I probably wont' comment during the game because it's the ESPN2 game, and I'll probably watch it tonight. RAI speculates the following starters: Toldo J.Zanetti Cannavaro Adani Cordoba Van der Meyde C.Zanetti Emre Kily Gonzalez Cruz Martins Bench: Fontana, Helveg, Gamarra, Brechet, Almeyda, Vieri (!), Kallon
Well, perhaps I will listen in to the game after all because ESPN2 is now not showing it until 1:00 am tonight. &&%#! Grrr.
Game is under way. The only difference from the above is that Luciano is on the bench instead of Gamarra.
I live close to Disney's west coast headquarters and would gladly raise an army here if someone will take care of the Florida front. We should attack all 3 at the same time! It'll be so cool: "ESPN regrets that NFL Tonight will not be seen to bring you coverage of AYSO soccer"..
FT. 2-1. Good win for Inter. Glad they got the win because it sounds like the Dynamo goal was a complete screw-up by Toldo.
Sweet. The optimist in me says we'll dominate in the CL this year. Of course the Inter fan in me says it's only downhill from here.
I caught the second half. Inter mostly looked sluggish and ineffective. I'd guess that was partly due to bad field conditions, and partly due to the constant holding and fouling by Dynamo, especially on Vieri. In the last twenty minutes or so I saw at least three blatant shirt pulls on Vieri on set plays - every one of them should have been a penalty, IMHO.
Good game to watch but I have to wonder - are Dynamo that good? I hadn't watched them play since I watched them as a kid - they used to be my favorite team when I was young, although I'm not a fan anymore. They really deserved a point from this game. They played very well, and Jerko Leko went very close several times. I thought Kily, J. Zanetti and Emre (surprisingly) had great games for Inter, and Van der Meyde had a few good moments before being taken off. Everyone else was mediocre or disappointing. Cristiano Zanetti was especially awful - just a terrible job in midfield. He gave a clinic on how not to play well as a holding midfielder. Cruz didn't look great either, especially when paired with Vieri. Toldo looked good, but he was totally responsible for the goal - spilled a very ordinary looking shot. Uncharacteristic mistake. The fluency of Highbury was missing, but it may be that Dynamo are good as opposed to Inter simply being off form. Exciting game though - very back and forth. Btw, I don't think Vieri was going to win any penalties after that horrible dive, which deserved a yellow. He fell down so comically, I couldn't imagine the ref awarding him a penalty in this game unless one of the Dynamo players hit him with a bat in the box. Repeatedly. The dive was that bad. And I like Vieri!
It's impossible to compare this game with the Arsenal game. In London, Inter was playing a pressing team that was trying to WIN the game. Perfect opportunity for a counter-attacking team like Inter to take advantage, especially if they could get the first goal, which they did. OTOH, Dynamo came into this game hoping for a point at best. So they weren't pressing forward, and Inter never had a lot of open space to work with. Given that, it's a good win.
Inter was fortunate to win this game. They really struggle when they have to take the game to the other team. However, that should not be a problem on Sunday so I have hope for a good result. Recoba should be able to come on as a sub which will help the attack.
No argument there, of course its a good win. But that being said, Inter looked very shaky, and some better finishing (and perhaps better luck - the first Inter goal looked suspiciously like a handball) would have seen Dynamo take a share of the points. However, I disagree as to Dynamo's intentions. Until about 20 minutes left in the game, they were looking to go forward quite a bit. Then they packed it in, but before Inter definitely had some space to work with. Emre repeatedly ran right at the Dynamo defense and found a lot of room. That, and Cristiano Zanetti was terrible, which contributes to a lack of room in the midfield.
Dynamo had some great strikes from about 20-25 yards. Anyway, Inter won. Nice header at the end. Don't know if the first goal should have counted though. I do have a question though. Why the low attendance? I mean the stands where they showed people didn't seem too filled. Surely, it isn't people thinking that there are too many UCL matches?(like one could have argued in the past) And surely Inter Fans don't like their stadium like they said with Juventus and their UCL matches. So what is it? Also I watch the Serie A matches on the weekend and it seems to me that there are often less than filled stands on the side opposite the main camera. I would think they would fill those up for TV reasons.