Parma in the UEFA Cup [R]

Btw, this will now be the first year since 1992 that Parma have not qualified for European Competition.

Bad luck, boys.

 

Well from the picture i see there (not general knowledge which would mean i'd list more players) Fabio Cannavaro, Lilian Thuram, Enrico Chiesa, Juan Veron, Hernan Crespo, Nestor Sensini, Antonio Benarrivo (the captain)

As far as the CSKA incident goes, i cannot see whty UEFA don't give them same punishment as Inter, same situation in term of offfield scenario.

???

 

If I could express my opinion on UEFA right now, I would probably have my mod powers stripped and a yellow card issued to me. Worthless organization. Al-Qa'ida knows where to strike next.

 

This decision is exactly in keeping with UEFA precedent. Maybe such incidences should be punished more severely in general but a first time offender such as CSKA should not be punished more harhly than any other team this year. No team had a victory annuled and been eliminated from the competition for an incident this year. Nor is it very convincing to claim that replacing your backup keeper with your starting keeper caused you to lose 3-0. I think there is also a great deal of suspicion about the injury itself. The flare did not hit him and it is hard to see from the video how he got injured. Why was he walking about picking up flares anyway especially after the Milan incident. We have all seen countless players fake injury to draw red cards or penalties. Considering Parma didn't seem to enter the tie with intentions of winning it on the field there has to be some suspicion about them demanding entry to a lucrative final due to a qualification on an injury that is hard to see how it happened.

 

In last year's Milan-Roma, Dida was "injured" by a flare that didn't physically strike him. In Bucci's case, he had to be subbed out due to an ear injury (busted ear drum), so he was obviously not faking the injury.

Also, I'm not intimately familiar with CSKA's fan history but this is certainly not the first incident to have occurred in Russia. Maybe in a UEFA game, yes. Maybe. First time offender or not, CSKA deserves some punishment. Inter was a first time offender as well, at least in Europe.

The thing that really sets me off is the shole "Parma wasn't playing their best squad throughout the tournament" crap. What the hell does that have to do with anything? So if Abbiati had been struck by the flare instead of Dida, woudl it have changed anything for Inter? OK, fine, throw Gilardino out there. Would UEFA have inflicted punishment on CSKA in that case?

 

This is not the first fan problem in Russia as far as league play goes but if fan problems in league play was counted against teams there would probably be no Italian teams allowed in the European competitions this year. This is the only time I can remember a problem in Russia in European play whereas Italy has had a pretty bad record over the last five years almost every incident receiving minimal punishment from UEFA. What would have happened if the Moscow police had beat up the Parma team as the Roma police did to Gala a few years ago? I am sure CSKA would have received much harsher punishment than Roma did. Maybe playing a B team shouldn't be a factor but at the same time it is pretty hard to justify claiming that the keeper change was the reason Parma lost 3-0. CSKA did receive a not insignificant financial punishment and since Italian teams have been the greatest beneficiaries of lax UEFA penalties for fan problems I have a problem hearing Italian fans complaining about this policy when for once it works against them.

 

I don't necessarily like the idea that the substitution is what caused the 3-0 loss, though I do see the point that it was a forced substitution which somewhat interfered with Parma's gameplan. To what extent, we'll never know.

Your probably right that Italian teams have "benefitted" from lax enforcement in the past, but then again so have numerous other clubs throughout Europe. In any case, a system that is applied differently to different nationalities is flawed and bordering on the unconstitutional. If UEFA wanted to say "hey, we know we've been lax on these things in the past, but from here on out we're gonna punish these things more severely" then fine. But they say something to that effect and then 5 minutes later make the preposterous allegation that "Bucci might have been faking it" (then why the hell was he substituted?) etc. Fine, CSKA were first time offenders. Then again, Parma would have been a first time offender too. And again, the whole nationality thing doesn't sit well with me...what does Parma have to do with Roma, a multiple offender, for example? What was ever done to Turkish clubs for the murder of the two Leeds fans? Certainly it wasn't the first Turkish incident in Europe, though obviously the worst.

I honestly don't recall the Roman police incident (not saying it didn't happen, just that I don't remember it, but it might have happened when I was deployed on an aircraft carrier half a world away without internet and TV access to hear about these things). I wouldn't mention something of that nature in the same veign. If Italian police did something wrong, that is not something that needs to be resolved in a soccer setting.

Here is the bottom line on why I am annoyed with UEFA with this ruling:
1) Again, Parma presumibly fielding a B side should not have any weight in the decision and,
2) If the sides had been reversed, with Parma winning 3-0 while the CSKA keeper were struck by a Parma flare, I'm pretty confident Parma probably wouldn't have been playing in the final right now. Would not Parma be a first time offender in this scenario, just as you say CSKA is?

In all honesty, I wouldn't want to see Parma in the final based solely on a favorabe ruling by UEFA. What annoys me is UEFA's attitude of inconsistency, which they are notorious for, and the unprofessional allegations they made against the club (suspecting Bucci of faking and criticizing the club for its use of a B squad when it had nothing to do with a Russian "hooligan" incident).

Either you apply the law the same way for everyone, or you don't have the freakin' law...

And UEFA should have recognized the potential for trouble with fans throwing objects on the pitch years ago. Fine, ban the Olimpico because Frisk was hit by a lighter. But then again, if the lighter hadn't struck him, it wouldn't have been an issue. Essentially, Roma was punished for having a fan with good aim. How many other fans of other clubs from other countries have thrown s*** on the pitch without hitting anyone, and no issue is/was made of it? Hell, look at Figo and what gets thrown at him whenever he tries to take a corner kick in Barcelona...

 

Boghossian is also in the picture, and I think Dino Baggio is behind the Cup. I would have thought Sensini or Thuram were captain, too. The lineup was: Buffon; Thuram, Sensini, Cannavaro; Fuser, Boghossian, D.Baggio, Veron (Fiore 77), Vanoli; Chiesa (Balbo 73), Crespo (Asprilla 85)

I also have this one:

Di Chiara, Couto, Susic, Baggio, Crippa, Bucci
Bennarivo, Minotti, Asprilla, Fiore, Zola

 

Recognized

Luca Bucci
Dino Baggio
Gianfranco Zola
Stefano Fiore

(didn't even know Fernando Couto ever played in Serie A other than Lazio)