Headlines, Numancia - Real Madrid and Sunday's Serie A Action
Sunday, 01 February 09, 11:26 PM · Comments(0)
Gol TV strikes again ladies and gentlemen. Rather than getting a bit of Spanish classicism from the best league in the world, I get stuck watching U-20 South American kids; which I’ll say is perfectly good if you like living in that head space where you watch a player and wonder whether he’ll be any good in 4 years, when you barely remember him, but right here right now you just wonder why you’re bothering to watch sub standard football.
So rather than watch Real Madrid at a decent hour, I’m watching it at 1 in the morning right before bed. Some reflections early on:
- Soria is a very small venue to watch a first division game. I wonder if they can build a sustainable model of top flight football at Numancia with that small stadium?
- Fernando Gago continues to be late reacting to the ball and continues to come in late for tackles. He’s no Fernando Redondo, no matter what people say about resemblances.
- I don’t like to criticize people covering games, but Phil Schoen on Gol TV made me laugh when he mentioned the great players that Real Madrid have in their “cantina”. No wonder they all play sluggishly.
- Wesley Snejder is a great talent but there’s something wrong with him still. He should have waited to make his comeback. He’s great on the set pieces but he’s lost a step in the run of play.
- Numancia don’t play like a promoted side looking for a break. They dominated possession in the first half and should have scored off the header by Javier del Pino.
- The first goal, the record breaking one by Raul, was set-up by a darting inside run by Robben who layed it off to Higuain who shot, it was blocked and Raul poached it. Nice form for a guy who doesn’t have the skill anymore of a quality support striker but isn’t physical enough to really handle the #9 role all by himself. The forgotten man though was Lass. It was he who won the ball for Robben, who I assume realizes that if he stays by Lass, he’ll get the ball soon enough.
- The second goal was typical Robben. He may not be Lionel Messi but he’s the only player they have that can break a man down all by himself and he showed it. Higuain comes close, but this is the real failure of Pedja Mijatovich, he continues to bring in players that have no business wearing the classic white shirt.
The story of the match was Raul’s reaching for Alfredo DiStefano’s club record for goals. “It is a beautiful thing”, he remarked to himself primarily, as DiStefano was nowhere to be found. I realize he’s getting on in years but Don Alfredo’s been a constant presence there for decades. I wonder if there’s a bit of crankiness there for a man known for his crankiness. Wouldn’t surprise me. That's Real Madrid.
Aupa: La Liga
On Sunday the surprise of all the games were 2 of them, Firstly Inter was held to a 1-1 draw, and actually trailed 1-0 at home on a goal by Roalndo Bianchi in the 47th minute. But Inter being Inter they came back to tie on a goal by Nicolas Bordisso about 15 minutes later. It was only Burdisso's 4th goal in serie A in almost 5 seasons. But it was enough to give Inter the point they needed to keep a 6-point advantage over their cross-city rivals Ac Milan who went to the Olimpico in Rome and demolished Lazio by a 3-0 final on goals by Massimo Ambrosini, Alexandre Pato and the newly rejuvenated Ricardo Kaka. I guess not going to Manchester City has done wonders for Ricky and the fans of AC Milan throughout the world. As my co-blogger Hannah would say, Thank you Silvio Berlusconi. Juve's home loss to Cagliari on Saturday dropped them to 3rd place in the table. and Moved Cagliari even with Napoli for 7th place. Genoa solidified their Champions League position, with an 85th minute goal by Neapolitan born Mimmo Criscito Roma was held to a tie in Reggio Calabria after trailing 1-0 on a penalty converted by Corradi. but Pizzaro scored twice for Roma the second of which, he scored on a rebound of a save off his own penalty kick giving AS Roma a 2-1 lead which held until the 81st minute when Francesco Cozza scored to draw even at 2-2.in mid table Atalanta beat Catania 1-0 on a goal by Guarente and in the relegation zone Lecce took a big step towards safety by Beating Sienna 2-1 on goals by Tiribocchi and Castillo in Sienna. While Chievo held Sampdoria to a draw giving them 8 points in the last 4 matches.
Next weeks big match is Roma-Genoa, I'll be watching, hopefully so will you. Oh and don't forget Juve-Napoli in Coppa Italia on Gol-Tv on Wednesday.
- Messi with a brace but Marquez and Piqué red carded.
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Inter draw 1-1 with Torino.
- Deportivo La Coruna sink Villarreal's yellow submarines 3-0
- Zanetti and Chiellini are going to miss more playing time as they both reinjured themselves in yesterdays loss to Torino. Early estimates have Zanetti out two months and Chiellini for around a month. Both injuries are at a bad time for I bianconeri as Champions League is just around the corner.
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forzafutbol
Los Angeles, US
A better lens into the World's Game. We talk about UEFA Cup, Champions League and International matches, especially when they intersect with teams in Spain and Italy, we talk transfer rumours, gossip and everything else that revolves around the world's greatest game.
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Mando said:I think you can get 3 for the price of what you'd pay for Kaka and Ronaldo. Aul...
trooper said:here is my squad list:
GK - iker casillas & codina
DEFENCE: maicon,ramo...
Keftbubpoet said:I don't like the colour.
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