From: marco@lightning.mcrcim.mcgill.edu (Marco Petroni)
Subject: Italian League: Serie A and B Results/Standings (Week 4, 27/9/92)
Organization: McGill Research Centre for Intelligent Machines, Montreal, Canada
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 92 02:18:42 GMT

A rather uneventful day of matches in Serie A this week. Gascoigne
makes his Serie A debut for Lazio, and in Serie B, Ascoli and
Pisa still lead the table.

Here are the results of today's matches...


Serie A, Week 4; Games played Sunday, September 27, 1992:


Ancona		1	Napoli		1
   Detari '15 (2nd)	   Fonseca '5

As could be imagined, Napoli dominated the game practically from
beginning to end, but seemed to lack the lucidity needed to score a
second goal, especially after Ancona equalized thanks to a goal from
Detari. The Hungarian was the best player on the field, and the only
one on Ancona who seemed capable of giving problems to the Napoli
defense. Napoli went ahead early in the match thanks to a beautiful
goal by the Uruguayan Fonseca, who shot from an impossible angle, but
managed to get the ball in with a chip, nonetheless. Particularly well
behaved were the respective fans who took turns cheering the other
team, on a day where there was some incidents of violence at other
matches.


Atalanta	2	Cagliari	1
   Ganz '14 (2nd)	   Francescoli '27 (2nd)
   Bordin '26 (2nd)

After a rather boring and uneventful first half, Atalanta woke up in
the second half with their usual fast paced attacks. Although Cagliari
had a Francescoli who was having a great game, this was not enough to
make the difference for the visiting team.


Foggia		1	Udinese		0
   Petrescu '36 (2nd)

For Foggia, one hopes that this win will be good medicine for the
team, who has been struggling in their first three games. The home
team missed many scoring opportunities in the opening half, and missed
adding to their lead in the second half, but all in all there was only
about 20 minutes of really exciting soccer in this game. It was
thought that Udinese would have played a more offensive game, and not
have closed themselves up defensive to the extent that they did.
Foggia started playing on the offensive from the start, but Udinese
seemed to be over cautious throughout the match. Over all, not a very
exciting match but Foggia's Medford but on a good show with a couple
of good scoring chances in both halves.


Inter		2	Fiorentina	2
   Shalimov '37 (2nd)	   Batistuta '7 (2nd)
   Battistini '43 (2nd)	   Batistuta '41 (2nd)

Inter's defense did a good job of neutralizing a very rapid and
dangerous Fiorentina attack, despite conceding two goals to the
"viola". Inter missed going on the board at the end of the first half,
when Sosa blew what seemed like a sure goal. In the second half,
Fiorentina's rapid counter attacks caught up with the home team, and
Batistuta put two in for his team with Inter equalizing after the
temporary leads. Inter's attack was not very effective as Bianchi was
not having one of his better games, and Shalimov was no better.
Shortly before Fiorentina's second goal, they were left one player
short after Luppi was sent off.  Over all, Fiorentina was the better
of the two teams, but Inter showed that it could resist a strong
attack and had the determination to equalize on two occasions.


Juventus	1	Roma		1
   Moeller '16		   Aldair '20

A rain-soaked pitch conditioned the match to a certain extent. The
first half was evenly balanced with Roma being technically better than
the home team, and with Juve being very fast in their attacks.  In the
second half, it was all Juve doing the attacking looking desperately
for the winning goal, as Trapattoni played 3 forwards.  With the game
practically over, Roma almost got the winning goal when Muzzi, on a
break, dribbled by Juve's goalkeeper Peruzzi, but whose shot was
stopped by Julio Cesar, who cleared the ball out of the penalty area,
saving the home team a point. In fairness, Roma would not have
deserved the goal, based on their performance in the second half,
after an evenly balanced first half.


Lazio		1	Genoa		1
   Gregucci '16 (2nd)	   Padovano '38 (2nd)

Lazio coach Dino Zoff was forced to re-organize the layout and
positioning of his players as Gascoigne made his Serie A debut.  The
English player played a decent first half, but is still not at his
peak, as can be imagined. Since Gazza played, Zoff had to take out
Winter, and as a result, the Lazio attack suffered, despite having
all, save one, of the scoring chances in the first half. Lazio were
rather sloppy and when they managed to get a shot off, they were met
by a Tacconi who was in good form.  In the second half, Gascoigne was
substituted, and Lazio's attack seemed to improved somewhat, and still
dominated for the most part, the game. Genoa managed to steal a point
away from the home team, thanks to a goal by Padovano with 8 minutes
to go in the match.  In short, Gazza's debut gave Zoff a few
reorganization headaches, and the English player did make a few good
plays, but did not play as well as he did in the mid-week friendly
against his old squad.


Parma		2	Brescia		0
   Osio   '24
   Cuoghi '41

A great game from the home team who dominated from beginning to end.
The game was rather rough, with 3 players having to leave the game due
to injuries suffered during rough tackles, one of whom was Parma's Di
Chiara who was hurt on a tackle by Hagi. Parma had another good
showing from their Colombian Asprilla who created a few good scoring
chances, and who had no problem shaking off the Brescia defenders, and
getting an assist on Parma's second goal. Brescia finished the match
one player short after Bonometti, the last player back, took down
Asprilla and was promptly sent off by the referee.


Pescara		2	Torino		2
   Borgonovo '43 (2nd)	   Scifo    '16
   Borgonovo '47 (2nd)	   Aguilera '41

Torino saw a two goal lead evaporate in 4 minutes, thanks to a Pescara
offensive mounted very late in the match, and spilling over into
injury time. Perhaps Torino's downfall was to think that the game was
over after scoring their two goals. Marchegiani was the main
protagonist in the second half for Torino, who save a few dangerous
shots taken by Pescara's Massara. The home team had a very weak
defense in the first half, but as Torino backed off in the second
half, Pescara went on the offensive and it paid off.


Sampdoria	-	Milan

Well, the game of the week was postponed due to a water-logged pitch
at Genoa's Marassi stadium, which resemble more a rice field than a
soccer field, after a strong storm hit the area. Flooding was not
restricted to the pitch; there was 1.5 meters of water in the players'
dressing rooms. In any case, if pitch conditions are fine tomorrow,
which looks doubtful, the game will be played their, despite the fact
that Milan has an away Cup match on Wednesday. Otherwise, the date of
the game will be decided sometime later.


Leading Scorers ("Marcatori"):

Detari (Ancona)		4 (1)
Batistuta (Fiorentina)	4 (0)
Signori (Lazio)		4 (1)
Van Basten (Milan)	4 (0)
Fonseca (Napoli)	4 (0)

Ganz (Atalanta)		3 (0)
Moeller (Juventus)	3 (0)
Jugovic (Sampdoria)	3 (0)
Aguilera (Torino)	3 (0)
Casagrande (Torino)	3 (0)
Balbo (Udinese)		3 (0)

- First column represents total goals, and the second column represents
  the number of goals scored on penalty kicks.


Serie A Standings after 4 games:

		W	T	L	GF	GA	PTS	EA *
Torino		2	2	0	9	3	6	0
Milan		3	0	0	8	4	6	1	**
Fiorentina	1	3	0	12	6	5	-1
Juventus	1	3	0	7	4	5	-1
Inter		2	1	1	8	6	5	-1
Sampdoria	2	1	0	8	6	5	1	**
Napoli		1	2	1	6	5	4	-2
Roma		1	2	1	4	3	4	-2
Lazio		0	4	0	7	7	4	-2
Parma		2	0	2	6	6	4	-2
Genoa		0	4	0	4	4	4	-2
Brescia		1	2	1	1	2	4	-2
Atalanta	2	0	2	5	8	4	-2
Pescara		1	1	2	7	8	3	-3
Udinese		1	0	3	4	7	2	-4
Cagliari	0	2	2	3	6	2	-4
Foggia		1	0	3	4	8	2	-4
Ancona		0	1	3	5	15	1	-5

** Both Milan and Sampdoria have played one game less.

* For this season, I've decided to include team's "Media Inglese" with
the standings. This column shows what is known in Italy as the
"English Average" 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...

Next week's fixtures:

	Week 5: 4/10/92

Brescia		-	Foggia
Cagliari	-	Roma
Fiorentina	-	Milan
Genoa		-	Ancona
Inter		-	Atalanta
Lazio		-	Parma
Napoli		-	Juventus
Torino		-	Sampdoria
Udinese		-	Pescara


Serie B, Week 4; Games played Sunday, September 27, 1992:

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

Serie B Standings after 4 games:

		W	T	L	GF	GA	PTS	EA
Ascoli		3	1	0	7	1	7	1
Pisa		3	1	0	3	0	7	1
Cremonese	3	0	1	9	5	6	0
Reggiana	2	2	0	4	0	6	0
Verona		2	2	0	3	0	6	0
Cosenza		1	3	0	4	2	5	-1
Piacenza	1	2	1	6	3	4	-2
Bari		1	2	1	5	4	4	-2
Venezia		1	2	1	3	2	4	-2
Padova		1	2	1	5	5	4	-2
Bologna		1	2	1	2	2	4	-2
Modena		2	0	2	4	8	4	-2
Cesena		1	1	2	6	6	3	-3
Lucchese	0	3	1	1	2	3	-3
Monza		1	1	2	1	4	3	-3
Lecce		1	1	2	3	8	3	-3
Ternana		0	2	2	3	6	2	-4
Taranto		0	2	2	1	4	2	-4
Spal		0	2	2	2	6	2	-4
Andria		0	1	3	3	7	1	-5


For North American readers, RAI-USA will broadcast the game Napoli -
Valencia live on Wednesday starting at 3:30pm ET.  I was expecting
them to show the Torino - IFK Norkoeping match, given that Napoli won
5-0 in Valencia in the first leg of this round, making this game
rather academic, unless Valencia pulls off an amazing upset defeating
Napoli 6-0 at San Paolo.  Torino, on the other hand, lost their first
leg game 1-0 and must win on Wednesday by at least 2 goals if they
wish to make it to the next round...

That's all for now. More news on Wednesday for the results of the
second round of the Cup matches...


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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