Empoli's Ighli Vannucchi for making a brilliant strike.
It's just that it reminds me far, far too much of the scene after last spring's unlucky draw with Empoli.
Empoli (11 pts, 9th place)Per me è solo mancanza di risultati, non siamo allo sbando perché ho già visto segnali di miglioramento. Abbiamo bisogno solo dei riusltati e mi auguro che arrivi domenica a Empoli"For me only the results are missing, we are not lost because I have already seen signs of improvement. We just need the results and I predict that they will arrive Sunday at Empoli." Bravo Rossi (and I do not question his coaching style), but only goals will gain points to move Lazio up the table and contend for spots in Europe.
The longer I leave this post unfinished, the older the news gets. But here it is.
Champions League matchday 4 has come and passed, with some boring games and some thrillers, and the results are that 6 of the 16 spots for the knockout stage have been filled. Here are the advancing teams:
Group B: Bayern
Group C: Liverpool, PSV Eindhoven
Group D: Valencia
Group E: Lyon, Real Madrid
Group H: Milan*
*As Gazzetta rightly described the situation, "Qualificazione agli ottavi: manca solo l'aritmetica." Milan will clinch as long as they don't lose their next match by more than three goals, so consider them in.
Let's see how my predictions for those advancing are holding up:
Barca, Bremen, Bayern, Inter, Liverpool, Eindhoven, Valencia, Olimpiacos, Real Madrid, Lyon, Man U, Benfica, Arsenal, Porto, Milan, Lille
Wow! Seven for seven so far. It remains to see how accurate the rest are (especially my wishful thinking that Olimpiacos will beat out Roma merda).
One final matter regarding this past week in Champions League. It appeared that the Milan derby was the match of the week on Saturday. Then Fiorentina - Palermo surpassed that in excitement. But Chelsea's heroics against Barca to salvage a 2-2 draw on Tuesday were incredible. If you haven't had a chance to see the match, at least check out Frank Lampard's physics-defying goal. This is one of those shots that had no right to even be attempted, but got the result. There's also some quality footage of Samuel Eto'o doing commentary. Check it out. Champions returns in two and a half weeks.
From Gazzetta.it:
Un gruppo composto di dieci persone, a quanto si è appreso tifosi romanisti, con i volti coperti, sono entrati la notte scorsa intorno all'1.45 in un albergo di via Gregorio XI dove alloggiavano supporter dell'Olympiakos. Una volta nella hall dell'hotel ci sono stati momenti di tensione: un tifoso greco, che era con altri connazionali, è stato ferito con 5 tagli alla coscia destra. Il tifoso, di 32 anni, è stato soccorso e trasportato all'Aurelia Hospital. Danneggiati anche alcuni arredi e suppellettili della hall dell'albergo e infranta una vetrata esterna. Sono intervenuti i carabinieri."A group made up of ten people, who were discovered to be Romanisti, with covered faces, entered a hotel on Via Gregorio XI last night at 1:45 where supporters of Olimpiacos were lodged. At one point in the hall of the hotel there was a moment of tension: a Greek fan, who was with other compatriots, was wounded with five cuts on his right leg. The fan, 32 years old, was treated and transported to Aurelia Hospital. Also some furniture of the hotel hall was damaged and an external window was broken. The carabinieri intervened."
Oddo can't stand it. Many Laziali can't either. After drawing 0-0 with Empoli at the Olimpico on Sunday, Lazio has scored just one goal in their previous four matches. (In their one match before that, they scored four goals as they shamed Torino.)
What is so wrong with Lazio? Actually, very little except for a distinct lack of ability to convert good chances. First, Goran Pandev has done nothing all season, literally: he has not yet recorded a goal. However, Delio Rossi has unflagging confidence in him, and Pandev will be a starting striker for Lazio as long as he is not injured or disqualified. We got to see what the Lazio attack would look like without Pandev this past Sunday since he was serving a one-game disqualification for his red card against Samp. Honestly, Igli Tare looked better than Goran has all season. Although he was unable to convert, Tare was successfully challenging for the ball and generating chances. Tommaso Rocchi was in usual form, getting more attention from the linesman raising the flag on him than from anyone else. We also got to see what happens if Lazio plays with three strikers, when Rossi put in Inzaghino in the late second half. The defensive midfield collapsed upon itself and Reggina got their only serious chances of the day. It's obvious that the 4-4-2 is still best for Lazio and that a switch to a 4-3-3 would take a lot of practice. One final note on the offense: Stephen Makinwa will be back on the bench against Empoli, which will give Delio Rossi even more flexibility with his striking force.
The past three games have proved one thing about the biancoceleste defense: Massimo Oddo is definitely their core. Consider Lazio's last seven games. Oddo has played in five of them; in those five matches, Lazio has recorded clean sheets every time. Oddo was disqualified for two of them: in those two, Lazio conceded five goals. Certainly this is a concern for Rossi, since relying too much in one man is always dangerous.
But since the defense is essentially sound as long as Oddo and Peruzzi play, Lazio must focus on the offensive production. They tried desperately to put the ball in the back of the net at the end of the match, crashing the box with three strikers. Even the last-ditch attempt in the waning seconds of stoppage time came close. But Reggina's defense also collapsed, dropping as many men back as possible in order to salvage a point on the road. Their plan worked, and despite Lazio's domination of the possession and flow of play, the score remained at zeroes. It is frustrating for Lazio, certainly, but it should be no cause for panic.
Lazio (7 pts, 13th place)The results of the CONI arbitration are in, and Lazio has had 8 of its 11 points of penalty eliminated! The biancocelesti have jumped from -1 point and 18th place in the classifica to 7 points and 13th place. Other teams also received reductions: Fiorentina +4 and Juve +8 (in the Serie B classifica). AC Milan got no reduction, but they also had the smallest initial penalty.
Gazzetta.it has an excellent table of the penalties at various stages in the appeals process and how they have (or would have) affected the table. For those who don't read Italian, the columns are in order: "Today, after arbitration"; "After the appeals sentences"; "How it would be with the first-degree penalties"; "How it would be without penalty."
As a practical result, Lazio enters their match with Reggina on Sunday only 5 points out of a UEFA Cup spot. Certainly, there is a lot of the season, but FORZA E AVANTI LAZIO!
I didn't get to see Sampdoria - Lazio, and that's probably a good thing. This will be brief, because I really don't want to talk about it that much.
1. Goddammit Belleri. In two games he's given up two goals, the one against Samp an even bigger mistake than the one against Catania.
2. What are you doing Pandev? Getting two yellow cards? Who are you challenging that hard for the ball?
3. Stendardo! Fouling the last man is always a hard call to make. If he thought the goal was certain if he let the play continue, then it was appropriate. But Peruzzi is between the pipes, so there is always a good chance for a block.
4. "Igli! You've fucked up enough for one night!" Tare saw an entire half of play because Rocchi had to exit at the break. His one good chance he drilled off the crossbar.
Lazio - Reggina preview coming tonight. Maybe, just maybe, the outlook won't be too bleak.
Sampdoria (7 pts, 11th place)I sat down today and watched Catania - Lazio. Here's a point-by-point breakdown of what went wrong. The links will take you to video clips of the goals.
Catania 0-0 Lazio (32')
Grande Peruzzi! He comes off his line and clears away a point blank header that was going in otherwise. The rebound was risky, but able to be cleared by the defense.
Catania 1-0 Lazio (36')
Peruzzi had no chance at this one. It is hard to lay blame anywhere, but I would point at the center defense of Lazio. Catania made a perfect cross, but the back four shouldn't allow those kind of balls to find the heads of attackers. When they are allowed to go through unchecked, this is what happens: the goalie is flatfooted and the ball is in the back of the net.
Catania 2-0 Lazio (45')
Everyone knew that Massimo Oddo's disqualification would haunt Lazio sooner or later. This was the play when it happened. Belleri seems unaware of the position of his mark, and when the cross is made he is simply beat off of the line. Peruzzi shouldn't have to defend shots like this either. Oddo probably would have had a better handle on this situation and prevented a goal.
Catania 3-0 Lazio (50')
An unfortunate bounce for Lazio. Peruzzi bit on the first shot attempt (as he had to, since he couldn't presume it would be blocked). The rebound came directly to Colucci who had an empty net in front of him. The English commentators noted that a younger goaltender might have made a play on the second ball and that Peruzzi's age kept him on the ground. I don't think that's true, considering how nimble we've seen him be in other occasions.
Catania 3-1 Lazio (56')
Really, Lazio didn't even earn this goal. They weren't putting much pressure on and the ball was played back by Catania's defense right onto Rocchi's foot. Fortunate, but not skillful.
Catania 3-2 Lazio?? Nope.
Massimo Mutarelli controlled a pass inside the box with a wide open look at the net, but called himself offsides despite the fact that the flag didn't go up. If he had taken the shot, the last ten minutes of the match could have been very different. His hesitation allowed Catania's defense to regroup and stop the chance.
OK, I haven't had a chance to watch the travesty that was Catania - Lazio. I have it recorded and will probably steel myself to sit down and watch it sometime tonight. As such, I don't have any analysis (yet). So expect a recap tomorrow morning (US time) and a Samp preview tomorrow afternoon? That sounds manageable. Until then, what have the biancocelesti had to say about this horrible result?
Delio Rossi
Fatico a trovare una giustificazione alla prestazione di oggi, abbiamo fatto male in tutti i settori, non siamo mai entrati in partita, il Catania ha giocato meglio di noi e ha meritato di vincere. Non so se abbiamo pagato il fatto che si sia giocato a porte chiuse, non credo perché la stessa cosa valeva per il Catania. Siamo stati troppo brutti per essere veri, mi auguro che sia stato solo un episodio."I'm trying to find a reason for today's performance; we did poorly in every respect, we were never in the match, Catania played better than us and deserved to win. I don't know if we payed because of the fact that (the match) was played behind closed doors, but I don't think Catania was strong because of that either. We were too bad for it to be true, but I think that it was only an isolated incident."
E' stata una brutta partita; restare a -1 dà fastidio, ma non bisogna buttarsi giù. C'è tutto il tempo per recuperare. Ci sono partite che nascono male e finiscono anche peggio. E' stata una brutta domenica, questo è vero, purtroppo ci è andato tutto storto."It was an ugly match; it's troublesome to stay at -1 points, but there's no need to get down about it. There is plenty of time to recover. There are games that start bad and finish worse. It was an ugly Sunday, that is true, unfortunately it went all wrong."
Catania (5 pts, 11th place)There is news today about three of the most important players wearing the biancocelesti jersey and when they will be available to play.
Oddo has been given a two-match ban after his expulsion in the chaotic end of the match against Cagliari. The additional ban seems harsh, especially considering the fact that the match had degraded so much so quickly in the last few minutes. I'm confident that Oddo deserves one match for whatever he said to the linesman, but to give him a two-match ban seems to say that the horrendous officiating should have been merely endured, not hotly protested.
Peruzzi has issued a new statement regarding an earlier report that he plans to retire at the end of the season:
[C'è] solo una battuta fatta con Marchegiani ed è stato dato troppo clamore. C'é un accordo con il presidente Lotito di parlare del mio futuro anno per anno e, visto che ho un contratto fino al 2008, ne parleremo a maggio del 2007"It was only a causal remark that I made to Marchegiani and it has been given too much attention. There is an agreement with president Lotito to talk about my future year by year and, seeing as I am under contract until 2008, we will talk in May 2007." Peruzzi certainly has the right to decide the appropriate time to hang up the boots, but it is good to hear that he hasn't made a snap decision on the matter.
Lazio had a bitter ending to a very strange game and left the Olimpico with one point after a scoreless draw with Cagliari on Sunday evening. The score continued one streak and ended another: it was Lazio's fourth consecutive clean sheet, but was also the first time that the biancocelesti failed to score a goal since their 0-0 draw with Milan at the Olimpico last February.
After a dull first few minutes, Lazio began to put on the attack and look strong early. Rocchi went down in the area in the 10th minute and earned the penalty shot. Rossi sent Oddo to the spot to put home one of his trademark penalty shots...but another streak was about to be broken. Despite the fact that the Cagliari keeper Chimenti guessed to his right early, Oddo still put a low ball in that direction, and the attempt was blocked. It ended Massimo's streak of 14 consecutive PKs made in competitive matches (both for Lazio and for the azzurri).
Lazio came off of the missed penalty a bit downtrodden and did not look very solid for the next 25 minutes or so. The attack began to pick up steam again around the 40th minute, and Lazio got some corner kick and free kick chances. One minute of stoppage was added and just at the 45 minute mark, Lazio was charging again and earned a free kick in a good position outside the box. But the Cagliari players crowded around the ball and stalled the attempt. Before the 46 minute mark arrived, the referee blew the whistle for half time! Lazio was rightly furious, but their protestations were for naught.
In the second half, Cagliari decided to hunker down and fight to maintain the draw and earn 1 point. For almost the entire 45 minutes they kept at least eight men in the defensive zone and were able to stifle Lazio's attacks. Even when Lazio could move upfield, the best they could achieve would be something like a 6 on 8 attack, unless they earned a foul or corner and were able to bring more men forward on the set piece.
It appeared that the match would end quitely as a dull 0-0 draw, but in the 90th minute Cagliari sub Joe Bizera was given a straight red card out of nowhere for a foul on Zauri. Upon further review, it looked like Bizera actually got a touch on the ball and that the call shouldn't have merited even a whistle, much less a yellow or red! At that point, all control over the match was lost. The entire Cagliari squad swarmed the official to express their rightful anger, and Daniele Conti also saw immediate red for what were obviously some choice words.
Lazio earned an opportunity to perhaps find a quick winning goal, suddenly two man ahead, but the free kick they earned from the non-foul didn't yield a good play and the ball was cleared. Massimo Oddo chased after and was fouled fairly obviously, but there was no whistle! Oddo yelled from the turf and then got up to confront the linesman, who was closest to the incident. He too must have said some very harsh words, because as the play continued downfield the whistle was blown on him. After a conference between the linesman and the head official, Oddo too saw red. The Olimpico erupted in whistles and boos. (The crowd had already booed the previous cards, as they realized that they were overly harsh, and of course was even more upset against the call against the home side.) The match wasn't complete without another yellow dealt to Lazio, for a week foul. The match ended with both sides accosting the referee as he headed for the tunnel after 5 minutes of stoppage time. A bitter end left Lazio 2 points shy of their expectations and down their star captain for next week's match with Catania.
Lazio (-2 pts, 17th place)In case you hadn't noticed, my post frequency has dropped dramatically, as I feared it would when I first started writing here. I don't know if I'm getting burned out on the whole blogging deal, or whether I'm not keeping quite as minute tabs on the everyday happenings of Lazio, or whether other factors and distractions in my life are just taking precedence. Furthermore, I do run a traffic statistics program on the site and, to be honest, the numbers are a little bit depressing. To the seven of you who keep coming back (Kerry, Alicen, Andrew, the two of you from England, the one from Singapore, and the one from Turkey): thank you. I hope you don't take it as an insult if I feel like putting lots of effort into writing articles that get seen by so few may not be the best investment of my time.
There is a bit of a lull in the Lazio world as Serie A takes a break for Euro 2008 qualifying matches. As such, I'm going to use it as a good time for me to take a break from posting. Don't expect anything until next Friday or so, when it's time to get ready for Lazio - Cagliari. Hopefully then I can get excited again about posting here every day with timely news. When I restart the blog, if you few can help by getting other people to read, I'd really appreciate it. If not, I will still try to do it for myself and for you, but I make no promises. So until then, FORZA LAZIO!
In preparation for the third and fourth matchdays of Euro 2008 qualifying, azzurri coach Roberto Donadoni has called up Massimo Oddo and Stefano Mauri to serve on the national team. Seeing Oddo at least on the bench if not on the pitch for the azzurri is no surprise, but it's great to see that Mauri may be given a chance to play on the international stage. Tommaso Rocchi was not called up, and although Donadoni's choices for strikers don't seem too strong, the decision is reasonable since Rocchi did not prove himself the last time he got to wear the blue jersey.
Three other biancocelesti also were called to serve their respective nations: Goran Pandev with Macedonia, Gabi Mudingayi with Belgium, and Igli Tare with Albania. Since many teams are losing several players to national team duty, there is no Serie A play scheduled for this weekend.
Below is the full team roster for the azzurri, as well as the match times for all the games that Laziali will be participating in:
Gli Azzurri
Goalkeepers: Christian Abbiati (Torino), Marco Amelia (Livorno), Gianluigi Buffon (Juve)
Defenders: Andrea Barzagli and Cristian Zaccardo (Palermo), Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid), Fabio Grosso and Marco Materazzi (Inter), Alessandro Nesta (Milan), Massimo Oddo (Lazio), Manuel Pasqual (Fiorentina), Gianluca Zambrotta (Barcellona)
Midfielders: Mauro Camoranesi (Juve), Gennaro Delvecchio (Samp), Daniele De Rossi and Simone Perrotta (Roma Merda), Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo (Milan), Stefano Mauri (Lazio)
Forwards: Alessandro Del Piero (Juve), David Di Michele (Palermo), Antonio Di Natale and Vincenzo Iaquinta (Udinese), Filippo Inzaghi (Milan), Luca Toni (Fiorentina)
Match times
Italy - Ukraine, 20:50 CET (4:50 PM EDT) Sat, Oct 7. Stadio Olimpico, Rome.
US TV: Rai International, Setanta (live); Telemundo (delay 4:00 PM EDT)
Georgia - Italy, 22:00 MSD (2:00 PM EDT) Wed, Oct 11. Boris Paichadze Stadium, Tbilisi
US TV: Setanta (live)
For other match times see the UEFA fixtures listing.
If you missed the first half of Saturday's match between Lazio and Torino, don't worry. You didn't miss anything. If you missed the second half, you missed the most impressive scoring blitz that Lazio has put on in recent memory.
The first half does merit some comment. Lazio's play looked like it did in the past few games. The defense didn't cave but the offense was unable to generate any good chances. Long passes ahead were invariably off target or the play was offside (Rocchi, in typical form, had the flag raised on him five times). On the defensive end, the back four kept containment but weren't looking great. They were lucky that most of Torino's shots sailed well wide, but most times that Lazio challenged for possession they played the ball over the back line, giving Torino a 5 to 2 edge on corners in the first half.
Coming out for the second half, it looked like the game could go scoreless for another 45 minutes, or that one side might be able to just crack the other's defense and pull off a 1-0 victory. Lazio did just that when Pandev was able to fight for the ball in the box and prolong the scoring chance, sending the ball out to Mudingayi who made a perfect feed to Rocchi. Tommaso blasted away at point-blank range and Abbiati's save attempt was in vain as the ball trickled into the corner of the goal.
That could have been the end of the scoring, but Lazio kept pouring on the attack. Stendardo got a head on a nice cross and put it off the bar. Rocchi was able to catch his man off guard and get tripped up inside the box. Oddo converted the PK perfectly for 0-2. (The FSC commentator said that Oddo has converted 19 of his last 21 PKs, which I haven't confirmed, but sounds right. He does not miss those.) Lazio kept pressing, and Oddo managed to take an outside shot that got a lucky deflection for 0-3. Mauri put the icing on the cake with a putback off of Abbiati's save from a great angle shot by Rocchi. Simple descriptions don't really do the intensity of the Lazio attack justice, so here are the video highlights:
Torino (2 pts, 14th place)A belated roundup of all that's gone on in the past few days, including Matchday 2 of Champions League group play. Here we go!
Champions group standings
Now that two matches have been played, the groups have started to separate themselves out. There are now clear first and second place teams in most of the groups (only a couple are separated by goal difference only). If you want to examine the results, I recommend the official UEFA site for scores listed by matchday, and Wikipedia for nicely formatted group tables. Following are the teams that are in the top half of their groups:
Chelsea, Barca, Bayern, Sporting, Liverpool, Eindhoven, Valencia, Roma Merda, Lyon, Real Madrid, Man U, Celtic, Arsenal, CSKA Moscow, Milan, Anderlecht
vs. my predictions
Barca, Bremen, Bayern, Inter, Liverpool, Eindhoven, Valencia, Olimpiakos, Real Madrid, Lyon, Man U, Benfica, Arsenal, Porto, Milan, Lille
As before, differences between the two groups are noted with italics.
Gli Italiani
How are the three Italian squads faring in Champions? As you can see, only two of them are currently in the top two of their groups. Roma Merda came out firing in their first match, but have been calmed by a 2-1 loss to Valencia on Matchday 2. Milan are hardly cruising, but are two points ahead of their group after a scoreless encounter with Lille.
And that leaves...Inter. The nerazzurri are in big trouble, pointless after two matches. The future isn't looking bright either, after their 2-0 travesty against Bayern. Inter was playing with only nine men at the end of this match after red cards were shown to Ibrahimovic (two yellows) and Grosso (elbowing). As if that weren't enough for Inter, they'll be missing these two stars as they fight for their first points on Matchday 3.
Infortuna di Eto'o
Barcelona managed a 1-1 draw with Werder Bremen. With 4 points, they are not in trouble in their group, but they suffered a huge loss when Samuel Eto'o was carried off the pitch in the 65th minute. After medical examination it was determined that he tore the cartilage in his right knee and had to undergo surgery. Worst for the club, he will not be able to play for five months. Barca is certainly still strong without him, but Eto'o is truly world-class and will be missed both in Champions and the La Liga season.
Tripletta di Drogba
I am not a Didier Drogba fan. I in fact love to point out just how frequently he is able to screw up and not score (anyone remember this past spring's Africa Cup?). And knowing Chelsea's luck in Champions League play, I expected that this inability to convert would apply to the whole team. I thought it was going to, especially when Drogba's first open shot of the match rocketed off the crossbar. Then he decided to prove me wrong, spreading out a hat trick of goals through the remainder of the match. Granted, these were scored against Levski Sofia, who I think would be much happier had they just lost to Chievo and played UEFA Cup (although their fans did burst into uproarious applause when they scored their first ever Champions League goal in the last minutes of the match). Regardless, Drogba showed some skill, at least with his outside shots. Doesn't mean I have to like him now, though.
Basta con i rigori?
Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA, made an interesting announcement as Matchday 2 was drawing to a close. He wants to eliminate the penalty kick shootout, such as the one that decided the World Cup final, in certain international competitions. The top options he has proposed are to go to the old school way of replaying the match, or to return to the "golden goal" format. Not that I am a huge fan of the PK showdown, but it has its practical advantages. Replaying a match, especially something as huge as the World Cup final, is a huge logistical problem in the modern era. How can a host city coordinate for the second time on short notice situations such as tickets, security, and TV broadcasting rights and schedules? Also, this format could only apply to the finals of the tournament, since if it were employed earlier on it would not only destroy the regularity of the schedule but give a huge disadvantage to teams that had to play not just 30 minutes of extra time but a full 90. And how about golden goal? If I recall correctly, golden goal formats worked similarly to the current extra time format: there was a time cap after which the match went to PKs. To set up an NHL-style overtime (play until someone scores, we'll be here all night) is impractical as well. It is rare that a hockey match goes three full periods of overtime, but I can easily see two tired football teams drag out 90 minutes of scoreless golden goal time. The truth is that there's no perfect solution, and it will be interesting to see what FIFA comes up with as a proposal.
Highlights from the past two matches against Chievo and Atalanta. Enjoy!
Chievo 0-1 Lazio highlights on YouTube
Lazio 1-0 Atalanta highlights from sslazio.it
Lazio got its second consecutive win and brought themselves three points closer to eliminating their penalty with a 1-0 win against Serie B champions Atalanta on Sunday. Although it was not nearly as decisive as I had predicted, the win was not unduly difficult to achieve.
Lazio started their expected lineup, except Marco Ballotta started in net instead of Angelo Peruzzi. It was announced on Saturday that Peruzzi was suffering from a mild wrist injury and would be a game-time decision. Obviously he was not feeling 100%, and Ballotta got the nod from Delio Rossi. Ballotta looked sharp as ever in goal, and smothered or blocked away the few serious shots made against him. He did face two one-on-one attacks from sharp angles, which he cut off nicely.
Lazio's midfield continues to improve. The Foggia-Mudingayi-Ledesma-Mauri line seems to be working better as a whole. Atalanta knew that they wanted to stop the biancoceleste midfield from generating chances, and tried to congest the center of the pitch as much as possible. Despite this tactic, Lazio was not stifled like they were against Milan in the season opener. It was difficult to get long balls up the field and into the control of the forwards or attacking midfielders, but passes through the middle were not completely unproductive and Lazio seldom lost possession without ample challenge.
On offense Lazio still found its most successful opportunities coming from set pieces. Two shots in rapid succession following from a Oddo free kick in the 37th minute were blocked by a frantic Calderoni and stopped Lazio from taking the lead. Other than some failed crosses, that would be the best offense of the first half. However, that could be attributed to the fact that Atalanta perceived Rocchi as a huge threat, often putting two, three, or even four defensemen on him to forcibly take away the ball.
At the start of the second half Rossi put in Makinwa in favor of Pandev, who again seemed sluggish and unable to generate scoring chances. Makinwa seemed to be a good kick-start to the offense, and created a chance in the box. A few minutes later, Makinwa was again challenging for the ball at the Atalanta end line. He got tangled with his defender and came away limping. The ball was put out of play and he walked it off for a minute, but as soon as play resumed, he could not continue. After playing only six minutes he had to be brought out and Igli Tare was put in as the second striker.
The fact that Igli had to play at all proved to be a saving grace for Lazio. Bringing all of his Albanian height to the box to generate high-flying header opportunities was too much of a changeup for the Atalanta defense. On a Lazio corner in the 69th minute Igli came flying forward (actually low to the ground, but still using every inch of his reach!) and deflected the ball on net. The header itself may well have been headed for the nylon, but Sebastiano Siviglia made sure with a sliding putaway. Lazio was able to control the ball for most of the remainder of the game and only let Atalanta even get down towards the box a couple more times. After 4 minutes of recupero, the whistle blew to seal the victory.
And what happened to Makinwa that he had to leave the match? KataWeb reports today that he suffered a hamstring pull and following an MRI it has been determined that he will be unable to play for approximately a month. That will prove to be a damper on Lazio's offense, which has been relying on Makinwa for second-half play and should really be starting him in place of Pandev. At least Tare played well on Sunday, and it would be good to see him more on the pitch—sometimes it feels like Lazio is just paying him to be the token goofy giant Albanian guy on the bench. On the flip side of the injury report, there is no indication that Peruzzi shouldn't be available for this weekend's match at Torino.
Lazio (-8 pts, 18th place)Sono arrivati i tre punti. Siamo contenti ma ora ce ne vogliono altri tre con l'Atalanta."We got the three points. We are pleased but now we want another three against Atalanta."
At last! With a 1-0 defeat of Chievo on the road, Lazio has earned its first points of the season, chipping away three points from their eleven point penalty. It would appear that Delio Rossi's "stay the course" mentality has paid off. Oddo, Stendardo, Siviglia, and Zauri were strong on the back line, allowing Chievo to make just four shots on target.
On the offensive side, Goran Pandev proved to be both a liability and a lifesaver. Although he still is not generating the quality chances that he should be, he was able to get possession in the box in the 63rd minute and draw a penalty. Massimo Oddo, always precise from the penalty spot, slotted it home to give the biancocelesti the 1-0 lead. In the 84th minute Chievo buried the ball in the back of the Lazio net, and it looked like the chance to take three points had evaporated, but the play was called offside and the goal disallowed. The lead, however tenuously gained, held until full time.
Postgame comments from the captain Oddo were, I think, dead on regarding how Lazio had to approach this game and how they have to approach the rest of the season:
E’ stata una gara molto difficile, venivamo da due sconfitte consecutive e poi a pesare ci sono gli 11 punti di penalizzazione. Dovevamo vincere a tutti i costi questa partita, abbiamo cercato di stare tranquilli e di fare la nostra gara. Sono felice di aver contribuito in maniera determinante alla vittoria. Il segreto e non guardare la classifica e ci stiamo riuscendo."It was a very difficult match, we were coming off of two straight losses and the 11 point penalty was weighing upon us. We had to win this match at all costs, we tried to stay calm and play our own game. I'm happy to have contributed in a way that decided our victory. [As for the future] the secret is to not look at the standings and we will succeed."
| 1 | Palermo | 9 |
| 2 | Milan | 9 |
| 3 | Messina | 7 |
| 4 | Inter | 7 |
| 5 | Roma | 6 |
| 6 | Siena | 6 |
| 7 | Atalanta | 5 |
| 8 | Empoli | 5 |
| 9 | Udinese | 4 |
| 10 | Catania | 4 |
| 11 | Livorno | 4 |
| 12 | Lazio | 3 |
| 12 | Fiorentina | 3 |
| 14 | Reggina | 3 |
| 15 | Sampdoria | 2 |
| 16 | Cagliari | 1 |
| 17 | Chievo | 1 |
| 18 | Torino | 1 |
| 19 | Ascoli | 1 |
| 19 | Parma | 1 |
Chievo (1 pt, T-11th place)Le prestazione non sono state negative. Manca solo il risultato. Se dobbiamo dire che è tutto sbagliato e da rifare, non sono d'accordo. Giochiamo meglio rispetto all'inizio dello scorso anno, anche se i risultati non lo dicono. Manca la tranquillità e la sicurezza nei propri mezzi. Non bisogna farsi prendere dalla frenesia."Our performances haven't been bad. Only the result is missing. I do not agree that we should say that everything is messed up and we should start over. We have played better than at the beginning of last year, but the results don't say that. We are lacking calm and confidence at certain moments. There is no need to do things in a frenzy."
Sorry for the overly long hiatus from posting. I think everyone involved is still recovering from the shock of the Michigan - Notre Dame football game (which I attended this weekend). If you want overly indepth and heavily biased coverage of that event, I recommend checking out mgoblog.
Turning to other matters of the weekend, Lazio remains at -11 points after losing their home opener at the Olimpico to Palermo. I've been so busy that I still have only seen the first half of the match, but it was painful on several levels. First, the FSC commentator was horrible. He committed the two major sins of soccer broadcasting: confusing the teams and butchering the players' names. Apparently he didn't even have the rudimentary Italian pronunciation lesson to let him know that Tommaso Rocchi is not pronounced Roach-y (yes, as if he were infested with vermin) and that Angelo Peruzzi is not pronounced An-hello (as if he were Spanish) and that Daniele Di Michele is not pronounced Mee-shay-lee (as if vowels in Romance languages change their quality all the time). Rant over, now how about how the team performed or, as the case was, failed to do so.
Delio Rossi started a pretty straightforward first-team lineup, with the only noticeable changes being the lack of Foggia on the right wing and Stendardo instead of Cribari (who looked so tired against Milan) at center back.
Ho detto ai ragazzi ciò che pensavo ovvero che abbiamo fatto degli errori, ma la squadra ha creato azioni in qualità industriale. Con un pizzico di fortuna potevamo pareggiare. I fischi? Perdere non piace a nessuno e la gente non può essere contenta, ma io non posso rimproverare nulla ai ragazzi."I have told the players this: that I really thought that we made some mistakes, but the team created plays in high quality. With a tiny bit of luck we could have tied them. The booing? Nobody likes losing and the fans cannot be happy, but I am not able to reproach the players at all." He appears confident that the team will succeed without adjustments. Another loss in Verona tomorrow night would definitely change his mind.
