Serie A/B

[pineapple stu]

Looking at going to a couple of games when I'm over in Italy for the match. Have pencilled in AC Milan v Lecce and Piacenza v Brescia (I think it was). Anyone know what the story is with regards tickets? Looks like there's plenty of spaces at the smaller Milan games, but can you buy at the gate, or is there security issues or anything? (Vague memories from A Season With Verona of passport checks being introduced)

[seand]

Had awful trouble at Napoli last season, but go to the ground or club shop the day before with your passport and it'll be grand. I'm sure you'll be able to roll up to Serie B matches.

[The Good Son]

Looking at going to a couple of games when I'm over in Italy for the match. Have pencilled in AC Milan v Lecce and Piacenza v Brescia (I think it was). Anyone know what the story is with regards tickets? Looks like there's plenty of spaces at the smaller Milan games, but can you buy at the gate, or is there security issues or anything? (Vague memories from A Season With Verona of passport checks being introduced)

As seand says, you should be fine, even on match day. There's restrictions, (season tickets only and residents of the province only, are two) in place for what are designated 'high risk' matches. I can't imagine either of the two matches having restrictions, the Piacenza match being a derby might though, but I'd be surprised. You do have to have your passport with you ok.

[pineapple stu]

Cheers!

[Sandro]

Stu, I'll see what I can do for you, once you've chosen the games you want to attend. I cam check and make a few phone calls to make sure you are allowed to attend the match. An English friend of mine had lot of trouble to get tickets in advance for Napoli-Lecce (???), as you probably know there's plenty of restrictions for away fans right now. Tickets are on sale through the web most times but there might be last minute changes. No problem for availability, though, as violence, restrictions and Sky TV made Italian stadia half empty. If you fly to Treviso (60 Kms from my home) there's plenty of Serie B and C football but Verona is the only place to watch Serie A, and Chievo is a small club, you won't feel great atmosphere at stadium Bentegodi. I was in Trieste last saturday, definitly the best ground we have in Italy. I love lower divisions football but I wonder if Serie B is worth such a long travel. The standards are so low this year and this probably explains why so many teams are fighting at the top of the league. Be aware that Piacenza is probably one of the worst ground in Italy, behind each goal there are huge metal "temporary" stands and there are always strong winds

[wexfordman]

Hi Stu

Bari are playing parma saturday the 2nd of April at the stadio san nicola in a top of the table clash in serie B if you are hanging around bari for a few days after the ireland game.

i was thinking of heading to the juve v chievo game in turin that weekend should be easy enough to get tickets for that one and juve hopefully will have reduced the gap on inter by then to 4 or 5 points so there will be plenty at stake.

Sandro is Ranieri getting much pressure in the italian media for not giving Giovinco more playing time? He is a rough diamond and i hope he has a future at juve.

[Sandro]

Hi Stu
Sandro is Ranieri getting much pressure in the italian media for not giving Giovinco more playing time? He is a rough diamond and i hope he has a future at juve.

no, everybody thinks Ranieri is doing a good job even without many big stars. Giovinco is brilliant but he needs time to improve, I think he should have spent one more season somewhere else in a smaller club, he came back to Juventus too early. But then I know that's Italian football big limit, young players are not given any chance. Messi is a star at Barca, Milan players are
all over 30 except Pato, Kaka and Ronaldinho.

It's a shame no club is interested in bringing Giuseppe Rossi back to Serie A

[Mr Maroon]

Giovinco isn't ready to start week in week out IMO, but he has massive potential. I would like Ranieri to play him a bit more often.

When Nedved retires this summer, the replacement that we get for him will decide Giovinco's future. If it's a huge start that's in his mid twenties, Giovinco is never going to get into the Juve first team.

[pineapple stu]

Hi Stu

Bari are playing parma saturday the 2nd of April at the stadio san nicola in a top of the table clash in serie B if you are hanging around bari for a few days after the ireland game.
I saw that. To be honest, with the accommodation in Bari as it is, I said I'd get an overnight train to Milan and spend four days there, as I've never been and I've heard good things about it. Train gets in at 9:30am, which is perfect. There's so many things to see in Italy that I have to keep rolling around unfortuantely! So I've chosen a destination and then checked out what games are on rather than the other way around.

That also covers msot of sandro's reply, except to note that in response to this -

Be aware that Piacenza is probably one of the worst ground in Italy, behind each goal there are huge metal "temporary" stands and there are always strong winds
- I am compelled to point out that I've been to Bray.

I'm definitely going to AC v Lecce (barring a Sunday evening kick off) and will probably head to Piacenza v Brescia (only half an hour away by train); won't be going to any matches other than those. Obviously, any help sorting tickets would be much appreciated! Though it seems like, when I get into Milan on Thursday, I should be able to head to the ground and get a quick yay or nay.

[wexfordman]

Giovinco isn't ready to start week in week out IMO, but he has massive potential. I would like Ranieri to play him a bit more often.

When Nedved retires this summer, the replacement that we get for him will decide Giovinco's future. If it's a huge start that's in his mid twenties, Giovinco is never going to get into the Juve first team.


Still Giovinco is no raw teenager he is 22 and needs regular first team football to develop and reach his potential. All the talk in the media is that diego from bremen silva from valencia or ribery from bayern will be pavels replacement bar ribery i think the amount needed to purchase silva or diego would be wasted when juve have a ready made replacement in giovinco and considering juve's main weakness is in both fullback positions. where molinaro has improved but is still terrible offensivley and grygera's best days are behind him and he too offers very little going forward.

Camoranesi has had an injury plagued season and while marchionni has done ok giovinco is a better player and also nedved is 37 and ranieri has played him in almost every game. he really imo should have played a lot more than he has this season. But maybe the atomic ant will be the surprise weapon to shoot down chelsea

if juve want to beat chelsea next tuesday pavel has to be rested this saturday for the turin derby.

if juve can level the tie on aggregate at 1-1 ie score the first goal next tuesday i think the will progress. forza juve

[Mr Maroon]

The Ribery rumours are hugely unrealistic IMO. Bayern would demand a huge sum for him, even bigger than what would be needed to sign Diego or Silva.

and Forza Juve indeed!

[DeLorean]

Just out of curiosity where does this Juve love stem from?

I'm a Man U fan myself and as much as I want them to win all the time and have the craic with Pool/Arsenal fans etc I can't help feeling alienated in relation to whatever success they achieve although they have provided great entertainment/nights out etc. It's a completely different buzz to Ireland qualifying for a WC or Cork winning an All Ireland. These successes are far more personal in the sense that I feel a part of it. I would imagine that this would be an even bigger factor being Irish based and supporting Juve. Also if it became known that Man U were involved in match fixing I'm sure I would want nothing more to do with them as I wouldn't feel morally obligated to keep supporting them the same way as I would to Ireland or Cork. I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable referring to Rooney as Wayne or Scholes as Paul anyway although this would be a stretch even in relation the Irish and Cork players.

[wexfordman]

I grew up watching football italia on channel 4. And i fell in love with calcio the greater tactical game and style of play always interested me more than the 100 mile an hour premier league.

When i first started wayching serie A the milan team of Rijkard Guillit and Van Basten were the team to beat but i fell in love with the old lady.

They were never bankrolled by billionaires like berlusconi at milan or morratti at inter but ran a financially efficent club and built a great team under lippi guidance that reached 3 champions leahue finals in a row unfortunatley losing 2 and the following seasons were elimanated by a roy keane inspired united in the semi final after going 2 goals up after 15 minutes at home and fell apart.

People talk of united striving to be the first team to retain the champions league but 3 finals in a row is some achievment. unfortunaley juve got stung by a pedrag mijatovic goal against madrid in the final in whih they dominated and vastly underated dortmund in the other final. ce la ve

As for the whole calciopoli scandal the media coverage of the whole scandal in the english and irish media is very poor. and i could spent hours here arguing various points. here is a few examples.

1) the whole scandal came about through illegal phone tapping on juve transfer guru luciano moggi. These full phone conversations were never played in a court of law but edited transcripts of the conversations were read out. Thus a lot of the evedience was misleading.

2) the proper legal court case is still on going the relegation of juve and point dedeuctions for other clubs came about through the sports arbitration courts and the whole trial was conducted by guido rossi an ex inter board member and telcom italia offical.

3)The whole investigation focused on two seasons and and the only game that was found to have involved match fixing was parma v leece with the result allowing fiorentina to stay in serie a.

4) Juve were never found guilty of match fixing what was found from the edited transcripts was that moggi had encouraged referees to book players who were 1 yellow card away from suspension thus missing the next match when the next opponent was juve.

5) The juve team that had two scudetti taken from them in the courts had Buffon,Zambrotta,Thuram,Cannavaro,Camoranesi,Vieir a,Del Piero,Trezequet thats 8 players that played in the 2006 world cup final did they really need match fixing to win those titles.

There is no smoke without fire but the whole process was rushed through all teams juve inter ac milan looked out for their own interests and put pressure on officals etc not different than what fergie has done for years at old trafford. But inter had morratti who instigated the whole scandal through rossi using his connectinons in italian telecom. Ac milan had Berlusconi Prime minister and controller of italian tv. All teams were convinced the others were up to know good and had systems of protections in place.

the only club to benefit from calciopoli were inter, gaining titles,oppostions star players etc but yet when recoba and other inter players were found to have played for years with false italian passports and that inter had falseified their accounts to meet the regulations to compete in serie A for many seasons a blind eye was turned.

Bottom line juve were relegated forced to rebuild an empire but were never found guily of match fixing
Juve were guilty but no as guilty as they are preceived in the western european media. someday the whole true story will emerge

Anyway sorry for the ramble but a quick google search of guido rossi, calciopoli or farciopoli will give you more info.

Thats why juev has initated proceedings to have the two stripped titles handed back and why cannavaro, del piero buffon and capello considers those titles as theirs because whats won on the pitch cannot be taken away in the courts with such lack of eveidence.


Just out of curiosity where does this Juve love stem from?

I'm a Man U fan myself and as much as I want them to win all the time and have the craic with Pool/Arsenal fans etc I can't help feeling alienated in relation to whatever success they achieve although they have provided great entertainment/nights out etc. It's a completely different buzz to Ireland qualifying for a WC or Cork winning an All Ireland. These successes are far more personal in the sense that I feel a part of it. I would imagine that this would be an even bigger factor being Irish based and supporting Juve. Also if it became known that Man U were involved in match fixing I'm sure I would want nothing more to do with them as I wouldn't feel morally obligated to supporting them them the same way as I would to Ireland or Cork. I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable referring to Rooney as Wayne or Scholes as Paul anyway although this would be a stretch even in relation the Irish and Cork players.

[DeLorean]

Fascinating read. I'm glad I posed that question now. I must admit I was more of a Van Basten man back in the early 90's- Monday nights on Net2. That was some Juve team alright that u touched on, amazing they didn't win any more than that one Champions Lge against Ajax. Del Piero must have been the best player in the World the year they lost to Dortmund.

[Mr Maroon]

What Wexfordman said except for the bit about watching Milan first.


Juve have never been found to have "fixed" any matches!! Calciopoli has been portrayed very poorly by the media around these parts. Perhaps on purpose to make the EPL even more appealing to their viewers/readers.
Wexfordman gave a good synopsis above.

By the way, the club have stated that when we next win a Scudetto (will be the 30th including to he 2 revoked Scudetti), they will be adding a third star to the jersey. Even if the revoked ones haven't been won back in the courts by then.

[Schumi]

Like most, I'd imagine, I got into following Juve when Serie A was on Channel 4. It was probably pretty much a random choice at the time but they were a team I saw regularly on TV, not much different to Man United fans really. I'm very much a part-time, armchair fan; UCD are my team but I still like to see them do well.

Besides Juve are my most local Serie A club. :D

[JC_GUFC]

If anyone gets a chance to see highlights look out for a save by the Torino keeper after about 20 minutes in the derby tonight.

One of the best saves I've ever seen - it was Gordon Banks-esque!

[Mr Maroon]

If anyone gets a chance to see highlights look out for a save by the Torino keeper after about 20 minutes in the derby tonight.

One of the best saves I've ever seen - it was Gordon Banks-esque!

I'm watching it and yeah that was an amazing save!

[wexfordman]

jesus sereni and the woodwork looked like providing juve with a frustrating evening.
Put giorgio to the rescue 3 points collected and some key players rested for the chelsea game.

Roll on tuesday i cannot wait

Damn i thought genoa would have got a result against the inter merda earlier today

[Mr Maroon]

I don't agree with resting that many players before a big match. I hope it doesn't backfire.

[Sandro]

I'm definitely going to AC v Lecce (barring a Sunday evening kick off) and will probably head to Piacenza v Brescia

Be aware that Milano and Piacenza are quite ordinary cities, definitly not touristic routes. Not much to do except watching football and they might even look more depressed with fog and rain. Nightlife in Milan is good in the Navigli area, though.

[pineapple stu]

Beats working. :)

If I get stuck for stuff to do, I'll look at a train trip nearer the mountains, or go see the Duomo again or some such. Taking in Rome for the first part of the week too, so will get plenty of touristy stuff. I've no bothers sitting down at a cafe for a couple of hours with a book watching the world go by, Bill Bryson style. But cheers for the advice anyway!

[Sandro]

I've no bothers sitting down at a cafe for a couple of hours with a book watching the world go by, Bill Bryson style.

People in Rome would appreciate that, the busy Milanese crowd would probably blame you because they can't think about nothing else than money and business. I guess weather affect people more than we think
One of the things I missed the most when I went back to Italy were those Bewleys style huge tea rooms where staff don't put you under pressure if you don't keep ordering to stay more.

[Closed Account 2]

Go to Genoa, it's the only proper city in the north west :P

[Mr Maroon]

Hasan Salihamidzic (a great player who has been criminally under used by Juve)
He played 90 minutes today in our 4-1 demolition of Bologna and he was superb. Giovinco was even better though! Del Piero scored a brace.

[wexfordman]

He played 90 minutes today in our 4-1 demolition of Bologna and he was superb. Giovinco was even better though! Del Piero scored a brace.

yeah i still think if ranieri had brought giovinco on instead of hasan when nedved got injured early v chelsea juve would now be in the cl quaters.

[Mr Maroon]

yeah i still think if ranieri had brought giovinco on instead of hasan when nedved got injured early v chelsea juve would now be in the cl quaters.

I have to agree there.

Btw, are you on Juventuz.com (http://www.juventuz.com/forum/index.php?referrerid=8480)?

[Mr Maroon]

Roma 1-4 Juve
Iaquinta 34, 54 (Juve), Loria 48 (Roma), Mellberg 68 (Juve), Nedved 74 (Juve)

Roma: Doni; Panucci, Mexes, Loria (Montella 62), Riise; Filipe, Brighi, Tonetto; Baptista, Menez (D'Alessandro 82); Vucinic (Stojan 91)

Juventus: Buffon; Grygera, Mellberg, Chiellini, Molinaro; Salihamidzic, Tiago (Nedved 70), Poulsen, Giovinco (Marchionni 72); Del Piero, Iaquinta


Both sides were missing a fair few player but still a great win for the Bianconeri. Iaquinta, Grygera, Buffon were great. Del Piero was quiet enough and looked frustrated at times but he set up Mellberg's goal with a good corner.

For Roma, nothing went well really. Their midfield was non-existent and Baptista and Riise were poor.

Inter play Reggina tomorrow and Milan are away to Napoli.

[Mr Maroon]

Adriano has gone AWOL...


Dunga: Adriano seemed happy
Saturday 4 April, 2009
Brazil Coach Carlos Dunga reveals Adriano was “happy” during international duty and his sudden disappearance “is very worrying.”

The Inter striker was not on the flight back to Milan and is not answering calls from his mother or his agent.

“I didn’t see him sad or depressed,” explained Dunga to Telelombardia television.

“He was happy, singing and dancing like he always does when he’s on international duty with Brazil.

“We booked the flight for his return, as we do with every player, but since then I haven’t heard anything. Nobody has spoken to him or knows where he is.

“I must admit, now I’m very worried about this too.”

There are numerous theories flying around in Italy and Brazil as to what might’ve happened to L’Imperatore.

Some suggest he stayed longer after his request to extend the stay in Brazil was turned down by Inter, while others claim he might have been kidnapped by a local gang.

There are reports he may be in his old neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro, but all of these suggestions are unsubstantiated.

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/apr4r.html

[Mr Maroon]

I've just watched Juve screw up big time and draw 3-3 with crappy Chievo. Chievo are from a "frazione" (roughly equivalent to parish or hamlet) on the outskirts of Verona with a population about the same as Gort.

[Sandro]

Believe it or not, this was Chievo's ground until 20 years ago. It was flooded by river Adige in the sixties. The population of Chievo area is about 3.000 but the team has an average attendance of about 13.000

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/9795/chievo.jpg

[irishultra]

doesnt beat hoffenheim though

Hoffenheim Population-3,000
they now get like 27,000 into their new stadium, many of them bandwagoners i assume.

[Mr Maroon]

Pavel Nedved and Luis Figo playing their last matches for Juve and Inter respectively at the moment.

[Sandro]

Sandro probably playing his last match for Italian football after failing to recover from knee ligaments injury