Serie A Report for January 13, 2008

Serie A returned to this pitch this weekend, and the big question was could Milan finally win a game at the San Siro and make a second half run at a table position that would return them to the Champions League next season. Milan came out strong this evening, with a convincing 5 - 2 win over Napoli. A game which included a goal from Alexandro Pato, the 18 year old Brazilian who made his competitive debut today.

The winter break clearly didn’t slow down Inter Milan, who survived a tough battle against Siena, a team that will spend the second half of the season fighting to avoid relegation, with a 3 - 2 victory, two of Inter’s goals coming off the foot of Ibrahimovic.

Inter’s victory keeps it well ahead of the pack with 46 points, but Roma’s 2-1 victory over Atalanta, a side that has given Roma trouble in the past, enabled them to secure second place and 36 points. Juventus on the other hand was lucky to walk away with one point after Saturday’s rain soddened 1-1 draw at Catania. Meanwhile both Udinese and Fiorentina won their matches this weekend, firmly holding onto fourth and fifth places, respectively.

The Eternal City’s other side came into this season with high hopes, but a string of injuries and some bad luck on the pitch has pushed Lazio into relegation territory. The second half of the season appeared promising when Lazio scored a goal in the 23rd minute of today’s match against Genoa. But the second half belonged to Genoa’s Marco Boriello who scored off a penalty kick in the 51st minute and then quickly scored a second goal in the 55th minute.

Saturday Morning Roundup

Serie A:

Good news for Roma fans, it appears that Alberto Aquilani is fit and ready to play after the winter break ends.
http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/7631518

Speaking of Roma, the Corriere dello Sport has reported that Roma and goalkeeper Alexander Doni will be entering a new contract that will result in a significant pay raise for Doni. Doni's current contract is set to expire in 2009.
http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=534889

Recent talk of Figo going to the MLS is premature, appears he wants to win Serie A and the Champions League with Inter.
http://goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=534865
http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/01/03/scrap-that-mls-figo-doesnt-know-you/

This month, Serie A and Milan fans will get to see the much-hyped Alexandro Pato take the pitch against Napoli (Jan. 13). This past August, Milan paid a 22million Euro fee to Inter for the young Brazilian.
http://goal.com/en-us/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=534549

Siena has signed Richard Porta from River Plate, Uruguay. Meanwhile, Reggina has brought back Cristian Stuani who has been on loan at Danubio.
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/03012008/58/serie-siena-reggina-sign-strikers.html

A final Roma note, the team is going after Bari defender, Nicola Belmonte.
http://goal.com/en-us/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=535427

MLS:

It appears that the San Jose EarthQuakes will be bringing Moneyball to the MLS:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=495270&root=mls&cc=5901

-Can a stats oriented system produce a MLS Winner, I guess we'll find out.

Final Note:

Sunday night, my favorite television series returnst to HBO, for its final season: The Wire. If you haven't watched it, I highly recomend you do.