Because no one is satisfied with just a little bit of Zanzi, here is installment 2 of the CONCACAF Champions League Show (original air date: 18 Sept 2010):
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Yet More Champions League Fixtures! Matchday 4.2
With yesterday's first eight games of this Matchday completed (Matchday 4.1, if you will)--highlighted by Spurs demolishing defending champion FC Internazionale Milano by a score of 3-1 (which in turn was highlighted by young Welshman Gareth Bale "terrorizing" Inter with his streaks down the left side of the pitch)--we move on to Matchday 4.2. Eight more matches later today! We'll be gathering at CultFootball headquarters to watch Real Madrid playing Associazione Calcio Milan in the San Siro (though I'll also be lobbying for live look-ins on Arsenal playing FC Шахтар Донецьк in the fancy new Донбас Арена--which will host a number of Euro 2012 games, including it seems one quarterfinal match and one semifinal match).
CommentaryNews
Antonio Cassano – WTF?
Reports from Italy have been coming for about a week now regarding Sampdoria and Italy striker Antonio Cassano and his fallout with the president of the Serie A Club Riccardo Garrone. Cassano hasn’t had a smooth and subtle career, not at Roma where he fell out with Totti, not at Real Madrid where he fought with Fabio Capello, not on the national team where he openly criticized Macello Lippi, and now not at Sampdoria, where he has apparently tweaked the president of the club the wrong way.
It’s not clear exactly what he did to raise such ire. Some say it all started when Cassano stood up Garrone at a public event, where he’d promised to make a showing in support of the president and his club. Other refer to verbal tirades and cursing fits directed at Garrone. What is known is that Cassano issued a public apology, or so he says, though he has refused to put it in writing:
“I am very disappointed at what happened and have already apologised to president Garrone, who I care for very much, in front of my team-mates. I read that this whole affair might have been linked to transfer speculation, but I confirm that – if given the opportunity – it is my firm intention to remain at Sampdoria.”
At first this alluded to apology seemed to smooth ruffled feathers, but turns out nothing was mended, and now Sampdoria look set to release their #1 striker without trying to sell him, just to be rid of him. It’s all gone to the league bigwigs for the final stamp and seal, but it looks like Cassano is moving on down the road.
And in one more bit of madness, Nicola Pozzi, Cassano’s replacement for i Blucerchiati has been banned by Serie A for blaspheming in the dressing room after a game. What could that even mean?
CommentaryNews
A Seleção: November 17 vs Argentina
From our Senior Correspondent in Brazil, Mark Gannon. Reporting from the trenches deep in the heart of futebol country.
Here is Mano Menezes’s list for the seleção that will face Argentina in Doha on the 17th of November.
Goalies:
Victor (Grêmio)
Jefferson (Botafogo)
Neto (Atlético-PR)
Interesting that all three are playing in Brazil. A lot of people, including me, thought Victor might be the third goalie for the World Cup. Brazil very often takes a young goalie who might become the starter in the next World Cup.
Wingbacks:
Daniel Alves (Barcelona)
Rafael (Manchester United)
Adriano Corrêa (Barcelona)
André Santos (Fenerbahçe)
André Santos probably owns the left wingback position unless he really screws up. There are other players at his position who would be good choices, but Mano knows and trusts him from their days at Corinthians. Similarly, Daniel Alves seems to be Mano’s guy at right wingback, and deservedly só. He’s very effective and dependable now, and is likely to still be quite good at age 31 in 2014. Rafael is only 20 and already seems to be solidifying his position as Daniel’s backup. His first call-up to the senior team was as part of Mano’s first list, for the friendly against the USA in August.
Central defenders:
Thiago Silva (Milan)
David Luiz (Benfica)
Alex Costa (Chelsea)
Réver (Atlético-MG)
No surprises here. It’s interesting that after a long period of total stability at the center-back position (Juan and Lúcio), Mano already seems to have established who his starters and even preferred backups are at this position. And they seem to be good choices.
When rosters and lineups are listed in Brazil, midfielders are usually separated into “volantes” and “meias.” The basic rule is that meias are offensive midfielders and volantes are more defensive, but there are volantes who can be really important parts of the offense, so I don’t like the term “defensive midfielder” as a translation of “volante.”
Volantes:
Lucas (Liverpool)
Ramires (Chelsea)
Sandro (Tottenham)
Jucilei (Corinthians)
Lucas has been getting more chances with Mano. Ramires was one of Dunga’s best additions to the seleção, and I’m convinced that Brazil lost to Holland in the World Cup quarterfinal basically because Ramires had to sit out that game because of accumulated yellow cards. Brazil had just found what seemed to be the best formula for the team (given that there was no way to sit Kaká, no matter how much he needed it) in the game against Chile. The presence of Jucilei and Elias (see below) is not surprising, not only because Mano remembers the success he had with them at Corinthians, but also because Corinthians is one of the leaders of the Brazilian championship now, in large part because of its excellent midfield (both volantes and meias).
Sandro was an alternate for the World Cup squad and has played for the U-20 and primary national teams.
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CONCACAF Champions League Show – hosted by one Italo Zanzi
We’re interested in in the CONCACAF Champions League weekly review show not so much for the action in the field, but for the host in the studeo. More on this in coming days–for now, here is Show 1:
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What to Watch This Weekend (Oct 30-31)
We’re back once again with our recommendations on when exactly you should plant yourself on your couch or local pub stool this weekend. Again using SoccerInsider’s full TV listing as a reference, here we go, with some notes from various members of the CultFootball collective:
Saturday Oct 30
Manchester United-Spurs 12:30 p.m. FSC: a matchup of the 3rd and 5th place teams in the EPL table, with goal-scoring players in form on both sides (Chicharito and Nani for Man U, Gareth Bale and Rafael van der Vaart for Spurs)
Barcelona-Sevilla 4 p.m. ESPN Deportes: One of the more challenging La Liga games for Barca, especially since Sevilla seems to finally coming into form (6th in the table) after a slow start, and their Brazilian WC2010 star Luis Fabiano back in the lineup and finding the back of the net.
Those are the two matches to make time for, but if you need a couple additional matches to fill out your day:
Hercules-Real Madrid 2 p.m. GolTV: It’ll be interesting to see if Real Madrid can keep up their recent dominating form (well, last week’s scoreless draw against 3rd division Murcia in a Copa del Rey game excepted), or conversely whether Hércules can pull off another upset.
AC Milan-Juventus 2:30 p.m. FSC: AC Milan is 2nd in the Serie A table, and has an exciting set of big names in attack: Ronaldhino, Pato, Robinho, Ibrahimovic, Seedorf, while Juve is in 5th. See Goal.com’s rundown of key individual matchups here.
And since the MLS playoffs have started, a Saturday night special…
San Jose-New York 10 p.m. Telefutura: Sounds like Thierry Henry will miss this match due to an injury, but the Red Bulls have a number of players to watch: Rafa Marquez, the Mexican international recently arrived from Barcelona; Estonian Joel Lindpere; Jamaican Dane Richards; and Senegalese-American goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul (see this NY Daily News article about his journey from Senegal to the Bronx to high school in Manhattan, and eventually to the MLS).
Sunday Oct 31
Palermo-Lazio 7:30 a.m. FSP: Roman side Lazio sits atop Serie A, while Palermo is in 8th. We’ll refer you to Goal.com for each side‘s rosters, recent team news, and standard formations.
Newcastle-Sunderland 9:30 a.m. FSP: The Tyne-Wear derby. Overlooked step-sister Sunderland have held their own against Newcastle on the pitch over the years, if not in international fame. Always good to share your name with a tasty brew.
Bolton-Liverpool noon FSC: Liverpool played well last week, and Fernando Torres finally scored, so it’ll be interesting to see if they can build on that—and work their way up in the table.
And one more—another MLS playoff game, featuring the star-studded Galaxy:
Seattle-Los Angeles 8 p.m. ESPN2
News
Shortlists for FIFA Balon d’Or 2010
Via FIFA.com:
The following 23 men (in alphabetical order) are in contention for the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2010:
Xabi Alonso (Spain), Daniel Alves (Brazil), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Didier Drogba (Côte d’Ivoire), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Diego Forlán (Uruguay), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Júlio César (Brazil), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Maicon (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Müller (Germany), Mesut Özil (Germany), Carles Puyol (Spain), Arjen Robben (Netherlands), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands), David Villa (Spain) and Xavi (Spain).
The odd man in there seems to Asamoah Gyan. Don’t get us wrong, we were impressed by Baby Jet performances this summer in Africa (this one against the USMNT in the World Cup of course–but also this more recent performance)–but he hasn’t accomplished what the other players on the list have. (Özil and Müller are two even younger players that one might argue about–but those two have already impressed and achieved more for both club and country than Gyan has.)
There’s more to the Balon d’Or than just the men’s player award however. The shortlists for the other three categories:
CommentaryNews
Play Up, Pompey
Sad news out of the south of England today as it looks like struggling club Portsmouth FC may be forced to shut its doors due to massive debt. Perhaps I wouldn’t have cared at all except for the book Bloody Confused, tracking the american author’s journey toward football appreciation by way of Pompey’s ’06-’07 premiership campaign (I think that was the season). From the Mirror (Gaydamak is a Russian-Israeli arms dealer whose son owned Portsmouth, and his legal problems had caused issues with extensions of loans for the club before it was sold to new owners):
“Unfortunately, despite the new owners fulfilling all the requirements of the Football League and the creditors, and agreeing and signing up to the required terms of the purchase of the club, at the 11th hour the goalposts have been moved by Mr Gaydamak and this has now made the deal impossible to complete.
“Put simply, despite being offered full payment for the secured part of his debt in accordance with the financial plan approved by the Football League, this morning Mr Gaydamak has demanded a very significant up front cash payment in order to allow the deal to proceed by releasing his security.
The statement added: “It appears likely that the club will now be closed down and liquidated by the administrators as they are unable to support the continued trading of the club.”