Viola... In English!

Coppa Carnevale Set

This year's version of the prestigious Viareggio Youth Tournament will kick off January 28th as holders Genoa will play Tottenham. 

Group 1                Group 2                    Group 3                      Group 4
Genoa                  Juventus                   AC Milan                      Atalanta
Tottenham            Pumas UNAM             Belasica Strumica         Ujpest
A.P.I.A                  International Allies    Malaysian Indian           Midtjylland
Cisco Roma           Massese                    Cesena                        Sansovino

Group5                 Group6                    Group7                        Group8
Empoli                  Roma                      Vicenza                       Sampdoria
River Plate            Shakhtar Donetsk     Sparta Prague               Club Guarani
De Camberene       Siena                      Anderlecht                   Parma
Cuoio Cappiano     Ascoli                      Pergocrema                 Benevento

Group9                Group10                   Group11                       Group12
Fiorentina            Torino                      Inter                            Serie D Reps
I. Lubjana             Spartak Moscow        Olympiakos                  Pakhtakor
New York Stars     Rimini                      Reggina                        Lazio
San Benedetto      Castelnuovo              Piacenza                      Novara

Prandelli Attends Primavera Match

Coach Cesare Prandelli took some time out from his matchday preparations to watch Fiorentina Primavera's 3-0 victory over bottom-dwelling Triestina.

Starters
Pincio
Alex
Petri
Mazuch
Tagliani
Paolucci
Diakhate
Cardinali
Di Carmine
Casoli
Morelli

Subs
Lepiller 46' (for Morelli)
Hable 70' (for Cardinali)
Bettoni 70' (for Casoli)

Goals
Cardinali 21'
Lepiller 80'
Bettoni 93'

Note -- I found the subs on Fiorentina's official club homepage.  I also used the times of the goals that I found on the club site rather than the ones from the referenced article.

Viola Starting 11?

With less than three hours before Viola-Toro, coach Cesare Prandelli figures to have the bulk of his squad available.  The only likely absences are Pazzini (fever), Dainelli (lower back strain) and Lupoli.  I'm pretty sure that the only reason Lupoli will be unavailable is that they do not want to risk injuring him until they ship him out to another club.  If that is incorrect, someone let me know.

Probable Starting 11

Pazzini Likely Out

Late news is that Giampaolo Pazzini has caught the flu bug and will likely miss today's match in Firenze against Torino.

Viola Channel Guide

Saturday's match, home to Torino, will be aired at 1130 Pacific Time on Fox Soccer Channel and RAI International in the United States.

For those others there will be a stream that you can find my going to Myp2p.eu and clicking the tv graphic to the right of the team names.

SerieA.tv is, of course, also an option.

Toro Ailing

Add a new name to the long list of Torino players unavailable for Saturday's match at the Artemio Franchi.  Add Recoba's name (Yeah, I know.  Who woulda thunk it) to Torino's long queue that will miss out on the fun.

Torino MIAs
Alvaro Recoba
Alessandro Rosina
Nicola Ventola
Dominique Malonga
Marco Motta
Tommaso Vailatti
Gianluca Comotto

Another Call-up

Young Zdravko Kuzmanovic continues to be recognized by the Serbian senior national team.  He has been called up to participate in their friendly match against Macedonia, scheduled for February 6.

Meet Papa Waigo

Papa Waigo N'Diayè

Papa Waigo was born in the city Saint-Louis, Senegal (pop. 171,000) January 20, 1984. 

He is considered to be very gifted technically and blessed with great speed that allows him to play on either wing.

In the 2006-2007 season Papa Waigo scored 15 goals with Cesena making him the highest scoring non-Italian in Serie B that season.

Position - Attacker
Height - 6' (1.85m)
Weight - 154 lbs (70kg)
Foot - Left
Ownership - Co-owned with FC Genoa
Contract Expiry - 2012
Acquired - Jan/18/2008 from FC Genoa in a co-ownership switch for the co-ownership of Anthony Vanden Borre.

Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2002-2005 2005-2007 2007-	Verona Cesena Genoa	65 (11) 73 (20) 7 (0)

 

Note -- It is my goal to make a similar fact sheet on every Fiorentina first team player, eventually.  If you click on 'Viola First Team' in the right column and then click on Papa Waigo's name it will link to this article.  This information was compiled through the use of firenzeviola.it, calciatori.com and wikipedia.

Viola - AC Milan Megadeal Looming?

An interesting rumor is being reported by FirenzeViola.it.  According to their sources there is a real possibility that Sebastien Frey could move to Milan in exchange for Alberto Gilardino and Cristian Brocchi.

My take -- Ummm...  No thanks.  As many of you know, Brocchi is one of my all-time favorite players (I'm just a DM kinda guy).  Though I do believe that he would be a great addition to the team AND that Vieri and Brocchi together would be a great addition to the Firenze night life, what do we need Gila for?  We're already loaded with attackers.  Most importantly, though...  Who (on the planet) can replace Frey?

Papa Waigo - Vanden Borre Switch

The official website of FC Genoa has confirmed that the deal for the co-ownership switch of Anthony Vanden Borre and Papa Waigo has been concluded.  All that remains are the players' signatures and that is not expected to be problematic.

Vanden Borre is already meeting with his new teammates.

My take -- Anthony needs playing time to shine and I am sure he will find some with Genoa.  I'm not sure how he will grow defensively with the Griffoni, however.  I wonder how his Italian is coming along.  Konko is the only one I can think of who definitely speaks French.