|
|
 |
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE | |
Marquee matchups Roma vs. Lazio, Juventus vs. Inter... Chievo vs. Torino?
Updated: Thursday October 25, 2001 6:26 PM
ROME (AP) -- There are some marquee matchups this weekend in Serie A. There's the Roman derby, pitting the last two Italian league champions - AS Roma and Lazio -- in a contest worth pride and positioning in the race for this year's title. There's the titan clash of Juventus vs. Internazionale, and its rosters chock full of million-dollar foreign stars. And then, of course, all eyes will turn to Chievo vs. Torino. Pardon? Yes, that's right, Chievo. The little-team-that-could will take to the turf again this weekend to prove that it still can. Defying incalculable odds, the club from the outskirts of Verona that turned in its amateur status just 15 years ago finds itself atop the standings of one of the world's best soccer leagues. Chievo's win over Parma last Sunday, coupled with Inter's loss to AC Milan, pushed the tiny team into first place alone, seven games into its first season in Serie A. The last time a team promoted from Italy's second division was alone atop Serie A's standings at this stage of the season was Lazio in 1972. Forward Massimo Marazzina leads Chievo with four goals, but the team with Serie A's most potent offense - 15 goals - distributes its attack among five players with at least a pair of scores. "Finally everybody is realizing that we aren't just a bunch of amateurs who wouldn't know any better. So we are happy to have the attention," said Marazzina. "Our moment of glory has arrived and we'll try to make it last as long as possible." Meanwhile, the clubs that are supposed to know better, continue to fight their ancient battles. Saturday evening will offer the staging ground for two such contests. Roma, the defending champion, is licking its chops as Lazio hobbles into the derby with the league's weakest offense, at just three goals in seven games. Roman captain Francesco Totti is showing why he is currently considered the league's best player. In last weekend's rout of Lecce, the Roman playmaker scored two goals and set up another before notching a memorable score in Wednesday night's 1-1 Champions League draw at Real Madrid that assured the club of a second-round berth. Lazio, lingering near the bottom of the league standings, kept its European hopes alive with a 1-0 win over Galatasaray. Juventus, through to the second round of the Champions League with its Tuesday thrashing of Porto, has been less stellar in league play -- without a win in its last four Serie A affairs after taking an early lead in the title race. The Turin club will host Inter, still reeling from Milan's 4-2 comeback win in the crosstown derby. Alessandro Del Piero, who has been Juventus' best player this season, said the club has a tendency to downshift when it should always be accelerating. "If we don't run and battle for all 90 minutes to try to impose our skills, we become an average team, that can be beaten," Del Piero said. "It's all a question of our head." Along with Chievo vs. Torino, the Sunday afternoon lineup features Brescia vs. Venezia, Lecce vs. Atalanta, AC Milan vs. Bologna, Parma vs. Verona, Perugia vs. Piacenza and Udinese vs. Fiorentina. Ganz signs with depleted Fiorentina clubFLORENCE, Italy (AP) -- Veteran forward Maurizio Ganz signed with a Fiorentina club Thursday that has been depleted of its top talent by financial woes and injuries. Ganz, 33, who has played with Internazionale and AC Milan, was expected to join the team immediately. Before the season began, Fiorentina sold star players Rui Costa of Portugal and national goalkeeper Francesco Toldo to ease its reported 120 billion lire (US$54 million) debt. In September, a Florence court tentatively shelved a bankruptcy case against the club. Since then, Fiorentina has fallen to third-to-last in the Italian league standings, and lost its star striker Enrico Chiesa to a season-ending knee injury. Yugoslav international Stankovic considers leaving LazioBELGRADE (Reuters) -- Lazio's goal-scoring hero in the Champions League, midfielder Dejan Stankovic, has warned he may quit the club at the end of the season. Yugoslav international Stankovic said he was considering leaving the Italian Serie A team because he was "unhappy with his status." However, Stankovic is confident Lazio can reach the second group stage of the Champions League. Stankovic told Belgrade's B-92 radio after he scored the goal to beat Turkish team Galatasaray 1-0 on Wednesday: "We've won two in a row and I think we're in a good position to qualify. "Getting through to the next group stage of the European Champions League would mean a whole lot to us." Lazio, who are bottom of a very tight group D, lost their first three games before winning two in a row to move to six points, but they need another win at Nantes next week to get through. The French champions lead the group with eight points from five matches, PSV Eindhoven and Galatasaray are tied on seven, ahead of Lazio. Stankovic, who scored the winner against the Turks after coming on as a second-half substitute, said Lazio would have to be at their best to beat Nantes. "It's a make-or-break match for us and we must perform at our best level to win. The Serie A derby against Roma on Saturday will be a good dress rehearsal," he said. The midfielder said he was thinking about leaving the club at the end of the season because he was not entirely happy with his status. "I've been here for four years and there's no improvement in my status. I thought the new coach would rotate more players but the starting line-up is always the same," he said. "It was very obvious in the 3-1 home defeat to Nantes a few weeks ago that some players are very tired," he added. Alberto Zaccheroni, who won the Italian league title with AC Milan in 1999, replaced Dino Zoff as Lazio's head coach last month after the team had made a bad start to both the domestic season and the Champions League.
| |||||||||||||||||||||
