The big news at the top was Torino’s come from behind win away at Sampdoria on Friday night, a result that saw them leading the division along with Padova after their 4-2 win at Empoli. Empoli fired coach Alfredo Aglietti after the match, replacing him with Giuseppe Pillon. Il Toro inflicted Sampdoria’s first defeat of the season in a tight game that was decided by Rolando Bianchi’s third goal of the season. Andrea Costa had put the hosts in front […]
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History was made in Serie-B this weekend. Juve Stabia, the minnows from Castellammare di Stabia hadn’t won in the division since beating Reggiani 2-1 at home on the 20th April 1952. That was one of only three wins in the second half of the season as they tumbled into ignominy for the best part of six decades. On Saturday the sun rose for the 21,707th time and that wait finally came to an end with a 3-2 win over Pescara. […]
After five games of SerieB there’s a predictable feel to the top of the table with Padova, last years’ losing play-off finalists undefeated along with two of the relegated sides Brescia and Sampdoria. Torino , under the stewardship of old hat Giampiero Ventura look likely to feature as do Reggina. Only three points separate the top nine places with Zdenek Zeman’s unpredictable Pescara bringing up the rear. For all the familiarity and SerieA pedigree perhaps it’s something of a surprise […]
June 22nd. Like most days since records began it has its fair share of anecdotal importance. Scanning over some of the better known; 1911 King George V was coronated at Westminster Abbey; 1938 Joe Louis knocked out Max Schmeling in Yankee Stadium; 1981 John McEnroe called Wimbledon chair umpire Ted James “the pits of the world”. June 22nd, 1952 was relatively quiet by those standards; Al Martino aka Johnny Fontane in The Godfather was perhaps loudest with his US no.1 […]
Chutzpah. It sounds a little like a table sauce for cold meat. ‘Make thanksgiving with Chutzpah’ or, ‘Would you like Chutzpah with that?” Would I?! However, it turns out it’s not a bottled condiment at all, but as Leo Rosten defines in The Joys of Yiddish,“Chutzpah-gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, incredible guts, presumption plus arrogance such as no other word and no other language can do justice to.” Naturally I’ll try. Unfortunately sport is surprisingly lacking in the chutzpah department, what […]
“Bouncebackability”, a term that’s probably eluded Lazio manager Edy Reja and his squad til now but one of vital importance ahead of tomorrow’s game with Cesena. Coined by anvil-headed Crystal Palace manager Iain Dowie, it’s literally the ability to ‘bounce-back’ after defeat, and Lazio must recover following Sunday’s damaging 0-2 loss to city rivals Roma. Lazio finished the game with nine men after left-back Stefan Radu was sent off for head-butting Fabio Simplicio, then captian Cristian Ledesma saw red for […]
