Well readers, i apologize for not writing the last couple of days but I was away on vacation before resuming school. But unlike me, the SAMP boys have not taken a vacation. These past few days there has been alot going on and alot to talk about, including Samp’s 1-0 win over Siena, Samp’s two prestigious friendlies coming up, transfer talk, and the ying/yang of Lippi’s first squad since taking over Donadoni’s spot as they face Austria this wednesday, which will see our captain Palombo yet not see our golden boy Cassano. But before i start, I would like to take this time to give my condolences and prayers for the Sensi family as calcio has lost one of its most famous figures.

Over the weekend, I watched Samp’s friendly against Siena, which ended in a 1-0 win for our boys thanks to the finally healthy Bonazzoli (knock on wood somewhere). (Go to this link for the highlights, http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=fZx2m_rOmnc; the publisher of the video is not allowing others to embed it.) All the papers praised Samp’s performance as very solid and basically looked like a game from last year’s second half of the season, carried by an inspired Cassano, who looks like he is in great form (a point i will discuss later). Sampdoria started the games as follows: Mirante, Campagnaro, Gastaldello, Accardi, Stankevicius, Delvecchio, Franceschini, Sammarco, Pieri, Cassano, and Bonazzoli. Sampdoria controlled most of the game, and we also saw the debut of Bottinelli, who played a solid 20 minutes, as he begins to get adapted to Mazzarri’s style.

Samp is now back to work as they have 2 friendlies coming up. This thursday will be a very emotional day at the stadium as one of the heroes of the golden years for Samp, Toninho Cerezo, comes back to Marassi as he takes his team, Al Shabab from Dubai, to face the blucerchiati. As read on Samp’s website, Cerezo is very happy about coming back to Genova, and when asked about the current Samp he expressed that Cassano and co. have a great chance of getting better with each season and could fulfill their high aspirations of making Champions League and even competing for a Scudetto.

Then on Sunday in Nyon, France, Samp takes on the Saudi Arabian national team in what will probably be a pretty interesting and hard matchup (i mean at least you would hope, since they are a national team). So much to look forward to this week as Samp is now 12 days away from week 1 against Inter.

Furthermore, I scrolled through the Italian newspapers today and found out that Samp is very interested in Valencia’s Banega <a href=”“>, the 20 year old Argentine midfielder formerly of Boca Juniors, definitely a shining star who could absolutely be another important player for our season. I would definitely welcome him with open arms, and it helps that we have some argentines now on the team But it is not certain how close or far away this deal is from actually going through, and i am guessing that the next few days will really show. I will definitely keep a close eye on the Suazo and Crespo matters as it seems more and more every day that Inter will let them go. Suazo seems most likely headed to Roma whereas Crespo can still land in Genova. As i said, we shall see, but hey, we can hope. I still think Crespo’s skill and European experience could be so beneficial to Samp this year as we are taking part in 3 competitions.

And as a send off, congrats to Capitan Palombo for another deserved call up. I hope he plays well because he deserves it. I just hope that Cassano was not overlooked for good, because Lippi may not like Cassano, but Italy needs Cassano for the next world cup. A player of his caliber can always provide that moment of brilliance that every game sometimes needs. But i don’t know. Cassano is definitely fit enough to play as the friendlies have shown, therefore I can only think the negative. I just know that the qualifications for 2010 start in a month and we need our best players and i think Cassano is one of them. Please Lippi, don’t forget him.

I woke up here in New Jersey on a beautiful Wednesday morning, beautiful blue sky, barely any clouds, comfortable weather, and then sat down at my office and completely ruined my day. Why? Cause I read something stupid on Goal.com regarding Sampdoria and whether or not they would be competitive enough this year to repeat what happened last season. All thanks go to the genius Adam Scime who wrote the piece, and I guess he didn’t do much research before writing it. If you also want your day to be ruined you can go check the article yourself at http://www.goal.com/en-US/articolo.aspx?contenutoid=813373 (my link thingie wasnt working).
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There are just certain things I have to get off my chest before I start taking my anger out at my fellow co-workers. Mr. Scime made very little of Sampdoria’s summer signings and instead highlighted their losses, to be precise he mentioned Maggio, Volpi, and Zenoni. I quickly went to my statistics and would like everyone to know the truth. Volpi, the former skipper, is 34 years old. He appeared in 28 games last year and had a very poor season. He, contrary to Mr. Scime’s opinion, DID NOT CONTROL the midfield. If you watched the games, it was Palombo & Sammarco who dictated and controlled the game, which is why Palombo became quickly the captain and the team leader while Volpi became a spectator. Next, it is plain ridiculous to mention Zenoni as a loss as he appeared in only 16 games and I dont even remember him playing. (I guess he really stood out).

Then there is Maggio. No one can downplay his season. BUT, arguments can be made because that was his first good season in his career and we do not know if he can repeat that. And secondly, we have done enough to replace him. Marius Stankevicius, the Lithuanian national team member has had 157 caps in Italian football and 38 in international football, and some of the things he has done in the first 3 preseason games have already given Sampdoria fans bright hope for the future. Not to mention the 2 South American signings who are both considered starlets. Bottinelli has already capped twice for Argentina, and Fornaroli just came off a campaing where he scored 16 goals in 25 games. AND HE’S ONLY 20!.

For a team that usually loses most of its players in the transfer market every season, I would say that this was the best summer in a long time. We held onto Cassano until 2013, we kept Palombo who was rumored to Fiorentina, we held Campagnaro who was rumored to Juventus. That is hard for a team to do. But we finally did it. And I advise Mr. Scime to start watching the youth players Samp jsut put on their roster. You know, the guys who just beat mighty Inter for the Primavera crown, Samp’s first ever Primavera Scudetto. Just watch what guys like Poli, Marilungo, Eramo, Fiorillo and company will do. I actually believe Samp got better this season. We will settle this when the chips are on the table and it’s time to count. Now I have to go try make my day better. Maybe I’ll go watch some Cassano highlights or something. Hey, at least Volpi controlled the midfield, right?

Hi this is Alberico and this is my first ever post on the Sampdoria page and I cannot express how happy I am to be have this privilege, the privilege to write for the team I have loved since the age of 4, growing up on the busy streets of Genova. But that is it about myself. (don’t worry, you will get to know much more about me as the season rolls along)

It is almost mid-august, or ferragosto as they say in Italy, but instead of venturing off to Southern Italy’s beaches, sipping on cocktails, and eating seafood, Serie A teams are well into their preparation as the season kicks off on the 30th of August. My beloved Samp is fresh off an amazing campaign where they finished 6th and stamped their ticket to the European pitches where it has not been in 2 years. But that has been quickly archived by Mister Mazzarri and his boys as they have been training arduously since July 19th.

As happens every season, we say goodbye to many dear faces and welcome new ones. Well, we had to say goodbye to derby hero Maggio, and also Montella, who went to Napoli and Roma respectively. But we have certainly added some gems and some promises such as Lithuanian national team midfielder Marius Stankevicius, young Uruguyan forward phenom Bruno “El Tuna” Fornaroli .

They have also signed Italian Under-21 midfielder Daniele Dessena, and just recently signed Jonathan Bottinelli, 23 year old Argentine lefty midfielder currently on San Lorenzo (desired by half of Europe), and maybe another big signing such as the Cassano (names like Sheva, Crespo, and Suazo are being thrown around. All of us Doria fans are hoping GM Marotta can pull off another “Italian Job” as he did with Real Madrid last year. Stankevicius has Italian football experience as he has been a part of Brescia for the last 5 years and can certainly be a quality replacement to Maggio (who I still dont know if he can repeat last year’s amazing season). “El Tuna” Fornaroli has already shown in Uruguay and in pre-season that he can be a younger version of Superpippo Inzaghi, who is his idol, and can form a great partnership with Cassano so that is a duo to look out for. Dessena is quickly developing into a solid midfielder who will probably be in Lippi’s Italian side for years to come, whereas Bottinelli, just signed today, is a an extremely talented left back and will be an immediate reinforcement to Samp and may be the surprise of Serie A this year.

Basically, the team is close to being finalized. Mazzarri has already begun to instill his 3-5-2 philosophy with the boys, a philosophy that produced great results last year as Samp was arguably the best team in the second half of the Serie A season. But a new journey beckons and with many obstacles, obstacles however that are more than welcomed. Such obstacles are the UEFA Cup and the fact that they now have a bullseye on their jerseys as every other team below them is out to get them and replace them in the standings, especially our “cousins” Genoa (God, I hate saying that name, makes me want to vomit).

All I have to say is that I love new seasons. Any true fan does. We don’t know what will happen, we have many expectations, we have many dreams, and we hope to live the same emotions, and hopefully more than we did last year. But one thing is for certain, Samp players will fight till the end in order to satisfy and please its dedicated followers. I truly think that Sampdoria has all the tools to repeat last year’s performance, if not even improve on it. It is true that teams that finished below us did get better this offseason such as Napoli, Lazio and others but so did we. And we have Cassano.

18 days and counting until we host the defending champions of Italy, the monstrous Inter. Saturday night, August 30th, 2:30 pm US time, our boys will take the field and begin their quest. Such an exciting season awaits us. The players know it, the fans know it (which is proven by figures, as 18,000 season tickets have already been sold). I just cannot wait till my boys with the most beautiful jersey in Italy take the field at Marassi. But until then, we just have to keep watching them sweat it out on their training grounds as they fine tune their wheels in order to have a great take-off.

Ciao ragazzi and always, FORZA DORIA!
Alberico

ps- pardon the length of this first entry, it was just because it was introductory one, but thanks for reading =)

However, I would like to draw attention to a consecutive 5 matchday bulldozing schedule against some top sides.

Udinese vs Sampdoria
Sampdoria vs Fiorentina
Roma vs Sampdoria
Sampdoria vs Palermo
Juventus vs Sampdoria

So obviously we require all of our bench strength, plus some decent form and good luck to counter this devilish schedule. But that is a discussion for another day. Let’s remember the old boys now.

The Brits
Samp has had quite a few English players over the years, something which is quite unthinkable now.In-fact, it was a growing trend in the nineties for the English to try their luck outside the island. Now the monetary power of EPL has come to a point that not even one Englishman plays outside of England. David Beckham, Michael Owen, Owen Hargreaves and Michael Ball had spells outside of the UK, but now they’re all either in EPL or Hollywood.

1) Graeme Souness
Position:Midfielder
Years for Sampdoria: 1984-86
Transfer Fee: £650,000
Transferred from: Liverpool
Transferred to:Rangers
Matches played: 56
Goals Scored: 8

The tough tackling Scottish midfielder was brought from Liverpool after he had achieved cult status there. He was one of the bright lights of the grand Liverpool era in the 80’s. He joined us at time when we were doing decently well. We had just finished 6th in 1983. Deciding to build on the success, Doria got Souness much for his physical prowess. His time with us was quite good, and he shared the dressing room with Gianluca Vialli, Mancio and fellow Brit Trevor Francis. Not surprisingly, He won the Coppa Italia with the Blucherati in 84, his first year in Genoa, and we finished 4th . The next year was not very productive as Samp finished 11th in Serie A, and no silverware. He promptly joined Rangers as their first player-coach. After Rangers, he managed a host of clubs including Galatasaray, Torino, Liverpool, Benfica and Newcastle. He never really hit it as a coach, and Newcastle was probably his low point. He now works as an “analyst” for SKY sports. His mental health has deteriorated in recent days, and he commented “Francesco Totti maybe capable of good things, but is not a great player” and “He has won nothing in his career”. Probably Alzhemeir’s.

2) Trevor Francis
Position:Striker
Years for Sampdoria: 1982-85
Transfer Fee: £700,000
Transferred from: Manchester City
Transferred to:Atatlanta
Matches played: 68
Goals Scored: 17

Yupp, he looked like a Beatle once. Though he is more famous for being the first 1mn pound footballer, after (once mighty) Nottingham Forest bought him from Birmingham city.He put in some terrific displays at Forest and became a fan favorite there. After an excellent 1982 world cup, the Doriani swooped for him. He was only moderately succesful in Genoa, but during his tenure we managed to finish 7th,5th and 4th in the league, and won the 84 Coppa Italia. Even though he didn’t score loads of goals, he displayed some good skills and was involved in some nice game plays. He was one of the better English imports, surviving 4 years. Samp sold him to Atalanta for a decent price of £700,000. Since then he has tried his luck at managing, with little success. He is an analyst at SKY too. Here are some of his memorable times at the Blucherati.

3) Des Walker
Position:Central Defender
Years for Sampdoria: 1992-93
Transfer Fee: £1.5 mn
Transferred from: Nottingham Forest aka Samp business partner in England
Transferred to:Sheffield Wednesday
Matches played: 30
Goals Scored: 0

As legend has it, this pacy centre back played locally in London before being spotted by Forest’s staff. In-fact, he was so pacy, fans chanted “You’ll never beat Des Walker” as strikers closed in. His pace allowed him to cover the whole right side sometimes, and he was good to intercept crosses. His steady work-rate then prompted Sven Goran Eriksson (then samp coach, yawn!!) to buy him for 1.5*10,000 million Lira. He did not settle very well in the completely different setting in Italy, and even though he played 30 games through the season, he never looked liked playing more. Finally he was sold to Sheffield Wednesday for a cool 2.7*10,000 Lira, a very profitable transaction indeed after the blucherati had finished a dismal 7th following the Scudetto won during the 1991-92. During his time at the Doriani, he was affectionately called Johnny Walker Whiskey, as in expensive, exquisite but no thanks, we’ll drink wine. He once became First team coach at Nottingham, but left soon after. Currently, it seems he is …ummm…unemployed. Here’s a clip from his testimonial match. Listen how they clearly chant that

4) David Platt
Position:Midfielder
Years for Sampdoria: 1993-95
Transfer Fee: £5.2 mn (haw!!)
Transferred from: La Gobbi Signora
Transferred to: Sportique Ahsenal de Londonique (That’s coarse French for Arsenal)
Matches played: 55
Goals Scored: 17

He is rated among the top ugly English footballers, behind Martin Keown, of course. He began his trade at Crewe Alexandria, and then found his way into Aston Villa. He was a creative midfielder with a knack of scoring goals. He scored a memorable goal at the 1990 world cup against Belgium. After that, he started to command unusually absurd transfer fees. Lowly Bari, yupp Antonio Cassano Bari, bought him for £5mn. After he had a decent season at Bari, scoring 11 goals in 29, he was bought by Giuve for £6.5 mn, :D. He did not cut the ice there, and was sold to Eriksson’s Sampdoria, who has a knack of buying English players in Italy and Italian players in England. He did have a better say in affairs at Sampdoria, where in his first season we finished 3rd and won the Coppa Italia. After that, it was all downhill for him, Eriksson and Sampdoria. Eriksson was fired in 1997, and Spalletti was brought in, yes AS Roma Spalletti. After he ( surprisingly) failed to turn things around, David Platt was brought in but his highly controversial stint ended when other Italian clubs demanded he be shown the door for lack of a coaching license. Spalletti was brought again, and Sampdoria went down, down, down. No wonder Spal doesn’t like Montella. David Platt had a mediocre managerial career after that coaching Nottingham forest (how many times will this club appear in this post :x) and England U-21’s. End with the spectacular finish against Belgium and his Sampdoria exploits.

I have Liam Brady, Daniele Dichio and Lee Sharpe left on the British menu, but this post has gotten long enough as it is. Next time then.

Some Random stuff
1) A touching story about the tragic life of a promising footballer.

2) Random song of the day

3) Random hot chick of the day, totally random, not even Football related

I’ll be out wandering the countryside for a while, so no posts this coming week. See you guys after that. Ciao. And yeah, Forza Italia for the coming week.

There is no better way to say this, we were the poorer team, didnt dominate play, we were down one man, and were made to look like this stupid rabbit in front of Toro, but still Mazzari described this as a good performance. In fact, he considered this as one of the best performances of the season. If that is so, especially against teams that are perennial relegation fodder, then we have a very tough year ahead of us, forget the talk of Europe. Dropping points against them is simply inexcusable, either home or away.


Match Stats
All my pre-match predictions went wrong, Belluci didnt score a brace, he didn’t even play. Rosina did not threaten and we did not win. Belluci was probably injured in the warm-up leading up to the match. So he was substituted by nobody. That is to say we played a highly unusual 3-5-1-1 with Montella upfront. The Granata were their usual self, but had Recoba on the bench and had lost Comotto to injury.The starting XI was
Mirante
Campagnaro Sala Lucchini
Zenoni Sammarco Palombo Volpi Pieri
DelVecchio
Montella

Clearly, we were not looking to score many goals and wanted to keep it tight in the engine room.Delvecchio missed two decent chances in the early stages of the game.The engine room looked leaky throughout the game, especially after the stupid sending off that Volpi received just before the break. Till then, they had no man advantage and things were pretty even. So after that non existent elbow by Volpi, and some nice theatrics by Rubin, we started feeling the one-man disadvantage. Torino had more shots on goal, way more shots. 19 as compared to our 8. That speaks volumes about our game, we were simply toothless going forward. Torino had the better possesion, which was expected after Baby-eyed Volpi was sent off. But we still had a chance to salvage a point, which was enough for my money after this showing. But it was never tobe, as they equalised in a crowded situation, which can only be described as a typical EPL goal buildup. Corino hanging on to a Recoba shot in the 88th minute and our hopes of getting a point all but drowned. Except for a good perfromance by Palombo, and some deft touches by Peter Pan Cassano who was brought on as a late subsitute. He almost converted a goal but the ball came back after being very close to going in.Mirante saved a few, including a rocket from El Chino, but Torino were very messy in front of the goal, so he didnt have much to do anyway. The solitary goal was enough for this dull game marred by theatrics from the Turin team.

What the managers had to say

Mazzari:“The red card conditioned the game and I think that up till that moment we were playing well.I think that my players played the best game of the season, at least until we were the same number of players and, despite the defeat and the elimination of Thursday, I don’t see a bad moment, but just positive things.Cassano has done very well.”

Novellino:“We played well against a very good team.I have a team of young players. We couldn’t do better than this.I’m very happy because the team is playing well. We are missing various points, but when the absent players will be back we shall do better.”

Highlights of the Game

What this result means to us

The Serie A table looks like

Team Pts Pl W D L
Inter 17 7 5 2 0
Juventus 14 7 4 2 1
Roma 14 7 4 2 1
Fiorentina 13 7 3 4 0
Genoa 12 7 3 3 1
Palermo 11 7 3 2 2
Udinese 11 7 3 2 2
Milan 10 7 2 4 1
Napoli 10 7 3 1 3
Atalanta 10 7 2 4 1
Catania 9 7 2 3 2
Sampdoria 8 7 2 2 3
Torino 7 7 1 4 2
Lazio 7 7 1 4 2
Cagliari 7 7 2 1 4
Siena 6 7 1 3 3
Parma 6 7 1 3 3
Empoli 5 7 1 2 4
Reggina 4 7 0 4 3
Livorno 2 7 0 2 5

which places us in a degrading lower-mid table position, which is quite undeserved given some good showing and the talent that we have. We just haven’t been able to get our act together, and the upcoming international break is just the time for us to sit down and regroup. These two weeks may well act as a booster for us. Hopefully we will be able to bank on a full squad, and Bellucci should be fit. Cassano should also be nearing his full fitness after his burger-eating galactico fiasco. We welcome Parma to the Luigi Ferraris and they should be easily picking for us to regain some form, after Roma just mauled them in-front of their home crowd. In the meantime, DelVecchio should start practicing his finishing skills in front of goal, probably imagining Materazzi to be the opposition goalie.

Some Random Stuff
a) Some nice memories associated with Torino

b)Afonso Alves of Heerenveen probably heard something about his manhood, and replied on the pitch against Heracles, scoring 7 in a single match.

c)The Random Song of the day: For fellow GTA Vice City Lovers

d)I would have no qualms about losing to Toro if chicks like this sat along the sidelines

Last Season’s Meetings

Last year, the two sides met twice, and scored 1-0 victories over each other at their respective homes. Novellino was the coach of the Doriani ( Any guesses where he is now?) , and the only thing consistent about Samp was that they were inconsistent throughout the whole year. The first meeting ended in a 1-0 win for Toro after a highly dubious late penalty awarded to them. In the second match, we didn’t have the regular first XI. So Novellino gave a start to the highly talented Vladimir Son-of-a-Gun Koman, who immediately proved his class by sending a superb through ball to Bonazzoli who had no problems in finishing from close range.
The season ended on a not so good note for us, and we lost Quagliarella and Parola, two of our most consistent performers over the last year. Still we can take heart from the fact that we quite unlucky over the whole season, and atleast the better team than Torino over the two matches

The difference from last season

Having lost arguably the most exciting young player of the last season, and another hardworking midfielder in Parola,we even decided it was time to let go off Novellino. Even today, the blucherati are indebted to him for making the passage from Serie B to Serie A when all hope was lost. His achievements are not limited to this, and he almost got us back to the UCL next season , just finishing behind Spalletti’s Udinese. But after that, darkness. The next two seasons were very messy, and I’m happy we signed another able coach in Mazzari.

a)To make up for the departure of Quags,Bazzani and Flachi( temporarily), we signed Bellucci, Cassano,Montella and Caracciolo(Yuck!!!)

b)To provide for Defensive cover, after Losing Falcone and Parola, we got Lucchini,Campagnaro and Gastaldello

c) Paolo Sammarco, ex-Milan and Chievo, was bought to run amok on the wings.

d) After Antonioli’s time as goalie, I dont recall any good goalie playing, everything in between was a blur. So we got Mirante on loan from Juve

As of now, it is very early to say how these new signings have performed, even though Bellucci has banged in quite a few goals, Montella has provided numerous assists and Campagnaro is one of the better wingbacks this season. Samp lie 10th in the table, with 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses amounting to 8 points.

Match Forecast

Probable starting XI
Mirante, Lucchini, Sala, Gastaldello, Campagnaro, Palombo, Volpi, Sammarco, Delvecchio, Bellucci, Montella

Bench: Castelazzi,Ziegler,Koman,Pieri,Bastrini,Cassano,Caracciolo

Doria have lost their last three matches away from home, but come from a comforting victory over Internazionale lookalikes Atalanta, but after that there was the Aalborg humiliation. Expect Mazzari to send out his boys with all guns blazing to avenge the defeat against the ageing bulls of Turin.

Key Protagonists

a)Antonio Mirante:Showed flashes of brilliance during his term at the Gobbis in Serie B when that monster of a goalie was injured or suspended. Miles better than Castelazzi or berti, hope we net him in a co-ownership deal
b)Reto Ziegler: If Frank Arnesen and Martin Jol are siad to be good judges of talent, then how did they let this kid go. An absolute gem of a left foot, can play on the wing too. Expect him to show some moments of magic in the coming matches
c)Sergio Volpi: The veteran, the general, the captain. The midfield maestro has been here for so long, its hard to recall when he came here first, his stability in midfield will be crucial against the likes of Grella and co.
d)Gennaro DelVecchio: On his day, he can play well enough to get an azzuri callup, on another day however he can self-destruct. His physical presence and height give him such an advantage, can easily be a matchwinner. Was close to joining celtic, but chose to stay and the doriani faithful should be glad that he did
d)Antonio Cassano:Talentino was close to being the burger king of spain, then he chose sampdoria, hoping for a road to revival. It will probably take him a whole season to reach the form that prompted Roma to shell out 28 mn for a teenager, but he still has the flair that can turn a match around. Showed a glimpse when he scored against Atalanta las tweek, by first nicely trapping the ball, and then slotting home coolly. the Blucehrati expect a lot of him, especially if any one of Montella or Bellucci is injured.
e)Vincenzo Montella: The prodigal son has come back home again.We lost him to some southern team in 1999 when we had to endure Serie B hell, but were well paid for his worth. Played at Roma, coming often as a decisive substitute initially and had major role after Batistuta retired. Initially played as a poacher, now more as a trequartista with some visionary play. Why does Spalletti want to get rid of such a gem, when he obviously has a dearth of in the box finishing strikers, is still a mystery. Will be marked closely in the match, but has to free himself if we want to create chances.
f)Claudio Bellucci: The revelation of the season. If you didnt guess by now, the picture on the top is of his first stint with us, which didnt go very well. Has been Bologna’s saviour in Hell for the past two seasons, and likely to be ours in this. A true fox-in-the-box, his partnership with Aerplanino has been amazing. Expect a brace from him in the Toro match.No wonder Spalletti wanted him for his team.

Key Antagonists

a)Gianluca Comotto: A former Roma player, has worked hard to become Toro captain. Has chipped in quite a few goals too. To be handled with care.
b)Vince Grella: The lesser known of the two aussie evils( the other’s at Palermo), had rock solid displays for Parma, and when they couldnt hold him any longer, Toro came calling. A vital part of their midfield, expect major battles with Volpi.
c)Alessandro Rosina : Simply put, the hottest new youngster in town. Every other club his after this livewire, but he signed a new contract and that should be a major boost to Torino. Has to be controlled thoughout the match, if not, he will score or create decent chances.
d)Alvaro Recoba:Has been our nemesis in the past, and for a reason too. The 3-2 match has become a part of legends.Still can’t believe how he put the ball in,when only seconds remained on the clock. Extremely dangerous on set pieces
e)Andrea Caracciolo: Am I kidding? No I’m not. There is no other way to put it, I am more comfortable with Kalu playing upfront rather than him. Will be our key opponent if he plays, counting the number of misses he has had in recent times.

Prediction: If we let Recoba and Rosina play their natural game, there is no way in hell we are gonna win. However if we keep them in check, and play our natural game, I don’t see them winning. Expect a 2-1 win for the Blucherati.

Random Stuff

a) Random Video of the day: Enjoy Boy George


b)Grandissimo Goal di Bonazzoli


c)Some video-games don’t portray us very well


d) Volpi plays some Random guy :

What did Sampdoria do (or didn’t do) over the two legs
The Blucherati started very well in the first leg. Gennaro “Matrix-HeadButter” DelVecchio banging in the first goal. But after that everything started to go wrong, the danes hitting two within a short span. It was left to Monica Belluci’s Younger Brother ( Just Kidding) to save some blushes, but the damage had already been done. The little aeroplane had a glorious chance to win it in the final minutes, but he couldnt, and by then Erik Hamrén’s men knew they had one foot in the next round . Mazzari calmed some tempers by claiming they were the better side by some margin and were guilty of missing quite a few chances. It was left to him to prove his doubters wrong by winning in the away leg, which everyone knew was going to be tough. Mazzari is, however used to steering his teams away from the whirpool. He managed to get Reggina stay in the topflight, with the 19 point deduction,which is like making Minardi win F1, well almost.
In the second leg, the starting XI was

1 Luca Castellazzi
3 Reto Ziegler
4 Sergio Volpi
6 Stefano Lucchini
11 Claudio Bellucci
14 Luigi Sala
16 Hugo Armando Campagnaro
17 Angelo Palombo
21 Paolo Sammarco
29 Andrea Caracciolo
99 Antonio Cassano

We had Talentino starting after a long time with Caracciolo, but nothing decisive came out of him. I was banking on Reto Ziegler, our english import , to become the unlikely saviour, but it was not to be our day. This seems a pretty good starting XI, except for the fact that it didnt score any goals, even though we have almost 6 strikers in the squad(7 if you count the Cocaine guy, but he is not coming back soon, is he??) and plenty of midfield options. I am being frank, personally I don’t like Caracciolo one bit, he is the Italian Crouch. Sure he is tall, but he has nothing else in his armoury. Except for the brief period at Brescia, he has never come good, not in Serie A atleast. He was woefully out of sorts when at Palermo. We had a great 3-0 victory over Cristiano ” Chin-Man” Doni and his boys last weekend, and I hoped the momentum would have carried into the Aalfborg game, but all reason failed . Now we have another tricky encounter coming up, away to The Granata, and our hope of retaining atleast a European spot rests on our ability to defeat teams lying lower than us in the table. Right now, the pipe smoking sailor would be so pissed off.

Some Random Stuff

a) Chievo Verona’s promising youngster Victor Obinna miraculously escaped death after his vehicle did somersaults on a highway. Curiosly, this all happened 100 metres away from where Jason Mayele died a tragic death.

b) Gennaro Delvechhio tries to prove he is no less a talent than the baldy.
Nostalgia!!!

c)A picture of our very own Antonio Cassano, doing, dunno what!!!
Underwear troubles

d)Just to end on a nice note, here’s the screamer Bellucci scored against Siena. If he keeps on going like this, he will atleast end up with 15 goals.

I’ll be back before the Toro game for a preview