Rosenborg's official club site has announced that the first leg of the UEFA Cup first knockout round between Rosenborg and Fiorentina will be played at 2045 on February 14.
The return leg in Firenze will be played a week later, February 21st, and also at 2045.
My take -- No love for the Viola despite the Valentine's Day match date. I'm not sure how much power the clubs have in setting the time of the game but surely this favors the Norwegians as I imagine that it gets pretty cold at night up in Scandinavia. I am adding the dates to the calendar as soon as I complete this.


Disheartening Dutch Draw
When I got home from work Thursday night I started to write my thoughts on the match and it all came out way too negative so I thought better of it and thought I would take a day off. Anyway, yeah, I'm disappointed a bit.
I know that a 1-1 away draw gives us a great chance when we come back to the Franchi. I know that these Dutch sides are pretty good. In truth, I don't even care very much about the UEFA Cup. I do, however, care about the long term success of Fiorentina. I do care about morale problems and getting all of the players on our very large squad enough playing time to avoid Bojinov-esque cancerous situations.
And even though the UEFA Cup isn't that important to me, or Italians in general, it is important to the club. It's important financially and it's important to the club's co-efficient for the later Champion's League runs that are certainly important, and lucrative, to the club.
Even though I don't consider the UEFA Cup to be all that prestigious compared to the Champion's League and, especially, the Scudetto; I do think it would be nice to use it as an opportunity to showcase the club to the world. Our Bati/Rui/Toldo glory days were long ago and I would like the Viola to re-gain its rightful place in the front of the pundits' minds. Why do we carry 4 first-team forwards, with Cacia (at least) on his way in January, if we will only ever play two? Why do we carry 3 first-team goalkeepers if we will only ever (and I do mean ever) play 1?
Francesco Toldo sometimes plays for Inter Milan. Cristian Brocchi sometimes starts in Gattuso's place. Why can't Fiorentina have some sort of squad rotation system that functions regardless of injury and disciplinary concerns? Why was a guy like Liverani starting this match with Kuzmanovic on the bench. Why would we bring in Pazzini rather than Osvaldo as Vieri's sub? Why not start Osvaldo and let Vieri be his sub?
Yeah, I know that Pazzini made a nice assist and that is great. So what, though? If we're going to crash out in the first round of the UEFA Cup I want to do it with Avramov, Mazuch, Balzaretti, Potenza, Kuzmanovic, Hable, Diakhite, Osvaldo and Lupoli... Not with Liverani and Kroldrup.
Now my hopes are all on the Coppa Italia.
Our daughters are cheerleading today so the articles will re-commence this evening, my time.
Posted at 12:20 in European Play, Viola Commentary | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
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