Tuesday morning in a press conference in Rome, the Azzurri coach announced his pre-selection for Euro 2008: 24 players (4 less than what everyone anticipated, and 1 to be trimmed down before May 28) which will be representing Italy in this Summer’s great European tournament. 

So without further ado, here are the “elected”:
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So yeah, as you can see the never-ending issue “Del Piero vs. Cassano, which one to pick?” ended with the Don… selecting both. For Italy, I guess that can only be a positive thing: more talent to spare. We can only hope that the Sampdoria forward will keep the potential “Cassanata” locked in a drawer. Other stuff worth the mention is the non-selection of Filippo Inzaghi & Massimo Oddo (technical choice) as well as that of Vincenzo Iaquinta (injury).

In addition, Donadoni picked 24 players (i.e. 1 more than necessary) to begin pre-Euro training on Sunday, meaning one of them will have to leave the group on May 28 (date when the final lists have to be submitted to UEFA). In all likelihood, that player will either be Riccardo Montolivo (more likely) or Alberto Aquilani (less likely): despite the Fiorentina player’s recent run of form, Aquilani’s just been with the Azzurri group longer (albeit playing less and less with Roma recently).

Here’s what Roberto Donadoni had to say in his press conference (source: Gazzetta):

“There are no reserves: these are 24 players, playing for a place. No decision has yet been taken, that wouldn’t be good for anybody. I put myself in the players’ shoes, it wouldn’t be nice to know that you’re in the 24 but then you’ll go back home. Everyone should feel in the same situation.”

BREADWINNERS - Donadoni hasn’t forgotten those who contributed to getting the national side into the final phase. “Those who are here have earned it. Others aren’t present, like Inzaghi and Oddo. For Pippo it’s not about his age, but purely a technical choice. I’m sorry for Oddo, who has been affected by an injury. It’s simply a physical situation. I believe that those who will be coming have displayed great commitment. In these two years, the team has proved something, playing in a certain way. But it can also change tactics, as has happened. The players need to feel that they are responsible.”

INZAGHI DISAPPOINTED - Pippo believed in it right to the end, then came the sad truth. “I am disappointed, above all on a personal level,” Inzaghi explained via the official Milan website. “I started this two years trying to build a positive relationship, frank and genuine. Among other things, I scored the first goal under the new manager, against Lithuania in Napoli. But seeing as goals aren’t the only thing which count in football, I thought I had displayed loyalty and commitment to the project, and to my relationship with the boss, both travelling to away games without playing, and accepting the call-up for the Faroe Islands last summer, in a European qualifier which offered three points just like all the others.”

The rossonero is bitter: “Then, silence. Despite my performances with Milan in all competitions, and my goals, 18, scored both in the winter and in April and May. Evidently my injury during the club season was sufficient to mean that I didn’t even deserve a phone call, to end what I had thought was an adult and mature relationship. I’m sorry I was mistaken, my sincere good wishes to the Azzurri for the European Championships.”

ANTONIO’S CHANCE - Donadoni also wanted to clarify his thoughts on Cassano: “Antonio isn’t a gamble. Enough talk of gambles, that’s OK at 16, 17, 18 years old. But the time for gambles is over. He has a great opportunity now, he knows what it means to be part of this group, and he will adapt himself to it. (…) I don’t want to think about the past any more,” the Azzurri manager confirmed. “I’m not very interested in what Cassano has been and done up to now. He needs to start again from scratch. Like everyone. Even those who have won something have to start over again. We have major task ahead and we must concentrate on this. If we live on memories then we will trigger negative reactions. He is part of a group of players who know one another, and as for what he can give in technical terms, I know very well. I wanted a complete squad.”

In search of the realisation of another dream. “There is no minimum objective. When we arrive on the pitch for the first match, we will try to win it, and so on for each game.”

ALE - On to the subject of Del Piero, Donadoni was clear: “Ale hasn’t surprised me. I already know the abilities of each individual player. Del Piero had a period of physical problems, and once these were overcome he was back to displaying the qualities he has.”

CONTRACT - Aside from Euro 2008, Abete has settled the situation with Donadoni: a two year contract (up to and including the next World Cup). The agreement includes a free and reciprocal annulment clause, which can be activated to end the agreement within 10 days of the end of the European Championship. “I would like to thank President Giancarlo Abete for his recognition of my work. If Euro 2008 goes badly, I shall leave, there will be no need for the annulment clause,” Donadoni concluded.

Go bad? Let’s all hope that it won’t huh?

You can further discuss the selections at BigSoccer.com here.

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No Maniche for Portugal, and no Raúl for Spain. Earlier this week, La Furia Roja manager Luis Aragonés released his final List of 23 who will be travelling to SwissAustria in June and as expected, Real Madrid’s captain was not selected. The feud between Aragonés and Raúl has been going on for quite some time now, and not even Raúl’s return to form these recent years could convince the Spanish manager to bring him back. 

Other notable absentees are Real Madrid’s Guti and Valencia’s Joaquín. This year’s pichichi on the other hand (Mallorca’s Daniel Guiza) earned his call-up through boatloads of goals, and will participate in the Euro expedition.

If you want to further discuss the selections, check out BigSoccer.com’s forum thread here.

Here’s the full list:

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Week-End Reviews

Well, it’s all over: another year of Serie A has come to a close, with Internazionale crowned champions of 2007-08. It was an exciting season but all good things must come to an end, and make way for Euro 20008. :)

Here are the results and summaries for matchday 38. I recommend in particular Italy Offside’s thorough round-up

Italy.TheOffside.com week 38 review

Italian Calcio Blog week 38 review

Marco’s Pre-season predictions

For kicks, here’s the final ranking compared to the predictions *I* had made back in August.

Not too bad I’d say… Obviously I was way off on AC Milan and Lazio, but the rest was more or less in the ballpark for the top 10 teams no? And I defy anyone to tell me they had predicted Parma’s relegation.

	Marco’s	Actual
1.	Milan	Inter
2.	Inter	Roma
3.	Juve	Juve
4.	Roma	Fiorentina
5.	Lazio	Milan
6.	Sampdoria	Sampdoria
7.	Fiorentina	Udinese
8.	Udinese	Napoli
9.	Palermo	Atalanta
10.	Torino	Genoa
11.	Napoli	Palermo
12.	Parma	Lazio
13.	Atalanta	Siena
14.	Livorno	Cagliari
15.	Empoli	Torino
16.	Genoa	Reggina
17.	Reggina	Catania
18.	Cagliari	Empoli
19.	Catania	Parma
20.	Siena	Livorno

Party Time

No ‘Goals of the week’ this time, but just a video celebrating Inter’s 16^th Scudetto. Enjoy.

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Results Summary

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Veni vidi vici indeed. He came (or returned, rather), he saw, he conquered. While there is no doubt that this year’s Scudetto was the result of team effort, the Nerazzurri have but one man to thank for achieving that objective on the last matchday of Serie A… and that man is Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Returning from a lengthy injury and brought on by Mancini 6 minutes into the second half (with the score still tied 0-0), the magnificent Swede grabbed his magic hat and pulled out an extremely vital double: two goals to send Inter to Scudetto-heaven and Parma to Serie B-hell.

To quote Gazzetta:

“This time there was no ‘crazy Inter’, but only ‘Inter crazy of joy’. This Scudetto has many fathers, from Moratti to Mancini, from Ibra to Zanetti, but above all it was spawned by suffering. A lot of suffering for Inter, probably too much considering all of the Nerazzurri’s missed chances throughout the year. In the end though the most important thing is winning it, and in that light when all is said and done, victory might feel even sweeter this way“.

I suppose it does, so congratulations to Inter!

(From Gazzetta): As many expected, Sunday’s fixture at the Tardini turned out to be an unavoidably nervous match, and not particularly nice to watch if you were looking for beautiful plays. The rain & very slippery pitch certainly didn’t help, but above all the player’s performance (every single one of the 22 starters) was conditioned by the importance of the score: Inter needed to win for Scudetto glory, Parma needed 3 points to fight relegation.

The initial minutes were somewhat balances, and perhaps even a little bit to the advantage of Parma: the home team came out very energetic, lively, and probably in better physical form. Stefano Morrone in particular was playing ‘Mr. Interdictor’ in midfield, stopping balls in with his head, feet, and any other legal parts of the body at his disposal. As a result: not many opportunities to score for either side, and the most exciting event coming from the first half actually arrived very early. In the 8^th minute, news of Mirko Vucinic’s opener vs.  Catania reached Stadio Ennio Tardini, and local fans cheered and clapped: Parma only needed to win to avoid relegation. But above all in the grand scheme of things, this goal meant that Roma was virtually Serie A champion.

But to going back to Parma-Inter, not many chances to speak of as I was saying. In the 12^th minute, a Morrone cross from the right wing was deflected by Julio Cesar into corner, and on the opposiing end, a beautiful delivery by Mario Balotelli was narrowly missed by Julio Cruz, allowing goalkeeper Nicola Pavarini to save. Local fans thus cheered referee Stefano Rocchi’s half-time whistle, satisfied with their team’s efforts in the first half, even if the score meant the relegation for Parma. In contrast, Nerazzurri fans in the stadium seemed sad and worried about the virtual status of the Scudetto (painted in Giallorosso at the time), but they rapidly regained their nerve at the sight of Ibrahimovic’s warm-up drills during the break. The Swede needed to bring a ray of hope missing during a very gray first half, just like the sky over Parma: few ideas and even fewer plays for Inter.

IBRA GOES HAYWIRE - Minute 51, Zlatan-time: Ibra is coming on (replacing a disappointing Cesar). The Swede quickly showed his skills on the wing and effectively changed the pace of the match: Inter were now strong in the attack, Parma relying on counters. And alas for Parma fans (already shaken by news of the Empoli lead), their mood would get even worse at the sight of Ibrahimovic’s Scudetto-winning goal. Andrea Gasbarroni lost the ball, allowing Inter to regain possesion and serve Zlatan in the middle: in a drill-bit from outside the box, the Swede slammed a precise daisy-cutter that landed in Pavarini’s bottom-left corner. 1-0 Inter.

The tide was turned: Inter were now virtual Serie A champions and were piling on the pressure. Mario Balotelli and Ibrahimovic again barely missed the goal, but the Parma players certainly weren’t giving up: all attacking with their heads low, and inevitably disorganized. Their counterattacks fell short however, and allowed Inter to seal the deal: a cross by Maicon on the right wing (after a good run) found Ibrahimovic completely unmarked on the opposite post, and the Swede fired a precise instep on the volley that left Pavarini no chance. 2-0 Inter and the Scudetto was on ice.

At about 16:40 CET (85 minutes into the game) Roma surrendered to Catania’s equalizer (after many many chances missed by the Elefanti) thus further guaranteeing Inter’s triumph. The Nerazzurri’s chants (”Ibra-Ibra” and “vinceremo il tricolor”) completely covered the referee’s final whistle and sent the many Inter supporters into delirium: La Beneamata had conquered the 16^th Scudetto of their club’s history.

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	PARMA-INTER 0-2 [Match Highlights]
GOALSCORERS: 62’, 79’ Ibrahimovic (I)
PARMA (4-3-2-1): Pavarini – Coly, Paci, Couto, Castellini – Morrone, Cigarini (64’ C.Lucarelli), Parravicini (88’ Moretti) – Reginaldo (76’ Antonelli), Gasbarroni – Budan. (bench: Bucci, C.Zenoni, Martinez, Corradi). Coach: Manzo.
INTER (4-3-2-1): Julio Cesar – Maicon, Rivas, Materazzi, Maxwell – Vieira, J.Zanetti, Stankovic – Balotelli (76’ Pelé), Cesar (51’ Ibrahimovic) – Cruz. (bench: Toldo, Burdisso, Jiménez, Crespo, Suazo). Coach: R.Mancini.

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Come get your own “I Heart ADP” pin over at The Offside.

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Three years after CSKA Moscow’s victory against Sporting, the UEFA Cup returns to Russia. To Saint Petersburg to be precise and into the trophy room of FC Zenit, who will be adding their first European cup to their club history record. At the City of Manchester stadium (home of Man City), the club sponsored by gas superpower Gazprom beat Rangers by 2-0, and prevented the Scottish team from returning to glory, 35 years after their Cup Winners’ Cup triumph in 1973.

There will be no “quadruple” for manager Walter Smith this year. but no result was ever more just that Wednesday night’s match. After Villareal, Marseille, Bayer Leverkusen, and Bayern Munich, the Russian Premier League champions got rid of Rangers as well, and by the looks of it that may not be their last European victim yet. UEFA Champions League teams beware…

As expected, this wasn’t exactly a match with great footy on the menu. Zenit may well have delighted neutral spectactors with their speed, technique and goalscoring abilities, when it came down to breaking up Rangers’ iron defense, their play was shall we say… blocked. Walter Smith’s 4-5-1 tactics (with Jean-claude Darcheville the only man not defending behind the ball) had done wonders to get Rangers to the final, so there was really no reason to change them for their most decisive match. The only thing that could have “unlocked” the monotony and ultra-tactical focus of the first half (a goal namely) didn’t arrive, and it wasn’t short of Tekke, Arshavin, and Fazyulin trying. The absence of UEFA Cup topscorer (tied with Luca Toni) Pavel Pogrebnyak was leaving a mark…

In the second period, same story: Zenit tryed to open things up, Rangers immediately closed them down. In minute 55 however, the Gers could have taken a surprising lead: Darcheville broke through the Zenit defense, and forced keeper Vyacheslav Malafeev to a save. The ball couldn’t be cleared, it landed to Barry Ferguson and eventually struck the post before going wide. Rangers’ big chance was followed by another shortly after (not quite as big) through Steven Whittaker, but the biggest of the match was reserved for Zenit (through the feet of talented Andrei Arshavin). Through on goal on the left wing, and skipping past Gers keeper Neil Alexander, the Russian winger couldn’t however shoot fast enough and allowed Saša Papac to clear his chipped shot on the line.

There was little Rangers could do in minute 72 though, as Igor Denisov broke through after a lovely passing exchange with Arshavin, and torpedoed Alexander with a low shot to his left. 1-0 Zenit, and decidedly not the ideal situation for Walter Smith, both tactically and psychologically. Indeed, not only was his team now forced to attack (uncommon) but they had less than 20 minutes to do so. Psychologically in particular, the shock was quite hard to absorb because Zenit could have doubled their lead, and only a few minutes after their first goal (Zyryanov receiving from Arshavin and hitting the post).

Smith then brought on strikers Lee McCulloch and Kris Boyd, and it almost looked as if Rangers could ring an equalizer (their biggest chance coming through Nacho Novo) right before the end of the match. Instead, Zenit put the final nail in the Gers’ coffin deep into stoppage time: Fatih Tekke got through on the left, applied a cushy cross for Konstantin Zyryanov who then only had to tap it in. 2-0 Zenit and game over. Dick Advocaat’s mission was accomplished: after bringing glory to Rangers for so many years, the Dutch manager had put Zenit on the top of Europe. One thing is for sure now though: no one will be underestimating the Russian team anymore…

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	ZENIT-RANGERS 2-0 [Match Highlights]
GOALSCORERS: 72’ Denisov (Z), 93’ Zyrianov (Z)
ZENIT (4-3-2-1): Malafeev – Anyukov, Shirokov, Krizanac, Sirl – Zyrianov, Tymoschuk, Denisov – Fayzulin (92’ Kim Dong) Arshavin – Tekke. (bench: Contofalsky, Radimov, Dominguez, Ricksen, Ionov, Gorshkov). Coach: Advocaat.
RANGERS (4-5-1): Alexander – Broadfoot, Cuellar, Weir, Papac (76’ Novo) – Davis, Hemdani (81’ McCulloch), B.Ferguson, Thomson, Whittaker (86’ Boyd) – Darcheville. (bench: G. Smith, Dailly, Faye, Adam). Coach: W.Smith.

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Invited by Francesco Totti and Italian pop singer Eros Ramazzotti, Diego Armando Maradona has picked up his football boots once again. The Partita del Cuore is a yearly humanitarian event in Italy, and what it comes down to is basically a charity match between Italian celebrity figures, plus a selection of professional football players (usually from the golden years).

This year, it was Nazionale Cantanti (Italian Singers national team) vs. Unica, a team composed of players, TV personalities, and actors. The charity they sponsored was Fondazione Parco della Mistica, a foundation dedicated to the restructuring of 82 acres of land outside of Rome. On Monday, both teams stepped onto the grass of the Stadio Olimpico of Rome, and the thousands of fans in the stands had once again the pleasure to see Diego Maradona in action.

Here were the starting line-ups:

Nazionale Italiana Cantanti: Daniele De Rossi (goalkeeper), Mogol (captain), Paolo Belli, Gianni Morandi, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Enrico Ruggeri, Raoul Bova, Luca Barbarossa, Gigi D’Alessio, Diego Armando Maradona, Eros Ramazzotti.

Unica: Andrea Lucchetta (goalkeeper), Marco Carta, Luciano Spalletti, Claudio Amendola, Enrico Fabris, Aldair, Sebastiano Somma, Bruno Conti (captain), Giancarlo Fisichella, Zico, Angelo Peruzzi.

Managers: Francesco Totti and Gianluigi Buffon.

Referee: Stefano Farina.

Yes, I liked the idea of playing De Rossi in goal and Peruzzi as a striker too. For the record, the match ended 6-6 with goals by Ramazzotti (4), Antonacci, and Maradona (on a penalty kick) for the singers, and Fisichella (2), Amendola, Dovizioso (the MotoGP pilot), Moelgg (Italian alpine skier) and Fabris (Italian ice skater) for “Unica”.

Here’s a video of the event. Check out the super-goal by Eros Ramazzotti by the way… wow! In pure “à la Del Piero” style, no wonder Ramazzotti’s a staunch Juventus fan, huh? You think ADP’s been giving him lessons?

And here’s some more photos of Maradona in action (courtesy of KwSport):

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The tournament debut approaching, managers from all Euro 2008-bound will soon be making their final call-up lists for this Summer’s big competition. The deadline imposed by UEFA is officially May 28, but while other coaches prefer to keep their options open by making “pre-selections” of 28-30 players, Portugal manager Luiz Felipe Scolari went straight to the point today and gave his final List of 23 who will be travelling to SwissAustria in June.

The biggest notable absentee is Inter midfielder Maniche, a player who regularly featured in the squad during the qualifier campaign. This season however, his playing time at Inter Milan and before, at Atletico Madrid) has been scarce at best, which is the likely reason why the Portuguese manager decided to drop him. Still, his absence makes for quite a shock.

If you want to know more about the selections, Portugoal.net has the full story here.  Alternatively, you can check out the discussion over at BigSoccer.com here.

Here’s the full list:

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That’s a big one, right? Big enough to deserve its very own detailed and analytical answer I’m sure.

So why don’t you go have a look over at The Offside, and read my Will Alessandro Del Piero Be Going to Euro 2008? post?

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Based on Gazzetta’s info, there are currently 22 Italians playing in first divisions abroad, and 9 of them stepped on the field this week-end.

The table below includes the team the player belongs to, their opponents for the week, the number of minutes they played, their contribution (goal, assist), and the final score of the game.
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ENGLAND
Player	Team	Opp.	mins.	Contrib.	Score
Carlo Cudicini	Chelsea	Bolton	(bench)	/	1-1
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SCOTLAND
Massimo Donati	Celtic	Hibernian	(bench)	/	2-0
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GERMANY
Luca Toni	Bayern M.	@Duisburg	(injd.)	/	3-2
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SPAIN
Fabio Cannavaro	Real Madrid	@Zaragoza	90	/	2-2
Giuseppe Rossi	Villareal	Espanyol	90	/	2-0
Christian Abbiati	Atl. Madrid	Deportivo	(bench)	/	1-0
Gianluca Zambrotta	Barcelona	Mallorca	90	/	2-3
Enzo Maresca	Sevilla	@Betis	17	/	2-0
Morgan De Sanctis	Sevilla	@Betis	(bench)	/	2-0
Emiliano Moretti	Valencia	@Levante	(injd.)	/	5-1
Stefano Sorrentino	Recreativo	@Almeria	90	/	2-0
Damiano Tommasi	Levante	Valencia	(injd.)	/	1-5
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FRANCE
Fabio Grosso	Lyon	Nancy	90	/	1-0
Flavio Roma	Monaco	Auxerre	(bench)	/	3-0
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HOLLAND
Graziano Pellè	AZ Alkmaar	/	SEASON	OVER	/
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BELGIUM
Roberto Mirri	Mons	@Anderlecht	(susp.)	/	1-2
Alessandro Pistone	Mons	@Anderlecht	90	/	1-2
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SWITZERLAND
Stefano Razzetti	St. Gallen	Aarau	90	/	0-0
Andrea Guatelli	FC Zürich	@Thun	(bench)	/	1-1
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POLAND
Stefano Napoleoni	Widzew Łódź	Gornik	45	/	2-1
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RUSSIA
Ivan Pelizzoli	Lok. Moscow	Tomsk	(bench)	/	2-0

Heroes of the week

No goals again, and no assists either. Luca Toni had a bruised shin and sat out this week-end, Giuseppe Rossi has been playing averagely well but keeping off the scoring charts for some time now, and even usual assist-providers like Enzo Maresca are keeping quiet. So for once instead of goalscorers, let’s turn our attention to those who prevent goals from being scored.

Stefano Sorrentino has a had a tough season this year. Recreativo de Huelva hasn’t been exactly brilliant in the Spanish Liga, and they are now 1 point above the relegation zone with one match to go. Their keeper however, has saved their hide many times already and did so again this week-end against Almeria (Mané and Paunovic know something about it). Were the club to be relegated, it’s unlikely the ex-Torino nº1 would remain in the Iberian peninsula, but he will fight till the last breath to make sure this doesn’t happen.

As for St. Gallen “oldie” Stefano Razzetti, it was a very emotional day for the ex-Cremonese and Lugano goalkeeper. The 36-year old will be retiring at the end of the season so for his last match with the Swiss side, the St. Gallen coach gave him a spot in the starting line-up. He kept a clean sheet vs. Aarau this week-end and received a standing ovation from his the home crowd, grateful for his many years of service as team captain.

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