THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[RomaShield27]

De Rossi infuriates Nelsen three years on
Thursday 08 Aug 2013 2:18p.m / http://www.3news.co.nz/De-Rossi-infuria ... fault.aspx

Time hasn't healed bitter wounds for Toronto FC manager and former All Whites great Ryan Nelsen when it comes to Italian midfielder Daniele De Rossi.

Nelsen was placed in the spotlight this week ahead of a home friendly against Italian giants AS Roma, who are on a pre-season tour of North America. Roma won the game on Wednesday 4-1.

Among the visitors was De Rossi, prompting journalists to quiz Nelsen about a pivotal incident in the 2010 World Cup pool match between New Zealand and Italy which was drawn 1-1.

De Rossi fell spectacularly to earn a penalty, and equalising goal, in Nelspruit.

Captain Nelsen later accused his opponent of diving and Guatemala referee Carlos Batres of having "stars in his eyes".

Nelsen, who retired from playing this year, delivered a tongue-in-cheek response laced with irritation this week when asked for his recollection of the De Rossi incident.

"Did he play? I can't even remember if he was playing," he said.

"I can remember someone falling over really easily and costing us a win against the Italians and costing New Zealand (reaching) the next group stage."

It was still one of the All Whites' greatest results and ultimately led to Italy also failing to advance.

All Whites World Cup squad member Jeremy Brockie, who is on loan to Toronto, didn't feature in the Italian match.

He played 37min of the second half on Wednesday and said in the leadup he was looking forward to facing De Rossi and evergreen Italian striker Francesco Totti.

"You cherish these moments when you play against the best players in the world. You grow up watching the likes of Totti and De Rossi."

Toronto have undergone a mini-revival in their first Major League Soccer season under Nelsen, winning their last two matches. They are ninth in the 10-team Eastern Conference.

[maro]

Is "tongue-in-cheek [...] laced with irritation" American for "with dry humour"?

[DCGweez]

Who's this Ryan Nelson chap and what's an All-White?

[maro]

An All White is someone who believes in the sacred powers of 88. Or so it would seem.

[DCGweez]

Borriello that evil SOB

[pocari_fenrir]

[maro]

[RomaShield27]

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archiv ... er-to-roma

[forzaitalia]

Meh. I suppose Garcia knows him as well as anyone. Not been impressed whenever I've seen him at Arsenal though.

[DCGweez]

Hazard said he's the most technically gifted player he's ever played with.

[Lupa]

Lamela was disappointing. It must have been 30 minutes into the game when I spotted him and said that I had forgotten he was there. I thought Florenzi did well, but Pjanic made a difference when he came in. There suddenly seemed to be some cohesion. As for Totti, he had a few classy touches, but he looked a bit uninterested. I suppose I can't blame him; he came in around the 70th minute in a meaningless game that Roma pretty much had put away anyway. However, it was an opportunity for people to see Roma and Totti, and who knows how much longer he'll be playing?

As for Gervinho, a lot of the headlines I've seen call him an 'Arsenal flop'. Just because he can't compete in the 'best league in the world' doesn't mean he won't do well at Roma, though.

[DCGweez]

[DavidP]

pleased with the first half. chelsea started really confidently and you could see that a couple of our guys thought of this game as more than a friendly. totti one of them. when was the last time we played a team this technical? after the butterflies left our guys' stomachs we started fighting back very well, and i think having florenzi playing rather than pjanic might have helped. we just hid the ball from them with confident, quick, short passes (strootman was born for this) and made chelsea look like the brunico local selection. it could have been my shite stream, but a couple of our plays were so lovely that i started seeing a 22 on balzaretti's back. we got lucky with a goal and after that it was all us. you could still see, though, that chelsea were a different class technically. so long as we grind out wins like these against similar opponents i'll be the first to admit they had more gifted players than us. also, that guy in the #9 shirt is a clown.

totti is a beauty.

[Lupa]

Good to see your comments. I have a good quality stream, but have only watched parts of the game. My impression is that Florenzi hasn't been that involved. I did get the impression that Roma started out on the back foot, then took control. (well, that's stating it too strongly, but they were no longer on the back foot)

If you read this while the game is still on, try this stream. (as long as you have an adblock on your browser, it's good)
http://www.sportlemon.tv/20130810/vv520 ... 18514.html Well adblock and ignore the Chelsea bias.

Oh, and Totti is indeed a beauty.

[DavidP]

thanks, lupa. these knobs are making it really hard to keep watching on this stream. but i guess it would be unfair for us to expect anything else from mourinho supporters.

[Lupa]

You can always mute them.

Chelsea has had more influence in the second half from what I've seen. Will be interested to hear DCG's thoughts, since he's at the game. Unless he's too distracted by complaints about the lack of Borriello. He played in TO. *I take this back. Borriello is in the game, so it works out for DCG.

[DavidP]

i don't want to miss dcg's 'c'e solo un gervinho' chants.

[Lupa]

I think DCG will be the one with the 'Bradley, Bradley, Bradley' chants.

If someone else were online, maybe they'd tell us to take this to the SB.

[Lupa]

DCG? Any thoughts on the game? Or are you too upset because your woman ran off with Borriello?

[DCGweez]

Incorrect on all counts, first i was singing Caprari, Caprari, Caprari.

Second, she didn't run off with Marco. He showed her his personal dressing room. He was even nice enough to put her through his training routine. She came out sweating and disheveled.

The game was pretty boring. I was impressed with Stootman's movement off the ball though.

Also, I dont have a man crush on Bradley, i do appreciate the fact that he shows up each game and never complains. I feel much the same about Florenzi. People often confuse talent for effectiveness on a team. Bradley probably has the lowest ceiling on the team and yet is often one of the more effective players. I appreciate that, whether he be American, Italian or even a Kiwi.