For most clubs in Italy, finishing seventh in Serie A for two consecutive seasons would be
considered a positive result. But for a club like Juventus, it is nothing short of a crisis. Since
their banishment to Serie B, Juventus has lacked the consistent top-of-the-table finishes they had
become so used to, and as a result have lost their status as a european giant.
Juventus announced today the signing of Montenegro international Mirko Vucinic, ending the clubs
long search for an impact striker. The former Roma star will cost the Turin club 15 million euro, a
significantly smaller fee than the club had been willing to pay for their previous targets.
The annual carousel of potential transfer targets is spinning once again in Turin as Juventus
look to try and build a title contending team. As is the summer tradition, star players from all
across Europe are being linked with the Bianconeri. But while the flashy names are splashed across
the headlines, club General Manager Giuseppe Marotta and Juventus are quietly going about the
business of fixing what really needed to be fixed.
New Juventus signing Andrea Pirlo believes that he can provide a major contribution to help
Juventus return to being a top team in Italian football. Pirlo, who signed from Serie A rivals AC
Milan on a three year contract, arrives at the Stadio Delle Alpi on a free transfer. The 72 capped
Italian midfielder hopes to bring glory back to the city of Turin, with Juventus not winning a
Scudetto since the 2002-03 season.
At the end of a disappointing season this week has been a busy time for Juventus Director General
Beppe Marotta who, after sacking coach Gigi Delneri has also seemingly sealed the arrival of club
idol Antonio Conte to replace him. Yesterday the club announced, via their official website, the
free transfer of Italian World Cup winner Andrea Pirlo who left Champions Milan last week.
At the end of a disappointing season this week has been a busy time for Juventus Director General
Beppe Marotta who, after sacking coach Gigi Delneri has also seemingly sealed the arrival of club
idol Antonio Conte to replace him. Yesterday the club announced, via their official website, the
free transfer of Italian World Cup winner Andrea Pirlo who left Champions Milan last week.
It is Sempre Sampdoria here at Serie A Weekly and after the official sending down this past
weekend, thought it only appropriate we lift spirits with some eye candy wearing i Blucerchiati
(the blue ringed) of the Genoa based club. Sampdoria, Serie A Weekly salutes you! Current Squad at
Sampdoria 1 Brazil GK Júnior da Costa 2 Croatia DF Vedran Celjak 3 Switzerland DF Reto Ziegler 4
Italy MF.
ROME, Italy — Sampdoria and AC Milan shared the spoils in an entertaining 1-1 draw at the
Marrassi stadium on Saturday as the Rossoneri's four-game winning run came to an end. Robinho was
the star of the show for Milan scoring in a first half the visitors totally dominated before Samp
hit back after the [.
Serie A striptease not appreciated Lecce striker Ernesto Chavanton has been banned for five matches
for throwing his shirt at the referee after being shown a red card. The Uruguay international flew
off the handle when he was sent-off for a foul on Sampdoria's Reto Ziegler. The 30-year-old chucked
his shirt at the referee before [.
Serie A striptease not appreciated Lecce striker Ernesto Chavanton has been banned for five matches
for throwing his shirt at the referee after being shown a red card. The Uruguay international flew
off the handle when he was sent-off for a foul on Sampdoria's Reto Ziegler. The 30-year-old chucked
his shirt at the referee before [.
Eto'o silences racist chants in Inter win, Lazio go top, while Fiorentina sink to the
bottom.
Only three minutes had passed before referee Paolo Tagliavento was forced to halt the Cagliari
versus Internazionale game following racist chanting from the home crowd.
A total of 22 goals were scored this weekend in Serie A, with the highest scoring game being
Cagliari-Udinese (2-2). Antonio Di Natale scored again and is now on 26 goals and is one shy of
Oliver Bierhoff's Udinese single season record of 27 back in 1997-98. Di Natale will be the
capocannoniere of the season with all likelihood, because Diego Milito is now 6 goals behind with 2
games to go.
I didn't put up a Weekend Round-up yesterday because I figured with the midweek round tomorrow,
it would be pointless to update everything twice. So we'll dive in straight to Goals of the Week.
Not as great as last week, but still some good goals, especially Daniele Mannini's one-time volley
vs.
O técnico Ottmar Hitzfeld convocou a seleção da Suíça para o amistoso contra a Áustria com
uma grande renovação. Entre as novidades, Nassim Ben Khalifa e Francois Affolter, campeões
mundiais sub-17 em 2009.
Ben Khalifa, de 18 anos, é a nova contratação do Wolfsburg para a temporada, depois de começar
a carreira profissional no Grasshoppers na última temporada.
1 Diego BENAGLIO 08/09/1983 P Wolfsburgo (GER)2 Stephan LICHTSTEINER 16/01/1984 DF
Lazio (ITA)3 Ludovic MAGNIN 20/04/1979 DF FC Zurich (SUI)4 Philippe SENDEROS
14/02/1985 DF Everton (ENG)5 Steve VON BERGEN 10/06/1983 DF Hertha Berlin (GER)6 Benjamin
HUGGEL 07/07/1977 MC Basilea (SUI)7 Tranquillo BARNETTA 22/05/1985 MC Bayer Leverkusen
(GER)8 Gokhan INLER 27/06/1984 MC Udinese (ITA)9 Alexander FREI 15/07/1979 DL Basilea
(SUI) (foto)10 Blaise NKUFO 25/05/1975 DL Twente Enschede (NED)11 Valon
BEHRAMI 19/04/1985 MC West Ham Utd.
Switzerland World Cup squad analysis (23 for 2010) is a post from: Just Football
Switzerland Squad Analysis.
The toughest part of being named to a 30 man pre World Cup Squad may be just that, being named
to only the 30 man squad. While making it that far is obviously an incredible achievement and
worthwhile in itself, there's always going to be seven of that crew that don't actually end up
going to the finals.
Switzerland's German manager Ottmar Hitzfeld presented the 23-man final squad for the World Cup.
They have a team consisting of players from central European clubs with a great diversity, however
they have no big star. I would say that Arturo Vidal's teammate from Bayer Leverkusen Tranquillo
Barnetta is their best player.
Tottenham have been given good news in that they will be one of the seeded teams for Friday's
Champions League play-off draw.
Spurs have five possible unseeded opponents in the draw: Sampdoria, Dynamo Kiev, Auxerre, Braga
or Swiss side Young Boys.
Sampdoria, who finished fourth in Italy's Serie A last season, and Ukrainian league runners-up
Dynamo Kiev would appear to be the most challenging of Tottenham's possible opponents.
