Serie A Weekend Round-up and National Team Call-ups

Ascoli-Empoli 0-1:
An early goal from Antonio Busce' grabbed all three points for Empoli away. Empoli continues to impress while Ascoli continues to struggle. Ascoli coach Attilio Tesser was sacked today.

Catania-Livorno 3-2:
Newly promoted Sicilian side Catania still continue to impress. They took the lead through Gionatha Spinesi, then Livorno responded with two goals, one from Ivorian Bakayoko and another from Brazilian Paulinho. Catania midfielder Caserta tied up the encounter and in the 90th minute striker Giorgio Corona gave Catania the win, but replays showed that Livorno defender Giovanni Pasquale may have touched it last.

Fiorentina-Atalanta 3-1:
Fiorentina got back on track with a home win against high-flying Atalanta. Atalanta took the lead through Giulio Migliaccio, but minutes later Fiorentina tied through Adrian Mutu. Fiorentina wasted golden opportunities in the second half but in stoppage time Under 21 striker (and ex-Atalanta player) Giampaolo Pazzini scored a nice angled drive, and then grabbed another 2 minutes later on a counter-attack.

Lazio-Udinese 5-0:
Tough break for Udinese away to Lazio. Lazio striker Tommaso Rocchi grabbed two nice goals, as did midfielder Stefano Mauri. Massimo Oddo added the 5th on a beautiful free kick that Udinese keeper Morgan De Sanctis could do nothing about.

Messina-Cagliari 2-2:
Chilean midfielder Nicolas Cordova put Messina ahead with a free kick from way out, but Cagliari responded through winger Mauro Esposito. Serie A top scorer Christian Rigano' added Messina's second but in the 94th minute Cagliari midfielder Daniele Conti scored on a superb lob from outside the box to give the Sardinians a great result away.

Milan-Roma 1-2:
Francesco Totti scored in the 7th minute on an acrobatic volley (started by an Alessandro Nesta error) to give Roma the early lead. Milan hit the crossbar twice through Clarence Seedorf (who was re-called to the Dutch national team by Marco Van Basten) and Brazilian Ricardo Oliviera. Milan finally pulled one back thanks to a beautiful long range strike from Christian Brocchi. Roma hit the post on a Totti bullet and Aquilani came on and made a difference. He gave beautiful "rabona" pass to winger Mancini, who then crossed it for Totti who headed home to give Roma their first win in Milan in 20 years. Milan continues to suffer.

Palermo-Torino 2-0:
Sicilian side Palermo still are impressing every week and this week they beat Torino at home 3-0 to stay on pace with Inter on the top of the table. Captain Eugenio Corini started the scoring, and David Di Michele added a second. Ten minutes from time Di Michele assisted Amauri for a goal. Torino had few chances, and their only impressive player on the field was Under 21 starlet Alessandro Rosina.

Parma-Inter 1-2:
Inter have only won once away to Parma in Serie A, but they broke the record by grabbing a victory yesterday night. Inter took the lead on a brilliant move by Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who took the ball on the bounce, flicked it to himself and volleyed it into the far corner. Parma tied it up with a goal from Croatian striker Igor Budan, and Parma's young goalkeeper Alfonso De Lucia (who Roma is keeping an eye on) made some amazing saves to keep Parma in it. But in stoppage time De Lucia performed a miracle on Julio Cruz's initial header, but could do nothing on the rebound and Inter grabbed the win.

Sampdoria-Chievo 3-0:
Even under coach Gigi Del Neri Chievo continue to struggle. A goal by Sampdoria striker Emiliano Bonazzoli gave the side from Genoa the lead, and then in form striker Fabio Quagliarella (I wrote about him a couple of weeks ago) scored 2 more goals, the first being a beautiful strike from outside the box.

Siena-Reggina 0-1:
Reggina pick up a much needed away win in Siena. A 71st minute penalty was converted by Rolando Bianchi. The penalty was a little dubious to be honest.

The Serie A Table now looks like this: Palermo 27; Inter 27; Roma 23; Siena 16; Atalanta 16; Catania 16; Livorno 16; Empoli 15; Messina 14; Sampdoria 13; Udinese 13; Lazio 12; Cagliari 11; Parma 8; Torino 8; Milan 7; Ascoli 4; Fiorentina 3; Chievo 3; Reggina 0

The small clubs still continue to fly high on top of the table.

Messina striker Christian Rigano' still leads the Scoring Chart with 8 goals.

Sack Watch: Attilio Tesser was sacked by Ascoli today, Alberto Zaccheroni of Torino and Stefano Piolo of Parma have to be aware.

National Team Call-ups-
Roberto Donadoni has called up his squad to face Turkey in a friendly match on Wednesday in Bergamo. (new players in bold)

Gk: Buffon (Juventus), Amelia (Livorno)

D: Oddo (Lazio), Zaccardo (Palermo), Barzagli (Palermo), Zambrotta (Barcelona), Materazzi (Inter), Pasqual (Fiorentina), Cannavaro (Real Madrid)

M: Aquilani (Roma), Barone (Torino), Brocchi (Milan), Camoranesi (Juventus), De Rossi (Roma), Mauri (Lazio), Palombo (Sampdoria)

F: Rocchi (Lazio), Iaquinta (Udinese), Di Natale (Udinese), Gilardino (Milan)

Roma midfielder Alberto Aquilani has been promoted from the Under 21 side for a string of impressive performances, and Christian Brocchi gets a look after impressive performances for Milan. Rocchi and Mauri get call-ups after impressing this weekedn, Alberto Gilardino returns, Del Piero is injured, Pirlo, Cannavaro, and Nesta all get a rest, and Totti still refuses to return until 2007.

The Coppa Italia (The competition no one cares about)

So the Quarter-final round 1st legs of the Coppa Italia just finished, and frankly no one cares. The competition for years has been seen as an annoyance rather than a legitimate trophy. Coaches don't care, players don't care, fans don't care, and TV Stations don't care (Italian main Channel RAI just bought the rights the day before the games since no one else was interested). Mostly the tournament is seen as a reserve competition, where all the squads play their second stringers to give them some playing time and hope for a result, and if they get eliminated, no big deal. Every year it's basically the same thing. The big clubs don't play their stars for the early rounds (unless they get in trouble in the first leg and have to save face of course), and of course their second string squads are better than most Serie A first team squads, so 2 big teams go to the final and then decide to play their starters for a meaningless trophy. Cinderella stories are a non-factor because of the traditional 2 leg system, so if a small Serie B team even pulls an upset in the 1st leg, the big team (like I said) plays their stars and wins the 2nd leg. The only recent change that has given a little bit of excitement is that all early rounds are single elimination, and teams ranging from Serie A to Serie C are entered. If the Italian Football Federation (Lega Calcio) were smart, they'd make every round single elimination. This would cause many more suprises and upsets, like we see in the English Carling Cup and FA Cup. Unfortunately, single elimination just isn't the Italian way, and when something isn't the Italian way, it rarely happens. How I would love to see a Serie C side forcing a big team to penalties and beating them or just beating them in normal time. But like I said, the Lega Calcio won't change the format. The only positive I like about watching the Coppa Italia is that usually most big teams put their most promising youngsters in the squad and they usually get a chance to show off. Like yesterday, when Milan put in 19 year old defender Luca Antonelli as a sub and he impressed many (and that means he will probably be loaned out for the next 3-4 seasons, but that's another issue altogether). So all in all, the Coppa Italia isn't that bad, but it could be better if the stubborn heads at the Lega Calcio would just change the format (I know what you are thinking, why won't they change, I'm sure they can change their ideas and such...that is another thing you have to be Italian to understand...)

PS- here are the results from the first legs-

Milan-Brescia 4-2
Reggina-Chievo 2-2
Empoli-Genoa 1-0
Triestina-Roma 1-2
Arezzo-Livorno 2-1
Inter-Messina 1-0
Napoli-Parma 1-0

Serie A Weekend Round-up- Giornata 10

Atalanta-Milan 2-0:
Major refereeing errors cost Milan the result here. A clear foul on Daniele Bonera in the box was ignored by referee Pieri (who is probably one of, if not the worst in Serie A). Then ex-Inter striker Nicola Ventola scored on a bullet of a volley to put Atalanta ahead 1-0. Another bad call by Pieri- the ball was put into the box by Gilardino, Donati came near Gourcuff and kicked the ball into his own net, but instead of letting the play finish, Pieri called a penalty, and then was convinced by his linesman to change his decision and yellow card Gourcuff. If he was refereeing right Milan would have been awarded a goal because he should've let the play finish, and it finished with the ball in the Atalanta net. Soncin added another for Atalanta in the last minutes to give them their first victory over Milan in 22 years.

Chievo-Cagliari 0-0:
Wasted chances by both sides earned them both a precious point in the fight for survival.

Empoli-Lazio 1-1:
A scorching volley by Igli Vannucchi in the 87th minute prevented Lazio from gaining an away victory.

Inter-Ascoli 2-0:
No suprises here. At home at the San Siro Inter got a goal from captain Javier Zanetti (who hasn't scored in 4 years), and a second from an own goal by Cudini after Luis Figo layed it across the box. Inter still leads the table.

Livorno-Udinese 1-0:
A nice goal from Bakayoko gave Livorno a 1-0 home victory. Antonio Di Natale was sent off for Udinese after kicking out at an opponent.

Palermo-Sampdoria 2-0:
Palermo keep chugging along and getting results and they are still joint leaders with Inter. A free kick from captain Eugenio Corini gave them the lead, and an insurance goal from World Cup winning defender Christian Zaccardo gave them the 2-0 victory.

Reggina-Catania 1-0:
Catania striker Giorgio Corona stole the victory with a goal near the end. Reggina had many chances to score but Catania keeper Pantanelli was on top form.

Roma-Fiorentina 3-1:
After falling 1-0 down when Czech defender Tomas Ujfalusi put the Florentine side ahead, Roma got the equalizer from a long range bomb by Daniele De Rossi going into the half. At the start of the second half Roma played beautiful soccer, knocking the ball around and creating many chances. They got 2 goals from Brazilian winger Rodrigo Taddei to seal the 3-1 victory.

Siena-Parma 2-2:
Parma blew a 2-0 lead against Siena away. Siena got 2 goals from Albanian striker Ergon Bogdani (one in stoppage time) to get a point.

Torino-Messina 1-1:
Torino continues to just draw. After falling 1-0 down, Torino striker Roberto Stellone grabbed the tying goal on a nicely angled volley.

The Serie A table sees Inter and Palermo on top with 24 points, followed by Roma on 20, then a three way tie for 4th place- Livorno, Atalanta, and Siena all with 16, and then Udinese 13, Messina 13, Catania 13, Empoli 12, Cagliari 10, Sampdoria 10, Lazio 9, Torino 8, Parma 8, Milan 7, Ascoli 4, Chievo 3, Fiorentina 0, Reggina -3

Messina striker Christian Rigano' still leads the scoring chart with 7 goals

Sack Watch- Stefano Pioli of Parma and Attilio Tesser of Ascoli are on thin ice