With December fast-approaching, The Season is in the air. Christmas? Absolutely not. It's awards season. The Argentine sensation known as Lionel Messi has already nabbed the Onze d'Or, a precursor to the Ballon d'Or (with a heft more patriotism) which has predicted the BdO three times in the last four years. Click to continue reading...

Ora è ufficialmente sul mercato. Questa volta, però, non parliamo di calciatori ma di mister. Concluso il rapporto con l'Inter (con una buoniuscita finale di 11 milioni), Roberto Mancini torna sul mercato. Quale sarà , a questo punto, la sua destinazione? Lo jesino, "disoccupato di lusso", scalpita e ha voglia di rimettersi in gioco, tornando in panchina. Click to continue reading...

Apparently River Plate fans have been leaving not-nice voice messages on the players' phones.
Maybe that's what being in 16th place does to ya.
Oh and players are blaming the media for releasing the numbers and thus aren't talking to reporters.
Fun times. Now the links:

• Benitez not punished by FA.

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What sounded incredible two years ago, when Jose Mourinho arrived to Milano was precisely the idea that the Serbian player will stay so long at Meazza. The media hurried to label him as number one man for throwing out, especially because he was very close to former coach Mancini, with whom he played in Lazio too.

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La Sampdoria es líder del Calcio, el equipo genovés lidera la clasificación con un punto de ventaja sobre la Juventus de Turín.

Aunque es pronto, un parte de Génova vuelve a soñar...

¿Quién no recuerda aquella "Samp" de la temporada 1990-91, la única que se alzó con el Scudetto en sus 63 años de historia?

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(video gol e highlights di Rubin Kazan-Inter)
RUBIN KAZAN (4-4-2): Rhyzhikov; Salukvadze Sharonov Navas Ansaldi; Ryadantsev Noboa Semak Karadeniz; Domínguez (86' Kasaev) Bukharov (a disp. Revishvili Bystrov Blyaykin Popov Gorbanets Murawski). All. Kurban Berdyev.
INTER (4-3-3): Julio Cesar; Maicon Lucio Samuel Chivu; Zanetti Cambiasso Stankovic; Mancini (64' Quaresma) Eto'o Balotelli (a disp. Click to continue reading...

It has been 16 months since the „Special One" took over Inter's bench and now we are free to say that he made no impact. There hasn't been any progress and it is time for Massimo Moratti to ask himself what was wrong with Roberto Mancini.

The fact that Inter defended the title cannot be considered success and most of Italian football fans will agree with me on this.

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Russian football had a tough time of it on Matchday 1 in the Champions League. Richard ("The Tapper") and co-host Chris Riordan took to Russian Football Now's podcast to break down:

• Rubin Kazan's failures in Kiev,
• how Ramos's style hurt CSKA Moscow in Wolfsburg,
• the poor results of Russian teams in European play,
• Russian nationals performing across Europe,
• Andrei Arshavin's injury quandary at Arsenal,
• the rumors of Spalletti, Mancini to Zenit,
• review of last week's league action, and
• preview of the upcoming round of fixtures.

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The site Futebol Finance produced a list of the top 25 salaries of Brazilian footballers around the world. The surprise? The list has a number of players who are veterans or have not produced much in recent seasons. That shows us that even in football, the brand is what counts. What is also scary about the list?

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Despite the fact that 3 postponed matches still have to be played, the first-half of Campeonato Brasileiro is over. With 3 other clubs on the rise, the lead by Palmeiras has been overshadowed.

Sao Paulo, Avai and Goias showed massive will for the victory, and fought until the last minute to squeeze the 3 points that cemented their top positions in the table.

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Stasera, allo stadio Adriatico di Pescara sarà grande calcio. Infatti, Inter, Juve e Milan scenderanno in campo per la nona edizione del Trofeo Tim (la prima, nel 2001, andò al Milan che si è aggiudicato anche l'ultima manifestazione). Nonostante i tanti assenti (i giocatori appena rientrati dalle rispettive nazionali), e le frasi di facciata dei tre mister, sarà un appuntamento come al solito di grande prestigio e nessuna delle tre big della Serie A di Calcio ha voglia sicuramente di sfigurare e, soprattutto, di uscire sconfitta dal campo. Click to continue reading...

After the 10th round of Campeonato Brasileiro, Atletico-MG returned to the top after the 3-0 victory in the Belo Horizonte derby. Besides the pathetic red card by Cruzeiro's Ze Carlos, the men of the match were veteran Junior and forward Eder Luis - even though in his goal goalie Andrey gave a big help.

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Former Inter boss, Roberto Mancini revealed that he had been under pressure from Massimo Moratti to put certain players in the starting line-up. Even though he did not disclose any names, Italian media speculate that Recoba, Adriano and Figo are the players in question.

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Great stuff over at a weekend junk pile over at The Offside.
A riot police officer in Argentina -- one of the many jobs I never want to have.
On to the links:

• Rooney hospitalized? [Daily Mail]
• Talking with the W.C. bid committee dude. [Seattle Times]
• An anti-racism award to Balotelli.

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As mentioned yesterday, the struggling investment bank Straumer-Burdaras, which has a 70% stake in the new owners of West Ham United, has been granted a six-month reprieve by a district court in Reykjavik to stave off creditors. CB Holdings, which is made up of creditors owed money by West Ham's former owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson and whose majority stakeholder is Straumur, took over at Upton Park last week. Click to continue reading...

Atlético Mineiro go top

Celso Roth's revitalization of Atlético Mineiro continued on Sunday with a 3-0 victory over Náutico in Belo Horizonte. The win, plus Internacional's 0-0 draw at home to Vitória, was enough to lift Atlético into pole position on goal difference. Júnior, Diego Tardelli and Márcio Araújo did the damage.

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So...Ronaldo is finally going. And to his favoured destination - Real Madrid. At 9.33am Thursday morning, the media and football blogging world started to report the breaking news of an accepted ₤80m bid for the World Player of The Year. The deal looks to be a formality with most papers saying that it is just a question of when. Click to continue reading...

L'ultima idea per il futuro, in casa del "Mancio", si chiama Sunderland. Giunge da oltre Manica l'ultima offerta, per la panchina, ad uno dei più importanti "disoccupati di lusso" tra i mister italiani. Già da tempo, Roberto Mancini, chiuso il rapporto professionale con Moratti, aveva dichiarato di sentirsi pronto per una nuova avventura. Click to continue reading...

Luis Bolaños is expected to arrive in Porto Alegre this morning where he will undergo a medical and officially sign for the club.
The 24 year olds transfer to Inter had previously been delayed due to extended talks between the Sonda investment group (who own the player) and his previous club LDU Quito. Click to continue reading...

(Cagliari-Inter 2-1)
CAGLIARI (4-3-1-2) - Marchetti; Pisano, Canini, Lopez (81' Astori), Agostini; Fini (62' Lazzari), Conti, Parola (dal 54' Biondini); Cossu; Jeda, Acquafresca. All.: Allegri.
INTER (4-3-3) - Toldo; Santon, Burdisso, Materazzi, Chivu (75' Bolzoni); Zanetti, Cambiasso, Vieira; Jimenez (67' Mancini), Ibrahimovic, Cruz (60' Balotelli). Click to continue reading...

Whether it's right or wrong in the sense that something is legal or not is not the issue. But news out of Milan has surfaced today that Inter president Massiomo Morratti will meet with Genoa President Enrico Preziosi today to agree a deal for Diego Milito and Thiago Motta. Click to continue reading...

(Inter-Siena 1-0. Cambiasso)
(2-0. Balotelli)
(3-0. Ibrahimovic)
INTER (4-3-2-1) - Julio Cesar (78' Orlandoni); Zanetti, Cordoba, Samuel, Chivu; Stankovic, Cambiasso, Muntari; Figo (62' Santon), Balotelli (74' Mancini); Ibrahimovic. All.: Josè Mourinho. Click to continue reading...

How nice of Julio César to remember his friend, Adriano, during such a glorious occasion! We almost feel bad for making fun of the Fallen Striker.

As soon as the Inter-Siena match ended yesterday (a nice 3-0 scoreline in favour of the Serie A champs) the players did a victory parade around the San Siro.

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Football Italia reported this morning that Zlatan Ibrahimovic has flatly rejected Chelsea as a possible suitor.Ibrahimovic's criteria is simple, he feels Inter can no longer elevate his game. I've always been of the thought its the player who lifts the club and thus his career.But its obvious Zlatan feels Inter's surrounding cast can no longer make him better. Click to continue reading...

Luis Bolaños has spoken to Bandeirantes radio over his expected move to Inter and is confident he can succeed at the Beira-Rio.

"I know that Internacional have supporters who are great but also very demanding. I want to gain the affection of the supporters", explained the Ecuadorian. Click to continue reading...

Nilmar

The Campeonato Brasileiro 2009 got underway this weekend.

League champions São Paulo lost 1-0 away to Fluminense thanks to an early strike from Mauricio. Â

But there were wins for title contenders Cruzeiro, who saw off Flamengo 2-0 in Belo Horizonte with goals from Kléber and Ramires, and Palmeiras who had to come from behind to beat Coritiba 2-1 in the Palestra Itália with strikes from Willians and Keirrison (his 20th goal in 27 outings this year).

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De acuerdo a versiones de "La Gazzetta dello Sport" el equipo turinés tiene contemplado entre sus fichajes de cara a la próxima temporada al brasileño Diego Ribas da Cunha jugador del Werder Bremen. El miércoles el propio jugador confirmó el interés de parte del equipo bianconero.

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La voglia di tornare ad allenare è sempre più forte. Il "riposo forzato" (che in tanti vorrebbero) incomincia a stargli stretto. Ma, probabilmente, come afferma anche il diretto interessato, non sarà sulla panchina di una squadra del campionato italiano. Il no al calcio nostrano e, in particolare, alle big (Juventus e Milan) del calcio italiano e l'apertura ad una possibile esperienza fuori dai confini nazionali arriva dalla voce dell'ex tecnico interista, Roberto Mancini, tuttora in "vacanza": "Possibile che dall'anno prossimo io torni ad allenare. Click to continue reading...

(highlights di Napoli-Inter 1-0)
NAPOLI (3-5-2) - Navarro; Santacroce, Contini, Aronica; Montervino, Blasi, Amodio (dall'89' Bogliacino), Hamsik, Mannini; Denis (dal 63' Zalayeta), Lavezzi (dall'83' Datolo). Allenatore: Roberto Donadoni.
INTER (4-2-3-1) - Julio Cesar; Zanetti, Cordoba, Samuel, Chivu (dall'81' Maxwell); Vieira (dal 75' Cruz), Cambiasso; Figo (dal 70' Mancini), Stankovic, Balotelli; Ibrahimovic. Click to continue reading...

Ronaldo brace sinks Santos

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Two fabulous strikes from Ronaldo and a free kick from Chicão have put Corinthians firmly in the driving seat in the finals of the Campeonato Paulista.

Santos had the bulk of the opportunities in front of around 17,000 of their own fans but failed to capitalize and paid the price against a side which has specialized in hitting teams on the break.

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(highlights di Inter-Sampdoria 1-0)
(Inter-Sampdoria 1-0. Ibrahimovic porta i nerazzurri in vantaggio con un gran destro)
INTER (4-3-3): Julio Cesar; Santon, Materazzi, Cordoba (46' Chivu), Maxwell; Vieira (54' Cambiasso), Burdisso, Zanetti; Cruz (54' Crespo), Ibrahimovic, Balotelli. Click to continue reading...

Mezzo titolo

Anche il mezzo è di troppo.

Mancini da Chiambretti ha deciso di iniziare un percorso che lo allontana dalla busta paga di casa Moratti.

Del resto il trattamento riservatogli l'anno scorso non era stato dei migliori. Ci sono cose che non verranno mai raccontate per intero dalla stampa.

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Speriamo non sia un quinquennio

L'Internazionale si avvia a conquistare il suo terzo scudetto consecutivo sul campo. L'albo d'oro conterà negli annali il quarto, ma questo blog resiste al riconoscimento delle pagliacciate.

Degli ultimi tre successi in Patria, quello che sarà ratificato nelle prossime settimane, rappresenterà senza alcun dubbio il vero atto di forza di un club, che nei propri confini, è costruito con forza ed equilibrio.

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World soccer newsbr /br /for week of 3/21br /strongbr /Mancini not seeking to replace Mourinho after all/strong br /Although Inter are again the runnaway leaders in Italy, the fans are fondly remembering José Mourinho's predecessor Roberto Mancini. At the same level of success, he has a far more pleasant personality. Click to continue reading...