The World Cup is almost set in terms of the teams that will qualify and once the play-offs are completed it will be clear whether the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry and Franck Ribery will be present or missing. In the meantime, Sweden's talented forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic will certainly not be going to the World Cup after his country failed to qualify from the same group which saw eventual winners Denmark earn automatic qualification and runners-up Portugal reach the play-offs.

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One of the players playing extremely well at the moment is Genoa fantasista Raffaele Palladino. Palladino has always been a player that could do things with the ball that others could only dream of doing, but he never had the consistency to show that talent at a high level.

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The highlight of this weekend's fixtures was the match at the Olimpico in Turin between Juventus and Napoli. After numerous quality acquisitions over the Summer for Napoli, they had been expecting a good start to the season. However, after a less than impressive start, Roberto Donadoni was sacked and Walter Mazzarri brought in to try and settle the ship.

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Have Napoli turned a corner? Many people, including myself, think they have indeed. It wasn't so...
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Seguimos con el análisis de los equipos que hicieron historia. Así, aprovechando la reciente visita del Milán a Madrid (con sorprendente victoria milanista) queremos recordar en Retrofootball el equipo que cambió la manera defender a finales de los años 80.

Un entrenador semi-desconocido por aquel entonces, llamado Arrigo Sacchi, logró formar una "squadra" temible que ahogaba desde la defensa a cualquier rival.

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So long, farewell &Â good bye. This coming Saturday, October 24th will officially be the very last time that this club (MetroStars & Red Bull NY) in the NYC metropolitan area & US Soccer will call home. This famed stadium named after the NFL team that plays their pointy ball seasons also shares it with the other football league in the American first division.

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Could the Gunners do with another attacking option, or am I just being greedy?

New Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri is keen on recruiting AC Milan striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, according to reports.

The 26-year-old Dutch international who was linked with Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur during the close-season netted 76 league goals in 92 appearances for Ajax.

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New coach Walter Mazzarri (left), and ex coach Roberto Donadoni (right)

After Napoli's disappointing start to the season, president Aurelio De Laurentis has decided to "dismiss" Roberto Donadoni as head coach, and has now hired Walter Mazzarri.

Napoli were looking forward to a successful season, with new signings such as Quagliarella, De Sanctis, and Cigarini.

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As everyone knows by now, Roberto Donadoni was relieved of his duties as Napoli manager and was replaced by former Sampdoria boss Walter Mazzarri. We can't deny that Donadoni was one of the greatest wingers Italian football has ever produced. But his managerial career so far? Not great. We really don't know where Donadoni is at as a manager or if he will ever improve.

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L'esperienza in Serie A, alla guida del Napoli, è già finita. I deludenti risultati ottenuti, in quest'inizio di Serie A hanno convinto De Laurentiis a dare una svolta alla situazione. Roberto Donadoni è stato esonerato dal presidentissimo De Laurentiis che lo ha sostituito con Walter Mazzarri (in passato sulla panchina della Sampdoria in Serie A). Click to continue reading...

Napoli's head coach Roberto Donadoni has been sacked by president De Laurentis after a disappointing start to the season, two won, one drawn, and four lost, Napoli is now 15th in the Serie A. The club was looking to have a powerful start to the season with new players like Quagliarella, De Sanctis, and Cigarini, but the team was not producing results under Donadoni. Click to continue reading...

Good weekend for the neutral but bad days for punters, unless you like betting on the draw of...
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"SSC Napoli would like to communicate that Roberto Donadoni has been relieved of his duties as first team coach. We have given the technical duties to Walter Mazzarri. Click to continue reading...

Anyone who even lightly follows Serie A (like me) knows that Napoli is in a bit of trouble. Currently standing at the bottom half of the league tables, Napoli's performances have been considered disappointing this season, even after an exciting 2-1 win against Siena this weekend, in a match that was billed to be a make or break for their head coach, former Italian National manager and Metrostars player, Roberto Donadoni.

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You can remove Mexico from the list of nations opposing the United States in the race to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Mexico has pulled out of the running, leaving the United States as the lone CONCACAF nation bidding for the 2018 and 2018 World Cups.

The Mexican Soccer Federation stated that, after a careful review, it was determined that the country did not have the financial capacity to host the games, citing the country's need to renovate existing stadiums.

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As we head towards October, at the end of the week at hand, the weather in the northern hemisphere gets cooler but the coaching seats hotter. No longer can underperforming look to early season disconnects, jitters, weakened legs and evolving squads as substitutes for results. So while we head towards firing season, a look at [. Click to continue reading...

Ezequiel Lavezzi's agent has insisted the striker is happy at Napoli after being linked with a move away from the club over the summer.
The Argentine claimed during the transfer window that Liverpool had lodged a bid for his services, although Rafa Benitez never confirmed his interest. Click to continue reading...

Stasera torna la Serie A con la quinta giornata di campionato. Per questo turno infrasettimanale, il match di cartello, e soprattutto sfida che si annuncia affascinante, di grande richiamo (e speriamo ricca di gol) è quella tra l'Inter di Mourinho (squalificato e sostituito in panchina dal suo fidato secondo Beppe Baresi) e il Napoli di Donadoni. Click to continue reading...

Lazio coach Davide Ballardini has called on his players to show they are worthy of their lofty league position when they play Juventus on Saturday.

Two consecutive victories have placed the Roman side as joint Serie A leaders with the Bianconeri, Sampdoria and Genoa.

But this weekend's encounter in Rome should prove if Lazio have what it takes to remain in the higher echelons of the top flight having so far come up against Atalanta and Chievo, who did not really test Ballardini's men.

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England qualified for South Africa 2010 today with a resounding 5-1 win over Croatia. A side cursed by always missing a key player in its drive for a world cup spot.Last year Croatia missed Eduardo and today they missed Tottenham's Luca Modric. Glaring omissions for the Croatians.But this England side are much different then the 2007 side that lost so painfully to those same Croatians. Click to continue reading...

This past week it was officially announced that Vincenzo Bernardo had opted out of his contract with Italian Serie A club Napoli and is now a free agent. For some weeks there has been speculation that the New Jersey native, who joined Napoli's primavera squad in 2006, would be coming to Major League Soccer; however, no MLS side has publically expressed a strong interest in signing the small but talented Italian-American midfielder/striker.

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Serie A is back and so is the the weekly Serie A Weekend Round-up which will come your way every Monday wrapping up the weekend calcio action with reports, player ratings, and highlights of every game as well as the standings and Serie B results. The first week was pretty interesting and this season should be a good one.

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When Roberto Donadoni was the coach of the Italian national team, I think pretty much everyone thought he had the personality of a brick wall. His interviews were always very bland, he never joked around much, and we wondered how he even motivated players in the locker room. But recent news coming out of Napoli's preseason training camp in Austria is that Donadoni has imposed strict rules on the players and is really coming out of his shell.

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Napoli coach Roberto Donadoni expects unsettled Argentina forward Ezequiel Lavezzi to turn up for pre-season training next week.
Lavezzi's demands for an improved contract were rejected by the Naples outfit and he has been linked with a move to Liverpool this summer.
But, when asked about Lavezzi, Donadoni said: "The club and I think, hope and are convinced that Lavezzi will be in Austria with the team on July 10 (for pre-season training). Click to continue reading...

The U.S. gets involved in Confederations Cup action Monday with a game against the World Cup holders. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN and Telefutura with a 2:25 ET kickoff.

"Italy is going to be favored," U.S. captain Carlos Bocanegra said. "The pressure will be on them, and we want to go out there and show that we can play with them and get a good result.

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(Catania-Napoli 3-1)
CATANIA (3-4-1-2) - Kosicky; Stovini, Terlizzi, Capuano; Izco, Sciacca (86' Carboni), Tedesco (66' Biagianti), Llama (60' Falconieri); Mascara; Martinez, Morimoto. All.: Walter Zenga.
NAPOLI (3-5-2) - Navarro; Santacroce, Contini, Aronica; Grava, Pazienza (dal 18' Datolo), Bogliacino, Blasi (dal 75' Gargano), Mannini; Zalayeta, Pià (dal 58' Lavezzi). Click to continue reading...

Two weeks ago Commissioner Don Garber made some very disturbing remarks to the Associated Press. He indicated that MLS has to sign more foreign players and resemble European football more than it does currently to win over masses of football fans in the United States. My sense is that this is absolutely the wrong course for the first division of American football to undertake.

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(Siena-Napoli 2-1)
SIENA (4-3-1-2) - Curci (78' Manitta); Zuniga (86' Brandao), Ficagna, Portanova, Del Grosso; Vergassola, Coppola, Galloppa; Kharja; Calaiò, Maccarone (58' Ghezzal). All.: Marco Giampaolo. NAPOLI (3-5-2) - Navarro; Santacroce (76' Aronica), Cannavaro, Contini; Montervino, Blasi, Amodio, Hamsik, Mannini (58' Datolo); Pià , Zalayeta. 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...

(highlights di Cagliari-Napoli 2-0)
CAGLIARI (4-3-1-2) - Marchetti; Matheu, Bianco, Astori, Pisano; Fini (74' Biondini), Parola, Lazzari; Cossu; Matri (81' Acquafresca), Jeda. All.: Massimiliano Allegri. NAPOLI (3-5-2) - Bucci; Santacroce, Cannavaro (84' Denis), Contini; Mannini, Hamsik, Blasi, Pazienza (60' Datolo), Vitale (72' Russotto); Zalayeta, Lavezzi. Click to continue reading...

Napoli primavera striker Vincenzo Bernardo seems to be inching closer to a chance to dress with the first team in Serie A action sometime before the season ends. After practicing most of the season with the first team, the New Jersey native has been spending more time playing each week with the primavera (reserve) squad and but drawing more attention from the Napoli management and local media. Click to continue reading...

In pure Neapolitan style, Azzurri supporters greeted the San Paolo appearance of their new manager with the following banner: "Donadoni, sbruoglia sta matassa". That's dialect for "Donadoni, clear this mess up". Well... mission accomplished? Not quite, but Napoli are on the right path, and the way in which Donadoni achieved this 0-0 draw shows some [. Click to continue reading...

a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iLpK7guOLak/ScEB15Sc7oI/AAAAAAAAAcY/RZs47550Qk8/s1600-h/RobertoDonadoni.jpg"img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314531060696804994" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iLpK7guOLak/ScEB15Sc7oI/AAAAAAAAAcY/RZs47550Qk8/s320/RobertoDonadoni. Click to continue reading...

An emotional return to the pitch for Roberto Baggio, Roberto Donadoni, Franco Baresi and many of the other superstars from the Milan and Fiorentina squads of the late-80's & early-90's in a charity match for Stefano Borgonovo. Stefano is another star felled by the worrying trend of Italian football players struck down by ALS (Lou [. Click to continue reading...

When Alan Curbishley stepped down as manager of West Ham, many names were linked with the vacant job. Of these names, two Italians were listed to be in the running: Roberto Donadoni, who was fresh off his 2 year reign as Italian National Team manager and speaks fluent English after his stint in MLS with the Metrostars, and Gianfranco Zola, who spent 7 seasons with Chelsea in the EPL, making 249 appearances and scoring 89 goals, and was most recently an assistant to Pierluigi Casiraghi for the Italy U-21 squad.

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