Fantacalcio!
By: bingitz2002 |
8 Comments
Although we are in Serie B this term, I thought I would plug this Serie A Fantacalcio league that Dan at the Reggina blog has organized. We can still keep our Italian football knowledge sharp and have a fun relaxing time playing some fantasy football. Here are the details (copied from the Reggina blog): Read the rest of this entry »
Category: Serie A
Weekend Recap
By: bingitz2002 | Add Comments
This weekend was not a particularly memorable in the granata world as we were eliminated from the Coppa Italia and have not made any more dealings in the transfer market. There is still some work to be done before the season starts next week, but it looks like we will be ready for the season opener against Grosseto next Saturday. Read the rest of this entry »
Torino 1-0 Figline: An August Toro
By: bingitz2002 | 6 Comments
Torino are through to the next round of the Coppa Italia after a narrow 1-0 win over Lega Pro side Figline. As commentators appropriately noted, it is the Toro of August, as we are still in many ways getting ready for the league campaign ahead. Rolando Bianchi scored the only goal of the match, assisted by David Di Michele, making his competitive debut after a loan spell in England. We also saw true Toro debuts from Simone Loria and Nicolás Gorobsov, who both started, and our most recent signing, Massimo Loviso, who replaced the latter early in the second half. Read the rest of this entry »
More Transfers + Coppa Italia Rundown
By: bingitz2002 | Add Comments
There was more activity in Toro’s mercato late this week as the team saw one player out and another fill his shoes. On his way out is World Cup winner Simone Barone while coming in is midfielder Massimo Loviso from Livorno. More after the break as well as a rundown on our participation in the Coppa Italia, which starts tomorrow for us. Read the rest of this entry »
Hard Times (Pt. 1)
By: bingitz2002 | 3 Comments
Well, you are probably surprised I am here. To be honest I am a little surprised I am here. It’s been tough for me to get inspired to write given Torino’s fortunes over the past few months but I am feeling relaxed, in a good place and cautiously optimistic that we have hit our lowest point and have nowhere to go but up. I could spend a lot of time explaining my long absence, but that could easily have its own post. What’s important is that I’m here and ready to bring you coverage of Toro’s campaign to get back to il paradiso, aka Serie A. The first part of this two part post will deal with last season and the personnel changes at the club this summer while the second part, to be published in a day or two will deal with preseason preparations and the season ahead. Read the rest of this entry »
Those goddamn jail uniforms!
By: bingitz2002 | 5 Comments
Seriously. What’s so appealing about playing in black-and-white stripes? It looks like you’re doing time, not playing football. (I suppose it suits Juventus however.) Nonetheless, i gobbi are not the focus of our efforts this weekend (though the derby is soon!), this Sunday we welcome Udinese to the Stadio Olimpico. This is a tricky match. Last season we lost this fixture 0-1 to a cracking free kick from Simone Pepe, so needless to say we need a different result this time around.
Now, I could spend time and use some space writing a bunch of stuff, but this Gazzetta graphic tells the story perfectly:
Perhaps the most notable thing about our starting lineup is that Monzon is planning on starting Gasbarroni lining up as our fantasista instead of Rosina. This is a bizarre decision to me. Rosinaldo has been in good enough form to keep his place. What I would suggest is starting Gasba on the left wing instead of Diana, who has never really impressed me there and should certainly not replace Abate. However, Diana does bring a lot of hard work and stability to the table, while Gasba is a bit of an unknown quantity and probably not as good at defensive responsibilities as Diana. To me, its all a question of balance. We could tilt the scales in favor of attacking, but that’s a dangerous thing to do against a squad like Udinese. On the other hand, if there is ever a game we need three points from, it is this one. We could go for attack and sacrifice one of our more attacking center mids, but that would likely be Corini, who I would see as integral to a positive result tomorrow. I still like the idea of putting more into our attack and possibly having Dzemaili drop back a little bit or even switch out for the more defensively capable Zanetti, but it seems now we will have to wait for whatever surprise El Monzon springs on us next.
I can’t write much more because I have to get to the airport early tomorrow morning, but I will leave you with a prediction: Torino 1-0 Udinese, Gasba to open his Toro account. Unfortunately, we have not beaten Udinese in this fixture (or at all) since the 2001-2002 season, but I that has to change some time and what better time than now. FORZA TORO PER SEMPRE!
Category: Game Preview/ReviewThese are interesting times (to be a Toro fan)
By: bingitz2002 | 2 Comments
Ladies and gentlemen,
These seem like bleak times for Torino. We have dropped points to all of our relegation rivals (though fortunately only one of those, that ugly 2-5 to Bologna, was a loss). We are currently sitting in 18th place, far off track of the “magic 40″ points that are necessary for survival.
We do have some reasons for optimism though. One of those reasons came in January when Cairo finally appointed a Director of Sport in Rino Foschi. This gives us hope in a number of ways. First of all he is a pretty good DS, having worked at Palermo and most recently Genoa where he orchestrated their successful transfer campaign this summer. Furthermore, he is fully committed to saving Torino from relegation. “How?” you may ask, especially considering that the transfer market is complete. The answer is that he is a figure in the management that the players can respect and are comfortable dealing with, as opposed to Cairo, who has done all he can to alienate our best players, most notably Rosina and Sereni. By providing an link between the team and the management, Foschi can can help improve the attitude of the players. I find it no coincidence that the morale in the dressing room has improved since Foschi’s appointment.
Another factor we have to take into consideration is Eugenio Corini. When Corini was out injured we had perhpas the worst spell of our season, the one that really led us to the troubles we are having now. “Il Genio” brings a certain dynamic to the team that no other player we have can bring. He is not only a natural leader, but a veteran with vast amounts of experience in his career. His legs may be going, but he’s still a very smart and technically skilled player. Having him on the pitch will give the players the confidence they need to start winning games they might draw and drawing games they might lose. He is pegged to start against Udinese this weekend and I cannot be more thankful.
The last factor is something that has been blogged about recently in the main blog. This is Mr. X, now revealed to the world as Raffaele Ciurcarriello, a wealthy Turin-based businessman and a lifelong Torino fan. (I am under the impression that Cairo too is a Toro fan, but the way he runs the club you wouldn’t know it.) He is prepared to offer €100 million for the club and is reportedly ready to spend plenty more in the transfer market. The €100 million figure is well above what it is worth and what Cairo acquired it for. However, Cairo being the stubborn fool that he is, has now said he won’t even talk to Ciurcarriello’s lawyers, making this a right pain. Mr. Cairo, if you love this team, then you need to let it go!
So, despite what the pundits may think, all is not lost. We can potentially turn our season around on Sunday against Udinese. (Unfortunately, I will be in transit at game time.) The Mr. X ordeal won’t get resolved before the end of the season, but should we survive we will have a great set-up with his money (and hopefully brains) as well as Foschi’s expertise on the market. Even if we go down perhaps it’ll persuade Cairo to realize that his project has failed and that it would be best to sell the club. Interesting times? I think so.
Category: Team NewsHere’s the dealie-o
By: bingitz2002 | Add Comments
I’ve been here on and off. I’ve been ghosting around here for a little bit and I see some posts and comments lamenting/commenting on the fact that there is no active Torino blog, and for that I apologize. When I agreed back in August to write on this blog, I sorely underestimated the time I would have to devote to it. Back to the now, I have been traveling through South America for the past month or so. Soon I will be settling down in Chile to study there until July. This means I will probably not get to watch as many Toro (or Serie A) games as I would like, nor will I be able to write more than once-twice a week, if that. I will try to update this when possible and do a better job than I have, but if there is anyone reading out there that wants to help me out, or even just occasionally post something of interest to the blog, then I would be more than happy to work with you. Torino deserves a regularly updated blog, and I can’t always promise that.
That being said, I will try to get something in soon.
Category: Team NewsTorino Legends: Il Grande Torino, Pt. 2
By: bingitz2002 | 6 Comments
Despite a bit of euphoria from the fact that we have now won two of our last three games, it is looking to be a slow week for Toro, one in which we can recuperate and get ready for a difficult away trip to Sicily next Sunday in which we might see the return of Matteo Sereni. In the meantime, I’m going to continue something I started a few months ago when I started writing here and continue with my pieces on Toro history. I started with the first part of the Grande Torino legend, so today I will continue with Part 2. For those of you who need a refresher, here is Part 1. And now, enjoy Part 2, covering the war years and the first post-war scudetto: Read the rest of this entry »
Category: Torino HistoryI’m Baaack!
By: bingitz2002 | 4 Comments
Some of you, I hope alot of you, will get the reference I made with the picture and title, for those of you who don’t, to answer your question, no that is not what I look like. Anyways, after election craziness here in the states and an avalanche of work, I feel the inspiration to write again. I wish I could say it was the team that inspired me, and in a way they always do, but if I were to pick a word to describe Torino so far this season, inspiring would probably be towards the bottom of my list. Nonetheless, a win today has boosted my spirits a bit, even if we played like a Serie B at times. At least Palermo was crappier.
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