Juventus confirm Candreva signing

January 21, 2010

Juventus on Wednesday confirmed the signing of Italy midfielder Antonio Candreva from Udinese following complicated three-way negotiations.

The 22-year-old has signed on loan until the end of the season with an option to then buy him outright.

According to the Italian press Juventus will pay 7.5 million euros to buy a half share in the player until the season’s end with the option to then buy the other half in the summer.

Candreva was on a season-long loan at Livorno, who will also receive a million euros from Juve, according to reports.

The midfielder has one Italy cap to his name having been picked by Marcello Lippi for a 0-0 friendly draw against the Netherlands last year.

He was also a part of the Italian Olympic squad in Beijing in 2008.

He began his career in Serie B with Ternana in 2004 before he was sold to Udinese three years later.

Last season he was loaned out to Livorno and helped them secure promotion from Serie B, after which the club extended his loan deal for a further season.

He will come straight into the Juve squad for Saturday’s visit of AS Roma as Felipe Melo is suspended, Christian Poulsen and Mauro Camoranesi are injured and Mohamed Sissoko will only recently have returned from African Nations Cup duty.

ROME (AFP)

Tags: 5 million, african nations cup, Antonio Candreva, Beijing, christian poulsen, felipe melo, italian press, Italy, juve, juventus, livorno, loan deal, mauro camoranesi, midfielder, mohamed sissoko, negotiations, olympic squad, Roma, ROME, ternana, the Netherlands, udinese

Ferrara gets Juve backing after crisis meeting

January 19, 2010

Ciro Ferrara remains in charge of Juventus, for now. On Monday, the club board held a crisis meeting but concluded that the coach can’t be hold responsible for the poor results and decided to keep faith with Ferrara.

Sunday’s defeat to Chievo was Juve’s fourth league defeat in five games. The Bianconeri now lie fifth in the Serie A table, thirteen points from league leaders Internazionale.

Ferrara’s future has been the subject of intense speculation for a while now but Juve’s deputy director general Roberto Bettega has reiterated his support for Ferrara and insists the club have no plans to sack the former Italian international.

“We go forward with Ferrara, as we always said,” he told Corriere dello Sport.

“He came out smiling from this meeting and this is already an answer. Have we told Ferrara that the problem was him? No, evidently we did not have to tell him that.”

Juventus are expected to make large investments on the transfer market but Bettega denied any links.

“We won’t be signing any players because we are just waiting for the ones who are injured to return.

“Mohamed Sissoko is our first capture. Mali have been knocked out and he will be back for the Roma game, he is our most important reinforcement. ‘Momo’ is very important for us.”

Tags: bianconeri, deputy director general, faith, Ferrara, five games, game, intense speculation, investments, juve, juventus, league leaders, mali, mohamed sissoko, momo, reinforcement, Roberto Bettega, Roma, serie a table

Ferrara eyes January reinforcements

January 14, 2010

It’s not quite sure that he will be in charge of Juventus near the end of the transfer window but Ciro Ferrara thinks a few additions to his squad can lift his team.

Ferrara looks to have averted the immediate danger of dismissal after advancing to the Coppa Italia quarter-finals with a 3-0 win over Napoli on Wednesday.

Nevertheless, after last Sunday’s dramatic 0-3 defeat against Milan Juve find themself twelve points behind leaders Internazionale in the league.

“Now we’ll have to intervene in the transfer market,” says Ferrara.

Ferrara’s options to engineer a reversal of fortunes have been hampered by injuries to important players such as Gianluigi Buffon, Mauro Camoranesi, Vincenzo Iaquinta and David Trezeguet.

Furthermore, Mohamed Sissoko is at the African Nations Cup with Mali, while defender Cristian Molinaro and midfielder Tiago have been loaned out to VfB Stuttgart and Atletico Madrid respectively.

“Several players are injured and some players have left,” states Ferrara. “They’ll have to be replaced.”

Several Italian media report that Juventus is about to recall striker Davide Lanzafame from his loan at Parma.

Cristian Ledesma, who is taking legal action to free himself from his contract with Lazio after being frozen out this season for making a transfer request is also an option for the Bianconeri.

Playmaker Diego and captain Alessandro Del Piero’s performance against Napoli must have satisfied Ferrara.

“Let’s hope that this match is the start of a new era,” Diego was quoted as saying by Thursday’s La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“Recently we got many things wrong, attitude included. We had fun again (against Napoli) and we have to carry on like this.”

Tags: african nations cup, Alessandro Del Piero, Atletico, atletico madrid, bianconeri, camoranesi, captain Alessandro del Piero, coppa italia, Cristian Ledesma, Cristian Molinaro, david trezeguet, Diego, Ferrara, gianluigi buffon, Iaquinta, internazionale, italian media, la gazzetta dello sport, lanzafame, lazio, MADRID, mali, mauro camoranesi, Milan, mohamed sissoko, molinaro, napoli, quarter finals, striker, stuttgart, transfer request, twelve points, vfb stuttgart, Vincenzo, vincenzo iaquinta

Mali, Algeria, eager to atone for bumpy Cup starts

January 14, 2010

For Mali and Algeria, Thursday’s second Group A run out gives them a second chance to prove their true worth after indifferent starts to their Africa Cup of Nations campaigns.

In the case of Mali a miraculous fightback to grab a point against Angola having looked down and out trailing by four goals with quarter of an hour to go masked a poor first half display that had Nigerian coach Stephen Keshi shaking his head in frustration.

The Algerians for their part paid for an error-strewn tepid performance 24 hours later when they were whipped 3-0 by outsiders Malawi, who face Angola in the second leg of Thursday’s Group A double header at the 11 November stadium.

Keshi says his side were mentally shaken by the way they let Angola race into what appeared an unassailable lead, before the hosts’ crumbled.

“The spirit was low after Angola,” Keshi reported.

“The players are aware of the mistakes they made on Sunday, but it was a hard game played in a difficult atmosphere given the frantic support for the home side.”

Barcelona midfielder Seydou Keita, who came off the bench to score two goals, insisted his teammates had the mental strength to bounce back.

“Algeria may be in the World Cup but they’re in a tricky situation. Our position is more favourable.

“The pressure is greater for them because if they drop points against us qualification for the next round is going to be tough.”

Keshi was cautiously optimistic of being able to call up Juventus midfielder Mohamed Sissoko, who has been battling a groin injury and missed Sunday’s opener.

“Sissoko is better, but whether he plays or not I don’t know.”

Mali will have to tread carefully on the disciplinary front, with four players a booking away from a one match suspension, a quartet that includes Keita, who bagged a double on Sunday with Frederic Kanoute and Mustapha Yataboure contributing.

Over in the Algeria camp Rangers defender Madjid Bougherra said sorry to the nation’s fans for Monday’s defeat to Malawi, a world apart from the performance they put in to pip Egypt to the World Cup in November’s play-off in Kartoum.

“We apologise to the Algerian people. We weren?t at the level expected of us for this match.”

He blamed the shock loss in large part on the hot and humid conditions – the game kicked off at 1445 local time. Thursday’s game is scheduled for 1700.

“We couldn?t play at our real level because the heat handicapped us greatly. There were moments where we couldn?t even walk on the field.

“We were expecting that kind of heat but it was clear that our opponents were more used to it. We?ll have to bounce back against Mali, and it won?t be as hot during that one.”

For Siena striker Abdelkader Ghezzal, Algeria got what was coming to them against Malawi.

“We played badly and deserved to lose,” Ghezzal conceded.

“We had some good chances, but were not good enough to capitalise on them.

“This defeat will do us well, as we need to rediscover the spirit that allowed us to qualify for the World Cup.

“We now need to focus on our next match against Mali.”

LUANDA (AFP)

Tags: Africa, africa cup of nations, algeria, algerians, Angola, Barcelona, camp Rangers, double header, Egypt, fightback, groin injury, Luanda, madjid bougherra, mali, mental strength, midfielder, mohamed sissoko, Mustapha, outsiders, score two, second chance, second group, Stephen Keshi, tricky situation, true worth

Italian players’ union chief: Stop game if chanting is racist

December 1, 2009

The chief of Italian players’ union has stated that next Saturday’s Serie A game between Juventus and Inter Milan must be stopped if racist chanting is heard,

Juventus were forced to play a game behind closed doors last season after fans racially abused Inter’s Mario Balotelli but their supporters have again chanted against the black striker in recent matches ahead of the clash in Turin.

“It’s always difficult to suspend a match but if we want to beat this evil we shouldn’t fear doing it,” Sergio Campana told reporters.

“We have to give the captains the right to ask for the suspension of the game.”

Italian football federation chief Giancarlo Abete has said the referee, with the help of the police, will be able to stop the match for 10 minutes if there is racist chanting.

However, it is unclear what role the captains can play.

But Inter skipper Javier Zanetti has said he would not hesitate to approach the referee following racist abuse with his coach Jose Mourinho being wary of unilaterally pulling off his players in case his side is penalized.

Balotelli, born in Palermo, might not even be in Turin after being left out of Inter’s squad for Sunday’s 1-0 win over Fiorentina which sent the champions seven points clear.

Third-placed Juve, fined last week for the latest chants, are trying to control their fans but Italian football is rife with racism and reports says Juve’s own midfielder Mohamed Sissoko was abused by Cagliari supporters in Sunday’s 2-0 defeat.