From: marco@thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu (Marco Petroni)
Subject: Italian League: Serie A and B Results/Standings (Week 2: Sept.13 Games)
Organization: McGill Research Centre for Intelligent Machines, Montreal, Canada
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 92 00:49:48 GMT

"Amatori del calcio italiano",

Once again, a Sunday full of goals. There were a total of 37 goals
scored in Serie A today, even with 2 of the 9 games ending in scoreless
draws. Albeit a high number of goals scored, this is still 15
less than the record number of goals scored in one day, for a Serie A
with 18 teams, which was set in the 1931-32 season.

So without further delay, here are the results and standings for the
Serie A and Serie B games played on Sunday...


Serie A, Week 2; Games played Sunday, September 13, 1992:

Ancona		2	Sampdoria	3
   Ermini '37		   Jugovic   '23
   Detari '44		   Mancini   '14 (2nd)
			   Massarano '30 (2nd-o.g.)

Ancona received its 2nd loss in as many league games playing
respectable game against a Samp that has definitely seen better days.
Ericsson, the Samp coach, said that he saw a very determined home team
at the start of the match, which marked his players very closely. The
Swedish coach added that Samp had some distractions defensively, which
allowed Ancona's fast counter attacks to venture well into Samp
territory on a couple of occasions. Samp opened the scoring before
Ermini equalized 14 minutes later. Following the Ancona goal, Katanec
was sent off for apparently saying something to the referee which
wasn't very appreciated by the latter, leaving Samp one player short.
Detari scored one minute before time in the first half to give th home
team a 2-1 lead. Mancini equalized on a nice play 14 minutes into the
second half. Fifteen minutes later, a Samp shot was deflected into the
Ancona net, by Ancona's own Massarano, giving Samp the lead which
ended up holding to the end of the match. Thus Ancona has given up 12
goals in their last 3 games; something must be done to fix up the
defense which sometimes seems to have trouble with routine plays at
the back. As for Samp, despite the away win, they too are not without
their problems in the back.


Brescia		0	Torino		0

Despite the goalless draw, the game did have it's entertaining points
with both teams showing their relative merits. Lucescu's team was
running well, especially Raducioiu. Mondonico decided to rest some of
his more important players in preparation for Wednesday's UEFA Cup
match in Sweden. For Torino, Silenzi was disappointing missing a
couple of good scoring chances.


Foggia		2	Napoli		4
   Bresciani '17	   Fonseca '11
   Bresciani '44	   Zola    '40
			   Careca  '14 (2nd)
			   Fonseca '44 (2nd)

This game risked being postponed after vandals entered the stadium
early Sunday morning and proceeded to tear down the goal posts, dig
holes on the pitch, and spray paint the seats where Foggia's team
directors sit, displaying their discontent at the transfer of most, if
not all of their good players during the summer. All of the damage to
the pitch was repaired in time for the opening whistle, though, and
the game started on time. Foggia came back twice in the first half
after trailing, ending the half with a 2-2 draw. Careca brought Napoli
ahead 14 minutes into the second half, and then Foggia came out on the
attack, looking once again to equalize, which didn't happen, as
Fonseca increased the lead with one minute left in the match, scoring
his second of the game. Perhaps this result is unfair to Foggia, as
they did play a good game, but even though, they are fast and
aggressive like last year's team, the new players seem to be rather
inexperienced. Zeman, though, seems to know how to mold these players,
but this was not enough today, as Foggia got it's second loss in as
many games.


Genoa		0	Roma		0

This game was evenly balanced as the score suggests, but not a very
pretty one, with both teams showing confusion in their plays. Roma
played one player short as of the 9th minute of the second half after
Salsano was sent off after receiving his second caution of the match.
Genoa had the better scoring chances in the first half, thanks to runs
by Van't Schip and Ruotolo, who was the pest player on the field. For
Roma, Mihailovic was the most impressive moving well on the field, and
who also narrowly missed scoring towards the end of the match, when a
shot taken from 35-40 meters out, rang off the crossbar.


Inter		3	Cagliari	1
   Bianchi   '7		   Oliveira '7 (2nd)
   Bergomi  '16
   Shalimov '44 (2nd)

A very open game with both teams playing quite well, despite the score
showing Inter's superiority. The home team was slower in the second
half than in the first, whereas Cagliari came out storming in the
second half, after Oliveira and Francescoli had some good chances in
the opening half. As the Inter forwards slowed down, and Cagliari
picked up the pace, the weak mid-field exposed a very shaky defense.
Unlike Udinese the week before, Cagliari only managed to score one
goal, thanks to Oliveira, who was alone with Zenga in front of the net
and took a diagonal shot which crossed the small box out of the reach
of the Inter goalkeeper.  Despite the loss, Mazzone, the Cagliari
coach was pleased with the performance of his players; perhaps better
days will be ahead. Inter's forwards played well, but besides the
attack, the mid-field is weak and the defense is even shakier, things
which need prompt attention.


Juventus	4	Atalanta	1
   Kohler  '25		   Ganz '10 (2nd)
   Moeller '38
   Vialli  '30 (2nd)
   Moeller '40 (2nd)

Juventus played a great match, as the score suggests, with Atalanta
not doing very much, and looking rather "green" and inexperienced at
times.  Trapattoni played Moeller instead of Platt, and this move
ended up being a good one, as the German scored 2 goals. Kohler opened
the scoring 25 minutes into the match with a header, and Vialli scored
Juve's 3rd goal, also on a header.


Lazio		2	Fiorentina	2
   Signori '21 (p.k.)	   Batistuta  '9
   Doll    '33		   Batistuta '27 (2nd)

Fiorentina equalizes 20 minutes from time to get an important away
draw, against a Lazio playing one player short, when Cravero was sent
off at the 8th minute of the second half after receiving his second
yellow card of the game. It was also Batistuta who opened the scoring
early in the match snapping up a short rebound left by Lazio
goalkeeper Fiori. Shortly after Fiorentina's equalizer, Lazio pulled
Signori, substituting the forward for a defender, hoping to avoid
another Fiorentina goal. Even if Fiorentina drew at home against a
good Lazio, the "viola"'s attack seems to be very disorganized, with
many poor and sloppy passes. Lazio, on the other hand, got a good game
from Winter and Signori, but were victim to defensive errors, allowing
the visiting team to score twice.


Parma		3	Udinese		1
   Grun      '4		   Balbo '4 (2nd)
   Asprilla '45
   Melli    '23 (2nd)

Parma regained their old form today scoring three goals, and playing
the offensive and entertaining soccer, that their fans have gotten
used to seeing over the past couple of years. Particularly impressive
was the performance of Colombian Asprilla, who scored a beautiful goal
from just outside the penalty area. Udinese narrowed the gap early in
the second half and reopened the game slightly. This renaissance was
short lived, though, as their shaky play came to light once again.


Pescara		4	Milan		5
   Allegri  '1		   Maldini     '3
   Costacurta '12 (o.g.)   Lentini     '6
   Baresi  '15 (o.g.)      Van Basten '35
   Massara '25		   Van Basten '37
			   Van Basten '27 (2nd)

A very tempestive first half saw the teams score 8 goals in the space
of 37 minutes. Pescara shocked the visiting team going ahead
immediately thanks to a header by Allegri. Maldini equalized moments
later on a corner taken by Donadoni. Shortly after, Lentini gave Milan
the lead.  Pescara score the next three goals: the first came from a
free kick deflected by Milan Costacurta in the net, the second on a
shot taken from far out, which was apparently deflected by Baresi, and
the third by Massara, giving Pescara a 4-2 lead 25 minutes into the
match.  Van Basten score the next three Milan goals: 2 in the first
half, which saw the first half end in a 4-4 tie, and the last one with
20 minutes to go in the second half, which gave Milan the win. The
feverish pace did not spill over into the second half, however, as
Pescara slowed down considerably. The Pescara coach after the game
blamed a naive defense for blowing the 4-2 lead, but scoring 4 goals
against the defending league champ is no small task, even if two of
the four goals were Milan own goals.


Serie A Standings after 2 games:

		W	T	L	GF	GA	PTS	EA *
Milan		2	0	0	6	4	4	1
Juventus	1	1	0	4	1	3	0
Torino		1	1	0	4	1	3	0
Napoli		1	1	0	4	2	3	0
Sampdoria	1	1	0	6	5	3	0
Inter		1	0	1	4	3	2	-1
Parma		1	0	1	4	3	2	-1
Lazio		0	2	0	5	5	2	-1
Pescara		1	0	1	5	5	2	-1
Fiorentina	0	2	0	3	3	2	-1
Genoa		0	2	0	1	1	2	-1
Brescia		0	2	0	0	0	2	-1
Udinese		1	0	1	3	4	2	-1
Atalanta	1	0	1	3	5	2	-1
Roma		0	1	1	0	1	1	-2
Cagliari	0	1	1	1	3	1	-2
Foggia		0	0	2	2	5	0	-3
Ancona		0	0	2	3	7	0	-3

*   This column shows what is known in Italy as the "English Average"
(Media Inglese) for the team, which as far as I know, has almost
nothing to do with England, but that's the name given to this info in
Italy. One can consider this info to represent the pace of a team in
the "campionato": to keep a 0 (zero) in its MI field, a team has to
win its home games and tie in its away games. A draw at home gives a
-1 (one point less than expected), a loss at home gives a -2, an away
victory gives +1, and an away loss gives -1. Why include this type of
information in the standings? Well, statistics show that usually at
the end of the season the league champ almost never has a negative
English Average; in most cases, the league champion will have an
English Average very close to zero (from -1 to +2). This info may be
useful in measuring the "real" (or at least possible) position of a
team in the standings, when they have played a different number of
home and away matches, relative to other teams with the same number
points in the table...



Serie B, Week 2; Games played Sunday, September 12, 1992:

Bari		0	Reggiana	0
Cosenza		3	Andria		1
Cremonese	3	Padova		0
Lecce		2	Ternana		1
Lucchese	0	Bologna		0
Modena		1	Taranto		0
Pisa		1	Piacenza	0
Spal		1	Ascoli		1
Venezia		3	Cesena		1
Verona		1	Monza		0


Serie B Standings after 2 games:

		W	T	L	GF	GA	PTS	EA
Ascoli		1	1	0	4	1	3	0
Cosenza		1	1	0	3	1	3	0
Venezia		1	1	0	3	1	3	0
Pisa		1	1	0	1	0	3	0
Verona		1	1	0	1	0	3	0
Piacenza	1	0	1	4	1	2	-1
Cesena		1	0	1	5	4	2	-1
Cremonese	1	0	1	4	4	2	-1
Spal		0	2	0	2	2	2	-1
Lucchese	0	2	0	1	1	2	-1
Monza		1	0	1	1	1	2	-1
Bologna		0	2	0	0	0	2	-1
Reggiana	0	2	0	0	0	2	-1
Modena		1	0	1	1	3	2	-1
Lecce		1	0	1	2	5	2	-1
Ternana		0	1	1	2	3	1	-2
Bari		0	1	1	0	1	1	-2
Taranto		0	1	1	0	1	1	-2
Andria		0	1	1	2	4	1	-2
Padova		0	1	1	0	3	1	-2


European Cup competition for league teams starts up once again this
week. For people in North America, RAI-USA will be broadcasting the
Champions' Cup game Milan - Olympia Lubijana (Slovenia) live from
Milan's San Siro Stadium on Wednesday, September 16 at 2:30pm ET.

That's all for now!

Marco...
--
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- Marco Petroni - VE2VTN - "Forza Milan! En ROUGE et BLACK." "Forza Ancona!"
	-- McGill Research Centre for Intelligent Machines (McRCIM), 
                         McGill University, Montreal, Canada.  
 INTERNET/BITNET: marco@larry.mcrcim.mcgill.edu  or marco@mcrcim.mcgill.ca
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