dream come true

Fabrizio Miccoli


AC Milan 0 Palermo 2

A 12 year old boy used to stand by the sidelines, and throw the ball back into the pitch so that Marco Van Basten could get on with the game. This boy used to dream of scoring at the venue located in the San Siro district of Milan. And what do you know, the boy finally did see his dream come to pass last night. His name is Fabizio Miccoli.

Palermo had gone through a positive period in the summer. After signing players of incredible promise, the side from Sicily looked like one to reckon with. So when I saw Favalli in the line up, you could imagine my shock. He had to defend against the likes of Miccoli and Cavani, who would leave a smoke of dust for the 38 year old to sweep up. Abate was given the nod, and Pato was given some much needed rest. Palermo started the game strongly, and their slick football should have yielded fruit if not for Cavani. Milan then got into the game and created several chances, but no end product. Our attacking formation was translating into action. Palermo continued to scuff their chances, ingloriously. It was beginning to appear as though the ref was Palermo's 12th man on the pitch. The lack of a world-class striker in our team was becoming increasingly evident as the game wore on. Zambrotta and Ronaldinho had a very positive half. Abate struggled to get into the game for 45 minutes.

Zambrotta's form then went for a walk in the second half, and it started with the first goal. Miccoli was given enough space to drive a Hummer through, and the diminutive forward made no mistake on his finish. Borriello missed a free header situation, which compounds my belief that he simply isn't good enough to perform at this level. He isn't our 20 goal/season striker, and is at most capable of cameos. The second goal was because of the inability of our sluggish defense and its incompetence to deal with the pace, guile and flair of the Rosanero. What should have been Pastore's goal was seized by the Aussie, Bresciano. Highly rated Uruguayan Cavani, was busy impersonating Borriello at the other end of the pitch. What was Leo thinking when he brought on Inzaghi for Seedorf. The Dutchman was actually putting in a decent performance but Leo goes loony. And as obvious as can be, the attackers were constantly running into each other and coming in each others way. Credit to Palermo's rear guard though. Bovo and Kjaer were impressive, rock solid. Pato's miss summed up the night for us.

Before I get to the melodramatic conclusion, I would like to congratulate Inter and Mourinho on winning their 25th consecutive league title. Gibberish? Yes, but you get the sarcasm. Now we embark on a period where we face the likes of Fiorentina, Genoa and Juventus. Inter too. And if we aren't keen on breaking a disgraceful record in Italy, we need to recruit, and recruit big. Otherwise, it wont just be Berlusconi's face being broken.

AC Milan - /
Palermo - Miccoli 49', Bresciano 61'