Game night! Deschamps’ men take on Cesena at the Olimpico tonight and there’s good news from the treatment room with the respective returns of Trezeguet and Zanetti, along with Del Piero. Birindelli and Balzaretti are back having served their suspensions, though Nedved is still unavailable after the disciplinary board refused to reduce his ban. Deschamps was not giving anything away as far as the line-up was concerned but he did confirm that, “more than eleven players will be involved” in the three games scheduled over the next seven days. There will be a carnival atmosphere once again at the Olimpico tonight, with 13000 Bianconeri flags to be handed out before kick-off. As always, there will be plenty of entertainment for the fans, with the “Meet the Legend” competition (with all proceeds going to the ‘Crescere Insieme al Sant’Anna’ fund) and the giant Juventus quiz returning to the big screens.
Re: Juventus – Cesena The match has been called off as two Beretta players, 17 years of age, drowned this afternoon on the training grounds as they tried to retrieve balls that ended up in the lake nearby. Please remember to keep the two lads in your prayers.
Re: Juventus – Cesena Oh, man. This is devastating. 17 years old. My hearts go out to the families of Alessio Ferramosca and Riccardo Neri. Not to take away from the sense of sadness, but ... the incident sounds a little strange - "The teenagers drowned in a lake at the Vinovo training centre in Turin late this afternoon, apparently when trying to recover some footballs that had fallen into the water during the team's Christmas party." It was during a party? But nobody saw them in trouble? I suppose they must've wandered off from everybody else, and it was probably dark. I'm guessing one kid got into trouble, and his friend tried to save him. Whatever.... very tragic.
Re: Juventus – Cesena Okay, if I'm translating properly, it sounds like this "laghetto" (50 m x 30 m) was covered with a tarp or something, so they must've ventured out onto it. I've heard of this happening with pool covers. They go onto it thinking it'll hold them, but they sink and get trapped inside with no way to escape. Horrible.
Re: Juventus – Cesena Italian News reported they went to recover a soccer ball that had rolled into the lake. One kid fell in, and the other probably tried to help him and was dragged in too. Vinovo is now closed. Juve is training at the Comunale. Ferrara tried to release an interview, but he was crying too much. Rampulla took over, and said that one of the two players could have been Juve's future Buffon. They both were in the national Team's group as well. How f--king unfair.
Re: Juventus – Cesena The "lake" was fenced in and covered with a tarp. Ferrara was quoted as saying this was the worst day of his life. Must be (almost) like losing their own kids for these guys. I wonder if the original report of this happening during a Christmas party was wrong because I haven't seen anything else about that. Tomorrow would've been Riccardo Neri's 17th birthday.
Re: Juventus – Cesena what a sad story. its a shame that these kind of things happen. i fell so bad for both families and my heart goes out to all of them.
Now that I've seen this "laghetto", I don't think it was covered with a tarp as I was supposing. The slope down to this thing was VERY steep, and the part closest to the water was painted cement or some other slippery surface. It was long and narrow, and must've had a very steep grade underwater as well to reach a depth of 5 meters. It was right behind the goal at one end of the practice field. Seems like the two probably continued to practice shots/saves after a training session, and there must've been a high errant shot - over a very high fence right behind the goal and another smaller fence around the lake.
terrible for any team or family to lose two so young especially so close to christmass....my thoughts and prayers are with you and their familys.
Such a terrible event, I remember scratching my head curiously after finding out that the match was suspended (I have RAI International). What a terrible, terrible end to such bright young talents - and not merely because of their playing ability. It is a travesty in general having people die like this, may they rest in peace, and may their families cope with this tragedy in peace.
You can send messages to the families of the two kids by mailing at: juventus@juventus.com nothing can undo the tragedy, but, perhaps, to receive many messages from all over the world will console a little bit those poor parents.