Relegation Playoff vs Bologna [R]

[SueB]

The games will be played June 14 and 18. I think there will be a draw early this week to determine who plays at home first. Already, Parma and Carmignani have some real problems. Not only did Contini and Morfeo get red carded in today's game vs Lecce, but Gilardino, Bonera, and Bolano all got yellow cards which put them on suspension as well. To make matters even worse, Grella and Bresciano have been called to the Australian national team for the Confederations Cup.

Bettarini, Ferronetti, Marchionni, Dessena, and Ruopolo remain injured. I'm not sure of the prospects of any of them recovering in the next two weeks.

[Regency]

The games will be played June 14 and 18. I think there will be a draw early this week to determine who plays at home first. Already, Parma and Carmignani have some real problems. Not only did Contini and Morfeo get red carded in today's game vs Lecce, but Gilardino, Bonera, and Bolano all got yellow cards which put them on suspension as well. To make matters even worse, Grella and Bresciano have been called to the Australian national team for the Confederations Cup.

Bettarini, Ferronetti, Marchionni, Dessena, and Ruopolo remain injured. I'm not sure of the prospects of any of them recovering in the next two weeks.

Wow...that's tough for Parma with all those players out in the first leg.

[Spartak]

If FIFA forces Parma to release their Australian players I think that will be the start of a backlash against FIFA by the clubs of europe.

FORZA PARMA!!!

[Sampan]

It is said that the winner of the play-off between Parma and Bologna will play another play-off games against the fourth place team of Serie B to decide the final spot of next season's Serie A?Is that true?I'm confused!

[SueB]

Don't know where you heard that, but it is not true. The Serie A/B playoff that took place last year was a special compromise implemented to resolve the dispute which caused the Serie B clubs to strike at the start of last season. Serie B has its own playoff system this year with the 3rd thru 6th place teams playing off for promotion to Serie A.

[Sampan]

Oh,I see.Now I know that lots of Chinese were misled by a wide range of media reports of our country even our national television CCTV5 which reported yesterday on a world football programme.

[SueB]

Apparently, Morfeo was not red carded in Sunday's game, but just yellowed. Doesn't matter because Morfeo was on 3 yellows and is suspended anyway. Turns out Vignaroli was the second player sent off, so he is also suspended. That means Parma is missing 6 suspended players for the first leg of their playoff vs Bologna. Which, by the way, is being played at home on June 14. Bologna even got the better part of the draw and plays at home in the second leg on June 18.

[nirvaanfc]

It's sinister to think that all these players will be suspended/injured/on international duty!

The first game being at home means even more trouble for Parma. I assume away goals rule will apply which makes the home game critical!!!

UEFA Cup practice may well be the saving grace for this team at this stage!

[allycks]

Excellent point about the Uefa Cup 'practice' with home-and-aways and playing the better part of our Primavera team.

But still, at this point it looks really reallly bad.

...waiting for the usual irrational optimism to kick in again...

[SueB]

I already saw some quotes from Carmignani saying the result of the draw was good and he actually prefers playing the first leg at home anyway. Uh-huh.

Anyway ... Parma is optimistic that the Australian federation will release Bresciano for the playoff matches. And there is a chance that Bettarini will recover from his injury in time to be available as well (he's been out for 2 months).

Soccertv.com is listing these two games as possibly being shown on Gol TV ("to be confirmed").

And the league has announced today this will be the last playoff to break ties (at least until the change they rules again sometime down the line). Lucky for Parma. If they had the new rules in place this year, they would be down already because they lost out on the head-to-head tiebreaker with Bologna.

[352gialloblu]

Why did they wait so long? Why not have the games this week? Seems crazy to wait three weeks to play these games...but then if it helps Parma's injury situation I guess it's a good thing.

[SueB]

This week is a FIFA-mandated break for World Cup qualifiers. And even though Italy doesn't play next Wednesday, other countries do have matches in midweek (South America, in particular). So they waited a week after THAT to make completely sure all international players were back from duty and rested. I imagine they were still dreaming of a Juve-Milan playoff at the time.

[TheAmerican]

I don't think Bologna's going to be beaten. See ya in a couple of years, Parma. :)

[fozone]

i love parma, i don't want parma to relegate.... but it seems to be a big big tasks for them.. i just hope miracle will happen...

[SueB]

Good news for Parma - the Australian coach has opted to not call Bresciano or Grella for the Confederations Cup. I give the guy credit - it's always a fine line for foreign coaches of relatively "minor" countries. Both players would surely LIKE to play for Australia, but their club's fortunes are really more important for their future playing careers.

Meanwhile, youngsters Dessena and Ruopolo have recovered from their injuries and will be available for the playoff, but Ferronetti, Bettarini and Marchionni are still out.

[fozone]

good news... :)

[Andy TAUS]

Good news for Parma - the Australian coach has opted to not call Bresciano or Grella for the Confederations Cup. I give the guy credit - it's always a fine line for foreign coaches of relatively "minor" countries. Both players would surely LIKE to play for Australia, but their club's fortunes are really more important for their future playing careers.The Italian League should have its arse kicked from here to eternity for leaving these playoffs so late. Yeah, make allowance for what they think the "big countries" would like, but don't think past your nose about who are actually involved, and hey they're just some "minor inconvenience" from out the back somewhere.

Just goes to show how these "minor" countries get shafted, even when they try to do the right thing.

For AUS the Confeds Cup was the only decent games before their WC playoffs with the Solomon Islands & then 5th placed South American team.

Frank Farina (AUS Manager) may have been generous with Parma's fortunes, but he's practically ensured AUS' preparation for WC qualification is seriously stuffed. In the process, I reckon he's committed suicide as he's now under pressure to actually deliver at the CC without at least two of his regular (and with Marco - key) players.

The FFA (AUS FA) will not be as generous with Frank, if the team doesn't deliver in the next few weeks in Germany. They've had enough of him.

[Andy TAUS]

It's started already with Frank: http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,15537117-23215,00.html

[SueB]

Well, I certainly sympathize because Bruce Arena goes through the same thing trying to do a high-wire act with American players in Europe (and there aren't even any Americans playing in Italy).

The Italian FA has already gotten a lot of criticism for this delay - as well as the timing of the Coppa Italia final - so much so that there won't be any sort of tiebreaker playoffs in Serie A after this season. Last year, Perugia had to wait almost a month for its playoff with Fiorentina because the Serie B season lasts longer. Not surprisingly, this put them at a real disadvantage and they lost out.

[Andy TAUS]

Well, I certainly sympathize because Bruce Arena goes through the same thing trying to do a high-wire act with American players in Europe (and there aren't even any Americans playing in Italy).The English club managers are the worst for AUS.

The Italian FA has already gotten a lot of criticism for this delay - as well as the timing of the Coppa Italia final - so much so that there won't be any sort of tiebreaker playoffs in Serie A after this season. Last year, Perugia had to wait almost a month for its playoff with Fiorentina because the Serie B season lasts longer. Not surprisingly, this put them at a real disadvantage and they lost out.IIRC AUS was also affected by that playoff last year - our 2nd goal-keeper (Kalac) plays for Perugia. He's also caught up in a promotion playoff with them but has chosen to play for AUS at the Confeds Cup instead. He's had enough and has decided to move on.