LiveBlog: Inter-Juve, Coppa Italia

By: roberto | January 28th, 2010

coppa-italia-patch Last quarter finals of the Coppa. Winner goes on to the semi’s vs. Fiorentina who defeated Lazio last week 3-2. The other semi-final’s all set with Udinese, who beat Milan 1-0 at the San Siro, up against Roma courtesy of a trademark De Rossi strike just inside the eighteen.

To be honest, I’m really doing my best to get myself up for this one. Sadly, I’ve got next to nothing to show for it. Well except this live blog I suppose. Nevertheless, tonight could be a decent match to watch depending on which Juventus ’shows up’ to play. But, since it is Inter, I wouldn’t expect the same determination against La Viola if we do indeed show up and advance.

Consistency is king, and with so many injuries in a team already topped-up with streaky talent, there’s no surprise we’re sitting sixth, sixteen points off the pace. Tonight, the lads have a chance to turn this skid around as we’re slowly going to recoup some our first team’s key ingredients. If we can put in a commendable victory/performance tonight, anything’s possible going forward. Ferrara might even keep his job until the end of the year. Might.

———————————————————————————————————————————————

-25′- Customary pre-match nerves. Christ. I think Candreva should go from the start, he should be one to watch. Also, we’re gonna need a mistake-free performance from Momo/Melo if we have a chance in hell tonight. Fat-chance.

-20′- Match links: myp2p.eu and atdhe.net

-15′- Great videoto watch to pumped up, courtesy of comrade via alessio.

-5′- Rai Uno’s playing this one. If you have Sopcast, try the Livesport Europa 1 link.

-3′- No wait that just went down. Damn.

0′- Time’s up, kick-off about to start.

2′- Both teams feelings themselves out here. Juventus go on a little spill into Inter’s half. Nothing doing.

3′- Balotelli can be difficult tonight on that left side against Grygera. Hopefully he and Chiellini and hold him.

4′- Fuck me, Sissoko down. Looks like he hurt his right shoulder. He shouldn’t need to come off though thankfully.

5′- Amauriiii!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Does nothing with the ball lol.

6′- Wow great stop on defensively from Grosso on Balotelli, who’s now on the right wing. Sneaky fucker.

8′- We’re playing with good width here tonight. Nice over-lapping work from our backs. Let’s see how long that lasts.

10′- Welcome back Toldo. GOL DIEGO! Hahaha stay on the bench Toldo. He really should have had that one from outside the eighteen. Diego did very well to skip past Cambiasso before then though.

12′- Ha! Candreva tries to run at an Inter defender, I think it was Santon… that didn’t work.

13′- Great work from Melo thus far to keep it simple and clear the zone.

14′- Pressure by Inter in Juve’s half. Fuck we look so confused, terribly unorganized. This can’t go on for much longer if we want to save this lead.

15′- Sissoko wasted a brilliant run by Diego there on the counter. Keep it simple and don’t hog the fucking ball Mo-moron.

16′- DIEGO IS DANCING AROUND INTER. So Motta takes a stupid foul on Diego. That was class Motta. Pure fucking class.

18′- Diego can win this game all by himself. I’ve seen a few Werder games where he’s completely soaking up all the attention from his opponents, yet can still be the deciding force.

19′- Wow look at how congested that midfield is! It’s like house league.

20′- Maicon all alone, and then skies it over the bar five feet from goal. What a chance for Inter. Let’s hope they get demoralized with Toldo behind them and Maicon missing sitters.

21′- Sissoko gives the ball away again.

22′- Right now the only one who knows what to do with the ball is Diego. And as I say that, Motta fouls him once again. What a rat he is.

23′- Balotelli scuffs one outside the eighteen, rolls to Buffon.

24′- Man, this is some of the sloppiest calcio I’ve ever seen by both teams.

26′- Juve unable to sustain any counter-attack because we keep turning over the ball inside our own half. This doesn’t look good as Inter is building confidence on the ball as every second goes by.

28′- Nice tackle again by Grosso on Maicon. He’s having a nice game the defender.

29′- Materazzi fouls Amauri outside the eighteen. There you are Amauri. Marco got the ball first but that was probably a fluke consider how sloppy it looked.

30′- Freekick by Diego goes right into Toldo’s hands. Poor effort really.

32′- God Gigi looks glorious out there doesn’t he? So majestic.

33′- Yea Chiellini brought Balotelli down there. Mario’s twists and turns made Giorgio lose his balance. Free-kick cross from Sneijder but it’s cleared.

35′- Foul on Diego, this time from Cambiasso.

36′- Melo doing well tonight to keep things simple. Just as I say that, Buffon scuffs a little chip out of bounds. Inter fans chanting something about how they like eating shit for breakfast I think.

37′- Shot Grosso, Toldo tips it wide for a corner. Diego curls it in, and it’s cleared for a throw-in.

38′- Fuck I want to puke. We can’t hold on to damn ball. The complexity of our passes is so unnecessary. Anyways no one’s listening to me.

40′- Throw-in, Juventus on the right. Christ, Amauri gives it away with a pass destined for god knows who. That must be the tenth pass to nowhere from Juventus.

41′- Completely pointless foul from Maicon behind Diego. Yellow card. Diego was going nowhere with at least three Inter players in front of the number 28.

43′- Grosso can’t shuffle his feet, and runs into Pandev. Foul.

44′- Something about a handball, Mourinho’s complaining, it must be deliberate then.

45′+1- Ok that’s that. I need a smoke, we’ll resume once Mourinho’s friends get off the pitch.

———————————————————————————————————————————————

46′- Nice start from Juventus here. Great passes that lead to a chance in on goal but Inter defenders clear that as the last touch was too hard.

47′- Balo cries foul, but no whistle.

48′- Great block by Grygera on a Pandev effort just outside the eighteen. Inter really pouring it on here giving it everything they have and Juventus are scrambling to clear.

49′- Yellow on Chiellini as he gives Sneijder a nice ride.

50′- Oh boy, things are getting really loose right now as no one playing defence for Juve again.

51′- Diego with the shot far post but it just misses the bottom corner of the net. Without that young man we would be out for lunch.

52′- Inter on the counter, good work by Grygera to step in front of that move to clear.

53′- Corner for Inter, won by Balotelli. Cross is short and Juve clear.

54′- Corner for Juve this time. They play it short and then cross it in to Chiellini who HITS THE POST! Giorgio was inches away from making the game 2-0.

56′- Damn Sissoko can’t hold the ball again, and Inter come back the other way. Ferrara has to do something about Sissoko. I would take him off. Maybe put in Marone.

58′- Put a lid on it Motta. The guy’s as dirty as anyone in this league. Fouls Candreva, somehow Inter get the throw-in, then fouls Diego open field.

59′- Grosso’s putting on a lesson in defending out there tonight. Stops Balotelli in his tracks and takes it down the other way.

61′- Fuck Milito’s coming on. If there’s one player on this Inter team I could have for Juve it would be Milito. Great player, super good, and super unselfish. Cambiasso comes off. Mourinho’s going for it. Rightfully so.

63′- Offside Inter. This is going to get really close here in the last 30 minutes. Juventus fans hold on to something.

65′- For development sake, stay on your feet Mario. Balotelli is getting a tattoo of Chiellini’s name on his ass.

70′- Foul by Melo on Balotelli about eight inches away from the box. Sneijder with the fk, and off a deflection it goes in. Pretty horrid goal. An eye for an eye I guess. 1-1

72′- The way this game’s going, Inter’s bound to win. They have every single scoring opportunity thus far whilst we cannot even clear our end.

73′- Let’s hope I’m wrong. Inter’s in our half, play sniffed out by Melo. Diego goes the other way but there’s absolutely no one there with him, he’s all alone and we loose the ball.

74′- We need support up there bigtime in attack or else we’re sitting ducks. Let’s see what Ciro does.

76′- Cannavaro gets a yellow for flicking the ball behind the spot. Nice.

77′- Candreva fires a missile, but that has too much outside spin and sails wide. Juventus is calling for a corner but nothing doing.

78′- Santon misses short-side in one Buffon. Goal kick.

79′- Corner for Juve, won by Grosso. Toldo does well to come out and handle that cross.

80′- Off comes Pandev, on comes Muntari.

81′- Shot on target from Milito, Buffon handles that well considering Balotelli was close by in case there was any rebound.

82′- Fuck, Diego with a run on goal but he gets tied up.

83′- Balotelli goes to the ground in our end, ref blows for a free-kick. Christ, that was close. Buffon gift-wraps a rebound but Grosso is there to help out.

87′- The pace of the game has really slowed in the last five minutes thanks to all of these whistles. There will be at least four minutes of injury time.

88′- I’m not sure if Ferrara knows he can’t play for the tie in this one. Juventus doesn’t look like they want/can score at all.

89′- And that’s that, Grosso forgets to look over his shoulder and Balotelli has a tap in off of Buffon’s save. Inter 2-1.

Alright, I’ve seen enough. LiveBlog ends here…

Some Related Juventus Posts:

Category: Coach, Competitions, Previews & Reviews, Team News

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Marco

sofia, balotelli doesn't roll on the grass, he either sits or lays down. How is it his fault anyway?

it's the refs that call this. watch a game in any other league, you never see this behaviour. What they do need to start doing is NOT call these plays, and if it does look serious and its not card the player who dove. You'll get rid of it fast. Also, when you see a foul committed, and a bunch of players run up to the ref to complain, the ref should stop delaying and pull out that card. It's getting rediculous now with the amount of stoppages and time wasting going on.
Alessandro

Interista here. Balotelli is a grade A douche, however he is also a fantastically gifted footballer. I for one can't stand his antics, and pray one day he just drops them and gets on with his football. I think all of Italy should be hoping that too, no matter which team they support. The day he finally grows up will be an awesome one for Italy. They'll have a striker with pace, power, and fantastic technical ability. I hope a few years down the road I can see a Balotelli and Giovinco partnership for La Nazionale.
Sofia

marco - he doesn't make an ass out of himself if you would like an example of someone making an ass of themselves watch any game balo has been a part of. i will NEVER say chiellini is the classiest guy on the pitch because he isn't but he also plays with a lot of heart and actually gives a damn and doesn't spend his time rolling in the grass like balo does.
agiamba

As for balotelli, as an Italian, you can only admire this guy.

How is that not liking him? Just cause I say I hate a player, doesn't mean I'm arguing anything on their sporting talent.
Alastair

I like Pirlo and De Rossi a lot.

I am tolerant of Totti.

I am undecided on Santon.

All of this is independent of the talent they all have, which is considerable.

Balotelli will have to work very, very hard to ever gain my respect, even if I am appreciative of the talent (if not the discipline and teamwork) he may yet bring to the Azzurri.
Marco

So it's agreed then! and you keep saying we have differences ;)
agiamba

Did he get a red card against Chelsea last year in a close second leg?

Wrongfully so, yes. Even the English SKY commentators said it was a legitimate tackle.

Do you not think santon, totti, pirlo, derossi are good players as well?

There's a difference between "good player" and "world class douchebag." Francesco Totti manages to fit into both categories, and so does Balotelli.
The Troll

oh wow I love how you guys still hate balotelli even after he didnt even celebrate so that he couldnt give assholes like sofia and alessio a reason to justify their hatred for them, jorid and nnahoj you can suck on that, take THAT you racist classless CUNTS of fans
Marco

Sofia, just so you don't make an ass of yourself, please point to where I mentioned he makes an ass out of himself?
Sofia

Balotelli is a disgrace and the only people I know who have respect for him are Interista. I do not consider him Italian and I never will.
Chiellini demands respect. I'm sorry he is a beast and any Juventino who says otherwise is not a Juventino. He will do anything for his club or his country and he does not make an ass out of himself doing so.
Marco

Thank you Alastair for putting it like that. That's the most honest and accurate depiction of Chiellini I've read.
Marco

Alessio,
1)You need to be interista/ juventino/ romanista to admire a player now? That's a fucking dumb argument in itself. I’m admiring the players ability, buddy and balotelli is a talented player and the future of the national team. Don't be dumb with those remarks, its ignorance to just be blind to what other teams are sporting. Do you not think santon, totti, pirlo, derossi are good players as well? Further up there’s a remark at the professionalism of Mourinho and Maicon! With your logic such a comment must be made by an Interista – God forbid any class act, respectful, talented, skillful, individual works for or plays for another team!

2) For Chiellini, I never said he was bad, I said he is a liability, like a Materazzi. Are you watching him play? did he get a yellow card today? Did he get a red card against Chelsea last year in a close second leg? I'll be more than happy to compile a complete list for you at a later date. The point is, you can have a liability like him on a team. But when he’s playing next to a Grosso/Cannavaro who are continuously too slow and out of position you get burned.

3) Giovinco/Melo: Honestly you answered a rhetorical question. We have overrated nonsense on our team – their names are spewed all over this board. Why do we continue to play them and acquire them when we have talents like Giovinco rotting at 22 on the bench!?
Alastair

Chiellini absolutely crosses the line sometimes (although less so in the last couple of seasons; I think he's maturing all the time), but that's largely a result of him caring so much about the teams (Juventus and Italy) he is defending. His attitude and determination are a vital part of what makes him the player he is, above and beyond the talent he has, which is considerable.

If we had another Chiellini in our backline, aggressive or otherwise, our troubles would be considerably lessened.
agiamba

New post up.
Jorid

Marco: I understand some of your points, but you are mistaken about Chiellini. He's the best Italian defender at the moment, he's the best Juve defender at the moment, he's one of the best CB's in the world at the moment. Sure he's aggressive at times(although he very rarely goes overboard), but if you think he's a liability, then what would you call Macellazzi? Some fans (both Inter and Italy fans) think he's great, while I personally think Matrix is a fucking idiot who all he's ever been good for is for being physical and a great header of the ball. That's it. The only reasons Chiellini appears like a liability and overly aggressive to you is because (except for Buffon), he has to play with trash around him most of the time, both at Juve and Italy. This leads to him having to compensate for everybody else's idiocies.
Rinaldo

We lacked quality today, as simple as that. We played with spirit in the first half, but our lack of quality and fitness showed later in the game.

Amauri needs to be sold, no doubt about it.
If a team puts an offer of more than $20m for Melo, sell him too.
We need a Criscito.
We must sign Caceres (and another RB).
We need another CB to partner Chiellini.
Enough with the modified 4-4-1-1 already. It'll only lead us to mid-table glory. We need to play with a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-2-1.

We need a new coach, a new strategy, a new medical team, and new people at the top. Secco and Blanc cannot run this team. They have no footballing sense, and are not Juventus fans. They are mere businessmen hoping to avoid losses in the stock market.

Sell Juventus. :(
Armando

Gigi should Superman-punch Amauri right in the face for that performance.
Jorid

RizzoSports: I thought he had an ok game. He looked eager to do something with the ball and help the team, had one good shot that skimmed the post. He did hang on to the ball too much at times IMO(both him and Diego did so today)and I thought he didn't cover as well as he could have defensively. Not a bad performance though.
agiamba

Well put, Alastair.
agiamba

You're an idiot, Marco. I'm not happy with this result, and I don't support this shitty nature of the team. To respond to your points-

#1- Balotelli is Italian, that's why you support him? Are you a fan of Materazzi and Gattuso too? I'm not.
#2- Do you prefer melo over giovinco too? I think my distaste for Melo is well documented on this blog, as well as my liking of Gio. That said...that is a retarded question. I personally would like to see Manninger on the field ahead of Amauri, but playing Giovinco as a mediano would be dumber than your comparison.
#3- You're the only one on this blog, and in Calcio that thinks this way. Best defender of Serie A two times running, "dirty" fouls are part of the game and I don't understand when they've been called in the Champion's League and not in Serie A.
Alastair

Armando, I definitely agree with you to an extent: there are Inter players I respect and like, and Zanetti and Maicon are definitely among them. I also "enjoy" Mourinho, I think he's one of the best characters football has, and I don't get riled up by his obvious antics the way other supporters and the media do, again and again. That's his real talent as a manager: he's a better psychologist than tactician, in my opinion. I would say, however, that Mourinho would be delighted if he had to continue facing Ferrara in the future, and that may be part of why he sticks up for him. Not that I don't think Ferrara is a gentleman, and that Mourinho may have genuine affection for him, but that wily Portuguese has never liked any manager who was a real threat to him...

But yeah, I'm also with alessio re: Marco... the only way anyone could respect or defend Balotelli is if they bleed black and blue. He's close to being my most disliked football player of all time, and that's really something given we live in a world where Cristiano Ronaldo still kicks a football around at least once a week.

As for Amauri, I never liked him when he was at Palermo, I was disappointed when we signed him, pleasantly surprised for a while when he was scoring goals, and now justifiably feel a churning in my stomach whenever I see him in the black and white stripes of our club. He doesn't belong.

There are no easy answers as to where we go from here (fire Ferrara, though, do it now, do it six weeks ago...), and it may be years before we are back where we once were.

But we will be back.

And I would put down money that we will have three stars, "official" or otherwise, before Inter reach their second. That is why they fear us, that is why they come here to spit in our faces.

And they, and we, should truly believe that, even tonight.
Armando

Alessio, i completely agree with you about Amauri. He's a useless piece of shit and i'm so angry right now. He cant score for us but i guess he can score against us. Honestly i'm starting to wonder if hes playing like shit on purpose. I mean, he scores against us, and never has any problem getting his head on the ball when defending crosses, but cant get his head to one of our crosses. That's just fucking ridiculous.

And i have respect for Ferrara as a juve legend, but damnit he doesnt know what the fuck he is doing. Starting Amauri with another striker is bad enough, but starting him all alone up front is just suicide, it gives us absolutely no target men, no forward options at all. So what is Ferrara thinking starting Amauri over both Paolucci and Immobile?
Edward

Better match than the other ones played lately, but still not brilliant... Too often sloppy in midfield and Amauri (or shud i say Amoron) just sucks... He played less deep today and hence got a lot of the ball (compared to recent times) but is so ridiculously retarded that he thinks he can take on, and get past, 3 defenders by himself.... Diego and Melo played well, so lets hope they continue to develop positively. Sissoko was uncharacteristically sloppy today, lets hope that DOES NOT happen again... Grosso was decent actually today, except for the 2nd goal was relatively solid... But the def and/or mid were falling apart in the 2nd half, and we really need to work on maintaining our shape and tactical discipline when we're in the lead, heck just throughout the whole match...
Ferrara shouldnt be sacked based on this match though, cuz i mean it's still Inter-Juve and it was better than other games, but hey who knows where he's gonna be tomorrow... this season we've played Inter twice, and both won 1ce with same scorelines, so honors even between us two... final showdown will be in a few months...
Lets hope/pray for a Lazio win this weekend... Parma-Inter could be interesting, Parma don't joke around this season...
Forza Juve per sempre
RizzoSports

I liked seeing De Ceglie out there, how would you guys rate Candreva???
Marco

alessio, maybe you can sit around supporting this nonesense. But I can't this has been a shameful display by juventus and this team deserves to be imploded and refreshed. as said above the only sign of life came from Candreva who was a solid signing. But other than that, good God, they look like their walking to serie b at this level.

As for balotelli, as an Italian, you can only admire this guy. He's the future of the national team. He should be selected for this world cup and that's it. We have our equivilant in Giovinco, but fortunantely for us(sarcastic remark) our outstanding management have decided to bench him while swine like Melo continues to play. Do you prefer melo over giovinco too?

And as for Chiellini - Tell me he is not a liability? Tell me he does not have a tendancy to venture too far up leaving his post? Tell me he doesn't commit dirty fouls that while they aren't called in serie a have been called in Champions league and will be called in the world cup. This would be fine if he had capable people next to him, but sadly cannavaro has all but disappeared and grosso is inept. Did you see the balotelli goal? Did you see the initial shot, how Cannavaro faced the side of the field and stuck out his heel. WTF. Support all you want this is the titanic, stranded at the bottom of the ocean yet blanc/lippi/ferrara/secco are still trying to bail water out of it. This season has been had a dirty stink to it. I am happy we're not just getting by, I am happy we're losing, maybe now we can start getting on with it and making the changes that we need. A patch job would have never fixed this.
agiamba

The Brazilian contingent over at Inter must have told Amauri and Melo to shit it up as bad as possible so they could win the match, Diego wasn't copied in on the memo.
Armando

Melo's handball was stupid, but i'm not so sure it was intentional. It looked like it, but it couldve just been the way he threw his body in the way. And the tackle on Milito was actually outside the box. Melo is getting better and better and i think we should keep him. Get rid of Poulsen, Zebina, and most importantly GROSSO and AMAURI. They are terrible. Granted, Grosso shut down Balotelli when he was back there, but when we got caught on the counterattack after a useless Grosso run up the field, he would make little to no effort to get back and defend, leaving a massive gap at the back. But Melo i thought had a very good game, he didnt screw up any passes, his passes were actually good, and his defending and tackling was top notch. Diego actually had an excellent game in my opinon, the problem is that he cant do it all by himself. Candreva too played well, but an attack should not be made up of only 2-3 players for the whole game. Our formation was basically a 2-2-3 looking like this:

Buffon
Grygera Chiellini
Melo Sissoko
Candreva Diego De Ceglie
ooBia

Fuck Amauri.
agiamba

Given the result this weekend, I don't think anyone was surprised we lost in stoppage time, either.
roberto

"72′- The way this game’s going, Inter’s bound to win. They have every single scoring opportunity thus far whilst we cannot even clear our end."

Who didn't see us losing this thing?
agiamba

Johonna, that's nice and all but anyone who keeps starting Amauri doesn't deserve any respect. Seriously, I want to fucking kill that BrazItalian piece of trash.
agiamba

Marco, I've had questions if you're a real Juventino or not in the past. Praising Balotelli and insulting Chiellini? Now, there are no more questions.

Personally, while of course I'm disappointed Balomerda scored and Inter won....I said I'd be ok as long as we lost by less than 3, so it's not crushing.
Marco

there is no difference. He was a hog and cherry picker at palermo. whinned about how he sshould join the italian national team - then Juventus picked him up. He's an overrated sack of shit, always has been, always will be. Deserves to sit on the bench for the rest of his days. When you score gimmies that doesnt make you a good player, every team he's every played for there's always been people doing all the leg work, he's done nothing to earn anything. Each of his goals this year were gimmies.

Don't forget if he ever way good Brazil would have selected him long ago for their national team. There is a reason why he's bitching to go on the azzurri. Because we italians are stupid enough some times to prioritize non-italians above our own talent. It's time to honestly smarten up. Look what the palermo owner referred to amauri as.
diego1torontojuve

I hate Ciro, Amauri, Lippi... they should all go for a walk on a busy free way....
Johonna

Mou sticking up for Ferrara in his post match interviews.

“We are men, we have families and it's not nice all this talk of every other Coach,” slammed Mourinho on RAI.

“Ferrara deserves respect. If the club decides to make a change, we know that is part of our job, but at least while we are still on the bench and working we deserve respect.

“Right now nobody is giving Ferrara respect. Nobody. But I respect him.”

I feel for the guy, I really do. (and I am not being facetious)
Marco

one final thought, Do you really think the diego goal would have gone in with Julio in net? Honestly, that was a cold goalie fumbling an easy shot. How many shots did Juventus have after that goal? what 0? We could have lost 3 or 4 - 0 today, and inter played a ginger first half - there's nothing to take away from this match
Joe

Pretty new here, but wanted to know
what was different about Amauri at Palermo and now?
Was he just lucky there, or something else?
Oliviero

I feel like van wilder in this scene...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmHOri...