Tonight in Bari, at the Stadio San Nicola, the tenth edition of the Trofeo TIM will take place between Juventus, Milan, and Inter. This unrecognized and unsanctioned tournament has been held yearly in August since 2001, and consists of three forty-five minutes matches. The first mini-match will see defending tournament champions Juventus take on Inter. The losers will then stay on and play Milan in the second mini-match, while the winner will play against the Rossoneri in the final match.
Here’s how the scoring works: A regular time victory earns the winners three points, while the losers get nothing. If it goes to penalty shots, the winning team gets two points while the other team gets a single point for their troubles.
Thus far Inter lead with five trophies, Milan with three, and Juventus have one. Keep in mind however, this tournament should mean nothing to any team’s supporters for two important reasons. Firstly, this tournament's only objective is to satisfy a marketing campaign designed by (you guessed it) TIM a.k.a. Telecom Italia and is not played according to FIFA’s rulebook. Secondly, pre-season is still pre-season. Last year we won this thing and look where we ended up. Also, one should expect each team to field a fair amount of their personnel in this one as fitness levels are the beneficiaries here after all.
When: Friday, August 13, 2010 - 2:45pm EST
Links: atdhe.net [direct match link] myp2p.eu [match thread]
Here are the call-ups: Motta Chiellini Felipe Melo Sissoko Marchisio Del Piero Amauri Manninger Trezeguet Bonucci Lanzafame Grygera Pepe Martinez Diego De Ceglie Costantino Storari Legrottaglie Ferrero. Felipe’s back, Diego’s obviously still in, and Camoranesi’s left out even though his Premier League move is on the rocks. Life is near perfect. Enjoy the photos of Thursday's penalty kick practice.
IERI... OGGI... DOMANI... SEMPRE JUVE!!!