A.S. Bari Offside

Welcome to Paradise (Bari Vs Parma Preview)

Eros Miranda — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:03:40 +0000

I’m not going to brag too much cause last time I did Bari suffered their first and only league defeat, but what I am going to say, and I think I speak for all the Bari fans around the world, is that I’m ECSTATIC! A year ago we were fighting the likes of Brescia and Albinoleffe and NOW a year later we are currently ahead of the likes of Napoli,Genoa,Roma,Udinese, and Lazio. It’s early in the season but 9 games are worth 27 points that have already gone by. If we look further into it Bari would be are fourth in Goal differential and number of losses, so that’s another good note about details that sometimes don’t go noticed but say a lot about a team. Ok, so against Lazio we played a superb game. Besides scoring two goals and playing a very barcelona-like style football Lazio only got 1 shot on target and it was covered by Gillet (no surprise there).

And since the game wasn’t on T.V and a link was hard to find I’m guessing most of you didn’t catch the Lazio fans chanting “bari,bari” and our fans warmly responding, their chants towards Gabrielle Sandri were really moving and this is what football and “real” fanatics (not ultras) is all about.
On another note Ranocchia looks sharper everyday and I wish we could find a way to atleast keep him on loan for another season. My dream at the beginning of the season and current dream is still that someday our defence is made up of Ranocchia and Ariaudo. Ariaudo has yet to play for Juve which is a shame and maybe a winter operation could be good as tired legs start to kick in. ALMIRON, loaned from Juve, is playing some great football and moving towards a safe comparison with Veron, even if it’s obvious that career wise Almiron is still lacking.

Tomorrow’s game against Parma is extremely tricky and a specific approach is hard at this point, besides keep doing what we’ve been doing. Out of all the Serie A teams Parma reminds me a lot of Bari and being level on points proves that just right. The lineups will probably be unchanged from last week and look like this:
Parma: (5-3-2): Mirante, Zenoni, Zaccardo, Paci, Lucarelli, Castellini; Dzemaili, Morrone, Galloppa; Paloschi, Bojinov

Bari: (4-4-2): Gillet, A. Masiello, Ranocchia, Bonucci, S. Masiello; Alvarez, Donati, Almiron, Allegretti; Barreto, Kutuzov

Remember that Parma once had players such as Buffon, Cannavaro, and Thuram

Expect a very hardfought match between two sides looking to leave their mark in Serie A, I can speak for all Bari fans that three points here and a point next week against Sampdoria would be a huge step that could change our whole mentality in the season.

Per Sempre Bari

Flying Bari vs. Fallen Eagles

Eros Miranda — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:32:50 +0000

When I say fallen eagles I mean it in the sense that Lazio are not where they expected to be in the league, but they were actually in fine form this weekend and sunk the Yellow Submarine (Villareal) in the Europa League, so congrats for that. That being said, Bari is no Villareal, we are in better form and with a win this weekend against Lazio we will make a huge step towards a very promising season.

So far, we have 11 points in the league, just 2 behind Genoa and 1 behind Milan and Palermo. Such numbers should not be taken lightly and we didn’t get this far with pure luck. If anything we should be further up the table, our main and toughest opponent thus far has been efficency infront of goal. It is insane how many easy goal-scoring chances we have missed infront of goal. I remember sitting infront of my T.V watching Bari take on Milan in the San Siro and yelling at the fowards. We dominated almost the whole match, just to get a draw. After last weeks win away to Chievo we find ourselfs once again in good form and should manager to leave the San Nicola with atleast an important point. We have to remember that Lazio are no easy team and that Ballardini was one of the top managers last season, someone I truly esteem a lot. Check out last weeks highlights, with both goals from Almiron and Ranocchia coming from headers, notice how our fowards still find it hard to score.

The lineups this weekend will most likely look like this:
BARI (4-4-2): Gillet; A. Masiello, Ranocchia, Bonucci, S.Masiello; Alvarez, Donati, Almiron, Allegretti; Kutuzov, Barreto. All. Ventura

LAZIO (4-3-1-2): Muslera; Lichtsteiner, Cribari, Diakite, Kolarov; Brocchi, Dabo, Mauri; Matuzalem; Rocchi, Zarate. All. Ballardini

Lets hope Barreto can recover the form that he possesed last year, he can be our salvation up-front.
I’ll provide the links tommorrow as the game will not be televised, mainly due to the fact that Machester United takes on Liverpool.

Per Sempre Bari

Bringing Pain To The Break

Eros Miranda — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:24:39 +0000

So as most of you know there will be no Serie A this weekend due to the international break. But the pain I’m talking about isn’t that of the break, I’m talking about Barton turning around and taking our hopes and dreams back with him to Texas. Ok, I understand that Bari are still doing great and that our talent and heart outweighs a multi-millionare president. So yes, Bari don’t need Barton but this was the man behind our dream. Barton promised us great players, a bright future and he even brought hope to the Bari fans that someday we would see CASSANO back in a Bari jersey. The problem apparently was that Barton thought he was going to take out 15 million euros to buy the time but Bari asked for more than 25 million.

In a way I think we got carried away, but when you see Barton come out of the airport with a Bari scarf promising a lot of achievements and giving us permission to dream about the birghtest of futures, you will feel betrayed. The best thing we can do is put this issue behind us and let our results fade Barton away.

What Mattarese is practically saying in this video is that He doesn’t understand what happened, that at first Barton was so enthutiastic but then he stopped.

I say we should now stand behind Vincenzo Matarrese and support his decision, as our true presidente would never turn his back on us like Barton did.

Per Sempre Bari

A Learning Experience

Vincenzo — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:32:39 +0000

All wasn’t well at the San Nicola yesterday. Bari, despite a monster of an effort, gave up their unbeaten run in Serie A. Although we did lose, I would have liked to see what the end result would have been had Calvarese done his job and not made this offside call:

Ref-pointing aside, the first loss is now behind us and we can take this opportunity to look forward and build on the areas in which we showed weakness. Offensive production was lacking a great deal yesterday and I really think the problem was that the ball wasn’t getting to our strikers. Ventura must have noticed this, hence why he sacrificed his three substitutions to his midfield.

Ranocchia had a great game, despite the single lack of top-class football which resulted in the goal against. There’s no use in putting the blame on one guy as it was without a doubt a team loss. And only as a team can we look to the future. I’m convinced that this team has all the necessary ingredients to produce a fine football club: fans, history, passion, skill, culture, active ownership and most of all fans.
So the next step is to look ahead to Sunday’s matchup against Milan. Despite our little experience in Serie A thus far, we are talking a walk on familiar territory. Milan is coming off a disappointing, yet deserved, loss to Udinese and they are looking for the three points against Bari. What we need to do is show them that what happened against Inter was nothing close to beginner’s luck. In fact, yesterday’s loss was a learning experience for our lads and they have what it takes to keep playing their best football regardless of the result.
Prediction: Milan 1 – 1 Bari

The Unbeatables

Eros Miranda — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 02:27:05 +0000

After the hard-fought draws in our three opening games, we sent out a warning to all our other Serie A oppenents. If anyone doubted our heart and willingness to demonstrate that we belong in the Italian top flight, they were silenced last Sunday. Once again we showed what being a Bari fanatic is all about. The stadium was roaring and it was as if the Vesuvius exploted everytime we found the back of the net. It’s preciously this shouts of joy and relief that remind the world of not only who we were but who we will become. Let this be the beginning of something great and lets build up on our unbeaten record. With the heart that our ragazzi poseess we will be a force to reckon with for the remainder of the season.

On Sunday we hosted Atlanta at the San Nicola. Even though Atlanta is comfortably sitting at the bottom of the table, there was no doubt that this was a tricky encounter against a team who wanted to bounce back. What was Bari’s response to this? They shoved Atlanta even deeper in the ground. Rivas broke the deadlock in minute 7 and just two minutes later Barreto managed to complete his comeback to Serie A with a goal in his season debut. Alvarez also scored a very well taken goal and Donati capped off an impressive debut with a goal for himself. Even though Gillet was unfortunate to concede a late goal he still managed to show everyone that he is in the mix with the top goalkeepers in Italy.

Next we face a difficult trip to Cagliari but I have no doubts that our form will continue to grow over the next few games.
(Ragazzi I will like to apologize for the stall in posts in the last week. I had a problem with my ACL on my knee and I believe I re-tore it, so things have been a bit hectic. Even though this is the case I promise that I will live this dream that cames upon us this year with all of you fanatics. Lets make history!)

Per Sempre Bari

Ventura almost DIES! Cassano Back to Bari?

Eros Miranda — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:17:24 +0000

NO, this isn’t a plot to bring Antonio Conte back (or is it?).

The incident happened as Ventura was leaving the Stadio San Nicola after Bari’s practice. He was driving along in his new AUDI A5 when out of nowhere a car destroyed his precious vehicle. His new car was a mess and Ventura was rushed to the hospital in shock. They say it was because of the accident but I think it had something to do with the way his new car ended up.
(Things between Ventura and Barton must be going well)
Also, for all the Baresi in Italy, try avoiding exit number 8 in our stadium. It is said to be extremely dangerous thanks to the exaggerated speeds that cars travel as they pass by it. But then again Italians were never considered to be the best drivers in the streets. Either way Ventura is said to be fine but he is very lucky to have escaped death. No word yet if he can make the weekend match but we hope he has a speedy recovery.
Extraordinary news also broke out about Cassano coming back to Bari. Thousands of Bari fans sent letters to our president Barton expressing their desire to see Cassano back in a bari jersey and he already put the wheels in motion. Apparently he asked his agent how much money it would take to bring him back to Bari. The answer is simple my dear president, 18 million Euros. That’s Cassanos release clause and a sum that can easily be paid by Barton. Now it seems unlikely that the fans dreams will come true anytime soon as they want him in the January transfer window, but if Bari gets a mid-table finish this year than it is very likely. Antonio already moved to a smaller team once (Sampdoria) and a move to his homeland and pride could be exactly what he needs. I already have a vision of our stadium falling once again at the feet of Il Nostro Cassano.

Per Sempre Bari

Enter Diamoutene

Vincenzo — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:41:30 +0000

Things are looking real good under Lord Barton up to now. Besides standing undefeated in the table the continuous flow of acquisitions is only going to help fuel the storm. The latest being Diamoutene, who arrives on loan from Lecce, but can become ours ~~if we stay~~ when we stay in Serie A this season.

With Diamoutene, Iago, Almiron and Donati all moving in since the new ownership we can begin to expect some great things. Let us pray to the soccer gods that Ventura can handle the new talent but I am more than confident that he will.

I leave you with Donati’s last goal with Celtic. Don’t watch it too many times as I have a feeling we will see much more like these this season.

GRANDE MERCATO! Iago and Donati!

Eros Miranda — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:50:59 +0000

Yes it’s true, it’s all true. We tied the Italian champs last week in a hard fought game that counts as 3 points in theory for us. The great news hasn’t stop yet and I’m starting to like our new president. Since coming, Bari have singed Iago on loan from Juventus and Donati on a 4 year contract.
All I can do is just think about what a top class midfield we will have next season. Think about it, Donati and Almiron in the middle with Iago Falque in front of them, Alvarez on the wing and then Barretto on top. or Iago and Alvarez on the wings and Donati and Almiron in the middle.
Both deals are HUGE for bari and I believe we now have a top half of the table midfield. Donati has joined the galletti for around 1.5 million pounds, which is not much compared to what he can offer Bari, having played for teams like Atlanta and Milan. The message from Bari’s website stated: Il Celtic ha accettato l’offerta del Bari per il passaggio definitivo del centrocampista Massimo Donati alla società barese. Le formalità contrattuali saranno concluse entro domani. Il giocatore ha firmato un contratto che lo legherà al Bari per 4 stagioni. Sarà nel capoluogo pugliese probabilmente lunedì. In english it basically says: Celtic has accepted the offer made by Bari for the full rights and passage of Massimo Donati to the bari association. The the contract details will be concluded tomorrow. The player has signed a contract that will tie him down to Bari for the next 4 season. He will join the group monday.

Meanwhile, Iago Falque will wear the number 6 jersey for Bari ( I don’t think the number suits him but what matters are his performances and not his number) and promises to bring a lot of speed, vision, and one touch football.

Iago was younger in the video and still playing for the Barcelona youth squad but imagine how much he has developed since then.

His first press conference for Bari.

Now the great Donati!

I can already see all the Baresi in San Nicola chanting “Mo Mo Massimo Mo Mo Massimo Mo Mo Massimo, Massimo Donati!”

Per Sempre Bari

The Time is Now! Inter vs Bari

Eros Miranda — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 23:36:13 +0000

The time is here. Every drop of sweat that we shed in Serie B last year was in order to be able to live this moment again. Tomorrow we take on the so-called “Italian Champs”. Now I bet you that all the Inter fans are already sure about getting three points from the match tomorrow but I can tell them all right now that our eleven men who will step onto the field will fight for every ball and will not let Inter walk all over them, they have worked way too hard for that. Just like our captain Gillet stated “nothing is impossible in football.” I assure you that our great captain will do everything in his power to guarantee us atleast a draw. Ok, we know this match is going to be hard but we have Bari in our heart and us true Baresi will never let Bari be alone, this is why tomorrow we will be allowed to start dreaming again.

In order to give you a perspective from an inter fan, I contacted Johonna(blogger of the Inter offside) and asked her some questions about the match tomorrow:

Who do you think will be the difference maker for Inter?

This one is hard for me. In the past, it has always been Ibra but now that he is gone, we have a whole new team philosophy. Like you, I think our keeper Julio Cesar is our secret weapon. Even if the forwards cannot find the net, he can keep what would have been a loss to a respectable draw. I think Eto’o has a lot to prove and will be doing whatever he can to hit the back of the net. My only worry is that he will be trying too hard, if you know what I mean.

What do you believe are Bari’s chances agaisnt the Champions of Italy?

I wish I could say zilch, but I think it could be iffy for us. Dont get me wrong, I dont think Bari will beat us, but a draw is not out of the question. Teams come to Milan with nothing to lose – they always give their all. I often complain that we always get everyone’s best performance – it is the curse of being one of the big teams. What I love about football, though, is that any team can beat any other team. There is so much that can happen, so much that goes into a game, that the outcome is never guaranteed. Every team deserves respect no matter their place on the table. Right now, though, Bari has a bit of a lucky break as Cambiasso is out with injury. Missing him definitely throws a monkey wrench into our plans. Basically, now we have to rely on Vieira and you never know when he is going to completely lose his marbles. It makes me nervous just thinking about it.

What do you think of Ventura stating that his Bari side are going to embarrass Inter in the Guisseppe Meazza?

I think that is what they all say. Everyone comes to the San Siro to stick it to Inter and usually, they dont. Occasionally though, they manage to take a point or three and that is why I never say never. I think Bari will play the game that many teams do: play 9 behind the ball and try to capitalize on a break. Hopefully, Mourinho has been practicing that with the boys and we will know how to deal with it.

Prediction of the final score:

Yikes. I am far too superstitious to answer this! I hate to wuss out, but I am afraid that if I predict a win, I will be punished by the Calcio Gods for my hubris with a devastating loss. Similarly, if I predict a loss, I am afraid it will come true. Now I have to go light some candles and throw some salt or something. I just hope we play a good game without any errors and no one gets hurt. I know, I totally copped out of that question.

Once again thank you Johonna.

Probable lineups:

It seems like Ventura is going to go with a (4-4-2). Gillet; Masiello, Ranocchia, Stellini, Parisi; Alvarez, De Vezze, Gazzi, Koman; Sforzini, Kutuzov

The team is still missing some depth but I think Gillet, Ranocchia and Kutuzov will have a great outing tomorrow.

Ragazzi let us not be scared to be what we used to be. Lets not be scared to make history and make our move to Serie A permanent because now that we’re here there is no one who can take us back down. Our eleven men will go down there tomorrow but they will represent all of us, all of Bari. And Inter fans you’re going to get to really know Bari tomorrow but don’t forget that we will be anxiously waiting for you in the San Nicola.

BARI GRANDE AMORE

(fsc will show the match at 1 p.m pacific and 10 a.m eastern but it won’t be live so I’ll put a link to the match tomorrow)

Meet The New Veron

Eros Miranda — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:01:13 +0000

Just like Vincenzo stated the Almiron deal is finnally OFFICIAL. Bari have signed Almiron on loan for a year, giving him a chance to get his career back on track and silence his critics. For those of you who don’t know him he’s a 28 year old Argetine born center-mid. Before joining Juve he was an overall solid midfielder, providing force, drive, assists and goals. When he moved to bigger clubs (juve,fiorentina) everyone expected his career to take off but instead it proved that such a step was still too early in his career. Now Almiron is looking for a chance to prove everyone wrong and prove that he is not the bidone that everyone labels him as. If we make him the solid point in our midfield then not only will he become great again, but Bari will also benefit hugely from Almiron’s Empoli days. Heres a video of some of his goals for Empoli, he scored a beautiful goal against juve in minute 3:05.

Also, coming up is the Inter Pre-Game and introduction of Iago Falque.

Per Sempre Bari