On behalf of the Italy Offside, I'd like to congratulate Ronaldinho on his pregnancy. He looks about 4 months in. Can't wait to see him walking around the pitches of Serie A come August.

Various Serie A news from the day:

- Happy Birthday Antonio Cassano! Fantantonio turns 28 today.

If you've been watching Serie A this season, you may have noticed it by now. In many games across the peninsula, especially games at night, the mysterious green laser beam has been shot at various players and managers. The first appearance of the green laser is pictured, when during a Bari-Juventus game at the Stadio San Nicola, Diego stepped up to take a penalty kick and the laser was dancing on his face.

Thanks for the assist, mate Bari's Francesco Caputo unleashed what we are going to dub the Joey Barton goal celebration by punching team-mate Emmanuel Rivas in the face. Caputo ought to have felt indebted to Rivas, who set the goal up for him. Instead he decided a forearm smash to the noggin was what the [.

Preseason training is underway and with the preparations for the coming season there are always the presentation of the kits by each team. I remember years ago when you had to wait until at least mid-August to see the kits, now you have brands like Nike and Adidas unveiling next season's kits even months in advance.

Preseason training is underway and with the preparations for the coming season there are always the presentation of the kits by each team. I remember years ago when you had to wait until at least mid-August to see the kits, now you have brands like Nike and Adidas unveiling next season's kits even months in advance.

Gooch on US duty last month...

I'm working on an interview and on some weekend stuff, but I thought I would flip this one out there courtesy of TSG contributor Connor Walsh and the AP:

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Oguchi Onyewu got in a little scuffle at the Milanello training complex as AC Milan prepares to play Bari this Sunday.

So I thought maybe after the World Cup, there might be some new soccer fans that fell in love with the game in these past few weeks and are looking for a league to follow. Now I know many would probably go and choose the English Premier League because it has the most visibility and is English-speaking or they might choose La Liga because of Real Madrid and Barcelona or the Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League (ok maybe not that one), but I decided to make a case for Serie A.

As you may know by now, starting this season Serie A and Serie B will be two separate leagues run by two different governing bodies, like in England with the Premier League and the Coca-Cola Championship. So to identify themselves both divisions have came up with different logos. The Serie B logo hasn't been released first, but Serie A revealed their logo today (pictured on the left).

There have always been nicknames in soccer. Most players have nicknames, whether the are created by the media, the fans, coaches, other players, there are nicknames everywhere. Then there are the nicknames you make for players you hate. Those are always the most fun. (Like last season with Klaas-Jan Junkelaar).

With another weekend of Serie A matches about to start, I suspect that while Bari's Francesco Caputo hopes to score another goal, his teammate Emmanuel Rivas hopes that Caputo won't punch him again.
This past Sunday, after scoring a goal in the second minute of Bari's match against Cesena, Caputo celebrated by punching Rivas in the face.

With another weekend of Serie A matches about to start, I suspect that while Bari's Francesco Caputo hopes to score another goal, his teammate Emmanuel Rivas hopes that Caputo won't punch him again.
This past Sunday, after scoring a goal in the second minute of Bari's match against Cesena, Caputo celebrated by punching Rivas in the face.

Match start is 20:45 CET (2:45 EST) at the stadio San Nicola in Bari match has...
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Just like many university school years are coming to an end this month and sending out grades to all their students, it's time to grade all twenty Serie A teams on their 2009/2010 season. Who passed? Who failed? Who's going to summer school? Who's being held back? Who's transferring to another school (The Serie B School of Less Competitive Football)?

Thanks for the assist, mate Bari's Francesco Caputo unleashed what we are going to dub the Joey Barton goal celebration by punching team-mate Emmanuel Rivas in the face. Caputo ought to have felt indebted to Rivas, who set the goal up for him. Instead he decided a forearm smash to the noggin was what the [.

Andrea Ranocchia (Bari :: Italian :: age 21) Bari impressive season so far much depended on their strong defense, leading the defense line Ranocchia is an attractive target for Inter, Juventus, Manchester and Arsenal, Andrea is an international player with Italy U-21 team. Leonardo Bonucci (Bari :: Italian :: age 22) Labeled with his teammate Ranocchia as the [.

One player highly thought of and sought after is Bari defender Andrea Ranocchia, who is one of the hottest defensive prospects currently plying his trade in Europe. Manchester United seen particularly interested along with cross town rivals Manchester City and Chelsea.

The 21 year-old, Italy under 21 international has been in superb form for the newly promoted side as they surged up the Serie A table.

12/02/2010Milan - Udinese 3 - 213/02/2010Roma - Palermo ore 18.00Sampdoria - Fiorentina ore 20.4514/02/2010Parma - Lazio ore 15.00Catania - Atalanta ore 15.00Cagliari - Bari ore 15.00Livorno - Bologna ore 15.00Juventus - Genoa ore 15.00Chievo - Siena ore 15.00Napoli - Inter ore 20.45Iscriviti all'RSS per essere sempre aggiornato!

AC Milan will hope to erase the their Champions League defeat to Manchester United on Sunday when they face Bari. Inter also go into their game at Sampdoria with one eye on next week's Champions League tie against Chelsea. Fourth-place Napoli will be confident of ending their three-match winless run when they make the journey to Tuscany to face rock-bottom Siena.

Here you go the 2009-2010 season managers latest list of the Italian Serie A Atalanta: Bortolo Mutti (Italy :: August 11, 1954 :: since January 2010) Bari: Giampiero Ventura (Italy :: January 14, 1948 :: first season with Bari) Bologna: Franco Colomba (Italy :: February 6, 1955 :: since October 2009 with Bologna) Cagliari: Massimiliano Allegri (Italy :: August [.

Only a measly 17 goals scored this weekend in Serie A, with three games finishing 0-0 (Roma-Milan, Atalanta-Udinese, Inter-Genoa). Both Antonio Di Natale and Diego Milito were involved in goalless draws, so nothing changes at the top of the top scoring chart. With his goal this weekend, Giampaolo Pazzini closed in on Milito and now has 13 goals, 2 away from Milito's 15.

photo credit: Bari D

Nobody told me they moved to Spain...

It's official Real Madrid is the New York Yankees of international Soccer. It didn't take long after their loss in the Round of 16 in the Champion's League for "vote of confidence" to come out and not much longer for the rumors about a new manager.

Bari's Leonardo Bonucci is attracting Arsenal's attention

Let the centerback rumour mill kick into overdrive.

One process is to look at all the potential Arsenal departures which could include Mikel Silvestre, Sol Campbell, and William Gallas. So who partners Thomas Vermaelen?

Saturday, April 10, 2010 Napoli vs. Parma 12:00 PM Fiorentina vs. Inter Milan 2:45PM Sunday, April 11, 2010 Bologna vs. Lazio 9:00 AM Juventus vs. Cagliari 9:00 AM AC Milan vs. Catania 9:00 AM AS Roma vs. Atalanta 9:00 AM Siena vs. Bari 9:00 AM Palermo vs. Chievo 9:00 AM Livorno vs.

Sorry for the lack of posts last week, I was a little under the weather and didn't get to the computer much. But everything will be back in full force this week. The 33rd giornata was a big day, as we saw Roma reach first place for the first time since 2004, and Inter sitting in a place they haven't been familiar with the past 5 years: second.

EPL on ESPN2: Fulham - Everton at 10am. On Fox Soccer Plus: Aston Villa - Birmingham City at 7am and Burnley - Liverpool at 10am. On Fox Soccer Channel: Chelsea - Stoke City at 11am. Championship on Fox Soccer Plus: Cardiff - Sheffield Wednesday at 4pm. Serie A on FSC: Juventus - Bari at 9am and Roma - Sampdoria at 2:30pm.

Guest writer: Mando/LaLigaWeekly Well, with the very fortunate Bayern Munich waiting in the wings at the Santiago Bernabeu already, after torching a very lackluster and under-manned Lyon defense, we...
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I thought I'd skip over Tactics Wednesday this week and post this. Serie A has always been known to have some crazy president and owners. In fact, I think you'll find that Italy is home to the craziest owners and presidents in all of world football. I feel like Italy is the only place you hear about all these crazy antics by owners, in the EPL you don't even know who some of these people are.

Only 90 minutes (plus stoppage time) remain in the 2009/2010 Serie A season. For a while on Sunday, the whole season was decided, but then a couple of goals changed all that. Inter still remain on top, and Roma are still a point behind hoping in a miracle from Siena next Sunday. The end is near.

There is a good bit of Arsenal transfer news about today, and it is not all good news. It appears that Arsene Wenger has upset William Gallas with his not-generous-enough new contract offer, and the Frenchman has decided to go off in a huff. The Sun reports today that Wenger is wasting his time going [.

In this aggravating time between the end of the Serie A season and the beginning of the World Cup, we can bide our time by looking back at the past Serie A season. As expected by many, Inter Milan won the title. In my series of posts reviewing the season, however, I want to begin by looking at those teams that surprised the experts.

Redknapp lines up move for highly rated Italian defender.

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Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp is rumoured to be interested in Italian international Leonardo Bonucci who he wishes to bring in to strengthen his White Hart Lane defence.

Redknapp lines up move for highly rated Italian defender.

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Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp is rumoured to be interested in Italian international Leonardo Bonucci who he wishes to bring in to strengthen his White Hart Lane defence.

If you had read any posts I made about the national team over the past 2 years, you could tell I wasn't the biggest fan of Lippi's ridiculous reign of terror. So once that reign of terror finally ended, I was pretty excited for Prandelli's first press conference today. So excited that I got up at 9 am to watch the live feed on the Gazzetta dello Sport website.

The 2010/2011 Serie A season seemed so far away and it felt like 2009/2010 just ended, but the new season is upon us. With today's calendar drawing, it officially means the season is upon us. Tomorrow will be officially one month until kickoff. The season will run from August 29th to May 22nd.

Molto spesso si parla della carestia di nuovi difensori italiani. Dopo la trilogia dorata: Scirea-Baresi-Cannavaro che ci ha regalato tre finali mondiali di cui due vinte, sembra che l'Italia pallonara abbia smarrito la via dei bravi difensori. La vulgata dice che se gli attaccanti italiani proliferano, per andare a scovare difensori italici, bisogna prendere il lanternino: nel calcio i luoghi comuni abbondano.

So you may of noticed that in the past few days the Italy Offside hasn't really been updated. And some of you may have disappointed, while others were probably saying "yes that stupid blog isn't being updated! finally!". But the fact of the matter is, I haven't been updating because I've been working on this season preview.

So you may of noticed that in the past few days the Italy Offside hasn't really been updated. And some of you may have disappointed, while others were probably saying "yes that stupid blog isn't being updated! finally!". But the fact of the matter is, I haven't been updating because I've been working on this season preview.

Juventus are a club with plenty of history and trophies, and while the chairman Andrea Agnelli is trying to return to the golden days of winning, it will take some time.

The project of the bianconeri was beginning to take shape: Luigi Delneri as the coach along with Beppe Marotta as the sporting director, some smart signings and qualification into the Europa League.

Juventus are a club with plenty of history and trophies, and while the chairman Andrea Agnelli is trying to return to the golden days of winning, it will take some time.

The project of the bianconeri was beginning to take shape: Luigi Delneri as the coach along with Beppe Marotta as the sporting director, some smart signings and qualification into the Europa League.

EPL on Fox Soccer Plus: Manchester United - Liverpool at 8:30am. On Fox Soccer Channel, it's Chelsea - Blackpool at 11am. Serie A on FS+: Bari - Cagliari at 6:30am. FSC has Palermo - Inter Milan at 9am and Sampdoria - Napoli at 2:30pm. Ligue 1 on FS+: Bordeaux - Lyon at 3pm. Mexican Primera on Telemundo: Toluca - Club America at 1pm.