Last night, well actually this morning - Indonesian Time -, Milan and Schalke had their life and dead game where Milan was the host of the game. A bit confindence on me because Milan had never been had bad performances at San Siro, except the 1st Serie A match against Ascoli, which can be understood because of the pitch condition then.

The first half was a bit frustrating for both team because the goal had not come until the 40th minute. Both teams had a great game, and at 40' Milan led by a goal from Andrea Pirlo with his deadly free kick. However, the guest drew level 2 minutes later by a header from Christian Poulsen who headed the free kick after Jaap Stam committed a foul on Schalke's player. The comentator said it was Nesta's fault who failed to read the direction of the ball, well for me it was just a bit unlucky and a lack of concentration since Milan had led and the first half was nearly finished.

The second half was more likely to Milan's favor, Milan played very well. And at 50' there was a collaboration between Pippo, Sheva and Kaka which gave Milan the second goal. It was a great collaboration of the three strikers, who were unselfishly passing the ball to other players who had bigger chance to score, even they also had a desire to score.

10 minutes later, Milan put one of their feet on the top 16 after another goal from Kaka. Pippo was the one who passed the ball to Sheva, but Sheva couldn't make it for a slip in front of the empty post, cause the goalkeeper was already misplaced. And there was Kaka who took the ball spontantly and covered by Sheva, Kaka shot the ball to the net and goallll...

For the last 30 minutes were the most horrible night, because Milan had to maintain that they wouldn't suffer another goal, but somehow at the 75' Schalke back to the game with a goal by Lincoln. While the last minutes of the game were a pumping moment for Milan, for Schalke's players give their all to attack Milan's defense which already lost 2 defenders for injury (Maldini out before the break, and Simic out after the break). But somehow Milan did not just play defense, they also sometimes did attack Schalke's defense too. And then the referee blew the whistle, and Milan through to the top 16.

Gattuso who was so depressed during the game, gave out his emotion by shout out lot in front of Christian Poulsen who gave him a thumb. But didn't know how it was happening, Gattuso started arguing with Rodrigues (one of Schalke's players), and there was almost a quarel between them if Seedorf did not drag angry Gattuso to move away from Rodrigues.

And.. another thing that I want to share was.. it was the first time that I saw Ancelloti wore a rosary in his ring finger. Don't know whether it was just for luck or he wanted to show his faith of his religion. But I like that kind of act, which showed that he trusts his career in his religion

Forza Milan !!
Forza Nesta !!

Milan won it.. yeahh.. they won it. It was the first away game that so impressive on the score. And Sheva did it all, 4 goals for Milan in an away game, a record in the UEFA itself. Some players had great time, such as Seedorf who continuedly served the strikers with balls, as one said "When Seedorf plays well Milan wins the game, when Seedorf plays bad then it could be bad luck for Milan", and once again it's been proven last night. Another player was Dario Simic, although he has been sidelined for the whole season, can't even remember when was the last time he played for Milan, but he answered Ancelloti's choice with a great performance. Serginho also had one assist to Sheva which Sheva made it a goal, also Vieri fed Sheva with a good ball at the end of the game.

However, it cost too much, Kaka got injured and had to be replaced at 20'. He got back injury, let's hope that it would not be a serious one. As for Milan's central defenders I don't have any clue on how they played last night, it seemed that they didn't have so much things to do, cause Fenerbache only had 2 serious shot on goal. So I guess they had a day rest I guess not too much running, so they can save their energy for the sunday game at Serie A, against Lecce if I'm not mistaken. So let's hope everything will be ok, since you know that Milan could do bad when they meet a medioker team.

Forza Milan !!
Forza Nesta !!

After a long enough time I haven't written anything again here. And here I am, back to write about Milan again.Today I will talk about Milan's battle this week and last sunday game.First I would like to talk about Milan's defeat last sunday. It was a horrible defeat though, after a long time Milan had not been suffered this much. Of course sometimes lately Milan had lost their game, but never been this bad. Milan usually lost for 1-0 or 2-1 but never more than 1 goal a head, but this time Milan lost 1-3 to Fiorentina, a quite strong team that Milan usually were able to overcome with. That should be a warn to Milan defense, but I can't really blame Milan's defender and goal keeper. In my opinion, they already did well in covering Fiorentina's striker. In my opinion it was just a bad luck, such as Nesta's slipped in front of the net, I think it should not been his mistake though. Who would thaught that he would slip when he was trying to reach the ball, and who would thaught that Jorgensen was there to take the ball. As for the 1st Fiorentina's goal, that was a total mess of Milan defenders, but it should not been Nesta, I think it should be Maldini and Toni's smartness to sneak out behind Maldini's back and headed the ball to the net. And the 3rd goal, what can I say, nobody would knows that the ball was headed back to Milan's goalpost by Pancaro and fortunatelly noone covered Toni, all Milan players were busy to cover Pancaro who had the ball and supposed to be the one who made the goal, but once again, who would know. Other than that I guess there's nothing to say, such as Gila's dissallowed goal, a pity but it was fair, the hands balls by Bocchi and Nesta and Dida's landed in the penalty area's line, those were only the entertainment of the game I guess.

Now I will talk about tonight's game. The game would take place in Istanbul, the same pitch where Milan lost to Liverpool in the last Champions League final. And the same place where Turkey vs Swiss game last week. And what I am affraid of is that Milan has this one Swiss player, and in the Fenerbache's side some Turkey players were there. So, isn't it obviuos then ? And Milan lost Cafu for injury he got at Fiorentina's game, what a bad luck then. While Milan has to win the game tonight if they want to get through this group stage. If Milan loses again, then I don't think Milan could get through the groups stage. It might be good for Milan to be concentrated in the Serie A which they already 5 points behind Juventus.

For the game on sunday, I do hope that Fiorentina could defeat Juventus. Some of my friends said that on Juve vs Fiorentina they predicted that Toni would have forgotten how to score a goal, and if it happened, I think Juve will get the Scudetto this season. So let's hope that Fiorentina will win against Juve and Milan will also win the sunday game whoever the opposition will be.

Forza Milan !!
Forza Nesta !!

Alessandro Nesta has proven his loyalty to AC Milan, after signing a contract that given by AC Milan. Milan's center back will assure his stay at San Siro until 2010. Tribalfootball reported on Friday (16/9/2005) that Nesta has signed a 2,4 million poundsterling / year contract with Milan.

Pratically, this contract signing by Nesta will make sure that Nesta will end up his career as a Rossoneri. This will break teams that have interest in Nesta's heart. Such as Real Madrid, the Spanish giant has shown its interest on the 29 years old defender. But the wish to bring the defender to Santiago Barnebeu was broken because of the signing.

As for Milan, to bond Nesta up to 2010 would be a benefit. This ex Lazio player was the key player for Milan's success since he joined Milan last August 2002.

news from : sepakbola.detiksport.com

After a 3-1 winning at Serie A last Saturday against Siena, with Ambrossini, Sheva and Kaka on the scoreboard, Milan has continues its winning way in the Champions League match against Fenerbache with another 3-1 on the scoreboard, all the goals were scored by Kaka and Sheva.

Both games were great for Milan, some players had done well. At Serie A game, Stam, Sheva, Ambrosini and Kaka were all great. At Champions League, Nesta and Maldini also great but Kaka was the star with his great second goal.

Forza Milan

Last night was another 2006 World Cup Qualification match for Italy. I thaught that no station would air it, however before I decided to sleep after I watched Portugal's game I managed to put my finger on my remote control and changed the TV channel into TV7, and there came my surprise. TV7 aired Belarus vs Italy and I was just in time to watch the game. The game had only begun for about 3 minutes, and at the 5th minute, Italy already conceded 1 goal, what a night I thaught. They just played for 5 minutes and already conceded 1 goal, this time it was Nesta's fault. The comentator said so, and I was kind of agree when I saw the goal replay, Nesta was late to cover the striker to kick a goal.

And 2 minutes after the goal, there came my hope for Italy winning the game. From a cross by Camoranesi to Luca Toni, and Toni made it 1-1. I thaught that I saw Toni actually in an offside position, but the comentators didn't say anything about it and also when I read news from detik.com, which usually so clear about this thing, it didn't mention about any offside position at all of Toni, so maybe I was wrong and I am happy if I were wrong about this. Actually I also had a feeling that the referee a little bit not fair to the home side, but this also didn't mention by any media so I would let it just on my thought. The Belarusians did well in the game, their strikers made a chaos for Italy's defenders, but their just run out of luck I guess. Pirlo and Totti did well in the midfield, Gattusso also had a pretty good game, Grosso and even Zacardo I thaught they did well too. Toni made it to add another goal at the first half, and at the end of first half, Camoranesi made it 1-3. The last goal was great, Pirlo gave a short pass to Totti, who geniusly put the ball not far from Camoranesi who was free and cleverly kicked the ball to the corner side of the net.

Early in the second half, the Belarusians attacked Italy's defend once again and it managed to put me in an horor. Luckily or cleverly, I didn't really care actually, Italy's defenders managed to clear their region from the ball and did a counter attack but it failed. In the middle time of the second half another goal for the Azzuri came from Toni's head. A pass from Totti to Gilardino, and Gila kicked it to the net but denied by the goalkeeper only to be landed on Toni's head and he headed it to the net and made it 1-4. And after that there were still some chances for the Azzuri to add another goal, for example a great pass from Pirlo to Iaquinta, who came on for Toni, but he just can't manage to reach the ball at the right time. However, it was a great game and a great win for the Italians. Toni who was played as starter along side Gilardino has proven that he deserved that place. He made a hattrick and helped Italy to stay on top of the group 5, kept their chance to the Final round. As Gila, he did not really well, but I think it's because he was covered so tight by the Belarus' defenders.

Another games result as followed :
Ukraine 0 - 1 Turky
Norway 1 - 2 Scotland
Holland 4 - 0 Andorra
Denmark 6 - 1 Georgia
Czech Republic 4 - 1 Armenia
Russia 0 - 0 Portugal
Ireland 0 - 1 France
Northern Ireland 1 - 0 England

you can check for the whole result for last night game (European Zone) at :
http://sepakbola.detiksport.com/index.php/boladunia.read/tahun/2005/bulan/9/tgl/8/time/7271/idnews/437318/idkanal/73

August 27th was the opening date of Italian Seri A. In this first match of season 2005/2006, Milan had to play away against Ascoli. It was raining hard even some people / comentators said that the pitch was already a pool. There were also some thoughts from Milan's players / official to ask the referee to delay the match since the weather and the pitch were not in a good condition to play. However, the referee rejected them and the game went on in a very bad pitch.

The first team who did net the ball was the home side, from a free kick. Some said that Milan cannot play their usual strategy of ball possession because of the bad condition of the pitch and water all over the pitch. Some players had a bad performance, such as Stam, except Nesta who played well enough to cover Stam who had a bad evening. And once again Milan had to thank Andriy Shevchenko who drew the score into 1-1 for Milan with a long distance kick that cannot be denied by the Ascoli's goalkeeper who did really well that evening.

What made thing worst were the results of some other big teams such as Roma (3-0 vs Reggina), Inter (3-0 vs Treviso), Lazio and Juventus also won their first games. This maybe not a good start for Milan, the pitch condition was a factor but it cannot be an excuse anyway. Also there was a rumor that Nesta had an argument with the coaches and said some bad words to them before he entered the dressing room after the game. But ACMilan.com mentioned nothing about this rumor, they mentioned and gave clarification about Sheva & Ancellotti's argument last couple months ago though. So let's hope that this was not real.

Another story was from the Azzuri team, they also had a draw against Scotland in the 2006 World Cup Qualification. They conceded the goal in the 13th minute of the first half. It was Zaccardo who had to watch over Miller, the Scotland's goalscorer, and he failed to watch him. Another bad decision by Lippi except played Zaccardo was that he choosed Vieri instead of Gilardino, and Gilardino was not even in the substitution list. Lippi said, as I read it in the newspaper, that he rested Gilardino because Gila still cannot manage any goals. That was strange, since in the last friendly match against Ireland, Gila scored and Vieri failed many chances of goalscoring then. And it also can be seen in the match against Scotland, again Vieri made no contribution except failing some goalscoring chances.

It was one great goalscoring opportunity when Vieri was in front of the net and the keeper was not in his right place, and Vieri only needed to head the ball in just a close range, but you know what, he headed the ball over the bar. Another player like Totti was pretty good, he just hasn't found his magic, that's it. Pirlo, I think he played well, he had some great passes for the strikers. And Nesta, he was great, except one mistake when he tried to pass the ball to Peruzzi, he didn't realise that there was a Scot's striker in his way to reach the ball, fortunately Peruzzi was faster than the striker, if he was not, then it would be a 2-1 game for Scotland. And Grosso, as a substituter for Zaccardo finally scored to make it draw an hour after the Scotland's goal. It was from Pirlo's corner kick, who was headed by Toni but denied by the Scotlands only to be landed on Grosso's foot, who kicked it into the net.

A member of Nesta's fans mailing list, that I've been joining for some times, said that Pirlo is a great player, but somehow he makes the game a bit slow. She said that in a team that has midfielders like Totti or Kaka, should not have Pirlo, because Pirlo will slow the game. The defenders should deliver the ball straight to the midfielders to make an attack instead of send it to Pirlo to distribute the ball to the midfielders. After reading her points, especially when she mentioned about Kaka, I'm thinking of Milan lately after Kaka's arrival. Kaka is a great and good player, but after Kaka's arrival Milan always fail in the Champions League. The first Kaka's season, Milan was out of the game in the quarter final after defeated by Deportivo La Coruna, and the second one was by Liverpool in the final. Was there any relationships between Pirlo factor and Kaka factor that affected Milan's performance in the 2 last seasons ? Let's hope not.

One good news is that Ukraine had finally qualified to the 2006 World Cup Final, as the first European team to be qualified. Ukraine has made a history by qualifying into the final, because this is the first time for Ukraine's National team to be in the WC Final round since Soviet's countries splitted. And I think Sheva made a big contribution for this success of Ukraine's National team. Brazil also has joined Argentine into the final round after they defeated Chile by 5-0, with another hattrick from Adriano, who also made a hattrick for Inter in their first Serie A game this season against Treviso. Surely, he will be the most dreadfull striker in the Serie A, I guess.

Tonight Azzuri will play against Belarus, and I hope that Lippi will play Gilardino instead of Vieri, though he is Milan's assets I still don't like him anyway, still wondering why Milan took Vieri home ??? --". Maybe Lippi can play Toni alongside Gilardino, so that the younger player will get some chances instead of just being a substitution in the last minutes for a senior player that seems having problem in goalscoring. And Grosso will be played as a starter to replace Zambrotta as a left back, that could be Zaccardo will be played alongside Nesta. Let's hope for the best for Azzuri tonight.

Forza Azzuri !!
Forza Nesta !!