Coppa, Amantino, Dead Guy & Stuff

By: chris | January 30th, 2008

Coppa!

Good stuff. Sure as hell was a lot less exciting than the second leg against the Granata, though. Anyway, I’ve had my fill of Torino and Sampdoria to last me until next season and beyond. So we’re moving on. Today we will find out the opponent who will succumb to the wrath that is CoppaRoma in the semifinals. Udinese has a 3-2 lead, but Catania has those two away goals, and they are definitely a team which plays its best footy at home (5-3-2 in Sicily, 0-5-5 away - numbers speak volumes). As nice as it would be to play Catania, whose number Roma clearly owns, I’ve gotta say I’d rather see Udinese simply for the matchup factor. I really enjoyed the first game, even though Roma played like arse after they got the man advantage, and think it could provide some beautiful calcio over two legs - not to mention that Roma would go in with the edge anyway. That said, I think Catania goes in by the hair on their chin with a 2-1 victory on the island today. Fine by me. Who’s up for some 9-0 aggregate?

Amantino

I’ll admit that I’m guilty of sometimes falling in love with shiny new things. But I’ll just say this:

Sign him. Smash the cap. Do whatever. Sign him. The end.

Mercato

In all honesty, I haven’t seen a decent rumor since roughly the first weekend of the month. And the supposedly legitimate ones I have seen have made me want to poke my eye out with a dirty needle (I’m looking at you, Andrea Caracciolo). The biggest deals of the mercato appear like they’re going to be the loan of Ahmed Barusso (yipee) and the release of the albatross that is Samuel Kuffour. I’m sure Samsam isn’t that terrible of a guy, but when Livorno, LIVORNO (no offense to Marco), won’t take you back because you’re supposedly a lazyass who couldn’t give a shit, well, you go immediately to my shitlist. (That and I’m not happy that he’s making about 1.5m when I’ve seen as much pitch time as he has this season, and probably contributed more to the betterment of the club than SK. I’m at least whining about referees while he’s getting dribbled by Carlo Zotti on Field C.)

* - By the way, SammiK’s agent is denying that a deal is done despite this, an official announcement from Ajax. Fret not, Giallorossi faithful. If he tries to stay I’ll fly to Rome by tomorrow night, kick his ass from pillar to post and personally drag him the hundreds of miles to the doorstep of Amsterdam ArenA. You’re welcome.

I can’t convey how disappointed I was that TGIP didn’t in fact broker a deal with Wally Mazz yesterday near the touchline to send Gilu on loan to Genoa. He managed to injure himself sitting between the goal mouth, doing god knows what. I suppose that kills any sliver of hope there was that he’d get loaned out before the mercato is up tomorrow evening. So the next best chance we have of seeing him get some PT is if either Doni goes down, or both Gigi and Amelia get Nancy Kerriganed in Swissaustria by Gilu’s agent before the games start. Which, well, yeah. That wouldn’t be good. (As of the posting of this here post, there is no news of said injury.)

Roma officially signed two Romanian youth products, supposedly for “free”, from a guy who was put under investigation in a widespread corruption probe into Romanian football dealings last week. Jeeeeeeeeeeesus……………

(I’m not touching that one with a ten foot pole. I don’t care how good they are, I say cut ‘em right fucking now.)

Andreolli

Apparently the club is going to loan him as well, what with 72 RBs on la rosa who can slot into the middle of the back line at a moment’s notice (and Daniele Prade spending each game jogging in place in the Olimpico tunnel in skimpy track shorts and a headband waiting for a summons from The Grand Imperial Poobah). His agent says that there has been interest from Genoa, Chievo and Brescia, and a decision will likely be made today where he goes. Wonderful, here’s the part I found quite delectable:

“Sicuramente non tornerà all’Inter. Con i nerazzurri è una storia chiusa.”

Says he will not return to Inter. He may mean now, but we can dream that he means for good, and that perhaps a deal behind the scenes has already been worked out. (Yes, that’s wishful thinking. I think. Still haven’t seen him play so, uh, yeah. I think.)

Anywho, I’m all for the loan, but the question becomes not which club he should to advance and progress, but who has the best medical staff?

Mr. White

Talk about a great nonmove. Check out this video of his 6 minute debut, which is just enough to make my day. Hope he enjoys the trek down to Serie B:

And this video is just the cherry on top of the sundae. Brilliance from the Torino fans:

And “lyrics”…..

sei andato a cena con lilo foti..
ed era un tavolo formato da 3 idioti
rolando bianchi sei un travestito
lhai preso in culo da quel frocio di lotito
sei andato in campo,hai fatto il grosso
e in 6 minuti hai preso il cartellino rosso
la tua tifosa piu sfegatata
è quella vacca di suor paola sfracicata
sotto la doccia..su le ginocchia
l’hai preso in bocca da quel vecchio di ballotta
perdi il sapone e non lo sai
che dietro il culo puoi trovarci mudingayi
e lazio merda lazio lazio merda

Nothing makes a day like a good Lazie-bashing song. (I don’t laugh out loud. I laughed out loud when I watched that.)

Marco Zambelli

Oh ye who post rumors here religiously apparently missed this juicy nugget (finally, I get to post an original rumor before anyone else): Roma has reportedly (via Corriere dello Sport) picked up the first option on….now sit down for this….a right back. Because it’s not like they have Christian Panucci, Marco Cassetti and Cicinho or anything. And it’s not like Aleandro Rosi, who clearly has some serious quality about him (and I still can’t believe he’s 20, it feels like he’s been around 5-6 years), is on the payroll down in Serie B with the yellow donkeys. Is anyone starting to believe Spalletti has a serious hard on for right sided defenders? (He was a mid back in the day, right? Central mid?)

So who is Marco Zambelli? I haven’t the faintest - the name just doesn’t ring a bell. But according to the Italian wikipedia he’s a 22 yo no-nonsense kind of defender and well respected. However, my favorite nugget on him is that he’s been linked to Inter, along with superstud keeper prospect Emiliano Viviano, and when asked about the rumor, Brescia’s prez said…

“Inter? Impossible. Zambelli and Viviano are Italian…”

Classic. Just classic.

Anyway, I’ll see if I can find out much more on this kid. May have to check out a Brescia game or two.

Siena

Just a little reminder so that you guys can lower your expectations accordingly: Roma is traveling to Tuscany this weekend. You know what that means. (And Siena has been playing relatively well lately. Booo.) We’ll now be accepting any suggestions on voodoo, sorcery, black magic, herbal remedies, STD creams or whatever else to try and break this curse.

* - Mercato stuffs tonight before the final hammer comes down on transfers for 07/08. Back in the saddle again.