A man whose influence stretches deep into Italian football and you could argue football as a whole. Helenio Herrera changed the face of the game as we know it; he was authoritarian, dictatorial, eccentric, a genius and a winner. Helenio Herrera was born, well no one knows exactly when, his father who wished to avoid late registration fees apparently doctored his date of birth, and Herrera himself is reported to have changed the zero to a six on his own [...]
Archive for January, 2011
Guest writer Michael Morra provides a close look at the Juventus loss to visitors Udinese at the weekend. Udinese, perhaps the league’s most in-form side, traveled to Torino today in hopes of continuing their January assault on Serie A. Conversely, Juventus was looking to get back on track and dismiss the thought that they were undergoing yet another mid-season collapse. Felipe Melo’s return after a three match ban couldn’t have come at a better time for Juventus as they had [...]
It was another super Sunday for Neapolitans as their Uruguayan talisman Edinson Cavani recorded his second treble strike of the season in the 4-0 destruction of Sampdoria to leave Il Vesuviani just four points behind leaders Milan. The game was effectively sown up by half-time thanks to a double salvo from Cavani. His first goal came after 17 minutes as he bulldozed his way through the heart of the visitors defence to dispatch a clinical left foot strike into the bottom corner of the net. His [...]
Gazzetta dello Sport Crazy Inter, behind 2-0 against Palermo, saved by the debutante. Pazzini scores 2 goals and draws the penalty for the 3-2. Julio Cesar decisive on Javier Pastore penalty and Balzaretti. Hat-trick Cavani super Napoli. “We won’t set limits on ourselves”. Crisis Juventus Marchisio illudes then Udinese flies and the jeers arrive. Matri awakes Cagliari, Brescia: Iachini returns Osasuna stops Real Madrid, Mourinho, adios Liga? Corriere dello Sport Pazzini, Internazionale Delirious come on in [...]
As the transfer window is almost closed there has been a flurry of activity in the peninsula over the last few days. No doubt many of you will be aware of the acquisitions made by both sides in Milan. Milan picked up Mark van Bommel, Urby Emanuelson and Didac Vila. Meanwhile, Inter splashed the cash on Sampdoria striker Giampaolo Pazzini, with Jonathan Biabiany moving in the other direction. However, while van Bommel was sent off on his Serie A debut, [...]
Probable Formations Matchday 22 Italian Serie A Saturday 29.01.11 Lazio vs Fiorentina Lazio (4-4-2): Muslera, Lichsteiner, Diakite’, Biava, Radu, Ledesma, Brocchi, Kozak, Gonzalez, Mauri, Floccari Fiorentina (4-3-3): Boruc, DeSilvestri, Gamberlini, Kroldrup, Gulan, Montolivo, D’Agostino, Donadel, Santana, Gilardino, Ljajic Catania vs AC Milan Catania (4-3-3): Andujar, Spolli, Alvarez, Silvestre, Capuano, Carboni, Gomez, Ledesma, Ricchiuti, Mascara, Lopez AC Milan (4-3-1-2): Abbati, Oddo, Yepes, Silva, Antonini, Van Bommel, Ambrosini, Emanuelson, Robinho, Pato, Ibra Sunday 30.01.11 Brescia vs Chievo Brescia (4-1-4-1): Acari, Bega, Zebina, [...]
When the first half of the season came to a close, Milan ended it with a limp one nil defeat at home to Roma. As the New Year began, despite edging past Cagliari in their first match the Rossoneri could only managed draws in their next two matches. It seemed that all of a sudden the league leaders’ challenge for the title was in jeopardy. But, in the last week Milan transfer guru Andrea Galliani engineered three smart, cheap and [...]
It was confirmed today, in perhaps the only shocking move of the January transfer window so far, that Sampdoria striker Giampaolo Pazzini has agreed a deal to move to Inter with immediate effect. While analysts and fans alike nodded their head at a good move by the San Siro outfit a deeper look makes you ask if it truly is, or if it will eventually be a move regretted by all concerned. Having put his signature on a four and [...]
Time to hang out the shingle for anyone interested in writing about their favorite Serie A club or players. If you think you’ve got what it takes to be a football (soccer) writer and would like an opportunity to prove it you can reach us by using our contact form HERE Finally, I’ve noticed after migrating Serie A Weekly to our new editing platform, we’ve lost some of our RSS feed following. If you’ve linked to Serie A Weekly on [...]
Internazionale were made to battle for a place in the semi finals of the Coppa Italia; they faced Napoli in the cauldron that is the San Paulo. Both teams fielded their strongest available line ups, with Inter deciding to pair new signing Ranocchia with Cordoba at the heart of their defence. But despite fielding such a strong team, Napoli were the better team. Controversy wasn’t far away from the game and in the 12th minute, Napoli thought they had taken [...]
Alberto Aquilani became the first Italian to move to the English Premier League during the peak of his career, a €24 million transfer in August last year that was ill advised to say the least. The club had so many problems that spending such a large portion of their transfer budget on a player that never suited Rafael Benitez or indeed the league’s pace was always doomed to failure. In one of his best moves of the summer Beppe Marotta [...]
I thought that while international football is on hold for a few more weeks in Europe, I would do a spotlight on Italy’s head coach Cesare Prandelli to show what credentials and experience he brings to the team. He certainly has his work cut out for him, with fans expecting a lot more than what Lippi gave them at the last World Cup. Prandelli has already shown that he is a much different coach, mixing youth with experience, and giving [...]
