Coppa Italia: Inter – Genoa
By: Johonna | January 13th, 2009
When: Tuesday, 9pm local time (noon pacific, 3pm eastern)
Where: San Siro, Milan
How to Watch: Ride the stream at MyP2P or ATDHE.net
Weather: Miserable, 37°F with 60% chance of precipitation
Inter take on Genoa at home in the Round of 16 for the Coppa Italia (also called the TIM Cup as Telecom Italia Mobile sponsors the thing). This is our first game in the 2008/9 tournament, but Genoa have already knocked out two Serie B teams: Mantova and Ravenna. The winner of this game will take on Roma in the Quarterfinals, the looser is out. I guess 4 consecutive Inter v Roma finals was getting boring.
So, will someone please tell me why I should care about this tournament? For both Roma and Juve, a win this year brings them to 10 so they would get to add a silver star to their jerseys – everyone like stars. For Inter, this would be number 6 – great, but no big thrill. Sure, it is nice to win things and all, and it would be a keen consolation prize if we were not in the running for the Scudetto, but right now, it just feels like a distraction. Don’t get me wrong, it was fan-freaking-tastic to win in 2005 and 2006 – it had been so long since we had won anything that I was overjoyed with the trophy and the little round patches for our jerseys (right). Now, though, the game is just one more chance for someone to be injured.
According to our Bear-on-the-ground, Inter fans in Milan feel about the same. Inter are literally giving the tickets away but no one wants them. Can you blame them? The game starts at 9pm on a school/work night and it held in an open stadium where, at best, it will only be freezing cold. At worst, spectators will have to sit 90 minutes in the sleet. Talk about a hard sell. I love Inter, but I think that would keep me home as well.
Traditionally, this tournament is a time for younger players and B-squad members to shine. Last year Balotelli was thrust into stardom with his brace against Juventus in the return leg of the knock out round, eliminating Juve from the competition. This year, though, Mou is setting his own course and the call-up list includes the usual suspects:
Goalkeepers: Toldo, Julio Cesar, Orlandoni.
Defenders: Maxwell, Maicon, Burdisso, Samuel, Chivu, Santon.
Midfielders: Zanetti, Jimenez, Cambiasso, Muntari, Mancini, Quaresma.
Strikers: Ibrahimovic, Adriano, Crespo, Obinna
The notable absences are all due to suspension, injury, or spoiled brattyness:
Materazzi and Cruz are suspended; Stankovic, Cordoba and Vieira are injured; Balotelli has a bad attitude. So there you go. The only youth player on the list is Santon and I bet cash money that he will not see the field unless something too horrific to even think about happens.
Mou wants to win, and is treating the game as such, saying:
“We have to win. It would be easier to say that it’s not an important match, I would have an excuse ready on the table if it went badly, but it’s not like this.”
As for the line-up, Mou said that Adriano will play, but is not fit for a full 90. Toldo will start, “with Maicon, Burdisso, Samuel and Maxwell in defense.”
That gives us:
Toldo
Maicon Burdisso Samuel Maxwell
Zanetti Cambiasso Muntari
Jimenez
Ibra Adriano/Crespo?
As for Genoa, they are coming off a big win against Torino. Their star striker, Milito, is out injured, but Saturday’s 3-0 scoreline suggests he is not overly missed. I am sure that they will bring their “A” squad to Milan, and also want to win, but Inter is not Torino and I think we can take them. Besides, Maradona is attending to check out our Argentinians: he is meeting with Zanetti and Burdisso after the game, and Samuel is “on his list.” They will all be on best behavior for him.
[on a side note, Maradona is causing quite a stir with a short interview he gave to Il Corriere dello Sport. He thinks that Tevez and Aguero should both come to Inter and he intends to tell them so. Of course, isn't that what Moratti pays him for?]
I think it is safe to say that all eyes will be on Adriano tomorrow. This game is a bit of a make or break situation for l’Imperatore. He has to show once and for all that he is not the drunken man-child he has been acting like these last few months years. Everyone, cross your fingers – we desperately need him to come back.
So, no predictions tonight. It will be what it is. Winning is always better, but if we dont, I wont cry. Just please, please, please, no more injuries. I will be attempting to watch this at work tomorrow. Luckily, it starts at noon here in Seattle so at least I can claim some of that screwing around as lunch. Hopefully the streaming fairy will be kind.
FORZA INTER
Well, I guess the Coppa Italia isn’t totally useless – it is, after all, a cup.
 |
Serie A Match Schedule |  |
 |
Discount Travel to Milan |
| Inter Milan Results |  | San Siro information & hotels |
Category: 
Tags: Coppa Italia, Genoa, Inter Milan, Internazionale Milano, Maradona, Match Preview, Round of 16, Team News, TIM CupSubscribe
|
Print
|
Share
      |
Comments
-
Phew! I’m glad that’s out of the way. I can’t believe that Genoa only had 10 men though. Incredible display by their keeper.
Posted from
United States
-
Oh please, Jo. It’s the war cry of the RomaCoward, heard after every loss (read as: often): “That’s not fair!”
Posted from
United States -
Yes, Genoa’s keeper was fantastic. Definitely a 7 or 8 performance.
Posted from
United States -
Well, at least he is posting under his own name – baby steps.
Posted from
United States -
“Well, at least he is posting under his own name – baby steps.”
That’s really funny.
You know in this very rare instance, this game, might be beneficial for us. In september, it took us a few games to get warmed up and scoring. This game might help us get up to speed faster for the games that really matter.
Posted from
United States -
I caught the last ten minutes of the game and have now seen all the goals. My thoughts:
1) Sucks that we couldn’t close the game without resorting to Ibra + Cambiasso.
2) Good to see Adriano’s score, and Maxwell’s delivery was perfect.
3) Sucks for Samuel that Maradonna was here to check on him and he lost the ball for the Genoa goal. He has now made unwall-like plays that have given up two goals in the last two games. Maybe Cordoba+Chivu at center back this weekend, particularly if we get one (if not both) of Viera + Stankovic back in time.
4) Good to see Chivu’s legs getting him up and down the field in the last ten minutes. He even carried the ball down and was directing traffic on one counter.
Now, my questions:
1) Muntari. Withdrawn because, as Johonna put it, he was “looking” for another yellow, because of injury (again) or because of poor performance?
2) Crespo, the minute-by-minute commentary indicated he played very well. Is this true? A return to form by him or Adriano would solve a lot of problems.
3) Penalty miss aside, what is the consensus on Adriano’s performance? Particularly, work rate/willingness to take defenders on.
And finally a general question.
Given Cruz’s performance this weekend and the encouraging signs from Hernan recently, is Crespo now the one to partner Ibra?
Posted from
United States -
Yes, I did see the penalty. First of all it was clearly outside the box. And secondly reasonable minds can differ on whether that was a red. IMO opinion it wasn’t even close to a red.
And it’s typical you just say it romanista crying instead of just admitting it was a gift for Inter. That they couldn’t capitalize on.
Posted from
United States -
Muntari doesn’t look right, compared to his form pre-winter break. It looks like he’s trying to work through a sprain or something.
Crespo was okay as long as you don’t count finishing. He’s running, passing and trying to poach, but his final touch is betraying him. He looks frustrated to me and he doesn’t seem to have any confidence… for good reason.
Adriano looked okay, as long as you don’t count the missed pk. he’s attacking, but it seems like he’ll resort to long shots, instead of taking people on or making a clever pass… which to be fair, has never really been his game in the first place.
My opinion is that we still use Ibra and Adri up front if we can. If Adri makes that impossible, then I think I would use Cruz as much as possible with Obinna or one of Quaresma/Mancini. Crespo is for emergency use only, in my opinion.
Kinda like Burdisso.
Posted from
United States -
I guess my problem, CUCS, is that because your opinion is different from the ref’s you decide that it means Inter cheated. That does not seem reasonable to me.
Yes, leg that was taken out was outside the box – Adri’s other foot was in. Also, I think the red was not only about the fact that the Genoa player came in studs up with his foot off the ground, but it stopped a clear scoring opportunity.
Muntari was disastrous. I think he was taken off because he was playing dangerously badly, perhaps due to the injury he just had.
Posted from
United States -
But MAD, Crespo was at least on target – the Genoa keepers was just playing really well. There were a couple of saves that were downright miraculous.
Posted from
United States -
I couldn’t tell if the penalty happened inside or outside the box, but there was a conference about it, so an attempt to make the right call was made. And the pk itself didn’t change the course of the match.
The foul itself was bad enough for a red. There is no provision in the rules for actually touching the ball. The ref, and I agree with him, decided that the play was dangerous enough to warrant a red.
Oh and this is just funny: “reasonable minds can differ on whether that was a red.”
Would this be the same reasonable, cowardly mind that tried to impersonate my wife the other day? The same piece of shit mind that went after my family and couldn’t bring itself to actually take credit for it?
And it is RomaCoward crying. I can hear it now, “It’s not fair… It’s not fair… referee botching calls are only fair when they are in our favor… It’s not fair…”
What are you worried that you have to face us again? Don’t worry. I can guarantee that you guys will care more about it than we will. We have other, more important trophies that we actually have a shot at winning…
Posted from
United States -
Johonna, Mourinho agrees with you:
“Mourinho also commented on the performance of Crespo, adding: “Hernan was unlucky not to score, but was lucky to have a pleased coach.”
I still think he was just average and wiffed on a couple good services. On the other hand, he lasted for 90 minutes, unlike Adriano and Cruz, so that’s something in his favor.
Posted from
United States -
MAD you got your panties all in a bunch. I apologize for trying to be funny as posting as your wife. Which obviously didn’t go over that well. Is that settled now and you can stop calling me a coward and piece of shit. Something you wouldn’t do to my face.
We will obviously never agree on whether that was a bull shit call or not. I still believe it was even if he had one toe in.
MAD you make it so hard to not eff around with you when you get so pissy.
Posted from
United States -
ALSO MAD if you read the comments don’t worry you can to it there are less than 30 and half of them are form you. I said I wanted Inter to win. B/c it will make winning the Coppa Italia that much sweeter.
Here come all the comments about how the Coppa isn’t a real trophy yada yada yada. It’s all I have a Roma supporter so yes I do take it serious.
Posted from
United States -
I am actually not pissy. I said that I thought you were funny and I am, in fact, highly amused by the fact that you think you are reasonable after you try to get my goat by posing as my wife, and typical given the toothlessness of Chris and Daryl, not punished for. So I make sarcasm.
Oh, and you can tell how calm I am. I like to take time to make sure that my spelling is correct and I usually try to use complete sentences. Not exactly the work of a man blind with rage. It just makes me happy to know that I am not like you, a coward.
And I think that you severely underestimate me. I would definitely call you a piece of shit, or worse, to your face, if I think you deserve it.
At least, history is on my side on that one. Several times, and on at least two continents.
Posted from
United States -
“ALSO MAD if you read the comments don’t worry you can to it there are less than 30 and half of them are form you.”
Yeah, what are the odds of an Inter supporter commenting on the Inter blog. Wow, what a zinger. You really got me with that one. Whew, how will I ever recover. Oh the a-go-neee…
Btw Cocks, real question, is why are you, a coward, posting under your own name? Did you have Wheaties this morning or several drinks of “courage”?
Do you venture from your home with a NFL helmet on, like that player used to do during interviews?
Posted from
United States -
You’re right MAD you will win Nobel Prize for literature and not me for your exceptional grammar on the Inter Offside Blog.
Since you are the toughest guy on two continents I better start working on the other five before you get there.
Posted from
United States -
“Btw Cocks, real question, is why are you, a coward, posting under your own name? Did you have Wheaties this morning or several drinks of “courage”?”
B/c I am not going to go around calling people cowards and piece of shits. The person who act’s like that is the real coward.
Posted from
United States -
Feel free to read what I actually said, genius.
I never said I was tough.
I’m just not afraid to tell people what I think.
And I actually use my real name to take credit for it if someone has a problem with it.
And thanks for your “nice” words on my grammar and not using any sarcasm at all – whatsoever. I wouldn’t turn down a Nobel, although I probably would only receive an Ig Nobel award.
Posted from
United States -
“B/c I am not going to go around calling people cowards and piece of shits.”
Yeah. You’ll just sign on as my wife and go after my family. That doesn’t make you a coward at all. And it doesn’t make me the legitimately injured party here. Nope. You are the real hero here, yes you are.
That’s it. You now become CocksTheHero for your exceptional good taste and wonderful character.
Posted from
United States -
Oh yeah, and the fact that you then sign on here today and slag off the team, as if you didn’t acted in an exceptionally shitty way to one of us a day or so earlier… that was so much class, we should have built a school for you.
Hats are off to you. Few people can be that big an asshole in any given 24-48 hour period, but you, my fine feathered coward managed it.
Well done!
Posted from
United States -
Thanks MAD I always wondered if I was a coward. I appreciate you clearing that up.
Posted from
United States -
CUCS, I am right there with you. If Inter were not thick in the race for the Scudetto, I would most definitely be more excited about the Coppa. Same if it meant we got to add a little star – I think I sand that in the blog, didn’t I?
I say, take what you can get and be happy for it. If Roma are not scudetto contenders this season, then I say go for the Coppa with both feet and be ecstatic when we won.
Posted from
United States -
And I would rather play Inter. Even if it doesn’t mean that much to Inter. I would prefer to play the better club.
Posted from
United States -
There is nothing to debate about the red card.
Biava was sent off becasue he was the last man back. Straight red card 100% of the time. The fouls was a bad challenge and could be debatable for a red elsewhere on the pitch.
Please, lets not get into a huge debate about the importance of the Coppa Italia. You can’t argue importance when none exists! It’s a dust collector
As an Interista, given the option to choose between the Tim Cup and 3 points in the Championship, let’s just say it would be one of the easier choices I would ever have to make.
Posted from
United States
Read the rest of the comments
Comments are closed
Home 
