Thank you, I'll try to gather some info about when the match will be actually played... I have to say that I'd prefer it to be on the 5th, during holidays, as it would be easier for me than during a working week (last year I remember I had a very good time watching Emi Yamamoto play vs Como in Ponte Lambro, also because I was still in holidays). Conveniently, Pero is at the opposite part of the town from where I live (it's at north-west, while I am at south-east), but there is a subway station in Pero, so it shouldn't be too difficult going there; quite long, maybe, since I'll to go through the whole town, but not very difficult, I hope...
Thanks, blesstherebel ! Happy New Year to you too...and to everybody else around here ! I take advantage of this post to update about 2 last minute foreign signings for Torres team. The first is the international Slovenian midfielder Kristina Erman, who unfortunately won't be able to play in the next CL round, beacause she already played this year with her previous club ZNK Pomurje. http://www.torrescalciofemminile.it...tina_erman_e_una_giocatrice_della_torres.aspx The second signing IMO is even more important, Icelander midfielder Hallbera Gisladottir (formerly Pitea in Sweden), with 45 caps in the NT, and who played all 4 matches in the Euro in Sweden this summer...really a quality player ! http://www.torrescalciofemminile.it...all_islanda_ingaggiata_berry_gisladottir.aspx
I went on the site and it seems to me that the match is scheduled for 11th of January, as on womensoccerway... Anyway I wrote an e-mail to Inter Femminile to ask any additional info about the match; I'll let you know if I get an answer.
First matchday of '14 results: Scalese - Verona 0-11 Tavagnacco - Inter 1-0 Firenze - Chiasiellis 0-0 Valpolicella - Pordenone 0-2 Brescia - Res Roma 3-0 Grifo Perugia - Napoli 0-3 Mozzanica - Torres 0-2 Como - Riviera di Romagna 0-4 In the top of table nothing changed so far: Torres is leading with 40 points, Brescia and Tavagnacco have both 39 points, Verona 29 and Riviera di Romagna now is 5th alone with 25 pts. On Saturday, last matchday of the first round, are scheduled both Verona - Tavagnacco and Torres - Brescia, so it will likely be a turning point of the season. Torres - Brescia (Saturday h2.30 pm local time) will be streamed live here: http://www.linktlc.it/, small screen under the word BLU...still uncertain if the 2 new international Torres signings will be able to play, tranfer papers aren't ready so far. Some highlights as usual:
Today I went in Pero (North-West suburbs of Milano) to watch a quite disappointing Inter-Firenze (final result 1-0). I wrote a report for the Nadeshiko Japan 2014 Official Thread; given the topic of that thread, it's mostly focused on Miku Matsubayashi, so I am not sure how much interesting it can be for the Women's League in Italy thread, but anyway I thought it was worth giving a link to the Nadeshiko thread than basically re-writing the same things here...
Don't worry, Blissett, your report fits perfectly in this thread, actually I would like to be less lazy and write my own reports each time I go to watch a match... Anyway, sorry to heard that it has been a disappointing match, but if you want you have the chance to see again Firenze (and I think Matsubayashi too) in March and April, against Como and Mozzanica. About Alia Guagni, I checked past matches and I realized that she played last time on November 23th...I might suppose that she has been injuried since then and that she isn't yet 100% fit, because I don't think that an experienced trainer like Sauro Fattori could on purpose give up a player who is, IMHO, the best in the team (and, beyond that, the daughter of the club president...). Here the highlights of the match (thanks to Sportinlombardia website):
To complete my previous post, here the results of the whole matchday, a very important one because 2 big matches were scheduled; in the first Brescia triumphed away against Torres thanks to a great team performance and a even greater Barbara Bonansea, who mimicked a famous Maradona goal (no, not the hand-touch one, the big run one ), meanwhile I was watching live Tavagnacco winning 3-2 away in Verona during a very enjoyable match (exp. in the second half), so that both winning teams overtook Torres in the table (and I don't know since how many years Torres isn't in the 1st or 2nd position). Of course nothing is established yet with 15 matches to play, looks like will be a very interesting title race ! Verona - Tavagnacco 2-3 Chiasiellis - Valpolicella 0-2 Inter - Firenze 1-0 Pordenone - Mozzanica 0-3 Napoli - Scalese 3-0 Res Roma - Como 2-0 Riviera di Romagna - Grifo Perugia 0-0 Torres - Brescia 1-3 In the table, Brescia and Tavagnacco are now leading with 42 points, Torres has 40 pts, Verona 29 points, Riviera di Romagna 26 and Mozzanica 25 points. The other highlights:
I didn't know this interesting tidbit! Well, if she's really the daughter of the president, then it must be surely a question of an injury, as you figured, Gricio... I hope anyway that she can be on the pitch soon, because I guess she's an awesome player, and maybe a part of the mediocre performance in this season's league by Firenze could be due to the fact that they couldn't deploy Guagni... Anyway, it looks like next week's match vs Torres should be very hard for Firenze, since Torres will be very hungry for points and for revenge from this saturday's loss...
Waouw Brescia !!! I think it's the first time that I see Torres loose at home in Serie A . Anyway massive thank to both of you Blissett and Gricio to keep us update with what's going on in Italy....I didn't know Alia Guagni was the president's daughter and where is Inter in the league table now ? I am Intersita this year , I want them to stay in Serie A because (I don't know if you agree or not) but in my opinion the future of women football in Italy and in Europe (well it's already begin in Europe) is female club under the wing of male clubs.....a female section in other words ...I know some people may completely disagree , Juvisy fans , staff and players could kill me for this statement...lol.....but in my opinion there is no other way for professionalism or at least semi and I am pro Inter because their success could lead other well known Italian male team to follow the same example...well Inter is not affiliate with the men team but I think you understand what I am saying .
Blissett, if you can you'll have the chance to see it for yourself, since the match will be streamed live on Torres website: http://www.torrescalciofemminile.it...la_diretta_streaming_di_torres_-_firenze.aspx Meanwhile, I found an other last matchday highlight:
Debzy, as a thank you for your kind words I'll post the full table at the end of the first round of the championship (the points are in the first row): 1.Tavagnacco 42 151401770087011359102623383 2.Brescia 42 151401760188001353102153252 3.Torres 40 1513118701761094672452221 4.Verona 29 1592483147610-2451917142854 5.Riviera Di Romagna 26 1582584137412-5261714101278 6.Mozzanica 25 1581674038413-431121861366 7.Pordenone 23 1572684047322-81926111581111 8.Roma Res 22 1564586117034-91916143513N.P. 9.Valpolicella 19 1561873138305-1024281515913N.P. 10.Firenze 15 1543883237115-16182714164119 11.Napoli 14 1542983237106-17163210136197 12.Como 12 1533973228017-1714389125265 13.Chiasiellis 11 1525881257133-20123061761310 14.Inter Milano 10 1524972328017-1917341113621N.P. 15.Perugia Grifo 7 15141070258125-2294242252014 16.Scalese 5 15121271158017-24868430438N.P. This season the last 4 teams in the table will be directly relegated in Serie B, the teams from 9th to 12th will play one against the other to set out the remaining 2 relegated teams, so to allow SerieA to reduce teams to 14 for the season 2014-2015. As you can see, the current position of Inter is not very good, honestly I think that may be they could avoid direct relegation but not play-out matches, since catching-up 10 points is beyond their chances. Regarding your thought about the antagonism between independent clubs and clubs linked with male counterparts, and which way is better for the development of the women soccer, I think that (at least for the Italian scenary) a mix of the 2 typologies of teams could be the better way..of course this means that the teams in a way or an other way linked to male clubs should increase their number, (since so far only Inter, Verona, and recently Valpolicella have this feature), but I doubt that them will be the majority of the teams. You have to consider that here many clubs in Serie A and B are located in small towns or even villages, far away from important men soccer clubs (as a limit example San Zaccaria, the team leading with a big gap the group C of Serie B, a serious candidate for a promotion spot, is located in a hamlet of about 800 inhabitants ! ), the "localism" is very strong in Italy (may be stronger than in France), and very few teams would be ready to relocate to a bigger near town "only" to be linked to a men club...IMO should be important as well that the most already established clubs, like Brescia, Tavagnacco, Mozzanica, Riviera di Romagna, should be able to furterly strenghten through new sponsorships, media awareness, local governement ties, some international tests etc...with or without possible partnerships with men clubs...
I see what you mean Gricio61 and I agree with you about mixing the two but I think is feasible under a certain extent because if professional team put the money on the market and recruit the best players in Italy and abroad (as is happening in England , Germany , Spain , France , Netherlands , Sweden and it starting in Belgium) the independent clubs could do nothing or almost nothing about it . There are many independent clubs which are playing with men kit and in the same city in Italy it could happen with Brescia , Firenze , Napoli , Inter in serie A and Milan , Torino , Juventus , Roma (or Res Roma ), Lazio etc...in other division , so they could be incorporated easily (like those who already did in Italy and you mentioned ) and with all my due respect to Verona and Chievo Verona , I think the involvement of Milan , Juventus or Romans club will completely change (in better) the landscape of women football in Italy . My thought is only a supposition we all know the reality is completely different......and clubs like Torres , Tavagnacco , Riviera di Romagna are doing a great job with all they can . ps: correct me if I am wrong but Inter (despite the Baresi name) is not related to the male club right ?
I don't think so, despite the same jersey, but Gricio will answer that better than me. The Baresi name, though, is Inter-related indeed! Inter Femminile's FW Regina Baresi is the daughter of former Inter's DF Beppe (Giuseppe) Baresi, brother of Milan AC's more widely known Franco Baresi.
Yes I know , Regina's mother ...Giuseppe's wife is the president of the club ...I was asking if they are some how related to Inter in a more official way , if they have some partnership with the men club ?
Debzy, as you can see in this photo: the Inter Femminile main sponsor is the tyre company Pirelli, the same sponsor of the male club; this, and the fact that the their president told several times that they are part of the "great Inter family" makes me assume that there is a partnership between the 2 clubs, although I don't know exactly to which extent...the staff of the teams is different, but my guess is that Inter Femminile can use some training and fitness facilities of the male club, and not much more so far. For sure there is a direct economic help from the Moratti family, thanks to the involvment of the wife of Giuseppe Baresi, manager of the male club. As I probably wrote some time ago, here in Italy the fact that women soccer is a department of the Lega Nazionale Dilettanti (national amateur league) makes impossible so far to build from the scratch a female section of a male club (you can't mix pro and amateur players), so this kind of partnership is the max. you can' get here now...unless the ownership of the male club buys the majority of the share of the women club... Speaking of partnerships between male and female clubs, I think that the Valpolicella link with Chievo Verona IMO could led in the next future to something more (of course assuming that both clubs will be able to avoid relegation). President Campedelli of Chievo is known to be a man who swims against the tide, and voiced his admiration for the women soccer as a sport with values in line with his way of thinking and to work as a businessman. This partnership went out of nowhere this summer just before the start of the season, and it wasn't related to sponsorship problems of the club, that already had a main kit sponsor, a big car dealer; now the girls wear kits with both sponsors and both crests, and they joined the advertising Christmas campaign together with the male footballers and a sponsored basket male team, that plays in Serie C...who knows, may be in the next season there could be a Chievo Calcio Femminile...I know that an involvment of the "big names"of male soccer that you named probably could give more advertising to the wo. so., but my guess is that this "revolution", if ever should happen, will begin from the "provinces"....
That's exactly what I was looking for ....Thank you a lot Gricio for your answer . Really really thank you!
See? Told you so. I was sure that Gricio was going to answer you with this level of precision! He's the know-it-all of Serie A Femminile. Stading ovation for Gricio61, please!
Thanks very much, but standing ovation is a bit too much, I'll be happy with a sitting applause.... By the way, Blissett, I have a gift for you...look what I just found out (although is old news): http://folignosport.it/foligno-femminile-arriva-la-giapponese-kyoto-hashimoto Funny, isn't it ? But I must tell you, before you get carried away by enthusiasm, that unfortunately Foligno is by far at the bottom of the C group of Serie B, with only 1 point in 14 games played...
Oh, the funny thing is that, despite my knowledge of Nadeshiko League and Challenge League (respectively, 1st and 2nd division in Japan), and also my decent knowledge of women's football in Japan at University and High School level, I never heard Kyoko Hashimoto's name... While the previous Japanese players coming in Italy, Emi Yamamoto and Miku Matsubayashi, were well-known high level players, I've got no idea about where this player comes from exactly... It's true that Napoli and Firenze were Serie A's clubs, while Foligno, as you notice, is at the bottom of Serie B, so it's quite normal that its new recruit is not really an international star. Anyway, I am going to ask in the Nadeshiko Japan forum if anyone has any additional info about Hashimoto and her previous career!
Last Saturday has been played the first matchday of the 2nd leg of SerieA: the match Tavagnacco - Grifo Perugia has been postponed for the bad weather. All the other 3 "bigs" won (Brescia in 10 against 11), unlucky defeat for Riviera di Romagna (post hit twice and a disallowed goal that probably wasn't offside), Inter missed a unique chance to get 3 points against the bottom of the table club Scalese... Napoli - Brescia 1-4 Pordenone - Chiasiellis 1-0 Verona - Como 5-1 Res Roma - Valpolicella 0-0 Torres - Firenze 5-1 Riviera di Romagna - Mozzanica 0-1 Inter - Scalese 1-1 In the table, now Brescia is leading alone with 45 pts, Torres has 43 pts, Tavagnacco 42 (and a match to catch-up), Verona 32 points and Mozzanica 28. Some highlights:
Last Saturday matches results (a bit late...) Mozzanica - Res Roma 3-0 Grifo Perugia - Verona 1-4 Valpolicella - Torres 0-7 Como - Napoli 1-1 Brescia - Riviera di Romagna 3-0 Firenze - Pordenone 1-0 Scalese - Tavagnacco 0-5 Chiasiellis - Inter 0-0 In the table nothing changed, Brescia still leading with 48 points, Torres 2nd with 46 points, Tavagnacco 45 pts and 1 match to catch-up, Verona 35 and Mozzanica 31 points. On Saturday big match Tavagnacco - Brescia, that will be broadcasted (and web streamed) on Rai Sport 1: I'll post the link as soon as possible... As a side news, Melania Gabbiadini has been elected best italian female player for 2013 during the Gran Gala of the Italian Footballers Association (AIC) Some highlights of the matches:
Last minute change about the TV coverage: the match broadcasted will be Verona - Mozzanica today h. 2.30 PM local time, on RAI SPORT 1 and here: http://www.raisport.rai.it/dl/raisp...tentItem-18b9bd8c-1ab9-44e8-a684-fd3430493964. Tavagnacco - Brescia has been postponed (as well as 3 other matches) because the heavy rain that's hitting north Italy in these days flooded the pitch...
Last Saturday for the bad weather it has been possible to play only 4 matches: Res Roma - Chiasiellis 2-0 Torres - Pordenone 2-0 Verona - Mozzanica 3-1 Napoli - Valpolicella 0-3 In exchange, tomorrow the 4 teams giving players ot the NT will bring forward next weekend matches, because next week is scheduled Italia - Czech Republic for the WC quali., so there will be a very important Brescia - Verona, + Como - Tavagnacco and Chiasiellis - Torres. Highlights of the Verona match, that has been broadcasted on Tv: Last (but not least), a piece of news halfway between sport and marketing: Riana Nainggolan, twin sister of the male player Radjia Nainggolan, who just signed for AS Roma male team, will be tested next week by Res Roma, in view of a possible future recruiting. The girl is currently playing in the BeNe League for the Belgian team Antwerp, and has some caps with thw Belgian NT too. This news has been covered by the team with an emphasis probably greater than the real value of the player , as you can see from the club website link (in italian): http://www.romafemminile.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=343
I can tell you that this Riana Nainggolan is not with the Belgian NT who must play against France "B" tomorrow, then against the Netherlands for the WC qualifiers in some days...