Women's League in Italy

Discussion in 'Women's International' started by bzygo, Aug 23, 2008.

  1. Lechus7

    Lechus7 Member+

    Aug 31, 2011
    Wroclaw
    From what I've seen, unfortunately, class goalkeepers are generally a scarce commodity in Serie A. Laura Giuliani and Pauline Peyraud-Magnin definitely stand out from the rest here. Behind these two, the third best goalkeeper in the league, in my opinion, is expericnced 31-year-old Katja Schroffenegger (Fiorentina), who grew up in the Bundesliga training system.

    If Roma hopes for something more than advancing from the group in UWCL then a new goalkeeper is a must for them. Camelia Caesar is not a bad choice, but she lacks height and arm reach - this can be seen especially with crosses into the penalty area.
     
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  2. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    Paloma Lázaro's signing was indeed finalized and she debuted right away today, along with the other new signing Mia Elizabeth Corbin! :eek:

    [​IMG]

    But we'll get to that soon: the first match of the afternoon was Juventus-Sampdoria, that was basically one-way traffic. Juventus won by 5-0 without even really trying too much: from the 1-0 scored after 1':16", to the 5-0 where Sampdoria's GK Kirvin Odden Sundsfjord, in complete confusion, even "assisted" Cristiana Girelli, who sure didn't need all that help (she scored a hat-trick lifting her at 11, just one goal behind Tabitha Chawinga in the top-scorers' rankings) :coffee:. In between, the goals by Sofia Cantore (nice lob) and Arianna Caruso rounded up the score. Sara Gama, who was recently back after a long injury, looked in good form and even assisted Girelli for her 2nd goal: that's very good for Juventus, who missed her in the first part of the season.
    Not much to save in Sampdoria, who are now just one point ahead of last-place and with the one-to-worst defense of Serie A Femminile with 30 goals taken in 15 games (two goals per match). :unsure:

    Roma answered Juventus with an identical 5-0 score to beat Sassuolo. Valentina Giacinti confirmed her killer-instinct by jumping on any rebound or stray pass, thus scoring a brace for herself; a brace for Andressa Alves too, who probably reached the peak of her form in this key-portion of the season, while the other goal was scored by Manuela Giugliano with the perfect geometry she's used to give to her volleys. :cool: The wings Emilie Haavi and Benedetta Glionna didn't score but they were instrumental in building more than one goal today and, in general, in giving Roma their clear offensive identity.
    Sassuolo were basically blank, despite the debuts of new signings Daniela Sabatino, Martina Brustia and Dajan Hashemi.(this last one from the bench), and they do have to worry about the teams chasing them.

    In the last match of today, Parma manage to grab their 2nd win of the season, and vs a direct rival to boot (they use to call these games "six pointers" for a reason :coffee:). The unexpected scorer was Half-Time sub Mia Elizabeth Corbin, who left her sign just a pair minutes after debuting for her new club! :eek: Como didn't play badly at all, but, after Chiara Beccari's unlucky longtime injury, they are missing a reliable finisher; Matilde Pavan had two or three good chances to score, but, although she's age-peer to Beccari, she's a different player and more of an offensive MF than a FW.
    Parma, who were looking completely hopeless until a few match-days ago, are now just one point behind Sampdoria and two points behind Como and Sassuolo: the fight to avoid relegation is more open than ever. :ninja:

    Today's recap:
    Juventus 5-0 Sampdoria
    Roma
    5-0 Sassuolo
    Parma
    1-0 Como

    Today's rankings (goal difference in brackets):
    Roma 39 (+28)
    Juventus 34 (+26)
    Fiorentina 31 (2)
    Inter 29 (+21)
    Milan 25 (+5)
    Pomigliano 13 (-14)
    Como 11 (-10)
    Sassuolo 11 (-11)
    Sampdoria 10 (-23)
    Parma 9 (-24)

    Today's highlights:



     
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  3. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    She has excellent reflexes, though, and she's an impressive PK-stopper. I am not saying she's a top-class GK, but in my opinion Camelia Ceasar is perfectly ok in Roma's goal right now: also considering that top-GKs, in my opinion, are a scarce commodity in women's football in general, and not only in Italy, and those who have them seldom let them go, so it would be quite difficult to replace her with an actual upgrade. :coffee:

    I'll stand by my opinion that Francesca Durante, despite her young age, is currently marginally better of both Katja Schroffenegger and Laura Giuliani. Pauline Peyraud-Magnin is obviously a different category instead, but I was mainly reflecting in an Italy NT's perspective, not really in a Serie A's perspective.
     
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  4. Lohmann

    Lohmann Member+

    Arminia Bielefeld
    Germany
    Feb 24, 2020
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    The majority has decided: Laura Giuliani will be Italy`s No1 goalkeeper at the World Cup! I hope Milena Bertolini trusts the BigSoccer experts voting.:unsure: (A two-thirds majority should be enough:thumbsup:)
     
  5. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    On the other hand, on these boards a two-thirds majority mostly literally means no more than just three persons discussing the issue at hand and two of them agreeing on the subject against the other lonely one. :p
     
  6. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    Serie A Femminile's winter-market ended on the 31st of January and it's worth a mid-week update because of some of the latest hits.

    The most unexpected one (it was prepared in silence, with no useless rumours around in advance) was most probably Vicky Losada, from Manchester City to Roma. The Spanish Midfielder is not in her prime (she will be 32 in March) and, as far as i know, she didn't particularly shine in her FA WSL's stint, where she was injured for a long time, but, hey, she was a Champions' League's winner with Barcelona less than 2 years ago, and the chance to play again the Champions' League's quarter-finals was probably the main motivation for her to sign for the Italian club (the contract is indeed just until the end of this season, so far). Of course, there wasn't much on the market right now to strengthen the team, but on the other hand Roma is anyway quite solid "as is" and it's not like the quarter-final won't be a near-impossible task anyway, vs the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea or Losada's former team Barcelona. Roma anyway added two potentially relevant pieces to their already impressive squad during this market window with Vicky Losada and Alva Selerud: even if they won't be enough to advance in the Champions' League, they could anyway lend a helping hand to secure the national title. :coffee:

    [​IMG]


    Another important transfer impacted the fight to avoid relegation instead. Financial problems meant Sampdoria had no more than one single bullet to shot in this market window, but they patiently prepared it and they sure didn't miss the target, since a reliable striker was what they mostly needed and they managed to secure the signing of Agnese Bonfantini, who wasn't going to find much playing time in Juventus in this end of season (especially with Juventus out of the Champions' League) but desperately wanted to fight for a potential spot in the roster for the WWC (where the competition, especially for Forwards, is fierce).
    At the moment she's just on loan from Juventus, but should Sampdoria manage to remain in Serie A with her goals, who knows?:coffee:

    [​IMG]


    The only other relevant signing from this week was DF Bénédicte Simon from PSG to Juventus: I actually don't know much about her; anyone does? :cautious:

    Of course there were also players leaving Italy: Matilde Lundorf, after two seasons in Juventus, was back to her native Denmark, to play in HB Køge.

    Also, it's not yet usual that Italian players raise the interest of big European clubs, especially since a very young age. From this point of view, it's quite sensational that Barcelona offered 16 yo MF Giulia Dragoni (from Inter, that had already made her debut in Serie A this season) to play for their youth team. o_O

    [​IMG]
     
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  7. Klingo3034

    Klingo3034 Member+

    Dallas FC
    United States
    Oct 11, 2019
    Watch one of her games, she has good movement and pace, good passes. Her crossing is terrible, looks like she just crossing without looking at where her teammates are. Hopefully Barcelona can fix that.
     
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  8. shlj

    shlj Member+

    Apr 16, 2007
    London
    Club:
    FC Nantes
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    Benedicte Simon, she managed to get Covid multiple times during the season when football was played and serious health restrictions were in place. That's why she got no game time that season.
     
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  9. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    Did she look like a good player in the previous seasons, when she had managed to actually play? Could you see her as a starter in Juventus?
     
  10. shlj

    shlj Member+

    Apr 16, 2007
    London
    Club:
    FC Nantes
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    I think she was one of those players who enjoyed the Parisian life, the nice surroundings. Many of those in the men team and a few in the women team. Under a different environment, she might excel.
     
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  11. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    #1761 blissett, Feb 4, 2023
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2023
    A whopping 4 matches out of 5 of the 16th match-day have been played today and the final rankings of the regular season are by now taking their final shape: since there are no more than 6 points available in the upcoming two final match-days, Roma, who took an 8 points advantage over Juventus, are now officially the regular season champions. We're going to see if they'll also grab the much more important final title, but that's anyway a statement. :coffee:

    Let's see the match-day in detail.

    Roma's maturity can be seen in their way to bring home the three points not only with spectular 1-7 or 1-8 scores, as it had happened lately, but also, when needed, with a minimal margin in nervous matches vs bottom teams who are hungry for points; in a similar situation, some weeks ago, Juventus had been stopped by Como on a 1-1 draw, while Roma managed to successfully defend their only goal, and these kind of things are making the difference in a long season.
    The scorer was once again Andressa Alves, who's turning everything to gold these days: in this case it was just a quite simple tap-in from the rebound of a post hit by Valentina Giacinti, who had been inadvertently served by young Como's GK Beatrice Beretta, but it's a fact that the Brazilian star has scored 8 goals in the latest 5 matches (4 in the league and 1 in Coppa Italia), including three braces; if she keeps playing this way, the sky is the limit for her team. I don't remember if she somehow retired from her NT or if it's just that she's not called anymore, anyway the fact that she's not included in Brazil's roster for the upcoming SheBelieves Cup can only be seen as a blessing for Roma, that once again (as with Emilie Haavi last season) can benefit of a top-player who puts all of her energy and effort into club playing.
    The Norwegian winger, along with Giada Greggi, was one of the best players from today: Roma have so many good players, that at least two or three of them can be at the peak of their form on any given day: they're stronger than Juventus and I guess only a mental collapse could prevent them to top the title pool as they just did with the regular season. :ninja:
    Como, instead, couldn't make up yet for the loss of Chiara Beccari up front and just can't sting anymore offensively. Newly signed winger Martina Zanoli sure had an headache after battling against Emilie Haavi today. :coffee:

    The writing on the wall was clear for Sampdoria: if they couldn't manage to stop their fall, sooner or later last-placed Parma was going to catch up with them, and it indeed happened today. It was another fair and square loss, with a 1-4 score, but the thin silver lining is that the team finally scored a goal in the 2nd leg of the league (their last goal had been scored on 23th of October of 2022! o_Oo_Oo_O) and that there was a short moment at the beginning of 2nd Half, after Tecla Pettenuzzo's header goal from a FK action, when it looked like Sampdoria could have equalized, especially when newly signed Agnese Bonfantini hit the crossbar with a middle-range shot.
    But in the end it was Fiorentina taking home the full three points and quite sensationally catching up with Juventus at 2nd place (although with a much worse goal difference)! :eek: It looks like their latest winter-market-campaign was quite successful, since not only their recent signings Pauline Hammarlund and Anahita Zamanian both scored today (the other two goals were a brace by Miriam Longo), but they also managed to protect some key-players from the interest from other clubs (they said no to Inter, who wanted their CB Alice Tortelli and, especially, they repeatedly rejected Juventus' insisting offers for FB Federica Cafferata). I stubbornly never wanted to see Fiorentina as a "real" contender for the Champions' League spot, but it's a fact that they are now challenging for it. They looked so fragile vs top-teams so far, that it's difficult to imagine them making it in the title pool, where there won't be cakewalks like today's one, but their opponent will be anyway forced to respect them.

    Meanwhile, Milan beat Juventus in the league for the second time this season (and it was as unexpected as in the 1st leg, since both matches followed a derby lost to Inter with 4 goals taken); it was the first time ever they managed to defeat them in Turin.
    The key-event of the match was of course the action at the end of 1st Half when Juventus was punished with a PK against and a Red Card, for Lisa Boattin's handball on the goal-line: Martina Piemonte coolly converted the PK and it looked like Juventus wasn't going to come back from that. Actually, they were very dangerous in 2nd Half instead, despite being down a player, and hit a crossbar with Lineth Beerensteyn; it was Milan scoring again, though, with Lindsay Thomas, despite a desperate effort by Pauline Peyraud-Magnin. The header by Linda Sembrant from CK action at 94' was too little too late for the bianconere, who are now left way behind by Roma and are challenged by Fiorentina at 2nd place. Milan need Inter (still one point ahead of them) not to win tomorrow vs Sassuolo, to maintain any realistic chance to catch them.

    Not the most exciting match on earth between Pomigliano and Parma. The home team had a mild dominace and would have most probably deserved a PK for an handball in Parma's box (one could doubt it was a sort of "karmic justice" for the refereeing mistakes against Parma in the latest weeks? :cautious:), but in the end the 0-0 lock seemed quite fair. Pomigliano keep leading the "virtual relegation pool", while this point was gold for Parma, who finally caught up with Sampdoria in the rankings, after being last-placed alone for most of the season.

    The results of today:
    Como 0-1 Roma
    Sampdoria
    1-4 Fiorentina
    Juventus
    1-2 Milan
    Pomigliano
    0-0 Parma

    Today's highlghts:



     
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  12. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    There was just one match scheduled for today and it was a quite easy win for Inter vs Sassuolo. The 1st Half actually ended on a 0-0 score, but in the 2nd Half Ajara Njoya opened the score after less than 10 minutes (assisted from the ground by Ghoutia Karchouni) and Sassuolo couldn't come back from that: a careless defending (see how Maria Luisa Filangeri basically assisted Ghoutia Karchouni for the 2-0) and a toothless offending led to the 6th consecutive defeat (and the position in the ranking is now more worrying than ever: the direct clashes vs Como and Pomigliano in the two last match-days will be crucial).
    Some of Sassuolo's players look really confused (see in particular Maria Luisa Filangeri, who made countless mistakes this season and looks like a different player from the one who had been called in the National Team after a brilliant 2021-2022 season) and the new signings (Martina Brustia, Dajan Hashemi and especially Daniela Sabatino) looked flimsy.
    On the other hand, Inter is on the roll: 4 wins and 1 draw in the last 5 games and the second place in sight, just two points ahead. Tabitha Chawinga, who sealed today's win with the third goal at 93' (her 13th of the season) from a classy backheel assist by Tatiana Bonetti, looks more unstoppable than ever, but all of the team is "clicking" quite well. It's a shame that GK Francesca Durante, who was in excellent condition, had to go out injured in the middle of 2nd Half: let's hope it's nothing too much serious :unsure:. Inter's challenge for 2nd place could be severely hindered by the away game in Roma next week; on the other hand, Roma already secured 1st place in the regular season, so they could be a little less ruthless than usual: we're going to see.

    The game from today:
    Inter 3-0 Sassuolo

    Updated rankings (with goal difference in brackets):
    Roma 42 (+29)
    Juventus 34 (+25)
    Fiorentina 34 (+5)
    Inter 32 (+24)
    Milan 28 (+6)
    Pomigliano 14 (-14)
    Como 11 (-11)
    Sassuolo 11 (-14)
    Parma 10 (-24)
    Sampdoria 10 (-26)

    Highlights of the game:

     
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  13. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    It turns out Francesca Durante suffered a mild muscle injury, that kept her out today for the mid-week's Coppa Italia's 2nd leg of the quarter-finals and should need some more days to recover, but nothing season-ending, apparently.

    Speaking about the Coppa Italia matches that were played today, there were no upsets and the results of the 1st leg were basically confirmed, but some matches were closer than others and an upset was indeed going to happen, but it was prevented by the penalty shootout.

    The match in question was Inter-Sampdoria: Inter had won the 1st leg by 3-2 and was ahead by 3-0 at HT, with goals by their three strikers Elisa Polli, Tabitha Chawinga and Ajara Njoya. o_O At this point, coach Rita Guarino probably thought about the upcoming league-match vs Roma scheduled for Saturday, and subbed-out many starters, including Tabitha Chawinga (although this season so far should have taught her that Inter always looks like a pretty mediocre team without their Malawian star); despite these changes, it was really difficult to predict that Sampdoria would have grabbed a miraculous 3-4 score, with goals by former Inter's player Alice Regazzoli, Cecilia Prugna (an important asset, now that she's back from her long ACL injury), captain Stefania Tarenzi and, especially, new recruit Agnese Bonfantini, on loan from Juventus.
    No goals in extra-time, so the teams had to face a penalty shootout without their first-choices of GKs: in Inter, Alessia Piazza was replacing injured Francesca Durante; Sampdoria was even playing their 3rd GK, #77 Francesca Fabiano, a 19 yo. In the end, anyway, Sampdoria made two mistakes and Inter just one, for a final score of 8-8 that saw Inter advance to the semi-final vs Juventus. :ninja:

    Milan-Fiorentina was another close affair: Milan had only won the 1st leg in Firenze by 0-1 and, despite going ahead in the middle of 1st Half with a PK converted by Kosovare Asllani for an hand-ball by former Milan's CB Laura Agard, they were caught just before HT by an header by recently signed Swede striker Pauline Hammarlund. Fiorentina would have needed another goal to drag the game to extra-time and were very close to score it at 91' with Zsanett Kaján, but Milan's second GK, who had been deployed for this mid-week match, Dutch Selena Babb made an incredible save with the tip of her feet, sending Milan to the semi-final vs Roma. :coffee:

    Talking about Roma, they had already won the away match in Pomigliano by 1-8 o_O, so today they could afford to play 8 or 9 reserve players, but their team was anyway impressive and dominated the game. It was young Slovenian Zara Kramžar (she just turned 17 one month ago) who decided the match with one goal per half. Coach Alessandro Spugna took the chance to see in action not only some of his most interesting youngsters, but also the most recently signed players, including Alva Selerud, who was very effective on the Left-Wing, and Vicky Losada, who debuted in 2nd Half, playing about an half-hour. :coffee:

    Juventus had the easiest task of the afternoon, vs a 2nd Division team, Chievo Verona, that they had already beaten by 0-3. Joe Montemurro of course deployed a lot of second strings players and Verona's team managed to keep the 0-0 score at HT, with a crucial contribution by their excellent GK Giorgia Bettineschi. In the 2nd Half, though, Juventus managed to replicate the result of the 1st leg, with two PKs, respectively scored by Arianna Caruso and Cristiana Girelli, and another goal by Barbara Bonansea, who was back from her injury along with Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir. The new signings Bénédicte Simon and Pauline Nyström were both starters, but the reserve player who probably impressed most was 19 yo Swede Evelina Duljan on the Right-Wing.

    Recap of the 2nd leg of the quarter-finals:
    Inter 3-4 Sampdoria
    Milan
    1-1 Fiorentina
    Roma
    2-0 Pomigliano
    Juventus
    3-0 Chievo Verona

    Upcoming semifinals:
    Inter-Juventus
    Milan
    -Roma

    Highlghts:




     
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  14. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    Italy NT called the players for the upcoming Arnold Clark Cup (16 to 22 of February) in England, vs England, Belgium and South Korea:

    Goalkeepers: Rachele Baldi (Fiorentina), Laura Giuliani (Milan), Katja Schroffenegger (Fiorentina);
    Defenders: Valentina Bergamaschi (Milan), Lisa Boattin (Juventus), Federica Cafferata (Fiorentina), Maria Luisa Filangeri (Sassuolo), Martina Lenzini (Juventus), Elena Linari (Roma), Benedetta Orsi (Sassuolo), Cecilia Salvai (Juventus);
    Midfielders: Arianna Caruso (Juventus), Manuela Giugliano (Roma), Giada Greggi (Roma), Marta Mascarello (Milan), Martina Rosucci (Juventus), Emma Severini (Fiorentina);
    Attackers: Barbara Bonansea (Juventus), Agnese Bonfantini (Sampdoria), Sofia Cantore (Juventus), Michela Catena (Fiorentina), Valentina Giacinti (Roma), Cristiana Girelli (Juventus), Martina Piemonte (Milan), Elisa Polli (Inter), Annamaria Serturini (Roma).

    Actually Marta Mascarello picked up an injury since two days ago, when the roster was out, and was replaced by Aurora Galli (Everton).

    Francesca Durante was out injured in the last league game, so Rachele Baldi was called as the 3rd GK instead. Fiorentina's Emma Severini (on loan from Roma) was called in Senior NT for the first time. Fiorentina's talents Federica Cafferata and Michela Catena are confirmed after their debut in the last batch of friendlies.

    I actually don't expect much from this cup, after the horror show that the latest displays of our NT were :coffee: (three consecutive 1-0 losses, including one vs Northern Ireland :x3:). Even just one win out of three matches would be something; Euro-Champions of England will probably beat us by 4-0 or 5-0.

    Meanwhile, the UEFA WCL draw for the quarter finals happened today: end of Roma's lucky streak in these draws, since they pick Barcelona: Arsenal, with all of their injured players, would have meant an half-chance; Chelsea a vague glimmer of hope. Barça, instead, spells Roma's doom. It's anyway been a good run. :coffee:
     
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  15. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    #1765 blissett, Feb 11, 2023
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2023
    The two matches scheduled for today (in the one-to-last match-day of the regular season) were both top-clashes (2nd vs 3rd and 1st vs 4th) and they basically said that Roma and Juventus remain the teams to beat: Fiorentina and Inter still look one level down and they'll have to work a lot if they want to challenge the former for a Champions' League spot. :coffee:

    Despite the fact that Fiorentina had caught Juventus at 2nd place last week, Juventus disposed of them very easily, with goals by Cecilia Salvai (the action was quite hectic, but in the end the goal was given to her), Lineth Beerensteyn (assisted by Pauline Peyraud-Magnin! :eek:) and Cristiana Girelli (who scored her 100th goal for Juventus in all competitions). Fiorentina's GK Rachele Baldi even had a more than decent game (she was probably excited by the recent call to the National Team) and anyway the score was quite straightforward. :ninja: Fiorentina seldom find their game vs the big teams: the title pool will only be made of clashes vs the big teams. Draw by yourself the logical conclusions. :coffee:

    Roma's match vs Inter was much more complicated: the 1st Half had been apparently very smooth for the leaders of the rankings, who had took a two goals advantage with Benedetta Glionna and Andressa Alves (at her 9th goal in the last 6 consecutive matches; this time it was the tap-in of a rebound from a Valentina Giacinti's shot). In 2nd Half, though, Inter came back with Tabitha Chawinga (14th goal for her in 17 match-days, and she was even out injured for a few of those games!) and they even equalized with Elisa Polli, only to see the goal disallowed for off-side (most probably by another player, maybe Ajara Njoya). Later Giada Greggi scored again for Roma, but Marta Pandini answered for Inter, leaving the score hanging until the last minute.

    Bottom line: it's a shame Italy still don't have a third Champions' League spot, because Fiorentina or most probably Inter could deserve it, but my impression is that the two teams who'll end qualifying will be once again Roma and Juventus. :coffee:

    Today's matches:
    Fiorentina 0-3 Juventus
    Roma
    3-2 Inter

    The highlights:


     
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  16. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    Most of today's matches involved the fight to avoid relegation: only Milan was interested in the title pool instead and managed to gain three points over Inter and Fiorentina.

    Paloma Lázaro (let's ignore the fact that the comment-guy of today's highlights calls her Lazáro all the time :rolleyes:) was scoring in Champions' League for Roma until a few months ago: it was clear that this signing was going to be a big upgrade for Parma's offense-line and she showed it today by scoring a brace, that, along with Irish Niamh Farrelly's middle-range scorcher, secured three points for the Emilian team: the big signing for the opponent team, Agnese Bonfantini, wasn't as much effective (also because it was a single hit for Sampdoria and not the comprehensive winter-market campaign Parma managed to deploy), since she only managed to conquer and convert a PK when her team was three goals behind already. Later, in injury-time, Cecilia Prugna hit the crossbar, but it was too little too late.
    After months, Parma finally leave the last place and go ahead not only of Sampdoria, but also of Como. The team that's going to fight in the relegation pool is much different from the one who started this season and has now consistent chances to avoid the last place. Sampdoria, instead, look hopeless right now: it's difficult to imagine that they were topping the rankings after the first three match-days of the league. Now it will be hard for them to dig themselves out of the hole where they have fallen. :coffee:

    A single goal by Martina Piemonte from a scramble in the box in a CK action was enough for Milan to stick to a minimal-margin win (with the help of Laura Giuliani, who looked like she had read this thread and wanted to re-assert her NT #1 status :whistling:). Milan climbed just one point behind Inter and they sure don't want to be just passers-by in the title pool; Alia Guagni on the wing, just back from a long injury, could be a key-piece for this final part of the season.
    Pomigliano, on the other hand, look like a solid team and a draw for them today wouldn't have been undeserved: Serbian Sara Cetinja looks like a luxury-GK for a bottom team and Guatemalan fantasista Ana Lucía Martínez created a lot of chances today for her team-mates, who, for their part, only managed to waste them. Sassuolo caught up with Pomigliano today, but they anyway look like a team that shouldn't have problems in avoiding relegation.

    Old grizzled veteran Daniela Sabatino had disappointed so far in the pair of games she had played since she had transferred to Sassuolo from Fiorentina: today she scored a brace (assisted in both circumstances by fellow old-timer Lana Clelland) and gave a 2-0 win to her team. The last goals she had scored when she had played for Sassuolo in 2019-2020 season had also been a brace, in February 2020, just before the covid-related stop. Sassuolo lifted themselves at 6th place, level with Pomigliano, and they will sure face the relegation pool with some confidence.
    Young under-19 talent Chiara Beccari was finally back from injury: she wasn't much effective today, but Como only needs to give her some playing time, so she can get back to her pace in time for the relegation pool. :coffee:

    Today's matches:
    Parma 3-1 Sampdoria
    Milan
    1-0 Pomigliano
    Sassuolo
    2-0 Como

    Rankings with points and goal difference in brackets:
    Roma 45 (+30)
    Juventus 37 (+28)
    Fiorentina 34 (+2)
    Inter 32 (+23)
    Milan 31 (+7)
    Sassuolo 14 (-12)
    Pomigliano 14 (-15)
    Parma 13 (-22)
    Como 11 (-13)
    Sampdoria 10 (-28)

    Highlights of today:



     
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  17. Lohmann

    Lohmann Member+

    Arminia Bielefeld
    Germany
    Feb 24, 2020
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
  18. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    I wanted to post a comprehensive collection of highlights at the end of the Arnold Clark Cup, when Italy would have reached their 3rd loss or the tournament and their 6th consecutive loss in the latest friendly matches, but you prevented me. :p

    It also was a desperate attempt at a reverse-jinx for the upcoming match vs South Korea, but you somehow ruined it. :x3:

    I've got the feeling that Italy will approach the game with the same detrimental attitude they showed at Euro 2022, something along the lines of: "South Korea is a team at our reach and, despite their rankings, according to the results of this tournament and to the fact that they're an AFC team, they look like our weakest opponent at this cup: so we are supposed to beat them and we definitely have to!".
    Then, Ji So-Yun will punish their hubris. :unsure:
     
  19. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    I was almost right, since Ji So-Yun equalized early Italy's advantage by Arianna Caruso, but in the end the heavy and heady reverse-jinx work gave the desired outcome and Italy incredibly managed to score at 95' with Martina Rosucci to put an end to the 5 consecutive-losses' streak and a late smile on Italian players' faces. :p

    Here are the official highlights of the three games of the Arnold Clark's Cup (that Italy finished at 3rd place out of 4).





    After all, despite the two losses, it was not so terrible; basically the only thrown-away game was te one vs Belgium (where anyway Manuela Giugliano's curved outside-foot goal was wonderful), that was probably lost in the desperate attempt to win it. The loss to England was predictable and it was anyway kept respectable (was the ball out of the line on Barbara Bonansea's assist to Sofia Cantore for the goal? There were men's WC Japan-Germany vibes here :p). The win vs Korea was lucky, in the end, but not undeserved.

    GKs Laura Giuliani and Katja Katja Schroffenegger looked quite sharp; Fiorentina's Rachele Baldi made a fatal mistake vs Korea instead. The competition for GKs' three WWC spots will be fierce. :ninja: And I guess this tournament once again showed that Italy can't do without Barbara Bonansea: let's hope she will retire as late as possible. :notworthy:

    I'll mention that this FIFA window was also used by the other Italy women's NTs to gather some experience: the U-17 had two friendly matches vs Slovenia, that ended in a 2-2 draw and in a 2-0 win. The U-19 had a mini-tournament in La Nucia, Spain, where they lost to Norway by 0-3 and to Denmark by 1-3, and they only won vs Germany at the penalty shoot-out after a 3-3 draw (it's worth noting that all of Italy's 4 goals in this tournament were scored by Italian-American Victoria Dellaperuta! :eek:).
    The U-23, finally, that's maybe the most relevant team, since some of its members could easily make the leap to the Senior Team come the WWC, won by 3-1 a match vs Sweden (with goals by Como's Matilde Pavan, by Marika Massimino, who plays in Serie B with Ternana, and by Roma's Benedetta Glionna).
    Highlights of the U-23 game:

     
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  20. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    The International play-offs for the WWC 2023 could seem quite out of topic here, but there was a little piece of Serie A Femminile there: the historic goal that qualified Panama to the World Cup for the first time was scored by Sampdoria's Lineth Cedeño! :p She had a quite difficult season so far, between long injuries, not looking as brilliant as the last season in Verona and consequently not getting much playing time. Let's hope this goal will be a good omen for her final part of the season in the relegation pool. :thumbsup:
    She anyway celebrated with a "Chloe Kelly" (previously known as a "Brandi Chastain"). :giggle:

     
  21. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    ...And, after the international break, let's go with the last match-day of the regular season and its first verdicts. :ninja:

    Inter-Fiorentina was a decider for the third-place: it was an hard-fought game, but in the end it was Inter winning it in style, mainly through the unstoppable power of Tabitha Chawinga, who ends the regular season at 1st place of the scorer-rankings (unless Cristiana Girelli scores more than 5 goals tomorrow vs Parma :whistling:) with an impressive record of 16 goals in 18 match-days (but she actually played just 15, because of a mid-season's injury, so she has an average of more than one goal per game :eek:).
    Fiorentina had actually gone ahead early with a good action finalized by Vero Boquete, well-assisted by Milica Mijatović; the Spanish veteran was actually on fire today and Fiorentina, after going behind between 1st and 2nd Half for a brace by Tabitha Chawinga, could have actually equalized when Boquete invented a spectacular through-pass in the box for Zsanett Kaján, but the Hungarian FW criminally wasted. Later on, an header by captain Lisa Alborghetti from a FK action sealed the score for Inter, who ends the regular seson at 3rd place (Milan are 4 points behind, so a win tomorrow wouldn't anyway be enough to catch up with their rivals).

    The other match of today involved the relegation pool instead, and here it was Sassuolo gaining a crucial advantage and securing the 6th place (1st place of the relegation pool) by beating direct rivals of Pomigliano in an away match. It actually was an entertaing game that could have gone either way and Pomigliano was dangerous on multiple occasions, especially with Ana Lucía Martínez, but in the end eternal Daniela Sabatino deflected a good cross from the Right-Side to score her third goal in the last two games and Tamara Dongus made it 0-2 later in 2nd Half with an header from CK action. For once, it's also worth mentioning the name of a Defender: Danish Caroline Pleidrup, young (22 yo), solid (1,73 m), who surely contributed with her growth along to season to the one of Sassuolo's whole defense, who's by far the best one of the relegation pool (actually better than Fiorentina's, comparable with Milan's), and could give the neroverdi a crucial advantage in the upcoming games of the relegation pool. Pomigliano look quite good too, but they'll have to work a little harder, especially should Parma make points with Juventus tomorrow and catch up with them in the rankings. :coffee:

    The matches:
    Inter 3-1 Fiorentina
    Pomigliano
    0-2 Sassuolo

    And the highlights:


     
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  22. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    ...And this is the end of the regular season!

    Sampdoria tried to avoid the 9th consecutive loss and to resist Roma's powerful offense-line, but in the end they had to bow to a single goal scored by Slovenian 17 yo talent Zara Kramžar at 85' and to give up the hope to at least share the last place of the final rankings with Como.
    Roma keep their 8 points advantage over Juventus, waiting for the start of the title pool.
    For some reason, highlights of this match aren't available yet: I'll post them later, when they'll appear. :coffee:

    Juventus remain in the wake of Roma with today's three points, but their 2-1 win vs Parma under the rain wasn't as easy as the respective rankings would suggest. The 1st Half was actually a Juventus' monologue, with Barbara Bonansea putting on a clinic by scoring the opener and by starting the action of the second goal with a through-pass in the box for Lineth Beerensteyn, who subsequently assisted Cristiana Girelli's tap-in. GK Alessia Capelletti kept Parma in the game, though, and late in the 2nd Half they somehow re-opened it with an header by Michela Cambiaghi. Juventus anyway managed to keep their minimal advantage until the end; the impression is that Barbara Bonansea's talent will be needed to challenge Roma in the title pool with an half-chance of taking the final win away from them.
    Parma end the regular season at 8th place, that's an excellent result, considering that they were last-placed for most of the season.

    Martina Piemonte lifts herself at the 3rd place of the scorers' rankings (along with three other players) with today's brace (let's say it actually was two goals and a half, since her "dummy" in front of the GK on Sara Thrige Andersen's FK at the end of 1st Half was probably crucial for the Danish goal). Along with Valery Vigilucci's goal in 2nd Half, it made for a resounding 0-4 win, that allow Milan to catch up with Fiorentina at 4th place (and to actually go ahead of them by goal difference). Some of Milan's players look in a very good form and they could be quite useful not only to their club in the title pool, but also to the National Team: we're talking Martina Piemonte, but also captain Valentina Bergamaschi, who had two assists today and was generally devastating on the right lane.
    Milan's win was neat, but it has to be said that Como, in this last part of the regular season, look gassed and their defense and marking duties are all over the place. They didn't have a bad season at all, for being a newly promoted team mostly made of young unexperienced talents, but they lost their brillance in the last month and they end the regular season at the 9th (one-to-last) place. They'll have to regroup soon, if they don't want to risk a worse fate in the relegation pool.
    Inter, Milan and Fiorentina are very close to each other in the race for a Champions' League spot, but they frankly still look one or two steps behind Juventus: Fiorentina in particular has lost almost all of the games of the regular season vs direct competitors in the title pool, so they look pretty hopeless. Also, they don't have a reliable scorer: Roma, Juventus, Inter and Milan all have at least two players in the top-10 scorers of the regular season (see the rankings below, where there is just one player, at 9th-place, from another team), while Fiorentina has 0.

    What's the road-map right now? The schedule of the title pool and of the relegation pool will be published on the 28th of February (two days from now). Meanwhile, between 4th and 11th of March, the two legs of the semi-finals of Coppa Italia will be played. :ninja:

    Recap:
    Sampdoria 0-1 Roma
    Juventus
    2-1 Parma
    Como
    0-4 Milan

    Final rankings:
    Roma 48 (+31)
    Juventus 40 (+29)
    Inter 35 (+25)
    Milan 34 (+11)
    Fiorentina 34 (0)
    Sassuolo 17 (-10)
    Pomigliano 14 (-17)
    Parma 13 (-23)
    Como 11 (-17)
    Sampdoria 10 (-29)

    Scorers' rankings (just the top 10 positions).
    1) Tabitha Chawinga (Inter) - 16
    2) Cristiana Girelli (Juventus) - 12
    3) Valentina Giacinti (Roma) - 9
    Andressa Alves (Roma) - 9
    Martina Piemonte (Milan) - 9
    Elisa Polli (Inter) - 9
    7) Lineeth Beerensteyn (Juventus) - 8
    Kosovare Asllani (Milan) - 8
    9) Ghoutia Karchouni (Inter) - 6
    Melania Martinovic (Parma) -6

    Highlights of today:


     
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  23. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    Not sure why, but the highlights from Sampdoria-Roma were never uploaded on the official YouTube account of the league; so, in the end, I had to take them from AS Roma's official website.

    Worth watching not only to see a late Zara Kramžar's goal, but also some good saves by Sampdoria's GK Amanda Tampieri along the game :coffee::

     
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  24. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    The Federation has published today the schedule of the title pool and of the relegation pool: each team will meet the other 4 of their same pool twice and each match-day one of the teams from each pool will rest. In both pools, the teams retain the points they've won so far in the regular season.
    The first match-day will start on 18th of March; the league will end on the 27th of March. Good luck, everyone! :)
     
  25. Lohmann

    Lohmann Member+

    Arminia Bielefeld
    Germany
    Feb 24, 2020
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    A Federation with a clever schedule!:thumbsup: No match for Roma between the Champions League games against Barcelona and a possible final on the last matchday Juventus vs Roma (likely the title will be already decided then:unsure:) but don`t you think 8 matches in 10 days are too much for the teams!?:sneaky:
     
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