The Atalanta-Vicenza game was actually quite entertaining - 3-2 with Atalanta scoring the game-winner in the last minute of injury time. Today's results: Venezia 3 Como 1 Ascoli 3 Catania 1 Avellino 1 Piacenza 3 Cagliari 2 Bari 1 Livorno 2 Fiorentina 0 Messina 3 Treviso 1 Palermo 3 Genoa 1 Salernitana 0 Albinoleffe 3 Ternana 1 Triestina 0 Torino 1 Verona 1 The top 5 won and remain unchanged, but Fiorentina's loss to Tuscan rivals Livorno and Piacenza's win moves Piacenza back into the promotion playoff spot ahead of the Viola.
I wanted Catania to be in the top 5 but they lost again. Most of the teams ahead of them won today so it looks like we might have to wait another year to see if they can finally reach Serie A.
What will happen when Perugia is in Serie B next year? Doesn't Gaucci own both Catania and Perugia? Come to think of it, doesn't Sensi own Roma and Palermo, who look certain to move up to Serie A. I think there is a rule anybody owning more than one team in the same division. I'm sure there are loopholes ... there always are in Italy.
RAI International is showing the Verona-Cagliari game Saturday at 3 pm EDT. An important match for both teams for very different reasons.
aaargh... and I can't watch it down here. Tough match, I am worried by the statistics more than else. Cagliari has won the last 5 matches, it's hard to continue this way.
Well, 6 wins in a row now for Cagliari. Who cares about statistics, it's never a bad thing to win a lot of games in a row. BTW, I didn't realize until the announcers mentioned it that there is a "conditional" playout for the last relegation spot this season. I thought it was going into effect next year. The "condition" is that there be no more than 5 points separating the 4th and 5th from bottom teams. If not, then there will be a playoff between those two teams to remain in Serie B. Verona and Pescara are currently tied for these places.
We have been a bit lucky yesterday... a draw would have been a fairer result I guess. p.s. I didn't know anything about that playout but nothing surprises me in this mad never ending season.
should be an interesting final 5 games....I hope messina can hang on so 2 Sicilian sides can come up in the same year. Palermo 72 Cagliari 71 Livorno 70 Messina 69 Atalanta 69 -------- Piacenza 67 Fiorentina 4 pts back of the playoff spot...
Should be an interesting five games indeed. Especially, week 42: Atalanta - Livorno week 43: Messina - Palermo week 45: Livorno - Palermo week 46: Cagliari - Fiorentina Think we could have two Sicilian sides: Palermo's schedule: Vicenza, Messina, Triestina, Livorno, Bari (two tough ones on the road!) Messina's schedule: Albinoleffe, Palermo, Ascoli, Como, Torino
What are Palermo's prospect next year if they get promoted? Can they achieve mid-table or are they doomed from the start? (like most premiership promoted teams per example) Can they do like Chievo and surprise in their first year? I'm curious as they are my italian representative in The bigsoccer club draft (http://quebectoon.tripod.com/ ) and I fear I made a mistake in picking a promoted club.
Hard to tell until you find out who they acquire (or lose) over the summer. Remember, it'll be an enlarged Serie A with 20 teams, meaning there will be plenty of other minnows around for them to compete with - four or five other promoted teams plus the likes of Siena, Reggina, Lecce, Brescia, etc whose foremost goal is simply to stay up. Midtable seems unlikely (Chievo's success has been HIGHLY unusual), but survival in Serie A is a reasonable expectation if they add a couple of quality players to the solid cast they have now.
That's conforting. I've got them down for an estimated 35-40 points next year plus a couple of round in the Italian cup (not familiar with the name now). My choice was made when all the big names were already taken (I wanted Sampdoria). So between Siena, Reggina or a promoted club, I wasn't sure which way to go. I just read that the club is owned by the Roma owner. Are they in the same financial dire?
I heard something on the FSW report(?) about some hotshot Argentine prospect who was signing with Juventus-- my ears perked up when someone said that there was a rumor that he would be immediately loaned out to Palermo. Anyone heard this? Know the player by name and reputation? I think that Palermo could stick in Serie A. Like Napoli, they have a huge fan base and could make the difference for them. (Of course, having a lot of fans is no guarantee... Just look at, umm, Napoli.)
Indeed. Salernitana is another example; they had a lot of 30K+ crowds in their time in Serie A, but selling a lot of tickets did not lead to safety. In the time that I've been paying any attention to Italy (since the mid-90s), the teams that have done the best after getting promoted (Vicenza, Udinese and Chievo) have had consistently small-ish crowds.
Ok, I googled and got my own answer. ------- Rodriguez's agent in Italy for Juventus, Palermo talks tribalfootball.com - May 7, 2004 The agent of San Lorenzo defender Gonzalo Rodriguez has arrived in Italy this week. Its understood he will speak with Juventus and Palermo about a transfer for the Argentina U23 international. Both clubs have registered their interest with San Lorenzo about the centre-half, but a deal could be struck where Juve sign the youngster and loan him to Palermo for next season.
NER_MCFC, The facts defy logic. You'd think that .... Oh, nevermind. How do Italian players feel about playing in the south? What percentage of the national team are from the mezzogiorno? Any Sicilians?
Palermo is already a team who should have no problem avoiding relegation in serie A. Corini, Toni, Zauli, the Filippini brothers, Gasbarroni...
Cannavaro - Naples Gattuso - Calabria Materazzi - Lecce Montella - POMIGLIANO D'ARCO (Naples) (given the poor season he's out) Cassano - Bari Legrottaglie - Gioia del Colle (Bari). Pancaro - Cosenza - Calabria Stefano Fiore - Cosenza Miccoli - Nardò (Lecce) All the southern boys are from Puglia and Calabria except Cannavaro. Very few sardinians ever reached the national team. Let's see... I can remember Cuccureddu, Virdis (he deserved much more given his talent), Matteoli (great midfielder), and of course Zola.
This week's RAI International game is Fiorentina-Venezia, on at 3 pm Saturday afternoon (EDT). The Viola desperately need to win to stay in touch with the top 6, while Venezia is only 5 pts out of the relegation battle and certainly want to avoid getting dragged into that. The whole list of games in the 42nd round (of 46): Ascoli - Verona Atalanta - Livorno Avellino - Genoa Cagliari - Triestina Como - Bari Messina - Albinoleffe Napoli - Catania Palermo - Vicenza Pescara - Treviso Ternana - Salernitana Torino - Piacenza Venezia - Fiorentina The table - Palermo 72 - promotion zone Cagliari 71 - promotion zone Livorno 70 - promotion zone Messina 69 - promotion zone Atalanta 69 - promotion zone ---------- Piacenza 67 - promotion playoff spot ---------- Fiorentina 63 Triestina 62 Ternana 59 ^ mathematically safe from relegation Catania 56 Torino 53 Vicenza 53 Napoli 53 Ascoli 51 v mathematically cannot reach promotion zone Albinoleffe 49 Treviso 50 Venezia 48 Genoa 47 Salernitana 47 ----------- Bari 43 - relegation play-out position Pescara 42 - relegation play-out position ----------- Verona 41 - relegation zone Como 33 - relegation zone Avellino 31 - relegation zone
yes, in an effort to make it to A Palermo has bough many high-level types the last few yrs....I think they'd have no trouble settling into the higher division, in fact I'd take their roster over 5-6 current A sides now and they'll spend more this summer...
I finally found confirmation from the league site (what a pain it is to find anything there) on the dates of the playoff and play-out: http://www.lega-calcio.it/comun/0304/cu349.pdf Serie A 15th vs Serie B 6th (June 16 and 20) Serie B 20th vs Serie B 21st (June 16 and 19) Note sure what they'll do if there is a tie for any of the Serie B spots since the season ends on June 12. Perhaps they will use goal difference? Don't know.
now it's 7 wins in a row... ppl here is beginning to get crazy. Everyone knows it's near... http://www.raisport.rai.it/raiSportSezioneIndex/0,5785,_78_60_7315,00.html Suazo's goal was fantastic. Magic Box Zola in the second half ran and played like it was 18 not 38.
For those interested here you will find the sport news from sardinia (Videolina). http://www.videolina.it/tg4.ram (poor quality) Now there's still yesterday's news. Later this day there will be the highlights of the match i guess.
yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy I recall a midfielder (Asta?) who had a run out with the Azzuri when they played the US in Catania a couple of years ago. They said it was his home town. FWIW, at least one of Bruce Arena's grandparents came from Sicily.