Oh dear Juventus is faltering. After narrowing the gap between themselves and Inter to 3 points, the Bianconeri squandered all the good results they have achieved during the month of January.

Today's disappointing 2-3 result to Cagliari on home turf is the second loss for Juventus striker Del Piero (pictured/Reuters) and company while front runners Internazionale have righted their ship, winning the last two against Catania and Sampdoria.

Tomorrow the Milan club plays lowly Torino who are currently in a tailspin and should have no problem in stretching their lead to 9 points. Torino having not won in the last 4 Serie A outings must look as far back as December 21, and their home defeat of Napoli for any consolation.


Note: Cagliari (away record, 3-2-6) have now won 2 on the road beating Lazio last week at the Stadio Olimpico 4-1, prior to that win the club had only one additional victory away from home at Torino back in October.

Juventus vs Cagliari Highlights

In other news stunned Napoli gave up a 2-0 lead after home sons Antonio De Natale and Fabio Quagliarella helped to equalize for the visitors giving Udinese the 2-2 draw. (Both players come from the Naple region)

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you can join in simply join up below at Footbo and play Serie A Weekly Name The Score

With over 3 million votes cast, UEFA.com magazine last week posted on their website the above video providing all the answers on the Team of the Year 2008. (click on the image above for video link)

Some great clashes this weekend with Roma triumphant over Napoli on Sunday in the derby of the south. Keeper Doni kept a clean sheet winning 3-0. Also on Sunday AC Milan was triumphant over Bologna 4-1 with several brilliant goals by Kaka who was settling back into his playmaker role nicely, and with a first goal by David Beckham (pictured) off a Seedorf assist.

Good on ya Seedorf who scored one for the team as well.

Bologna vs AC Milan Goal Highlights

Napoli vs Roma Goal Highlights

Matchday Results

Saturday, January 24th
Reggina 0 - 1 Chievo
Juventus 1 - 0 Fiorentina

Sunday, January 25th
Bologna 1 - 4 AC Milan
Genoa 1 - 1 Catania
Lazio 1 - 4 Cagliari
Lecce 3 - 3 Torino
Napoli 0 - 3 AS Roma
Palermo 3 - 2 Udinese
Siena 1 - 0 Atalanta
Inter Milan 1 - 0 Sampdoria

The Good
A wish come true two weeks ago after the extra-time victory again Genoa in the Coppa Italia when Diego Maradona entered the Inter dressing room to exchange greetings with The Special One and crew.

Mourinho was quoted prior to the match saying he would be very much interested in meeting the other Special One Maradona who has been travelling Europe evaluating Argentine national team players at the club level. I understand a Maradona autograph was high on the Mourinho most desired list for his son.

Photos courtesy of the club website. You can find additional pics of Maradona and Internista at www.inter.it


The Bad
An Italian journalist reporting the alleged drubbing behind closed doors of Inter players after the Bergamo debacle. The article centered on an attack against Inter's last 3 scudetti wins. It immediately caused the ire of front office, and was flatly denied.
Words first attributed to manager Mourinho were, "the first scudetto you won in the office, the second without competition, the third in the last minute..."

update - since this started I understand there has been a retraction of the article.

The Ugly
I understand Mourinho denies ever talking to his players in this manner, and was fired up for yesterday's Press conference, were he was more short than usual with the media. Mourinho in fact confirmed he will sue the journalist for libel.

“I will not talk about this here, I’ll only discuss it in the courts,” said Mourinho.

In today's contest against Sampdoria Mourinho was sent off in the 40th minute for dissent. The incident was sparked by a clash between Dejan Stankovic and Daniele Franceschini. Inter ended up winning 1-0 off the lone goal of Brazilian striker Adriano as their manager looked on from the stands.



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During the first poll window 60 people placed their vote with 42% picking AC Milan as the favorite to win this season


We've reopened the August Poll: Who will the scudetto?, for the next month.


Make your vote count and enter our Poll on who will win the scudetto this season. The Poll is located on the homepage sidebar on the right of the screen.

MATCH OVER Inter 1 - 0 Sampdoria

MATCH OVER Roma 3-0 Napoli

The Derby del Sud finish was huge for Roma with the win over Napoli helping the Giallorossi leapfrog both crosstown rivial Lazio, and Fiorentina in the table.

Roma now sit in 5th place tied with Napoli at 33 points and are only 3 points behind Genoa who drew their game against Catania earlier today. Genoa currently hold the fourth and final Champions League spot in Serie A.

Goalscorers for Roma
Mexes 18 (R), Juan 32 (R), Vucinic 50 (R)

LineUps

Napoli: Gianello; Santacroce, Cannavaro, Contini; Maggio, Blasi (Montervino 81), Pazienza (Bogliacino 46), Gargano, Mannini; Lavezzi, Zalayeta (Denis 66)

Roma: Doni; Cassetti, Mexes, Juan, Riise; Taddei (Perrotta 82), De Rossi, Brighi; Pizarro (Aquilani 46); Vucinic (Menez 70), Julio Baptista

Ref: Morganti

At halftime it's Juventus 1-0 Fiorentina and really we should have seen more goals in this one.

Gilardino's goal was wrongly disallowed and then Sebastien Frey making a sensational double save at the other end to deny the second for Juventus. Finally just before time a close miss by Gamberini and Kroldrup who were both completely unmarked at the far post, but they get in each other's way and contrive to collectively head the ball wide!

Watch Second Half Action LIVE on Fox Sports Channel

It can be hard sometimes for English speaking readers even in this age of the world-wide-web, to discover what Italian papers are saying on the beautiful game.

With the Kaka-ManCity affair still fresh in our minds and a poor January transfer window take a look-see at what the lead sports papers in the home country are writing.

Today's focus - La Gazzetta dello Sport


Beckham forever - The England international is falling in love with Milan and is tempted to not return to the USA
Gasperini and Genoa: It's healthy to dream
Ranieri: I think Nedved will stay but I like Diego
Coppa Italia - Pandev-Mauri-Rocchi as Lazio knock out Torino
Roma are furious with the referees and prepare a dossier

Following the winter break, the Nerazzurri seem to have lost their edge as they were far from impressive against both Cagliari and Atalanta. Manager Jose Mourinho has seen his side's six point lead over Juventus dwindle to 3 points. Had the Bianconeri won against Lazio in their last match, things would have been even worse for the leaders.

Listen now to Forza Futbol Mini Blog #3 and hear manager Mourinho explain the team's outing in Bergamo.

FORZA FUTBOL Mini-Vlog #3

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The latest on the Kaka transfer saga is, City's '£100m' Bid For Kaka Flops and the question now is.... do Manchester City Sports Barons, excuse me Oil Barons lose face?

I don't think they do however stay tuned as British media back pedal in attempts to make this an AC Milan faux pas even though it always smelt fishy.

If you have FourFourTwo this month you'd quickly realize stories of imminent transfer coming out of Britain mostly lack substance. That's right transfer rumours/news originating from British media are correct a mere 30% of the time tops! (The Rumour Mlll; FourFourTwo January 09 edition 173, p.119)
Out of 1525 total rumours The Sun was correct on 353 of them with an accuracy of 23.15% while the Guardian was little better with an accuracy of 28.76% and 88 out of 306 correct.

So Why Didn't Kaka Nibble On A City Offer?

Knowing the Brazilian player is staying put the media will have to explain all the back pedaling. Maybe it will be explained as an over active player-agent imagination which first spun this story of the hundred-million pound transfer. Or quite possibly blame will be placed at the feet of Milan management, with suggestions of leaking inaccurate information. Or simply the obvious yet overwhelming fan protests against management will be touted as


primary causes for why young Kaka didn't jump and still continues to wear Milan colours, but perhaps it was something else.

Perhaps something tragic, something of a super-natural influence, perhaps superstition like hearing about the Church house falling down. On the eve of this alleged record signing the roof collapsed on Kaka's Reborn in Christ Church killing nine and injuring 93. Disaster happened in a southern suburb of Sao Paulo around 7:00 pm Sunday while the building was occupied by up to 400 worshipers. The church was known in Brazil and abroad as the venue where the Brazilian soccer star married in December 2005.


In the eleventh hour of the Kaka-Man City drama there is obviously more at stake for a man of God then moving to the EPL for a larger paycheque. We return to the beginning of this story only to confirm once again, Manchester City has been Rejected.

Olof Melberg (pictured/Reuters) comes up big for Juventus scoring his first goal at the club, and rescuing a point after the Bianconeri fell behind to Lazio in the first 25 mins off an exquisitely taken free kick by Cristian Ledesma.

Earlier in the day scudetto leaders Inter lost 1 - 3 away to Atalanta. Surely this was on the minds of the JUVE players who gave up a rare opportunity of shortening Inter's lead further, claiming only a single point with the draw against Lazio.

Inter manager Mourinho takes the blame for dopo il K.O Bergamo (after the K.O. in Bergamo)headlines at La Gazzetta dello Sport this morning.

Elsewhere in Serie A, Roma would rely on a goal in extra time by Julio Baptista against Torino to hand the captial side victory and steal all 3 points from the relegation zone northerners.

Lazio vs Juventus Goal Highlights

007 (actor Daniel Craig) was sighted at the Stadio Olimpico

Matchday Results

Saturday January 17th

Siena 1 - 0 Reggina
AC Milan 1 - 0 Fiorentina

Sunday January 18th

Atalanta 3 - 1 Inter Milan
Cagliari 2 - 0 Udinese
Catania 1 - 2 Bologna
Chievo 2 - 1 Napoli
Lecce 0 - 2 Genoa
Sampdoria 0 - 2 Palermo
Torino 0 - 1 AS Roma
Lazio 1 - 1 Juventus

David Beckham is interviewed after the match against Fiorentina. David gives his views on the bid from Man City to sign Kaka.



Matchday Roundup to follow...

What The Papers Say

Gazzetta dello Sport - Friday January 16th

Kaka-City: There's substance - The Brazilian's father and agent is ready to meet with the English club and Milan admit there are talks
Pato: If I were Kaka, I would stay here
Balotelli wins over Mourinho and Inter
Juve, Giovinco is a puzzle - He is again shut out by the old guard and asks for a chance
Gourcuff's father: He will return if Milan show faith in him

The Abu Dhabi United Group are quite adamant about signing Kaka, and AC Milan have agreed to letting Manchester City talk to their player, Will Kaka say Yes to the offer? Vote now!

(original photo by AFP/Getty Images)

The final choice reads, Not in January but he will during the summer

Forza Futbol Mini-Vlog #02

The match between Roma and AC Milan ended 2 - 2 with Mirko Vucinic and Alexandre Pato scoring two goals each for their respective clubs.

Adidas hit another high with the 2008-2009 presentation suit series, receiving a Serie A Weekly 9.0 product rating!!!

The Pros

I've had this suit for the last 2 months (courtesy of soccerpro.com) wearing it everywhere outside and inside the house. During my indoor training routine the suit's lightweight construction and formotion cut wasn't constrictive or caused me to overly perspire.
I was clearing snow from my driveway last several days, and surprisingly in -10 celsius weather the mesh lined pants/trousers stood up keeping me warm . The pre-suit is a very easy and enjoyable fit never mind an attention getter with those wanting your opinion on AC Milan.
Lets look at presentation suit details,

• 100% polyester plain weave, ForMotion system,


• mesh lined jacket and mesh lined pants. The jacket has a funnel neck, contrasting panels, 3 stripe branding


• frontal zip, pockets on sides, straight top and trousers bottom, bottom leg zips; Drawcord on elastic waistband,


• Adidas brandmark on left thigh; embroidered Adidas logosembroidered AC Milan Club Crest on left chest and on right thigh, officially club licensed product


• embroidered Rossoneri knick on the back collar (very nice, has that Ferrari feeling)

The Cons

This review would have been a 10 out of 10 if not for two drawbacks,

• the price tag of ~$110 to $120US


• the pants managed to do well in both cold and hot temperatures but the fabric doesn't look to be water repellent. Training in rainy weather would quickly become less enjoyable

Final Words

The Adidas AC Milan presentation suit comes in at least two colour variations (see pictures), and Adidas has also released versions of the suit for other club partners including, Chelsea, and Bayern Munich. If you are an active player, travelling fan or simply a couch potato wanting to support your team from home in comfort, take a look at the Adidas presentation suit or any of the other available SoccerPro.com training suits

If you are considering head wear consider the matching Adidas ACM Woolie. This gear comes in several additional club designs and has a price point of $15.00 to $20.00US and it's double lining has a softer fleece underside.

have all the soccer gear, youth soccer apparel and nike soccerballs you could want.

The Kaka Affair

The promised whirlwind transformation at Manchester City FC will have to wait longer and it won't include Kaka. The Brazilian superstar has turned down an outrageous offer from City which some sources are indicating is as high as £300,000 per week to quit Italian side AC Milan.
The Anglo Angle: Kaka and Adriano Reject Move to EPL

Kaka said yesterday: “I am extremely happy here. I want to grow old at AC Milan." continuing the player indicate he had already refused important offers prior to Man City and stated his objective is to become, in the future, the captain of Milan.

Kaka Highlight Reel

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The Adriano Affair

In other news, Kaka's Brazilian teammate Adriano has rejected a move to Tottenham. The players agent Gilmar Rinaldi said: “There will be no Tottenham for Adriano, he will stay at Inter"
Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp was on hand at the San Siro stadium to watch Adriano play against Genoa in the Coppa Italia, and had flown to Italy Tuesday evening to prepare a move for the Brazilian hitman after reports of Inter manager Mourinho wanting to unload the troubled striker. These reports of unrest are conflicting with The Sun paper quoting Rinaldi also stating, “Mourinho has already said he wants Adriano at Inter and therefore there is nothing for me to add."

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The Sun - Adriano rejects Spurs move
The Independent - Ronaldinho rift at heart of Milan deal