A tough road lies ahead for Napoli.

First, let me say that I don’t think Napoli are a bad team. Thus far, they’ve exceeded any expectations that could be placed upon a club that was just promoted to Serie A (excluding Juventus, of course; we’d expect a lot of them regardless). Nonetheless, the 2-1 loss to Inter, I fear, is just the first in a string of difficulties that the club will have to face in upcoming weeks, as they’ll have to play Roma, Juventus, and Fiorentina consecutively.

Prior to this week, I wouldn’t have put a surprise win over one of these teams past Napoli; they’ve already taken out Sampdoria and Udinese quite convincingly, but I fear that facing all of the most formidable sides in calcio (minus Milan – and yes, I’m still calling them formidable – see below) one after another will take the wind right out of poor Napoli’s sails, leaving them with low morale when they face lesser teams.

Write off Siena as an easy win, and pay out the anus.

Speaking of lesser teams, before this week, Siena hadn’t won this season… but I just knew that such a record wasn’t indicative of what this team can do. They have some good talent (Locatelli, Maccarone, and Grimi, to name a few), and although they finished just a couple steps above the relegated squads last season, they (and I don’t know if anybody else realizes this) only lost once by more than two goals. Indeed, they gave several of the big guns a really hard time.

Look, I’m not saying that Siena are going to start blowing the boots off of Inter or the like. I’m just saying that this week’s 3-0 win over Empoli is evidence of the fact that this team should not be taken lightly.

Milan and Roma are playing like… well… Milan and Roma again.

Finally! I was starting to get nervous there, but that’s probably understandable, considering the fact that the Rossoneri, defending Champions of Europe, had only won one Serie A match out of six.

Can you guess who else must’ve been a bit uneasy going into this week? How ‘bout Alberto Gilardino? Before Sunday’s showdown, a portion of the Milan faithful wanted to see the striker traded off, as he hadn’t scored since April. Well, Gila certainly shut the doubters up, didn’t he? Likewise, I’m sure that some of the people who doubted the entire Milan organization have been silenced. Five goals at Olimpico is nothing to scoff at, especially considering it was against a squad that tied Spanish powerhouse Real freakin’ Madrid just days ago in the same building. Hell – three goals would’ve been impressive. Throw Gila’s two-goal surprise on top of that, and you have a resounding message that the whole peninsula will hear.

I was also a bit concerned about Roma, albeit to a lesser degree. After drawing twice, losing to Inter (thanks in part to Giuly’s attempt at playing ‘keeper – more on that ridiculousness below) and then losing to Manchester United in a heart breaker, this week’s match against Parma was a must-win in terms of getting the Giallorossi back on track.

Enter Il Capitano, and it’s suddenly Parma 0-3 Roma.

Looking back, it seems almost silly to have had any doubts. After all, Roma have special memories of the Stadio Tardini.

Look! It’s Giuly the goalkeeper! (Wait… what?)

Those crazy, crazy Romans. You just can’t make this stuff up.

Apparently, at the end of a practice session going into week seven, members of the Giallorossi were taking free kicks with Ludovic Giuly in goal.

Yes, that Giuly.

I can only speculate as to why the hell they put the French midfielder in goal, but regardless of the reason, I think it’s hilarious. Anyway, getting back to why, I think that they were busting his chops a bit following his disastrous mid-match decision to fill in for the ‘keeper against Inter. He was handed a red card in that match, and as a result, he wasn’t allowed to play in Parma anyway. So, they probably decided to let him take it easy, and at the same time get a good laugh.

After all, who doesn’t like a good laugh at the expense of a Frenchman?

(Thanks to Lorenzo, who posted something about the Frenchman’s stint in goal on another calcio blog.)

–Look for a post on the Azzurri over the next few days. Our ragazzi have a Euro qualifier and a friendly coming up.–

Categories: Milan, Napoli, Roma, Siena
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-Just in case you’ve been hiding under a rock,- there was an incident at the Milan vs. Celtic match this week. It went like this:

Now, that was pretty comical, right?

Damn straight it was comical, unless of course you’re a fan of Milan or Celtic, OR (and this might be where I loseWeight Exercise some of you) if you give a rat’s ass about Italian soccer at all.

I’ll get straight to the point: Guys like Dida have contributed to the erroneous depiction of Italians as divers and injury fakers. Here’s a guy, playing for an Italian team – thus representing the Italian league – in a match overseas. Sure, he’s a Brazilian, but the fact of the matter is, it’s the crest of one of the most successful, well-known Italian (not Brazilian) teams that he wears on his chest. So, you tell me – whose reputation is on the line? Hint: It’s not the Brazilian league’s.

I am not saying that Brazilians are solely to blame for Italians’ less-than-stellar reputation when it comes to diving and/or injury faking. Nor am I saying that all Brazilians are divers. (Far to the contrary, Kaka is a class act, and I really do like Mancini’s work ethic and commitment to his team.) What I’m saying is, some Brazilians, and other non-Italian divers/simulators are damaging the reputation of the Italian game by association. Meanwhile, the Italians who only take to the ground when they’re doing the tackling (like Daniele De Rossi or “Ringhio” Gattuso, for instance) are grouped with everyone else and are labeled divers and/or fakers.

This of course, leads to videos like the piece of crap below:

Oh yes – Azzurri fans know that one well. Like clockwork, every time there’s a major tournament and the Azzurri are involved, people post that damn video (which I think might be as old as the Internet itself) as if it was new, claiming that it depicts Italians in training. (Some versions have the intro and ending cut out so that there are no words/graphics.) As if this wasn’t ridiculous enough, I think a select few may actually believe that they’re watching a secret video of the Azzurri… which is just motarded (motarded = beyond moronic) considering that 1) the Azzurri (you know… like… the Blues) don’t wear black, and 2) don’t have a single black player.

Nonetheless, sheep “LOL” at the video, simultaneously decrying Italians as the worst thing to happen to football/futbol/calcio/soccer/voetbal/Earth, while the Azzurri faithful are left to defend our campioni from the onslaught.

So, Dida, thanks for dropping like you lost 500 hp in a LARP battle (bonus points to those who got that), and may the damage be to your reputation – not calcio’s.

Categories: Champions League, diving, Milan
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Although it may seem like we just started yesterday (thanks, Lega Calcio), week six is upon us already!

So, where do we stand?

Well, even though it’s pretty much up in the air at this point, there have been some surprises, two of which are perhaps the most noteworthy. Specifically, a glance at the table reveals Milan hanging around mid-pack, while Napoli… yes, Napoli, are only one point back from leaders Roma and Inter.

Let’s look at Napoli first.

It’s hard to believe that this team was slugging it out in Serie B just a few months ago! Nonetheless, despite their newly promoted status, Napoli’s defense has allowed just two goals in five matches.

No, seriously.

Yes, that’s less than Inter or Roma. As if that statistic alone wasn’t impressive enough, said matches included a 5 – 0 (What the…?!?!?!?) demolition of Udinese in week two, followed by a 2 – 0 week three victory over Sampdoria. Thus far, Uruguayan striker Zalayeta is the guy to watch up front, as he has netted three times. A few other players each have one goal each. Out back, Napoli’s keepers Iezzo and Gianello have shared duties, with Iezzo starting the first three games, and Gianello starting the last two, because Iezzo has apparently picked up an injury at some point. I don’t know when Iezzo is coming back, but with the way Gianello has been playing, it looks like they’re in good hands either way.

Perhaps the best part about this team’s progress so far is that they’ve retained their sense of humility. Paolo Cannavaro summed up their mindset: “Our priorities haven’t changed, we are still aiming for survival. We have every reason to feel proud of all the hard work we have put in, but there is a long road ahead.”

Niiiiiice, Paolo. Stay Humble.

Now… Milan, Milan, Milan.

Champions of Europe drawing with Siena and Parma? Ancelotti blames the referee for the draw with Siena and their recent loss against Palermo, while Maldini and co. were angry at the tifosi following their first Champions League match.

Regardless of the reason for their lack of success, at this point I’m having flashbacks of last season, where Milan took a while to build momentum. The next tie is against Catania. I’m not hitting the panic button yet, but if the Rossoneri don’t win this one, I might consider reacquainting myself with it.

Categories: Milan, Napoli
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