After reports that Ronaldinho may be retiring, Milan needed a convincing victory against Bologna while Juventus and Inter wished to continue their good starts to the season.

So here are the results and to be honest, no great surprises in what occurred.

Napoli 0-0 Udinese

Juventus 2-0 Livorno

Catania 1-1 Lazio

Milan 1-0 Bologna

Sampdoria 4-1 Siena

Cagliari 1-2 Inter Milan

Parma 1-0 Palermo

Bari 4-1 Atalanta

Chievo 3-1 Genoa

Roma 3-1 Fiorentina

A good away victory for Inter sees them enter the top three for the first time this season.

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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.

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It was a weekend of some nice goals. First, let's just say that Fabio Quagliarella ALMOST scored the goal of the season (he did however score 2 goals on the night). You can watch that video here. Diego scored his first goals in Serie A, Julio Cruz scored his first goals for Lazio, Alberto Paloschi continues to look more and more like the new Pippo Inzaghi, Giampaolo Pazzini continues to score, and Antonio Cassano worked some magic again.

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(highlights di Chievo-Lazio 1-2)
La Lazio vola in vetta insieme alle squadre di Genova e alla Juventus, grazie ad una doppietta dell'ex interista, Julio Cruz. Il Jardinero trasforma il penalty dell'uno a uno e poi di piatto, da pochi passi, firma la rete della vittoria nella seconda giornata della Serie A di Calcio. Click to continue reading...

Former Duke University standout Mike Grella finished off his first professional pre-season in style, scoring one of two Leeds goals in Leeds' United's 2-1 victory in pre-season friendly action against newly-promoted EPL side Burnley on Saturday.

Grella saw playing time late in the season for Leeds last spring, and is looking like a good bet for even more playing time for the once-mighty Whites.

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Former Duke University standout Mike Grella finished off his first professional pre-season in style, scoring one of two Leeds goals in Leeds' United's 2-1 victory in pre-season friendly action against newly-promoted EPL side Burnley on Saturday.

Grella saw playing time late in the season for Leeds last spring, and is looking like a good bet for even more playing time for the once-mighty Whites.

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It was made known pretty early that the contracts of Julio Cruz and Christian Panucci were not going to be renewed by Inter and Roma at the end of the season. Both players were linked with a host of clubs but no offer became concrete and up until yesterday it was anybody's guess where Cruz and Panucci would wind up playing next season.

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Este fin de semana volverá a rodar el balón en tierras aztecas para el inicio del Apertura 2009.

Este torneo está generando altas expectativas ya que muchos jugadores tienen la gran obligación de mostrarse, pues estamos a menos de 1 año del Mundial de Sudáfrica 2010, por lo que sin duda varios elementos van a dar todo para ser tomados en cuenta en esta gran aventura.

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Sembrava una lotta a due. Napoli e Fiorentina sono mesi che si stanno dando battaglia per poter mettere le mani su Julio Cruz, forte ed esperto attaccante argentino dell'Inter, ormai con tutti e due i piedi in partenza per altri lidi. Ma nelle ultime ore, è spuntato l'interessamento da parte della Roma che vuole regalare "El Jardinero" (questo il suo soprannome) a Luciano Spalletti. Click to continue reading...

Nel primo giorno di ritiro Luciano Spalletti ha fatto capire chiaramente che la priorità per la Roma è al momento l'acquisto di una punta centrale; i giallorossi sperano ancora in Julio Cruz (34), ma, se come probabile, l'Argentino si accaserà altrove, potrebbero puntare su Borriello (27) o Pavlyuchenko (27), mentre più difficile pare arrivare a Iaquinta (29) e Negredo (23). Click to continue reading...

If you had mentioned Luis Jimenez's name three or four year ago in his home country, Chile, no one would have known what you are talking about. Today he is an international, playing in one of the most prestigious clubs in Italy and he should move to West Ham.

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Reports out of Italy has Juventus targeting Julio Cruz who is out of a contract at Inter Milan. Transfer Market Web is also noting that Fiorentina, Parma and Bologna are all targeting Cruz.
Related -- Juventus: Transfer Rumours 2009-10 Coverage Center Click to continue reading...

The final full-length Argentines Abroad of 2008-2009 comes with just a day and a half left for you to get your nominations in for the HEGS / Mundo Albiceleste award for the Best Argentine Abroad of the season that's now finishing. So far we've had relatively few nominations in, so if you'd like your favourite [. Click to continue reading...

Este día se ha confirmado uno de los rumores que rodeaban al equipo que actualmente dirige José Mourinho.

Resulta ser que varios sitios de internet ya dan a conocer que el actual campeón de Italia se ha hecho de los servicios de Diego Milito, jugador argentino muy cotizado en aquella región y que llegaría junto a Thiago Motta para conformar al nuevo Inter versión 2009/2010.

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Este día se ha confirmado uno de los rumores que rodeaban al equipo que actualmente dirige José Mourinho.

Resulta ser que varios sitios de internet ya dan a conocer que el actual campeón de Italia se ha hecho de los servicios de Diego Milito, jugador argentino muy cotizado en aquella región y que llegaría junto a Thiago Motta para conformar al nuevo Inter versión 2009/2010.

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...Plus the European Cup semi-final second legs. That's an easy one to get out the way quickly: Carlos Tevez didn't feature as Manchester United booked their place in the final, whilst Lionel Messi had a quiet game for Barcelona but set up a last-gasp equaliser for Andrés Iniesta to put Barcelona through on away goals [. Click to continue reading...

With league titles on the verge of being decided across Europe, there were some important contributions made by Argentines this weekend, and at least one other could come on Tuesday when Lionel Messi's Barcelona take on Chelsea in the European Cup semi-final first leg. To see who did what over the weekend just gone, though, [. Click to continue reading...

Which means until now, he was convinced he was the world's best.
Buffon handed the batton to Inter Milan keeper Julio Cruz.
The ego of pro athletes staggers me sometimes.
One day I'll pass along the torch, to the next best American soccer blogger that lives on my street. Click to continue reading...

With the news of Adriano, Inter's Brazilian striker on the way out, the odds of Sergio Aguero (El Kun) or Carlos Tevez (El Apache) going to Inter Milan this summer have just shot way up. There is also the fact that two other top strikers, the Argentine duo Julio Cruz (34 yrs) & Hernan Crespo (33 yrs. Click to continue reading...

With the possible signing of the clever defensive midfielder Ever Banega it appears Napoli along with its new coach Donandoni is looking to Argentine players to secure a successful future. This is a similar path Inter Milan took a few years ago when they acquired several high profile Argentine players (see below) all of which have been national team players. Click to continue reading...

So remember that great "Serie A vs. EPL" section on La Gazzetta which I promised I'd partially translate? Here's the first batch of pink-goodness: a look at ALL THE PLAYERS from tonight's Inter Milan vs. Manchester United UEFA Champions League match. Boy I can't wait for game-time. Meanwhile, feast your eyes on this. Click to continue reading...

'El Jardinero' may be gracing the pitch elsewhere next season. Julio Cruz has scored some important goals for Inter since joining the club in 2003, but it appears he may finally be on his way this summer, according to Calciomercato. The 34-year-old has quite often found himself in coach Jose Mourinho's doghouse this season, gaining limited playing [. Click to continue reading...

Fresh from the great minds of Gazzetta dello Sport, here is a look at ALL THE PLAYERS from UEFA Champion's League Inter Milan vs. Manchester United. Enjoy! . . . . . . . . . . . JULIO CESAR Our impression is that the Seleçao keeper will have a lot of work on his hands (no pun intended), especially at Old Trafford. Click to continue reading...

So remember that great "Serie A vs. EPL" section on La Gazzetta which I promised I'd partially translate? Here's the first batch of pink-goodness: a look at ALL THE PLAYERS from tonight's Inter Milan vs. Manchester United. Boy I can't wait for game-time. Meanwhile, feast your eyes on this. (oh, and credit goes where credit [. Click to continue reading...

This will be a very quick roundup, because January always makes me a little lazy with the amount of stuff I want to write, due to the lack of meaningful domestic league action. Still, there were some performances from our boys abroad in the last week, and one perhaps notable absence. That absence was Carlos Tevez, [. Click to continue reading...

Fabio Cannavaro, Carlos Tevez, Michael Ballack, Michael Owen, Mark Van Bommel, Fred... these are but a few of the players whose contract is set to expire at the end of the season. And with the january transfer window practically at our doorstep, it is time to give these "old timers" a chance they are still [. Click to continue reading...

Fabio Cannavaro, Carlos Tevez, Michael Ballack, Michael Owen, Mark Van Bommel, Fred... these are but a few of the players whose contract is set to expire at the end of the season. And with the january transfer window practically at our doorstep, it is time to give these "old timers" a chance to prove they [. Click to continue reading...

El técnico portugués quiere seguir reforzando su Inter de Milán de cara a la segunda parte de la temporada en el Calcio y la Champions y, para ello, se ha fijado en el delantero del Newcastle, Michael Owen, que vendría en este mercado invernal, y al que no le faltan 'novias' en el panorama futbolísitco [. Click to continue reading...

El club catalán podría tener atado al futbolista del Inter de Mourinho para la temporada 2009-2010, según asegura el diario italiano La Gazzetta dello Sport. El jugador sudamericano aún no ha renovado su contrato con la entidad italiana y su contrato actual expira en junio de este año. Eso le permite negociar con cualquier club [. Click to continue reading...

There's been an award for an Argentine player in MLS, a bucket-full of goals for Argentines in Italy, the captaincy of the national team bestowed upon Javier Mascherano in England, another goal for Fernando Cavenaghi in France, and plenty of goals in Mexico too. The headline act of the weekend, though, was in Spain: Gonzalo Higuaín continued [. Click to continue reading...

It's been a relatively quiet week for Argentines in Europe, with most of those who represented the selección during the week still recuperating from their journey home. In the wake of Alfio Basile's resignation as Argentina boss though, this weekend was a chance for certain other hopefuls to prove to the next man that they [. Click to continue reading...

The new season is now a few weeks old in Europe, so I thought it was about time we had a look at the contributions of some of Argentina's foreign legion in the European leagues. So far Sergio Agüero and Gonzalo Higuaín have enjoyed great starts for the two Madrid sides in Spain, whilst in [...] Click to continue reading...

An inspired substitution from Mourinho allowed Inter Milan to stay top of the Serie A table with a 1-0 victory over Lecce at the San Siro .Substitute Julio Cruz - brought in right at the end of the game scored this goal.And Mourinho got the goat of the assembled media persons by bunking the press conference afterwards.

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Mid-Week Reviews Coming back strong from the Summer break, Italy was involved in some mid-week Serie A action Wednesday. Here are the results and summaries for matchday 4. Full Video Highlights here. Note: Sorry for the tardy update and the lack of match reports this time. My University Intramurals job took a big load of my time [. Click to continue reading...

For some reason whenever Serie A plays during the week I always feel like it isn't the same. I love the tradition of Serie A Sundays and Serie A on Wednesday just feels strange. But it's still Serie A, so I could care less because I love calcio. Giornata 4 was another great round of calcio: Inter took sole lead of the Serie A table after getting a result vs a tough Lecce side thanks to Julio Cruz, Juventus drew Catania at home and wasted many chances to get all 3 points, Milan keeps bouncing back after a win in Reggio Calabria, Roma continues to struggle after losing away to Genoa, and Fiorentina were outclassed by Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico.

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