Come on!! No thread for Italy's fourth Champions League representative!?! No respect ... the flying donkeys get NO RESPECT. Not just on this board, but even in Italy - the 1st CL qualifying leg tomorrow in Bulgaria is not being televised at all in Italy. Anyway, here's a little preview with comments from coach Giuseppe Pillon. Pillon is great, BTW - he was the one who architected Treviso's unlikely rise toward Serie A, and he did great last year in his first season at Chievo (IIRC, he took the job at Chievo before learning that Treviso would also be in Serie A, thanks to the demotions of Torino and Genoa). Anyway, I'll be surprised if he's not with a big club sometime in the next few years. http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/aug8h.html Another nice story about the club at uefa.com: http://www.uefa.com/competitions/UCL/news/Kind=1/newsId=442714.html
The Flying Donkeys are pure proof that Italian clubs don't need stars to perform well in the Serie A. After a poor start to European action in the 2002-03, hopefully this time Chievo are more prepared and they can shock Europe. It would be funny if they did what Denmark did at Euro 92 and what Nottingham Forest did in the 1979 and 1980 European Cups.
Well, not a great start as Chievo lost 2-0. Gave up a goal 8 minutes in and then another (pk) 5 minutes from the end. 1-0 might not have been so bad, but I have a hard time believing they'll make up a 2-0 deficit in the home leg. Oh, well. At least there is still the UEFA Cup.
http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/aug9n.html Game Table: Levski 2-0 Chievo Scorers: Domovchiysky 8 (L), Bardon pen 85 (L) Levski Sofia: Petkov; S Angelov, Topuzakov, Tomasic, Lucio Wagner; Richard, Borimirov; Telkiyski (Ivanov 83), Bardon, Yovov (Milanov 90); Domovchiysky (E Angelov 74) Chievo: Sicignano; Moro, Scurto, Mantovani, Lanna; Semioli, Brighi, Giunti, Zanchetta (Marcolini 62); Amauri, Tiribocchi (Pellissier 66)
Why didn't Pellissier start? In the next leg, Pillon better start Amauri and Pellissier upfront and Sergio needs to put his chances away.
Chievo 2-2 Levski Chievo have drawn the CL qualifier to Levski Sofia but it wasn't enough for them to qualify for the CL, losing 4-2 on aggregate to the Bulgarians. Levski scored goals in the 34th and 46th minutes while Amauri scored a double for Chievo in the 48th and 84th minutes. His goals unfortunately for the Flying Donkeys weren't sufficient enough to make a comeback in the tie.
Too bad, but it was always going to be difficult for Chievo to get into the CL. I hope they get a good draw for the first round of the UEFA Cup and can at least make it into the group stages of that competition.
Good Luck to Chievo against my Braga in the UEFA Cup. A little info on us: We were defensively great last couple of years and at the start of the first 11 or so games (all competitions) last year we let up the fewest goals in all of europe (2 - one being an own goal). Then we sold key defenders (my team always needs money) and things went back to the norm as we fought for first in Portugal but ultimately finished 4th (again) we had a great coach that is now in charge of FC Porto. We had the BEST Portuguese Striker playing in Portugal (screw Nuno Gomes, and he is miles better then Pauleta) in Joao Tomas but once again my team made a dumb move and sold him to some Arab team. Players you may know on our team include newly signed Joao Pinto (yup the one that punched the ref in WC 2002) and Paulo Santos who was the 3rd string Goalie for Portugal at the World Cup. We also have Hugo Leal who was a part of Porto's team that won the UC and CL a couple of years back. And Frechaut who was a starter for Portugal at the same failed World Cup in 2002. Interesting tie but Portugal clubs much like the national team have very little to be confident about in playing an Italian side since we always come up short. But we'll see, again Good Luck.
This is another tough match for Chievo. If they want to put pressure on Braga, they have to score early. Needless to say, the goals came to early against Levski. Chievo fans must be sick of watching their team lose in Europe despite their small status. First, it was Red Star in 2002 then it was Levski so the Flying Donkeys wouldn't want Braga to be the next team to send them packing.
Chievo falls to Siena 2-1. Pellissier gave them the lead, but two horrible mistakes on corner kicks gave Siena the win.
I didn't see the part when he received the ball but even if the goal was offside, I still liked how he put the ball away.
Chievo is a good side. Much resolve to them. Good luck to them and their fans (if any here...guess not) in Serie A
It's a shame that Chievo went out the way they did. I didn't think they could put up a fight but they did. Credit to them for their fightback. Now they can focus on Serie A survival though.
this week game will be against the Granata. Both Chievo and Torion are in similar situation, trying to sanp the first win of the season ! In addition, both coaches, Zaccheroni and Pillon, are under fire to be sacked. here is the probable lineup :- Squizzi; Moro, Mandelli, Mantovani, Lanna; Luciano, Giunti, Brighi, Semioli; Godeas, Pellissier Torino will host this game so that Zaccheroni and his side will be under the pressure more than the Flying Dunkies.