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Wow what a story!! Good Stuff

retired_destiny1124

Thanks BC5- I am glad you are enjoying it

***

24.3.10
San Marino (0) USA (3)
San Marino- None
USA- L.Donovan 16-P C.Casey 25 B.Convey 36
MOM- Conor Casey, USA

We needed to play much better than we did in the first half to even have a hope of a chance against this talented USA side. Their pace advantage and quick ball movement- keyed by Freddy Adu, Landon Donovan and DeMarcus Beasley gave us fits defensively. We didn't help ourselves at all when we handed them the first goal as Alessandro Della Velle fouled Conor Casey in the air and Donovan converted the penalty kick. It was 2-0 when Paolo Cupi lost coverage on Casey and he finished off a pretty passing sequence with a shot into the right side of the net. Bobby Coney boomed home a 25 yard free kick to give them their last goal. With liberal substitutions, we played better in the second half and actually finally managed a couple decent scoring chances. We didn't trouble them too much, but we did play better defensively in the second half in finishing out the 3-0 loss.

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As we approach our September matches we will be missing some important players. Alex Gasperoni is out for a couple months after surgery on his achilles tendon. Michele Albani is out with a knee injury. Alessandro Della Velle decided it was time to retire. Carlo Valentini suffered another major injury and is out at least 9 months, with his career now in jeopardy. With Alex Gasperoni out, Alessandro Gasperoni will move back to the midfield. We may well start youngster Alabaster (real name Michele Albani, but he changed it to avoid confusion with the other forward of same name) up front paired with Andrea Della Velle. Nicole Ciacci remains our most accomplished forward, but this tandem might improve our lot. Gasper will remain in the starting lineup over his now healed namesake Nicola Gasperoni. Federico Gasperoni will be back in net- it looks like we do need his veteran presence and leadership in the lineup. Luca Moroni, who may have won the starting DMC role from stalwart Andrea Domeniconi, will get his chance to show if he is a better answer. Domeniconi is a decent tackler, but has never been a solid link to the attack because his passing tends to be abysmal.

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4.9.10
Australia (1) San Marino (0)
Australia- V.Grella 66
San Marino- None
MOM- Federico Gasperoni, San Marino

Federico Gasperoni gave an inspired performance to celebrate his return to number 1 keeper status and we played Australia even through the first 55 minutes of play. Alabaster and Luca Moroni both had excellent debuts and have earned the right to start against Russia. The combination of Andrea Della Velle, Alabaster and Nicola Giardi worked together suprisingly well- the best we have had a trio play since reinstituting the 442 diamond approach. With Russia coming up in a few days and our exhausting plane trip back looming- I substituted early in the second half and our subs didn't play as well as the starting unit. Vincenzo Grella was left with enough room to snake shot past Federico Gasperoni and that was the only goal in the match. It was a solid effort in preparing to play Russia.

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Starting Lineup against Russia
GK- Federico Gasperoni
DR- Roberto Selva
DL- Stefano Moroni
DCR- Gasper
DCL- Paolo Cupi
DMC- Luca Moroni
MR- Marco Rossi
ML- Alessandro Gasperoni
AMC- Nicola Giardi
SC- Alabaster
SC- Andrea Della Velle

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8.9.10
San Marino (0) Russia (2) Euro Champs Qualifier Group 1
San Marino- None
Russia- D.Bulykin 31,50
MOM- Dmitri Bulykin, Russia

We gave Russia a tough match, but a defensive mistake and a mishandle cost us two goals that we couldn't get back as we lost 2-0. We were playing Russia very evenly when they took the lead. Their goal started with our free kick. They got out on the counter-attack and Gasper didn't get back soon enough to help Roberto Selva- which left Dmitri Bulykin behind both of them and with an easy chance to score on Federico Gasperoni. Our rally was impressive, even if we couldn't find a way to score Vyacheslav Malafeev. They got their 2nd goal early in the second half when all Gasperoni had to do was to jump on and smother the loose ball- and instead he couldn't control it and Bulykin was right there for his 2nd goal. We lost Nicola Giardi moments later to injury and things looked grim. It appeared we had life when we got a goal back as Gasper headed in a corner from Alessandro Gasperoni, only to see our entire stadium erupt angrily when the German referee ruled that Gasper had pushed Malafeev in the air and waved off the goal. We still generated chances, even without the injured Giardi, and that was encouraging- but if you never put the ball in the net, you can't win. The papers said afterwards that Russia 'coasted' to the win- the reality is we earned more grudging respect from them for our effort in the loss.

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24.9.10
As I tried to figure out our roster for Holland, I was keenly aware that we would miss Roberto Selva in the worst way. Selva had fractured his cheek and wouldn't be available for another month. Nicola Albani is also nursing injuries and I was unsure if he would be ready to play, so 24 year old SW/DRC Andrea Rossi received the call-up to the National side. Rossi has the physical abilities to challenge the big Dutch wingers, but lacks a lot of skill. I didn't really have much choice as there appears to be a run on injuries to rightbacks- my first five choices are all out injured. We get Alex Gasperoni back from injury, which will change the lineup somewhat.

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9.9.10
Holland (7) San Marino (0) Euro Champs Qualifier Group 1
Holland- A.Robben 13,17 K.Hofland 29 K.Frankel 34,44 W.Sneijder 40 R.van Persie 80
San Marino- None
MOM- Robin van Persie, Holland

I was well and truly embarrassed by our performance. Holland generally crushes us, but we just plain quit today and I let the players know how I felt about it. We played terribly in every phase of play- including our keepers inability to stop 30 and 40 yard shots. After Federico Gasperoni gave up 2 weak goals and we trailed 4-0 on Frankel's 1st goal, I sent in Andrea Fabbri and if anything, he was even worse as both Sneijder's goal and Frankel's 2nd goal were easily stoppable. van Persie's last goal was due to Fabbri making a goal kick right to him. I was disgusted with our play, we couldn't make a short pass. Holland took advantage of their height to pound in high crosses on the first two goals. Once we got behind, there was no spirit from our side- losing Roberto Selva cost us dearly in that department today. It was a record margin for a loss and it left me feeling very frustrated with my young squad.

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10.10.10
To add to our woes, Nicola Giardi suffered a groin strain and will now miss the Iceland match. Fate is not helping us much these days.

***

13.10.10
San Marino (2) Iceland (2) Euro Champs Qualifier Group 1
San Marino- Alss.Gasperoni 36 A.Della Velle 60
Iceland- E.Hallfredsson 30 T.Kristjansson 70
MOM- David Tor Vidarsson, Iceland

A match of many swings, at least we finally broke our losing string in Competitions. We should have won this match though. After a terrible coverage on a corner allowed them to take the lead, we rallied and stunned them when Alessandro Gasperoni knocked home a rebound to even the match at 1-1. The English referee had been very tough on us in the first half- with 5 yellow cards dotting our lineup. He evened that up with a 2nd yellow card to Eidur Gudjonsen early in the second half. We took the lead on a superb counter attack and an excellent finish by Andrea Della Velle. All we had to do was play defense for the win. Instead Gasper decided he needed to roam all the way out to midfield to challenge, and predictably Iceland found the hole behind him as David Tor Vidarsson threaded a pass through to Torarinn Kristjansson and he equalized- to my great disgust. We had a couple chances to win the match, but couldn't net the ball on decent opportunities. It was a nice result- but I wanted the win badly.

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Our friendlies to close the season are with Northern Ireland and Kenya. The only real addition to the National Roster is 19 year old AMLC Nicole Della Velle. We do have a now healthy Nicola Giardi coming back to the lineup, so our starting lineup against Northern Ireland will be (barring injuries):

GK- Federico Gasperoni (I wasn't pleased with Alessandro Capicchioni's letting in of a somewhat weak goal against Iceland)
DR- Andrea Rossi (Roberto Selva is healing up and on the roster- but isn't at full fitness)
DL- Stefano Moroni
DCR- Gasper
DCL- Paolo Cupi
DMC- Luca Moroni
MR- Alessandro Gasperoni
ML- Alex Gasperoni
AMC- Nicola Giardi
SC- Alabaster
SC- Andrea Della Velle