An Italian court has ordered the referees involved in the game-fixing scandal that marred the 2005-2006 Serie A season—also known as “Calciopoli”—to pay $5.25million in damages to the Italian Soccer Federation, the Associated Press reports. Paolo Bergamo, who selected the officials for each match, receiveda $1.31 million fine, the heaviest individual fine, while colleague Pierluigi Pairetto […]
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Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Juve-Napoli Talk Annoys Prandelli
Italy coach Cesare Prandelli reacted angrily to questions from the Italian press about the upcoming clash this weekend between Juventus and Napoli, Serie A’s first and secondplace clubs, respectively. Prandelli snapped at journalists who wanted to discuss that match rather than focus on Italy’s World Cup qualifier against Denmark at the San Siro in Milan […]
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Bradley a More Complete Player, Following Roma Move
USA international Michael Bradley, fresh from scoring his first Serie A goal for AS Roma, says that playing in Italy has made him a more “complete” player.“Fighting my way onto a big club like Roma, I can prove to everybody that I can play at the highest level,” he tells the Miami Herald. “Every week, […]
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Report: Milan Makes Guardiola Offer
Italian papers La Repubblica and La Gazzetta dello Sport have linked Pep Guardiola with manager’s position at AC Milan, with the former claiming that the ex-Barcelona managerhas been offered a four-year contract worth close to $32 million, or $7.7 million per year. According to the report, Milan legend Paolo Maldini would join Guardiola at the […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Pinzi's wild tackle at Liverpool is must-see TV
[VIDEO PICK: Off the Post] Udinese midfielder Giampiero Pinzi only got a yellow card for this crazy tackle on Stuart Downingin last Thursday’s Europa League game at Anfield. On Friday, we showed youGiovanni Pasquale‘s impressive winner from this entertaining win by Udinese. Things may have turned out differently, if Referee Stefan Johannesson had seen fit […]
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Agent: Conte accuser tried to sell story
Antonio Conte, coach of Italian champion Juventus, is serving a 10-month ban for failing to report what he knew about plans to fix a Serie B match when hewas coaching at Siena in 2010-11, and a celebrity agent says Conte’s sole accuser, Filippo Carobbio, tried to sell the story to the media. In aninterview with […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Pasquale a smash hit in Liverpool
[VIDEO PICK: Golazo] Giovanni Pasquale‘s guided missile sails past Pepe Reina to rave reviews during Udinese’s 3-2 win inEuropa League play. Thursday, at Anfield, “Being Liverpool” meant scoring first, scoring last, scoring for the other team, and losing, all in entertaining fashion. The Serie A team trailed 1-0 when its captain, Antonio Di Natale, tied […]
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Many Roma players 'don't deserve to wear the shirt'
With American Michael Bradley not in the team, Roma dropped a 4-1 decision at Juventus, incurring the wrath of sporting director Walter Sabatini, who said afterward, “Many players don’t deserve to wear the shirt.”
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Miccoli puts on Maradona-like display with stunning hat trick
Italian Fabrizio Miccoli, whose admiration for Argentine great Diego Maradona has extended to paying $25,000 for anearring that Maradona once owned and naming his son Diego, put on a Maradona-like display in Sunday, scoring a hat trick — including an The diminutive Miccoli, known as the”Pocket Rocket,” scored on a curling free kick around the […]
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Blatter: 'Bravo, Miro Klose'
German national team forward Miroslav Klose‘s confession that he used his hand when scoring a goal for Lazio won praise from many quarters on Thursday. FIFA PresidentSepp Blatter tweeted, “Bravo Miro Klose for your gesture last night! Just shows that you can be both a great andfair player at the same …” Klose scored with […]