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[Zoff82]

Vida Guerra has been dethroned

http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/celebri ... oto_num=13

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[Bagg10]

Monday March 19 2012

Juventus to unleash The Waterboy
By Football Italia staff

Juventus boss Antonio Conte has confirmed that Alessandro The Waterboy will start in “the most important match of the season” against Milan on Tuesday.

The Waterboy’s 18 appearances so far this term have mainly come from the bench, but the 37-year-old will get a chance in the semi-final of the Coppa Italia against Milan.

“The Waterboy will play, he adds something to this team,” Conte said on Monday with his side holding a 2-1 advantage from the first leg in Milan. “I expect a lot from him and Juve.

“It is a game which will allow us the possibility of winning a trophy. Tomorrow we'll play our most important game of the season, but I hope that there are even more important ones to come.”

Despite the high profile nature of the tie, Conte confirmed that he will keep faith with Coppa ‘keeper Marco Storari instead of Gigi Buffon.

“Storari will certainly play as he offers a lot of stability. I would also like to thank [third-choice tender Alex] Manninger, someone who I class as fundamental to the dressing room.”

Juve and Milan are currently battling for the Scudetto, but the Old Lady tactician insists that is a separate fight.

“Tuesday’s match has nothing to do with the Italian championship. The result won’t affect any of the two teams in terms of the Scudetto.

“I’m not interested in what is going through the minds of those at Milan. I’m only interested in what I need my players to understand.

“At this point in time it is important to get the maximum out of everything, then we’ll see where that will take us.

“If I have no regrets in June then it will mean that we couldn’t have done any more.”

Conte has reverted to the 4-3-3 system in recent weeks, but he’s failed to rule out a change in shape at the Juventus Stadium.

“The 4-3-3 and 3-5-2 are relatively interchangeable. I can also use them during the same game. The attitude is the most important thing.

“For us, during this time of reconstruction, it would be important to take home this trophy.”

Juventus have not won the Coppa Italia since 1994-95.

Juventus possible: Storari; Caceres, Chiellini, Bonucci; Lichtsteiner, Vidal, Pirlo, Marchisio, Pepe; The Waterboy, Vucinic.

http://www.football-italia.net/16833/ju ... -del-piero

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Monday March 19 2012

Buffon, Matri, Barzagli miss Milan
By Football Italia staff

Juventus Coach Antonio Conte has named a 22-man squad to face Milan in the Coppa Italia semi-finals, with a couple of notable absentees.

Conte, who has confirmed that Alessandro The Waterboy will start the second leg clash with the Rossoneri on Tuesday, has not selected Gianluigi Buffon, Alessandro Matri or the injured Andrea Barzagli for the knockout encounter.

The Bianconeri welcome Max Allegri’s team to the Juventus Stadium leading 2-1 on aggregate from the first leg.

Juventus squad to face Milan: 3 Chiellini, 4 Caceres, 7 Pepe, 8 Marchisio, 10 The Waterboy, 11 De Ceglie, 13 Manninger, 14 Vucinic, 17 Elia, 18 Quagliarella, 19 Bonucci, 20 Padoin, 21 Pirlo, 22 Vidal, 23 Borriello, 24 Giaccherini, 26 Lichtsteiner, 27 Krasic, 28 Estigarribia, 30 Storari, 31 Branescu, 34 Marrone

http://www.football-italia.net/16844/bu ... miss-milan

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Tuesday March 20 2012

Juventus host 2014 Europa League Final
By Football Italia staff

It has now been officially confirmed that the 2014 Europa League Final will be played at the Juventus Stadium in Turin.

The venue was only opened in September and is the first club-owned arena in Serie A.

This evening UEFA announced that the 2014 Europa League Final will be played in Turin.

The 2014 Champions League Final is to be hosted by Benfica’s Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, which was already used in Euro 2004.

http://www.football-italia.net/16877/ju ... ague-final

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When will Juve realise that they aren't any good at sitting deep and soaking up pressure?

Milan couldn't live with Juve when the played higher up the pitch and at a decent tempo, but Juve allowed Milan to dictate the play for far too much of the game.

Still, Juve got into far more dangerous situations through the course of the game than Milan did, but Juve's normal wastefulness nearly cost them the game. Vucinic in particular provides so little end product from the zillions of good positions he gets himself into on the left side.

The Waterboy didn't do badly, but playing him as a lone striker is incredibly limiting on how you can play.

De Ceglie is threatening to look like a capable player.

Thought Vidal was probably Juve's best player. All his normal energy and aggression, but without any significant poor decisions or poor passing.

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I thought Pepe had a pretty shitty game. And I kept thinking to myself that Bonucci is due a bad clearance, but thankfully it never came.
I really like Giaccherini's work-rate/smart play. He rarely loses the ball, and he's really good at holding the ball up. I don't think he gets enough credit for the things he does. That being said, he really should've finished that 1 on 1.

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[morra10]

Vucinic is hit or miss. The past 2 weeks he's been fantastic, but before that he was disgraceful. He has to be more consistent because he shows flashes of being a world class footballer. That goal was unreal.

I don't know why we don't just start DP more. Our strikers aren't scoring, at least he can link up with our wide players like Vuci and Pepe. Thought DP and Vuci linked up really well. Start DP for the first 60 minutes and then inject some pace with Matri.

Bonucci's bad clearance might not have come, but he dove in and missed his tackle completely on Maxi's goal.

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Chiellini was more at fault for Maxi Lopez's goal.

Getting too tight to the striker and being turned is a really poor mistake for a player of Chiellini's strength to make, and that was what created a dangerous situation.

Bonucci could have done more to recover.

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So, Napoli in Rome on May 20th.

Ought to be quite a spectacle both on and off the pitch.

[RomaShield27]

Its good the Coppa is getting quite a billing. Not that it hasn't been an entertaining and important tournament in recent years, Roma and Inter have some good finals the last few years, and this year that trend continues to grow. The Juve-Milan matches were quite big fixtures and Napoli sold out their stadio for their second-leg with Siena, so interest in the competition is growing in Italia. That is good, because Italian football should take its cup competitions, be in the Coppa Italia or Europa League, more serious.

[morra10]

Ever since they adopted the new format for the coppa italia, it's been a lot more interesting. This FA cup style suits the tournament a lot better. Gives smaller clubs a better chance, which makes the tournament more exciting.

[RomaShield27]

lol, and now De Laurentiis calling for the Coppa Final to be played in London. What a ridiculous suggestion. I know its the SuperCoppa has been played abroad, but this is the national club competition final, it should be in Italy.

http://www.football-italia.net/16998/co ... oli-london

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Good win today, we really needed that. A lot of the credit has to go to Conte for switching to 3-5-2 in the second half. It was another one of those games where Marchisio and Vidal were pushing too far up and leaving Pirlo on his own. As soon as he made the switch Juve took over the game.

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Poor first half.

Inter pressed well at times and their front two were occupying Juve whole back four, which meant they were able to find spaces elsewhere relatively easily.

Agree that Marchisio and Vidal played too high up. This made it harder for Juve to keep the ball and more dangerous when they lost it.

Not sure the change to 3-5-2 really changed the game. It made sense from a defensive perspective because it made it easier for Juve to get tight to Milito and Forlan without having the whole defence dragged out of shape.

However, the goal came so quickly after the change and, was such a gift, so I'm not sure the change in shape changed the game half as much as the goal did.

Inter's heads then went down and it was pretty straightforward for Juve to see the game out and they really ought to have scored more goals than they did.

Good showings from Caceres, Buffon and Vidal, with Caceres probably edging it for man of the match.

[Bagg10]

Well Inter were conceding a lot of space on the flanks before the change, which is why Caceres was found open several times to send in the cross. On the other hand Inter was hitting us on the counter straight through the middle, and putting a lot of pressure on Pirlo. The switch allowed for us to take advantage of the flanks while clogging the middle of the field. I thought it was a good move.

Good showing from everyone, really, except Vucinic and maybe Matri. De Ceglie has matured a lot over last couple months. He's been solid.

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