Viola... In English!

All Set for Rosenborg-Fiorentina

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.

Pires On Fiorentina

Pires: "AEK Athens and Fiorentina are great teams."

Robert Pires, formerly of Arsenal and currently with Villareal, commented on the UEFA Cup draw.  "The matches against Fiorentina and AEK will be difficult.  They are two great teams.  Starting off at home could give us confidence.  We are completely focused on beating Fiorentina.  We will think about the others later."

Finally A Draw To Get Excited About

UEFA Cup Group Draw Tuesday at Nyon

Groups to be drawn based on their coefficients.  The 40 teams that have passed the first round now arrive at the group stage, 8 groups of 5-teams each.   Each team will play 4 matches, 2 home and 2 away.  The top 3 teams from each group will  advance to the Round of 32 where they will be joined by the 8 Champion's League teams that finish 3rd in their groups.

Pragmatic Prandelli

Prandelli: I know, Firenze dreams.

"Firenze dreamed even when we were at -19," declared Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli.  " I am not surprised now that, at least for the moment, we are second on the table, the city dreams of a Scudetto.  We need to keep our feet on the ground and think about advancing against Groningen."

My take -- At least he's not talking about avoiding the drop.

UEFA on SerieA.tv!

Fiorentina-Groningen on SerieA.tv LIVE!

     

SerieA.tv will webcast live worldwide coverage of the UEFA Cup first round return leg tie between Fiorentina and Groningen on Thursday, October 4 at 2100 CET  (3pm in NYC, 12pm in LA, 4am + 1Day in Tokyo).

Watch the game for $6.95.

To enjoy every moment of this exciting UEFA Cup encounter, just sign up at www.seriea.tv and book your grandstand seat for the very best in live European soccer action on SerieA.tv.

Fans of Italian soccer will not want to miss out on seeing if the Viola can qualify for the lucrative group stages of the competition.

Coach Cesare Prandelli's high-flying side have been turning it on in Serie A and will go into this game as favorites after gaining a valuable away goal in a 1-1 in Holland.

So it's another great reason to subscribe to the portal that is fast becoming the first choice for all fans of Italian football the world over.

This UEFA Cup match is not available as part of the season pass for the 2007-08 Serie A season so if you like to subscribe to the Italian soccer season subscribe at www.seriea.tv.

My take -- All I did was copy, paste and re-format.

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.

Groningen Down, Not Out

Groningen Official: "Tough times for us but we aim to advance."

Groningen official Henk Veldmate was interviewed on Radioblù for his thoughts on his team's upcoming UEFA Cup match; home to Fiorentina. 

"We are going through a tough spell in the Eredivisie," said the Dutchman.  "We have only earned 4 points from 4 matches and are suffering through the injuries of our two attackers, Berg and Nevland.  Matavz (a player that Fiorentina was after) is young but, above all, is also cup-tied as he played in the preliminaries with Nova Gorica.  We are hoping to recover Svejdik and Matthijs, our captain, for the Fiorentina match.  Our objective is to advance.  Fiorentina is very strong but we will do what we can.  Our coaching staff has studied Fiorentina.  We were there for their matches against Milan and Atalanta.  We will try to beat them."

My take -- Milan and Atalanta?  I read that and think one thing...  They have no idea what Montolivo is about and they are about to find out...  The hard way...  

Groningen-Viola Streaming

Fiorentina: How to watch the UEFA Cup match via a free stream

It doesn't have to be Conto TV (pay-per-view), or a trip to Groningen.  Fiorentina's UEFA Cup match this Thursday will be viewable via streaming.  CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK.  The transmission will begin at 2021 (Italian time).

The Viola Hordes Cross The Alps

The exodus of supporters towards Groningen

The exodus of Viola supporters for the UEFA Cup has begun.  More than a thousand will follow the club to northern Holland and will completely fill that section of the stadium allocated to Fiorentina's supporters.  A number of Viola supporters are also expected to occupy general seating so the Viola contingent could be as high as 1,300. 

The preferred mode of transport seems to be via plane and the ACCVC is organizing charter flights.  Other tifosi are going by car, train and other means.

My take -- Behave, ragazzi...

Explanation -- The ACCVC is sorta a union of Viola fan clubs.

Our UEFA Squad

Is anyone else as intrigued as I am about what our squad against Groningen will look like?  My early prediction is that Kuzmanovic will start somewhere and Pazzini will not start.  Who will be our number 9?  The obvious choice is Vieri and I would really like to see Osvaldo as his sub.  There are also so many possibilities at the fullback spots.  Might Lupatelli start??  I can't wait.

Here are the possible players (not counting injuries):

Keepers:

Frey, Lupatelli

Defenders:

Balzaretti, Dainelli, Gamberini, Kroldrup, Pasqual, Ujfalusi, Vanden Borre

Midfielders:

Donadel, Gobbi, Jorgensen, Kuzmanovic, Liverani, Santana, Montolivo, Pazienza, Semioli

Attackers:

Mutu, Pazzini, Osvaldo, Vieri

It's long overdue but we are back!