Re: Italy's Class of '88 (U-17s) [R] The first one. There will be a 3rd-place match ahead of the final which will determine the final qualifier. As for Maradona, the Scotland trial didn't pan out. Having been released by Genoa, he moved to the circus that is AS Cervia, a club in the Eccellenza division (one notch below Serie D) which is featured in the very popular Italian reality TV show, "Campioni Il Sogno". Sad to say, it appears he's turning into a sideshow: http://www.campioniilsogno.com
Re: Italy's Class of '88 (U-17s) [R] The Under-17 European championships open today in Tuscany. Italy faces Turkey at 1 pm Eastern US time, and the game will be shown delayed on RAI Sport Satellite at 5 pm (Eastern US time). Here is Italy's 18-man squad for the finals: 1 Goalkeeper Enrico ALFONSO 04.05.1988 Chievo 2 Defender Davide BRIVIO 17.03.1988 Atalanta 3 Defender Lorenzo DE SILVESTRI 23.05.1988 Lazio 4 Defender Michele CREMONESI 15.04.1988 Cremonese 5 Midfielder Davide DI GENNARO 16.06.1988 Milan 6 Midfielder Daniele GRECO 27.04.1988 Lazio 7 Midfielder Marco MANCOSU 22.08.1988 Cagliari Calcio 8 Midfielder Simone PALERMO 17.08.1988 AS Roma 9 Forward Marco DALLA COSTA 25.03.1988 Inter 10 Midfielder Ivan CASTIGLIA 06.01.1988 Reggina Calcio 11 Forward Salvatore FOTI 08.08.1988 Venezia 12 Goalkeeper Paolo TORNAGHI 21.06.1988 Inter 13 Midfielder Michael CIA 03.08.1988 Sud Tirol 14 Defender Massimiliano TAGLIANI 04.04.1989 Brescia 15 Midfielder Michael BACHER 19.02.1988 Sud Tirol 16 Defender Manuel ANGELUCCI 18.01.1988 Ternana 17 Forward Pier Giuseppe MARITATO 19.03.1989 Juventus 18 Forward Andrea RUSSOTTO 25.05.1988 Cisco Lodigiani Coach Francesco ROCCA 02.08.1954
Re: Italy's Class of '88 (U-17s) [R] Russotto, "Il piccolo Totti". Italy won thanks to Russotto (1-0) http://www.goal.com/NewsDetail.aspx?idNews=60060&idSez=5 I am glad Mancosu entered in the second half and played well. This looks as a huge win, Turkey is the favourite of the tournament.
Re: Italy's Class of '88 (U-17s) [R] Is Russotto owned by Lazio or Roma or is he just registered with Lodigiani? Because I remember Totti started at Lodigiani as well...
Re: Italy's Class of '88 (U-17s) [R] The table for the game, and player rankings from Sardus Pater's link above. Tabellino: Italia-Turchia 1-0 Marcatore: Russotto 59' Italia (4-4-2): Alfonso 6 - De Silvestri 6.5, Tagliani 5.5, Cremonesi 6, Brivio 6 - Palermo 6, Greco 6, Bacher 5.5 (27' Di Gennaro 7), Castiglia 6 (41' Mancosu 6.5) - Foti 6, Russotto 7 (59' Dalla Costa 6) All. Rocca 6.5 Turchia (4-4-2): Babacan 6 - Ferin 5.5, Kesci 6 (80' Yilmaz sv), M. Ylmaz 5, Bikmaz 5.5 (70' Duruer sv) - D. Yilmaz 5.5, Sahin 6.5, Tasdemir 6 (58' Yilmaz 6), Erkin 6.5 - Ozcan 7, Kose 6 All. Avci 5.5 Meanwhile, in the other Group A match, England crushed Belarus 4-0. England vs Turkey will be very interesting while Italy has to watch out not to let down vs Belarus. RAISport is showing the game live at 10 am EDT.
Re: Italy's Class of '88 (U-17s) [R] I think Russotto left Lazio and signed a 2 year deal with Swiss side Bellinzona last year....I heard rumours in February that Chelsea really want this kid.
Re: Italy's Class of '88 (U-17s) [R] I think he's owned outright by Lodigiani now, because I was reading a match report of Italy-Turkey and it said "the former Lazio youth standout".
Re: Italy's Class of '88 (U-17s) [R] I think he is......I was really pissed when Lazio let him go last year for nothing....he will be bought by a big european club when his deal expires!
Re: Italy's Class of '88 (U-17s) [R] It happens, most of the times behind this "manouvres" there's already a big club. it happened to Cagliari with Maresca. There was very likely Moggi behind that affair. Of course for the trick to be possible it needs a young promise with little or no gratitude to the club who helped him to develop and show his potential. Bellinzona did the same trick with roma's De Martino. As Sue said the game vs Belarus will be shown by Raisport, today at 4 pm (italian time). This is the link to the video stream. http://www.fastweb.it/streaming/raisport.asx Don't know if there is a better quality one around.
Re: Italy's Class of '88 (U-17s) [R] Ugh, a 1-0 loss to Belarus makes things a lot harder. Seems Italy always has to do that, no matter the age level. Russotto does look quite talented, but it seemed like he tried to do too much on his own, especially when Italy was desperately trying to equalize. They're all just kids though. He'll learn. Now Italy probably has to beat England, no easy feat since they beat this same Belarus team 4-0.
Re: Italy's Class of '88 (U-17s) [R] Did anyone see Italy's 1-0 win over England? I heard they played their best game yet.
Re: Italy's Class of '88 (U-17s) [R] Nope, I was away for the weekend but beating England is definitely a good feat even if the only goal was a Russotto penalty. Italy finished the game with 10 men after their keeper Alfonso got sent off (for dissent ). Great news that Italy made it to the semifinal which is Wednesday vs the Netherlands. Croatia vs Turkey is the first match.
Re: Italy's Class of '88 (U-17s) [R] My predictions for the Italy-Holland match on Wednesday, Sue: In the first half Holland get off to a blistering start, play free-flowing, attacking soccer, hit the post 12 times, miss 2 penalty kicks, and, amongst themselves, get into fisticuffs and insult-shouting. Italy create no chances to score until the 83rd minute, when, playing with 6 men, they score the lone goal of the game on a Russotto counter-attack. Holland declare themselves moral champions and Johan Cruyff writes a withering article in Sports Bild which concludes with the words: "Italy have never beaten Holland, but Holland have lost to Italy--on 12 occasions." All of Holland weeps and Italy go to the finals.
Re: Italy's Class of '88 (U-17s) [R] Welcome to BigSoccer, RegginaCalcio! Forza Reggina! Kickoff for today's game vs Holland is at 2 pm Eastern US time. It will be aired (delayed, obviously) on RAI Sport Satellite at 4:10 pm and again at 8:05 pm Eastern US time (and again at 4:45 am tomorrow). As mentioned by RegginaCalcio in the tournament thread on the UEFA board, Italy will be missing two players - keeper Enrico Alfonso, who got a red card in the last group match, and non-starter Ivan Castiglia, who supposedly hit an opponent while (from the bench!). The FIGC announced the two players were suspended from the team even before UEFA handed out their official suspension. Holland is also missing a key player, captain Dirk Marcellis, suspended for 2 yellow cards. The two winners of today's semifinals book spots in September's U-17 World Championships.
Re: Italy's Class of '88 (U-17s) [R] Anyone have a score? Game is 30 minutes in but can't see it as I'm working (supposed to be, paid to be, that is). SueB, congrats on 11,000 posts, by the way. Impressive, especially, since you never write nonsense.
Re: Italy's Class of '88 (U-17s) [R] 11,0000? Didn't notice! Longevity is the key ... not sure exactly why it is, but I can't shake this addiction. Anyway ... not withstanding your "prediction" , Holland won the game, 1-0, in overtime. I tuned in to watch it on RAI Sport, and they just showed the extra session. Russotto was out of the game as he had been injured earlier. Without him, Italy seemed pretty bereft of ideas, especially after Holland took the lead and put 10 men in the box. Sets up a crucial 3rd-place match vs Croatia on Saturday to determine the final European qualifier for the Worlds.
Re: Italy's Class of '88 (U-17s) [R] Time to open a bottle of champagne, Sue. 11,000 posts is something to celebrate. Do you have a day job, may I ask? I suspect a lot of people who post on BigSoccer are fully-employed adults, myself included.
Re: Italy's Class of '88 (U-17s) [R] At the moment I'm on a leave of absence from my job so that I my indulge this habit .... er, spend some more time with my young children. I go back to work this fall. As you suggest, that probably won't slow down my posting rate here.
Re: Italy's Class of '88 (U-17s) [R] Kickoff for today's huge game vs Croatia is at 9 am Eastern. RAI Sport Satellite will be showing the game at 12:40 pm Eastern (approximately). Italy has been allowed to bring in a fourth keeper, Simone Santarelli (Lazio) as Alfonso is still suspended and Frison is hurt. I haven't heard if Russotto has recovered from the injury which took him out of the semifinal. BTW, here is the game report and play ratings on the semifinal: Italy vs Holland - http://www.goal.com/NewsDetail.aspx?idNews=61317&idSez=5 Lineups and ratings: ITALIA (4-4-2): Tornaghi 6.5 ; De Silvestri 6.5, Cremonesi 6, Angelucci 5.5, Brivio 5,5 ; Cia 6,5 (91° Dalla Costa sv), Palermo 6, Greco 6, Mancosu 7- ; Russotto 7 (42° Di Gennaro 5) (81° Bacher sv), Foti 5 All. Rocca 5.5 OLANDA (4-3-3): Krul 6.5; Ozcelik 6, Van Der Kooy 5.5, Buijs 6.5, Van Der Laan 6.5 Sarpong 6.5, Vormer 6, Anita 7 ; Emnes 6.5 (50° Zaalman 7+) (92° Huismain De Jong sv), Bisesrwar 7 (84° Vorthoren sv), Goossens 6.5 All.: Kaiser 7+ Gol : 88° Zaalman
Re: Italy's Class of '88 (U-17s) [R] I can't get RAISport to work, so I went ahead and checked the result. Hooray, Italy won!!! 2-1 on a late OT goal. http://www.uefa.com/competitions/Under17/fixturesresults/round=1922/match=80822/Report=RP.html and the Azzurrini qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Championships that take place this September in Peru. Russotto did not start but came on as a substitute.
Re: Italy's Class of '88 (U-17s) [R] goal.com link and player ratings: http://www.goal.com/NewsDetail.aspx?idNews=61774&progr=3 Italia-Croazia 2-1 dts Marcatori: 59’ De Silvestri, 60’ Kalinic, 100’ Di Gennaro Italia (4-4-2): Santarelli 6 – Brivio 6, Cremonesi 5.5, Angelucci 6 (26’ Russotto 6.5), De Silvestri 7 – Mancosu 7, Greco 6.5, Palermo 6, Cia 5.5 – Foti 5,5 (65’ Di Gennaro 7.5) , Dalla Cos 6 (84’ Maritato sv). All. Rocca 6 Croazia (3-5-2): Kelava 6.5 – Rasic 5, Kristic, Vukonic – Ljubicic, Glasovic, Mehmedagic (99’ , Spehar, M. Rados (97’ Badelj sv)– Kalinic, G. Rados 6 (90’ Vidovic sv). All. Gudelj 6.5 Ammoniti: Greco, Russotto, Cia, Kalinic, Glasovic Arbitro: Kralovec 6
Re: Italy's Class of '88 (U-17s) [R] Russotto seems to be one of the stars of this side...I think he slipped through Lazio during the ownership takeover...there was no one in charge to sign a deal with him. De Silvestri has done real well for the U-17s and he's pledged his future to the club...