(A German for Juve? / MirkoTime / Genoa can Defeat Fiorentina!)

Alright! Week 9 of the Serie A season is suddenly upon us, and with all of the noise leading up to Roma’s visit to Milan, a couple things have flown under the radar of most calcio news outlets. (And when I say “most,” I’m excluding Goal.com, which did catch wind of the story I’m about to share, but which also really needs to get with 2007 and set up some friggin’ RSS feeds! Hey! You too, Channel 4 Italia! How ’bout some RSS!)

Un Tedesco per Juve (A German for Juve)

If there’s something Luca Toni has taught us over the past few months, it’s that an Italian can be happy in Germany (news to me), AND score lots of goals to boot (news to the ‘keepers in the Bundesliga).

Now, while that’s all well and good, how about the opposite? Can a German duplicate that level of success on the peninsula?

Apparently, Michael Ballack, one of the best German players out there, may give it a shot, as there’s talk of Chel$ea loaning him to Juventus in January. Now, I’m not a Chelsea or Ballack fan, but I certainly have nothing against the guy. Truthfully, I am simply interested in seeing what a German player of his caliber (which is to say, a very damn good German player) can do in Serie A.

Pack your bags, Ballack! If this goes down, it’ll be an interesting experiment, at the very least.

MirkoTempo (MirkoTime)

Surprise, surprise, Totti’s not going to be on the pitch this weekend when his side faces Milan. To a Romanista, Totti not being out there is always cause for alarm, especially when the opposing team is Milan - or more specifically, a Milan that looked very sharp this week.

Luckily, Roma has Mirko Vucinic to fall back on. Mind you, I am not saying that hes on par with Totti; hell, I don’t even know if you can compare the two. I do however, see that Vucinic is hungry for goals, and he certainly did his job well against Sporting, as seen here.

Roma will need him to do his job well once again, because despite the nay-sayers, I think that Milan is finally awake.

Genoa può Sconfiggere Fiorentina (Genoa can Defeat Fiorentina)

While everyone is focused on Juve, Milan, Inter and Roma, Fiorentina has quietly gone without losing a single match out of eleven, including both Serie A and UEFA. How a team that hasn’t lost receives so little press is beyond my understanding, but the fact of the matter is, only Inter and the Viola can make such a claim - and we sure as hell hear a ton about Inter.

Well, this week, Fiorentina must visit newly promoted Genoa, and although the Rossoblu lost their most recent tie (to Juventus, by a single goal), their prior three matches were all hard-fought wins. That said, I am not expecting them to go down easy. In fact, they might not go down at all; in my opinion, Fiorentina should watch themselves, in this ridiculously underrated match.

Categories: Fiorentina, Genoa, Juventus, Milan, Roma