Comments on: Serie A Latest: Roma Top as Juve and Milan stumble, Euro 2008 Review and Italian CL Preview

By: Serie A Latest: Matchday 4 and Champions League Review | Soccerlens - Football News Blog

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 10:55:53 +0000

[...] go to Udinese and their striker Antonio Di Natale, who is on absolute fire at the moment. Di Natale already had a brilliant week last time, scoring a double against Ukraine then the lone goal vs. Juventus. This week however, he [...]

By: Marco

Marco — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 00:24:54 +0000

To be honest erikkd, France still scares me more than Scotland does. I really don't see how on Earth they could get anything other than a win vs. Faroe Islands on their next match, which should bring morale back up a little. Their Lithuania home game shouldn't be extremely hard either, so in terms of "rallying" I expect them to get to their away Ukraine match in the best of conditions.

By: erikkd

erikkd — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 22:47:05 +0000

my fear would be scotland vs italy and scotland plays for the draw, and goes down by a goal, or worse, in penalties. the wildcard could be how well france recovers from this last pair of games, they’ve got the potential to go totally in the tank, and drop another game and put themselves out…or do you see them rallying and playing to potential?

By: Ahmed Bilal

Ahmed Bilal — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:06:40 +0000

Scotland can win the next two games, tough but not too tough.

France can beat Ukraine away, but if taking into account the fact that it will be November, injuries and home conditions (weather) could help Ukraine. Doubt it, draw or win for France.

Italy beating Scotland at Celtic Park? Harder than it sounds, really. It’s a shame though, all 3 teams should be going through.

By: Marco

Marco — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 17:56:20 +0000

Thanks Ahmed, glad to be here! Thanks to everyone else for the praise, I hope I can be back for more in the upcoming weeks.

On a sidenote, I was thinking about group B’s situation again and something just struck me. Some people were debating whether it would have been better for Italy’s hopes if France actually had beaten Scotland (which would then see Scotland and France’s positions in the ranking reversed). And the answer is very simple: YES! Because now all Scotland has to do to qualify now is win their next two games, and then a draw would be sufficient against Italy to place them above the Azzurri (regardless of what France does -remember the top 2 teams qualify directly). If that were to happen however, AND France won all 3 of their games, France & Scotland would top the group and Italy would be eliminated! :O

In other words, if Scotland wins their next two games against Ukraine (at home) and Georgia (away), Italy will be in a must-win situation at Celtic Park on November 17th!! If on the other hand Scotland had lost to France, Italy could afford the draw against at Celtic Park and still go through. Of course by all this I’m assuming that France will win their next 3 games (they are playing in order Faroe Islands (a), Lithuania (h), and Ukraine (a), not the hardest of schedules). The only tricky game for the French might be on Ukrainian soil on November 21st, but by that time the group B situation will be a lot clearer since Scotland-Italy will have already been played.

It’s still quite early to be making these calculations, but the reality’s nonetheless here: Scotland is in a prime position to create a serious upset in the Euro qualifierrs, and possibly even knock out one of the two World Cup finalists before the competition even begins!

By: erikkd

erikkd — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:29:46 +0000

thanks marco, good stuff…those goals were worth the look.
I was thrilled with the scotland result and not at all surprised by the italy/france yawner, i think both of them assume their advancement and i hope that complacency leaves the door open for scotland to break in.

i think ahmed has it right on the CL too, and im not sure i cant see milan repeating…

By: nerazzurri

nerazzurri — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:20:31 +0000

Good round up there Marco. I think Inter should have won by more, but they got the result anyway

By: Ahmed Bilal

Ahmed Bilal — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 11:37:34 +0000

Good roundup and thanks for joining us Marco

A bit surprised by Italy’s performance against France, to be honest, and ditto with what France did against Scotland. The players just don’t have the extra edge – I’m guessing the next round will see a much better France and Italy, but the Scots have a great chance of going through now.

Not sure Inter will have it that easy with their injuries, Lazio don’t have the bench strength, Milan are always lazy in Europe and Roma, while doing really well, have a tough group (heh) but were always going to qualify against Sporting and Kyiv. Milan, Roma and Inter to go through, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Roma were #1 in their group (yes I know they’re up against United…)