This is the Golden Ball of Lombardy Journalists. Milan is the capital of the Region Lombardia (Lombardy). All of the journalists from Lombardy voted for the best player of 2004. They picked Adriano...
congrats to the emperor. please keep it up, inter need more goals...somehow theyre giving up as many as he is scoring. forza inter
I have a question many of you Inter fans may be able to answer... Adriano hands down is probably the best striker in the world right now. With him being Brasilian is not a bitter sweet taste or is all for the good of Inter? How do you think your feelings may change when/if he would face a substantially underskilled Italian National side in the next WC? In Brasil we don't have many transfers from Europe to Brasil so cheering for Corinthians or Sao Paulo or Palmerias has always been about Brasilians in our leagues except for a few South Americans. This is something I have always wondered.. thank you This is not intended to offend anyone so please don't take it this way.
When it comes to club ball, I don't think most fans care where the player is from. Milan fans don't care that Shevchenko is Ukrainian, Juventus fans don't care (much) that two of their strikers - Trezeguet and Ibrahimovic - have scored crucial goals vs Italy at critical moments, and Inter fans CERTAINLY don't care that Adriano is Brazilian. When it comes to thinking of the national team, of course these things are thought about. Italian national team coach Marcello Lippi today observed he had a dream that Serie A had only Italian players (even though he admitted it will never happen). Of course he would dream of this because it would make his job easier. But in the week-to-week world of club soccer, most people don't care where a player is from as long as he helps their club win.
though i am an inter fan, i am an azzurri fan 1st. The azzurri always comes first to me. Sure Adriano is one of the best players in the world, but he isn't Italian (not on the italian NT). I would love if inter had more italians on their team. Dont get me wrong i still love J. Zanetti, Adriano ,Cruz, and other Foreigners playing in italy, But i hate seeing italians leaving italy and going somewhere to play football. it hurts italy
well, many don't leave anyway...There are only a handful of Italians abroad I can think of...(Di Vaio, Corradi, Fiore, Moretti-All Valencia, Pistone-Everton, Amoruso-Blackburn, and Ventola-Crystal Palace). And i also think Italians leaving Italy is not good. But like i just stated, it rarely happens. The same goes with England and Spain. Many of there players don't go to play elsewhere...
in my case, i like adriano more because he is a brazilian. i hold brazilian players to the highest level of skill and well, fun in football. i love watching brazilians play soccer theres a spark with them that cannot be duplicated and i think it is the beautiful game. but i certainly dont hold someones nationality against a player on a team i root for.... ...now as for players on the other teams.... thats a different story forza inter
Well, Brazilians leaving Brazil hasn't hurt their national team much. I don't like Italians leaving Serie A either - for the sake of Serie A. But I don't think it hurts the national team. It might even help matters a little bit because players could get more familiar with the styles of the different leagues and get exposed to different coaching philosophies. I particularly like the idea of younger players going abroad and getting playing time, then returning to Italy. This was what Rino Gattuso did, and it doesn't seem to have hurt his career at all.
I appreciate the kind of words about Brasilians. I think what makes Serie A the best league in the world is there is a blend between great foreigners and great Italian players, while in England and Spain, the foreigners carry the league. I don't think the presence of foreigners is hurting the Italian team. I have never felt watching Italy in a World Cup that talent was the problem. Coaching, bad luck and officiating have stopped Italy in recent WCs but they have the players to win any tournament they play.