Friday, January 29, 2010

Juventus Fires Coach

- This soccer season has been notable for the struggles of two mega-clubs, one in Italy, and one in England. Predictably, both of the managers of those teams have been on the hot seat, and now the manager of the struggling Italian power Juventus, Ciro Ferrara, has been let go. Juve's 2-1 loss to Inter in the Quarterfinals of the Coppa Italia was the final blow. For now, Alberto Zaccheroni, who managed AC Milan in the late 90s, earning one Scudetto (Serie A title) there, and Inter for one season earlier in the 00s, will manage Juve. The thing is, everyone knows that Juve is eyeing the manager of England's struggling power. Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez is hanging by a thread at Liverpool, and Juve could be his next stop. Inter will play Fiorentina in the Coppa semis.

- While we're kinda talking about the Coppa Italia, neglected to mention a surprising result from Wednesday. Udinese knocked out AC Milan 1-0 and will face AS Roma in the semis. Milan was playing pretty much a second string lineup though. Still, a nice win for Udinese as this is the only trophy they will have a chance to win this season.

- Egypt will have a chance to win its 3rd straight African Cup of Nations after a 4-0 blowout win over an Algeria side that received THREE red cards in the match. This is notable because Algeria is in the US' group in the World Cup, and obviously they are not lookin so good right now.

- EPL leaders Chelsea will be in action again tomorrow just 72 hours after thumping Birmingham City 3-0 in another league match. Saturday they will travel to Burnley. Burnley's scored 1 goal in their last 5 matches combined and haven't won a match since Oct. 31. Chelsea won the first meeting this season 3-0 at Stamford Bridge back in August.

- Liverpool and Aston Villa are two clubs chasing the 4th spot and a bid in the Champions League, but it's crucial they win this weekend to keep those hopes alive. Liverpool dropped 2 points at Wolverhampton earlier this week. That match ended scoreless, and Liverpool has to get their offense going at home against Bolton tomorrow. Liverpool has won 3 straight at home. Villa hasn't lost yet in 2010 and hopes to keep that streak alive with a win at Craven Cottage against Fulham tomorrow. The current 4th place club, Tottenham, has a tough draw this weekend at a Birmingham club that will be looking to atone for a midweek thrashing at the hands of Chelsea.

- Barca and Real Madrid are in the familiar situation of dueling for the top spot in La Liga. Barca currently leads by 5 points. Both clubs are on the road tomorrow. Barca is at a Sporting Gijon club who they opened the season against with a 3-0 win. Real, meanwhile travels to a place they haven't won at in almost 20 years in Deportivo Coruna, and they might have to do so without Cristiano Ronaldo who is facing a 2 match ban for an elbow that is currently in the appeals process. Deportivo is in 5th place in La Liga, 5 points out of the 3rd and final Champions League spot currently held by Valencia.

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- Aaand now for some NFL police blotter news. Rams RB Steven Jackson is accused of beating his girlfriend who was 9 months pregnant with their child at the time. Classy!

- The Chiefs will be replacing DC Clancy Prendergast with former Browns Head Coach Romeo Crennel. I loves me some Romeo Crennel! He's like a big chipmunk!

- The Broncos also have a new defensive coordinator. They fired Mike Nolan for improving the defense too much, and have replaced him with, wait for it, the linebackers coach "Wink" Martindale!! He has the same name as the host of Tic Tac Dough!



- And we close with some creepy College Football recruiting news! RB Lache Seastrunk, who the Sporting News has their #2 player in this year's recruiting class, has committed to play at Oregon. That's nice for him. Let us hope he doesn't get suspended for punching anyone in the face, as Oregon RB's are wont to do. Far cooler than that though is that Div I-AA Eastern Washington is doing Boise State one better by installing red turf on their football field. It will look like the field is running red with the blood of the non-believers!! I can't wait!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Awesome! Wonderful idea, but will this really work?