La Serie A riposa, è tempo di parlare di Nazionale e di due match fondamentali per la qualificazione ai Mondiali del 2010. Stasera l'Italia affronta il primo impegno importante, la Georgia, allenata da una vecchia conoscenza della Serie A e del calcio italiano, l'ex allenatore interista Hector Cuper.

E una è andata. La Georgia, tra le squadre di calcio insidiose del girone, è stata superata (due gol a zero il risultato finale), non senza difficolt , e soprattutto grazie ad una buona dose di "fattore C", anzi K, visto che è stato il capitano georgiano Kaladze ad essere in serata di vena "realizzativa" (due, o un autogol e mezzo nella serata, un record o quasi).

Looking at the Serie A table going into last weekend, the Lazio/Juventus matchup presented the most promise. Each team had won its first two games. Would this game produce beautiful, flowing football that might serve to entice a Serie A neophyte? In a word, no.

The first half was almost completely forgettable.

Bayern Munich vs Juventus:

Definitely the most anticipated match of this week's Champions League play, this is a meeting that we have seen many times over the years. They do not usually live up to expectations as you can see from their previous score lines:

19.10.04 Juventus 1 Bayern 0

3.

International week is boring. There's really no news from Serie A, and we get a week of Lippi dodging questions about Mourinho and Cassano. Here's the highlights from today's game. Italy won 2-0, finally a decent performance. Pirlo excelled as a trequartista, Zambrotta actually ran up and down the wing, De Rossi is the most important part of our midfield, Iaquinta and Gila actually had pretty good chemistry, Grosso is still awesome, Buffon is back to being Buffon, Marchisio put in a good performance, and Simone Pepe still manages to fall over his own two feet.

For those who spent Saturday and Sunday away from the television and internet, or were too busy watching the Manchester Derby, here are some lessons we have learned (or in some cases relearned) from this past weekend's Serie A action:

Gianluigi Buffon is the key for a Juve scudetto: Although he has some mileage between his numerous Serie A and international matches, and the Juventus attack is quite good, the 2-0 Juventus win over Livorno shows that Buffon still dominates matches for his team.

I always like to watch videos of bloopers, and this time I've found a Serie A blooper video from the early 2000's. Always entertaining, and it includes a mistake from Buffon!! (how often do you see those?)

Video after the jump.

And since we're on the topic of Buffon mistakes, here's another one I remember from a couple of years ago:

As we predicted few weeks ago on these pages, Juventus got off to a great start in Serie A. Two wins are a clear sign of the difference in the quality between Inter and Juventus has been significantly reduced and the biggest Italian club might regain domination in Serie A.

Excellent transfer campaign was supported by Lippi's might shadow hidden behind his pupil Ciro Ferrara.

There is no doubt in my mind as to who the best goalie is world football is today. Not Cech, not Van Der Sar, and not Casillas. Buffon stands alone as the best goalie of the modern era, and maybe even all time.

I am really curious about the Livorno players' high jersey numbers. They started with only Nico Pulzetti sporting a single digit number. It reminded me of a spring training baseball team loaded with minor leaguers trying to make the big squad. The game featured lots of end to end action in this game, and the teams were relatively evenly matched, save for two players: Gianlugi Buffon and Mauro Camoranesi.

- The Azzurrini (U-20) were held to a 0-0 draw vs. Paraguay at the U-20 World Cup in Egypt. Next-Buffon Vincenzo Fiorillo held off a few good chances from Paraguay. The Azzurini still face Trinidad & Tobago and Egypt to round out group play.