How soon will Milan be "officially in crisis"?

Capuano's goal for Catana was amazing, and, for some reason, Inzaghi made the New York Times.

Milan 4 - Lecce 0: Milan are in first place! Here are pictures.

Above: Thiago Silva scores.

Below: Inzaghi is excited after scoring late to make it 4-0.

Below: This photo is from last season, against Napoli, I believe.

Below: They haven't assigned Ibrahimovic a number yet. He got to watch the match up in the stands with Berlusconi and Galliani. Unfortunately, no photographs seem to be available at this time.

Click here to read more.

What's wrong with this picture?

On the Sports Illustrated for kids website SIKids.com, there is a photo display of World Cup X Factors-- players who may make the difference for their team in the 2010 World Cup. The photo above is captioned "Kaka". Can you tell what is wrong with this picture?

A series of official announcements from AC Milan

A.C. MILAN OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

5/21/2010

MILAN - A.C. Milan announces that the footballer Filippo Inzaghi has extended his contract until June 30, 2011.

INZAGHI: "The rapport with Milan is special"

5/21/2010

MILAN - Pippo Inzaghi commented to Milan Channel about his contract renewal with Milan: "I'm happy, because my intent was that of ending the career with this shirt. In these days I thought that trying to beat Gerd Muller's record with another shirt would not be fair. The rapport with Milan is special, I'm happy because once again the club proved all of its affect for what I did, I'm doin and will continue to do. I'm happy to be well and I have important objectives."

INZAGHI: "I'm after Muller, Van Basten and Baggio..."

5/21/2010

MILAN - Pippo Inzaghi again: "I'm happy of being fine and of being able to still give my contriution. Everyone knows that I have precise objectives to reach. First of all that of being useful for Milan, helping the team to win and then beating two records. That of Gerd Muller in the European cups (69 goals against 68, Inzaghi is one goal away from the German), which has lasted for 35 years, to which I really want to beat, and that of Marco Van Basten... I'm three goals away from him in the Rossoneri's shirt, reaching it or equalling it would be fantastic also because everyone knows what he did and who he is. I'm after Van Basten for the goals with Milan and Baggio for the career goals (Baggio has a total of 318 goals). Going together for the 10th consecutive year is a nice satisfaction. Everyone remembers the wins we have obtained together, I have already received a lot from this club and I have great motivations."

Still my favorite goal of the year

Andrea Pirlo scores to make it 1-1 against Real Madrid in the Champions League

To see my second favorite goal of the year (Inzaghi's game winner in Milan's 2-1 victory over Olympique de Marseille), click here.

Match report: Milan 3 - Juventus 0

• Goals scored: Antonini 14', Ronaldinho 29', 67'
• What happened: Antonini scored the first goal of his AC Milan career. Ronaldinho scored two goals. The Juventus fans set off numerous explosions and sang derogatory songs and had to be warned over the public address system that play would be halted if they did not stop.
• Aggregate score of the two Milan-Juventus matches this season: 6-0 (Milan)
• Reasons why fans of both teams were unhappy: Juventus finished in seventh place and had a truly terrible season (for them). Milan did about as well as can be expected and finished in third. Milan fans are upset that the team has not spent more money to bring in top quality players in recent years and also that first year coach Leonardo (pictured above congratulating Antonini on his goal and pictured below being bid farewell by his team) is being forced out by Silvio Berlusconi. The fans repeatedly sang songs in honor of Leonardo until he acknowledged them with a wave.

Below: Milan fans with an enormous set of banners. The internet translates the bottom one as "President failed AWOL".

• Milan personnel who officially said goodbye at today's match: Leonardo and Favalli
• Milan personnel who may have played their last match for the team today: Dida, Inzaghi, Ronaldinho, and about a dozen others
• What this match teaches us: Milan's Serie A 2009-2010 season is over. This means that my daughter will soon be home from her (almost) year in Brazil.

Below are highlights:

Below you can watch the Milan players and staff force Leonardo to come out on the pitch for one last goodbye:

Match report: Milan 1 - Napoli 1

• Goals scored: Campagnaro 13', Inzaghi 26'
• What happened: With Inter's 1-1 tie against Palermo yesterday, Milan would have moved into first place in the Serie A if they had won this match. They did not, however.
• Milan players who were unable to play today due to injury: Nesta, Bonera, Borriello, Abate, Beckham (there are more)
• Milan players who returned from injury to start today's match but were unable to finish the match due to injury: Pato
• Combined age of Milan's starting eleven: 336 years old (average age=30.545454 years old)
• Milan players who celebrated their birthday today: Ronaldinho
• Ronaldinho's current age: 30 years old
• Treatments commonly used by Serie A trainers to help injured players who are lying on the pitch: Pouring water on the affected area, spraying the affected area with magic spray, massage, slapping injured players lovingly but repeatedly in the face
• Milan's place in the standings: Second, one point behind Inter
• What this match teaches us: Milan are still in second place

This is Nesta, but the reporter thinks it is Inzaghi

In May of 2007, Milan defeated Liverpool 2-1 in the Champions League final in Athens. The hero of the match was Filippo Inzaghi, who scored both of Milan's goals. Afterwards, reporters were eager to ask Inzaghi a few questions.

Match report: Napoli 2 - Milan 2

• Goals scored: Inzaghi 2' (See photo above), Pato 6', Cigarini 90', Denis 90+3'
• What happened: Milan scored twice inside of six minutes. They then became casual and careless. Both sides started committing lots of fouls. Napoli scored twice in the last five minutes-- tie game.
• Milan players who left the game after ten minutes due to unspecified injuries: Nesta
• Milan players sent off: Abate
• Napoli strategy for the first ninety minutes: Appeal for penalties every time you get near the penalty area. Shoot the ball straight at Dida even if he is lying down in front of a wide open goal.
• Napoli strategy for the last five minutes: Score goals.
• Number of Milan goals correctly disallowed for offsides: Two-- one by Inzaghi and one by Borriello
• What this match teaches us: It is not possible to kill off eighty-nine minutes of a game.

Above: Cigarini scores.

Below: Dida looks at the ball after Denis has headed it into the net to tie the score.

Below: Leonardo looks sad as he walks off the field after the match.

Highlights:

Match report: Udinese 1- Milan 0

• Goals scored: Di Natale 22'
• Milan's offense: Milan held the ball for much of the game, but they did not look close to scoring, especially for the first two-thirds. Pato and Inzaghi looked sluggish and unimaginative. When Ronaldinho and Huntelaar were brought on to replace the two starters, things became more exciting. But they still did not score.
• A word to describe the match: Brutal. It was surprising that no one was seriously hurt.
• Best impersonation of Gattuso: Flamini for getting two yellow cards in under 90 seconds. (See photo above)
• It is not nice to point fingers, but other players played badly also: Massimo Oddo spent most of the evening ruining the offside trap and single-handedly putting Udinese players on onside. Also, Gianluca Zambrotta does not appear to be able to kick the ball with his left foot.
• What this match teaches us: It may never be possible to figure out why this team can't score goals.

Match report: Milan 1 - Bologna 0

• Goals scored: Seedorf 75'
• Bologna's game plan: To send no players into Milan's half of the field; to play defense and only defense; to achieve a 0-0 draw.
• How Bologna's game plan worked: Quite well, except for one brief moment late in the second half when they actually sent players forward to try to score. Milan immediately scored on the counter-attack.
• Number of Milan players who hit the goal post: 2 (Pato and Inzaghi)
• Number of Milan players who found themselves with the ball, unmarked, eight feet away from goal with no goalie in sight but who managed to shoot the ball well over the crossbar: 1 (Gattuso)
• How Clarence Seedorf finally scored: Seedorf got the ball. He ran at the defender. Then he ran around the defender. After that, Seedorf ran at the goalie. Finally he kicked the ball past the goalie and into the net.
• Last time before today that Milan scored a goal in Serie A play: August 22, 2009
• Photo I wish I could find: Bologna's Nicola Mingazzini playing most of today's match with his head bandaged.
• What this match teaches us: Only the very young or the very old can score for Milan this season.

Match report: Olympique de Marseille 1 - Milan 2

The group stage of the Champions League started yesterday. Milan's first game was in Marseilles. Below is the important information:

• Goals scored: Inzaghi 28', Heinze 49', Inzaghi 74'
• What happened: A terrifying rainstorm...a deranged sea of fans in blue and white chanting and jumping up and down...a Milan goal in the first half on a nice pass from Seedorf to Inzaghi...wave after wave of attacks by Marseille in the second half (including the tying goal)...Milan looking tired and half-full of panic...a completely unexpected and fantastic goal by Milan -- again Seedorf to Inzaghi.
• What this match teaches us: Seedorf rules one half of the known universe. Inzaghi rules the other half.

Match report: Siena 1 - AC Milan 2

Milan started off their season today with a 2-1 victory in Siena. Here are the important statistics:

• Goals scored: Pato 29', Ghezzal 34', Pato 48'
• Goals scored by AC Milan which were correctly disallowed for offside: 1 (22'- Ronaldinho took a free kick and it wound up in the net. Either Pato deflected it with his head or obstructed the goalkeeper. In either event, he was offside.)
• Milan players unable to play due to suspensions from last season: 1 -- Huntelaar
• Surprising Milan starters: 1 -- Marco Storari (goalkeeper)
• Milan substitutions: Ambrosini replaced Gattuso early in the second half
• Number of Milan starters who appeared to be very tan: 11
• Number of Milan starters who still resemble actor Chevy Chase: 1 -- Marco Borriello (see photos below)

It might be hard to tell which one is which.

• Number of loud explosions : 0
• Number of Milan yellow cards: 1 -- Pato for dissent
• Number of amazing bicycle kicks that would have been goals except for great saves: 1 -- by Ronaldinho
• Number of Siena players with bloody noses: 1
• Number of Siena players with amusing names: 1 -- Reginaldo
• Number of excellent performances by Milan players that probably went unnoticed: 2 -- Flamini and Borriello (the latter especially on defense)
• Number of minutes played by Pippo Inzaghi: 0
• Number of times Inzaghi was called offside: 0
• Notable accomplishments: Milan managed to hold on to the lead for 45 whole minutes.
• Other notable aspects of the game: There was a lot of yelling, pushing and shoving after the final whistle.
• What this match teaches us: Pato might score a lot of goals this year.

For more information, click here.

AC Milan announces jersey numbers for 2009-2010

Here is the complete list of numbers for each player on this year's roster:

1 - Nelson Dida
4 - Kaladze
5 - Oguchi Onyewu
7 - Alexandre Pato
8 - Rino Gattuso
9 - Filippo Inzaghi
10 - Clarence Seedorf
11 - Klaas Jan Huntelaar
12 - Christian Abbiati
13 - Alessandro Nesta
15 - Gianluca Zambrotta
16 - Mathieu Flamini
17 - Gianmarco Zigoni
18 - Marek Jankulovski
19 - Giuseppe Favalli
20 - Ignazio Abate
21 - Andrea Pirlo
22 - Marco Borriello
23 - Massimo Ambrosini
25 - Daniele Bonera
30 - Marco Storari
31 - Flavio Roma
33 - Thiago Silva
44 - Massimo Oddo
49 - Davide Di Gennaro
77 - Luca Antonini
80 - Ronaldinho

Siena 1 - Milan 5

First the good news: Milan won 5-1 on the road today at Siena.  Pirlo got his first goal of the season on a penalty kick, Pato scored two, and Inzaghi scored two, including his 300th career goal.  This last accomplishment was commemorated with a special jersey specially made for him.

On the unhappy side, however, Milan goalkeeper/fascist sympathizer Christian Abbiati was injured in a collision with one of his own players and superstar Kaka' was also injured just minutes after entering the game for the first time in weeks (he had been recovering from a foot injury).

Picture of the Day

Hat Trick for Inzaghi

AC Milan defeated Atalanta 3-0 today in Serie A action.  Filippo Inzaghi (pictured above) scored all three goals.  Milan are currently in third place behind Inter and Juventus.

Poor Pippo...

Super Pippo (Milan's Fillipo Inzaghi) has not been chosen by Donadoni (the Azzuri's coach) to represent Italy in Euro 2008. Meanwhile, Boriello, Di Natale, Del Piero, and Quagliarella were all picked. This means only Ambrosini, Gattuso, and Pirlo will represent (no Oddo- due to injury-, Bonera or Nesta at defence) AC Milan. The Italian team will be very Inter and Juventus dominated. Well, actually Milan has about the same amount as all the other teams. But still.

Milan v. Inter: Match Report

A VERY satisfactory result... a win for Milan.


For those of you less in tune with the football world I'll give a brief recap of the actual game play:


Early in the game it seemed as if Inter had the advantage, but by the 20th minute or so, Milan had firm control of the ball and many scoring opportunities. Heading into the second half it was still nill-nill, but finally in the 51st minute Kaka crossed into Pippo who headed it in. Five minutes later, Ambrosini passes it in to Kaka who makes the game 2-0.


20 minutes later, Inter, who had never really given up, scored on an amazing, curving free kick by Cruz. This caused some worries, especially when in the last few seconds of injury time Jankulovski (who has been out with injury lately) fouled an Inter player, but they ruined a chance to tie the game. Thankfully.
Final score: Milan 2-1 Inter


Not many of my requirements regarding the game were met, but since Fiorentina lost, Milan is now in 4th place (a Champions League spot) and I don't care how they got there.


Super Pippo has once again shown that he can do no wrong lately. Alexandre Pato is my favorite player, but if I were Ancelloti I wouldn't play him either. I guess this makes 9 goals in 5 games for Inzaghi.


One last parting word: have you ever noticed how Ancelloti has no emotions or reactions to anything? You'd think he was bored or mildly disgruntled no matter what happens!