Although I still have not enough time nor enough strength to get back at my weekly reports from the league, I thought that just a list of Coppa Italia's Round of 16's results and scorers could be somehow considered within my reach. So, these are the scores of the games (all played yesterday, except Lazio-Como that was played on Tuesday), with the team that advanced in bold: - Lazio 7-2 Como (4', 43' Colombo, 15', 51', 65' Kaján, 83' Baltrip-Reyes, 87' Visentin - 56' Picchi, 85' Nischler) - Bologna 0-6 Roma (16' Glionna, 29' Dragoni, 72' Kumagai (PK), 78' Corelli, 87' Haavi (PK), 90'+2' Greggi) - Napoli 1-0 Sampdoria (80' Langella) - Freedom Cuneo 0-2 Milan (67' Stokić, 70' Marinelli) - Arezzo 0-1 Fiorentina (2' Eržen) - Parma 2-2 (2-5 aet) Inter (73' Kajzba, 75' Rognoni - 32' Bugeja, 79', 112' Cambiaghi, 101' Karchouni, 107' Magull) - Cesena 0-2 Sassuolo (5' Monterubbiano, 51' Caiazzo) - Hellas Verona 0-4 Juventus (4' Cantore, 6' Beccari, 10' Boattin, 20' Vangsgaard) All the Serie B's teams or the Serie A's teams who had finished behind last season were playing home: in that sense, there weren't actual upsets, since the only home-wins were newly-promoted Lazio vs Como (with the Roman side who had already shown to be on a similar level: in a sense, it was an harsh revenge from the league-match from last week-end, that had seen Lazio succumb just because they had once again missed a PK), and Napoli vs Sampdoria (with an 1-0 reached at 80' that doesn't look much dissimilar from the 0-0 draw from a few weeks ago in the league ). Actually, the real upset could have been Parma-Inter, because the home team passed from a 0-1 score to a 2-1 one in two crazy minutes, from 73' to 75': then Michela Cambiaghi equalized at 79' and finally the gateways opened in the extra-time, where Inter ended winning by 2-5. But it sure was quite the alarm call for the Neroazzure and it pairs up with the loss vs Fiorentina in the recent league game, showing that they definitely don't look at the peak of their form. Some other random observations (consider that I have only read the scoresheets: I am still not able to watch all the highlights, let alone full games ): Lazio played many supposes "second strings", but Zsanett Kaján scored an hat-trick vs a more than decent opposition (a fellow Serie A's team); I had already suggested that, considering how low-producing Lazio's offense-line had been so far, it could have been the case of giving her some more playing-time. Why not trying in the league also? Also: despite the loss, Nadine Nischler scored again for Como; she's good. Juventus look more and more dominating: they scored 4 goals in 20 minutes and then they put the game to bed. Very difficult to beat them on the domestic scene. Coppa Italia will only resume in January with the quarter-finals (this time the clashes will have an home and an away leg); the exact day of each match hasn't been determined yet, but these are the pairings: Roma-Napoli Inter-Sassuolo Milan-Fiorentina Lazio-Juventus The more interesting match is probably Milan-Fiorentina: I can't frankly see upsets in the other ones.
I sure can't promise to keep this thread updated as I was doing in the past and there will be moments when I won't keep it updated at all. For instance, I go to bed very early, here at the hospital, and I sure can't wait for the highlights of the game currently underway, Sassuolo-Sampdoria, to be published, so I'll simply give the score of the match (that anyway will be the first sensational win of the league for Sassuolo, since they are 3-0 ahead at 89') and I'll probably just post the video-highlights (with or without a comment) tomorrow (if ever). Meanwhile, though, I can at least give the score and post the videos of the match from the afternoon. Some observations: Roma managed to win vs Fiorentina (who, as predictable, can only be seen as serious competitors for the title until they meet a top-team), but it wasn't easy at all, after Giada Greggi's early goal. Fiorentina had chances to catch up with them with Madelen Janogy and especially with Agnese Bonfantini, who could have equalized in the literal last action of the game. Judging from the highlights, Valentina Giacinti, now that she was given back her starting place, is also back at being more wasteful than ever; also, Emilie Haavi, despite being the impressive player she's always been, has a glaring flaw: she basically can't shoot with her left foot, so she always has to dribble to move the ball to her right foot. Sometimes this leads to spectacular goals like the one vs Galatasaray in the Champions' League, sometimes it just leads to wasting a good chance. Meanwhile Juventus easily disposed of Milan through a 3-0 score with goals by Cristiana Girelli, Arianna Caruso and Sofia Cantore (it was a dominating performance, but Laura Giuliani didn't anyway seem flawless ). Fiorentina's loss means Juventus is now at +4 over the second place. Meanwhile Milan could be caught by Como if the latter will manage to win their home game vs Napoli tomorrow. Today's scores: Roma 1-0 Fiorentina Juventus 3-0 Milan Sassuolo 3-0 Sampdoria Highlights:
What does this emoji about Laura Giuliani mean? That you disagree and that you found her flawless instead? Or that you are surprised too that she was to blame on at least one goal, plus some other random spillings? At age 39, Daniela Sabatino almost single-handedly won this crucial game for Sassuolo: a brace and an assist by this old veteran were enough to pass Sampdoria themselves in the rankings.
On which goal Laura Giuliani was to blame? On the second goal she even had a good save on the first shot. She isn't two meters and can not catch the crosses or the Girelli header. She had another great save (salva la grande) in the 19th minute. In the 28th minute it was the right decision not to catch the ball because Giuliani was moving backwards and in danger of crossing the goal line. The Krumbiegel header bounced from the ground just ahead of Giuliani so it's difficult to catch but she cleared it to the right side where no Juve player was. When I read your comment about Giuliani I expected a worse performance but I should have looked at your emoji.
I am not sure a player should be allowed to score an header from that angle in any circumstance: the GK should have it covered. And I still think that she could have been able to properly stop some of her adimittedly good saves instead of letting a rebound spill. I anyway wrote that she was not flawless: that was what I was meaning, it wasn't some kind of a rhetorical way to say that she was plain bad. Edit: Although it's difficult for a non-Italian to hear the two almost "ligated" a phonemes (at the end of salva and at the beginning of alla), the actual phrase in Italian is: "Salva alla grande".
"The hosts led the match at the first opportunity: 5 minutes in there was a header by Girelli, unsavable for Giuliani." https://www.acmilan.com/en/news/articles/women/2024-11-09/rossonere-defeated-by-juventus
Yes, except it's not what it properly means: "alla grande" is an adverbial phrase meaning "magnificently", "in a big way"; it doesn't actually refer at the chance Giuliani saved as a direct object, but at the superb prowess she showcased in that save. A correct traslation of "Giuliani salva alla grande" would be "Giuliani saves magnificently" or "Giuliani saves in style". The English caption of course simply took the uncorrectly transcribed Italian caption and turned it into English, but the mistake was upstream. When I was asking you if you ever used YouTube's captions in English, I was wondering if you ever did with an original English video: the text is normally quite accurate, but often there are mistakes in the parts that are spelled less smoothly.
Often names are wrong. Do you know Alex Spock (aka Alex Pogba), Hectoring, Lowman, Vasmath, McGall, Anyone(aka Nicole and Naomi), Clara Ball, Thrones, Since Burger?
And this time Nadine Nischler even scored a brace (including an header within 30" of today's game) that, along with Elisa Del Estal's goal in between hers, gave Como their third consecutive win in the league (despite the stupid reaction foul in the box by Chiara Cecotti on an 1-0 score, since subsequent Marija Banusic's PK was sent crashing against the crossbar) and, as we were figuring yesterday, allowed them to catch up with Milan at 5th place (actually being ahead of them both because having won the direct clash at the 1st match-day and because of a better goal difference). Meanwhile Lazio's missing PKs are becoming a running joke: this time, with Martina Piemonte not available (she's most probably out injured, since she already had an obvious bandage on her thigh in her last games) and despite Clarisse Le Bihan being on the pitch, a DF was chosen as the penalty-taker, Irish Megan Connolly, but she saw her PK saved by Cecilía Rán Rúnarsdóttir. 4th consecutive missed PK for Lazio , and once again it was crucial, because Inter only won through Chiara Robustellini's goal in the 1st Half! Inter manage to keep the third place along with Roma, while the gap between 6th place (Milan, at 13 points) and 7th place (Lazio at just 6 points) becomes wider than ever and frankly starts reminding of last season, with 6 top-teams and 4 bottom-ones. Talking about the rankings, does @Lohmann particularly enjoy taking care of them with his personal style? Or I can try to resume my duty, if he prefers. Today's games: Como 3-0 Napoli Inter 1-0 Lazio Highlights:
1.Juventus 25 26-7 2.Fiorentina 21 18-11 3.Inter 18 17-6 4.Roma 18 19-10 5.Como 13 15-15 6.Milan 13 8-10 7.Lazio 6 11-15 8.Napoli 5 3-15 9.Sassuolo 4 13-22 10.Sampdoria 3 3-22
Not sure if I will actually manage to follow tonight's Juventus-Arsenal game, but it's sure a crucial one for the outcome of the group. At least on the domestic scene, the Italian side looks currently more brilliant than the English one: crossing fingers. (Will Wolfsburg follow this match with quite some interest? ).
Well, not too much surprising, given the results of this season and the last loss vs Sassuolo in particular, letting them at the bottom of the rankings. Too easily sacking coaches, though, is an habit that doesn't really belong to Italian women's football and was basically introduced by men's teams. Also, throwing the coach under the bus, actually, often indicates a club with financial problems who couldn't pay the players or offer the coach a decent team (see Pomigliano).
As I figured, I am not being able to watch the Juventus-Arsenal match, but I'll anyway keep myself updated about the score from time to time. These are the starting line-ups: JUVENTUS: Peyraud-Magnin, Lenzini, Calligaris, Cascarino, Bergamaschi, Caruso, Schatzer, Boattin, Cantore, Vangsgaard, Beccari. On the bench: Capelletti, Proulx, Kullberg, Lehmann, Rosucci, Girelli, Bonansea, Bennison, Bragonzi, Thomas, Krumbiegel. Coach: Massimiliano Canzi ARSENAL: Van Domselaar, Fox, Williamson, Catley, McCabe, Little, Maanum, Walti, Mead, Russo, Foord. On the bench: Zinsberger, Williams, Wubben-Moy, Codina, Caldentey, Kafaji, Hurtig, Kuhl, Blackstenius, Wienroither, Cooney-Cross, Reid. Coach: Renee Slegers No veterans Barbara Bonansea and Cristiana Girelli on the pitch for Juventus, but I can see them being played as super-subs in the 2nd Half. The score is 0-0 so far (at about 30')
Yes, it doesn't seem like Juve can do anything. Not sure if the game can be somehow salvaged in the 2nd Half.