Serie A halfway: Genoa (shared) 6th

Inter 49    19 15      4    0   43 13
Roma 42          19       12   6 1   37 19
Juventus 37    19 10   7 2     36   16
Fiorentina 34    19 9   7 3   30 18
Udinese 32    19 9   5 5   23 22
Atalanta 25    19 6   7 6   27 26
Sampdoria 25    19 7   4 8   25 24
Genoa 25   19 6   7 6   20 25
Palermo 25    19 6   7 6   27 33
Milan 24    17 6   6 5   28 16
Napoli 24    19 6   6 7   29 29
Catania 22    19 5   7 7   18 22
Livorno 21    18 5   6 7   22 28
Lazio 19    19 4   7 8   22 29
Parma 18    19 4   6 9   22 29
Torino 17    19 2  11 6   17 24
Siena 17    19 3   8 8   22 30
Reggina 17    18 3   8 7   15 26
Empoli 16    19 3   7 9   15 26
Cagliari 10    19 2   4 13   13 36

Halfway the season Genoa is on the shared 6th position. A fantastic result in our first 19 matches after 12 years in Serie A. The statistics say that 40 points is enough to stay in Serie A and 55 means Uefa-cup football. The target of the club for the first year is to remain on the highest level, so we need at least another 15 points.

Genoa beats Atalanta Bergamo: 2-1

Figueroa scores the winning goal against Atalanta

In a fantastic match Genoa booked the 3rd victory in a row, just as in the beginning of the championship. Honestly, Atalanta deserved at least a draw because the Lombardian team hit the post 3 times and their second goal was annulated, but that’s football and if there is one team which is hardly never lucky it is our Genoa.

Genoa started the match with the expected team: Fabiano returned in midfield and Marco Rossi substituted injured Leon as right-forward. In the first half an hour Atalanta was the boss in the field, but luckily for us they only hit the post twice. After 30 minutes Gasperini changed the tactics and the following 15 minutes Genoa was the best team in the field, but the score halfway stayed 0-0.

After 22 minutes in the second half Konko did not stop Floccari regulary, so referee Pierpaoli whistled a penalty. Doni scored from the penaltyspot: 0-1. In the 72nd minute everything looked over to Genoa, but the second Atalanta goal of Floccari was annulated because of off-side. One minute later topscorer Marco Borriello scored his 11th goal of the season: 1-1. In a fantastic atmosphere Genoa was not satisfied with a draw and in the 84th minute substitute Lucho Figueroa headed a corner near the second post inside the goal: 2-1. In the last 11 minutes Atalanta did everything to score the equalizer but all they got was another bal on the post of Muslimovic and a red card to trainer Del Neri because of protests. The score did not change anymore: 2-1, so Genoa ends the first half of the season with 25 points.   

 Figueroa celebrates his goal by showing a t-shirt with a foto of his brother that died in a car-accident

Belgium Anthony Vanden Borre 4th arrival

After days of rumours, tonight it was finally official: 20 years old Belgium international (17 matches) Anthony Vanden Borre plays the next 6 months with Genoa, while Papa Waigo has to wear the purple shirt of Fiorentina the rest of this season. Of course as the official Genoa-supportersclub in Belgium (and Holland) we are very proud and happy that again a player of our countries plays with Genoa.

Anthony Vanden Borre in Champions League with Anderlecht against Chelsea

Anthony Vanden Borre (1.85 x 78 kg) is born on 24th October 1987 in Linkasi (Congo) with a Belgium father and a Congolese mother that died last year. As football-player he raised in the youth of Anderlecht together with his friend Vincent Kompany who changed Anderlecht into HSV Hamburg in the summer of 2006. Anthony was selected at the age of 16 (!!) to the Belgium National team after only 5 matches in the first team of Anderlecht. On 28th April 2004 he played his first match with the Belgium National team against Turkey. As usual it is not easy to act normal if you are such an important football-player at such a young age and Anthony got some problems with his attitude.

After 69 matches in 4 years with 3 national titles he left Anderlecht last summer. The Belgium club did everything to keep the great talent in Brussels, but Fiorentina payed around € 3,8 millon and Anthony moved to Florence. The multi-functional player (right-defender, right-midfieldplayer, defensive midfielder) only played 5 matches (2 in Serie A, 2 in Uefa-Cup and 1 in Coppa Italia) in the viola-shirt. With Genoa he probably can raise as fast as in the beginning of his career. Mr. Gasperini is an expert in making young players very good in a short time, so it is a good move for both Anthony and Genoa. Welcome at the most beautiful football club in the world: Anthony Vanden Borre.

Today the transferdocuments of Matias Masiero arrived from Uruguay, so our new number 10 is, just like recovered Danilo, one of the 20 players that is now in the Sheraton hotel near the airport of Genova to prepare themselves for tomorrow’s match against Atalanta Bergamo. Not selected are: Bega, Coppola, Di Vaio, Leon and the arrivals of this week: Wilson and Vanden Borre.

Preziosi shows his South-American diamonds

Mr. Preziosi presents Wilson and Masiero

This afternoon in the press-room of Genoa headquarters in Pegli president Enrico Preziosi welcomed our 2 new arrivals from South-America: Wilson Rodrigues Fonseca (22) from Brasil and Matias Masiero (19) from Uruguay. Both players liked to play with number 10 on their shirt, but Masiero already arrived last week so he could choose first. Because the tranferdocuments did not arrive yet both players can not play against Atalanta Bergamo next Saturday.

new wing-striker Wilson Rodrigues Fonseca

As promised Mr. Enrico Preziosi today bought our new wing-striker: 22 year old Brazilian striker Wilson. The player of Corinthians is born in Araras (just like Danilo) on 21st march 1985, is 1.79 tall and weights 73 kilo’s. Tomorrow-morning after the medical test Wilson will sign his contract and goes to the trainingfield to meet his new teammates.

Wilson 3rd new arrival of Genoa

To introduce our new Brazilian striker hereby a compilaton of his goals with Corinthians:

[youtube xfNpevwiKqk]

In short time is also expected the arrival of 20 years old Belgium international (!) Anthony Vanden Borre. The youngster is raised in the youth of Anderlecht and was tranfered last summer to Fiorentina (€ 3,8 million). The 1.85 tall defensive midfielder probably will be changed for 6 months with Papa Waigo. We already contacted our Belgium-member Tim de Smet and as soon as the transfer is official we give you all the information about this great wonderkid that is born in Congo.

Despite all the good news, today also a medical test made clear that Leon is injured and he can not play for the first 20 days. We surely have to miss him against Atalanta, Milan and probably Catania.  

Historical victory against Lazio in Rome: 1-2

Lazio-Genoa 1-2 (2 goals of Borriello)

The last victory of Genoa in Rome against Lazio was on 11th January 1959. Today, exactly 49 years and 2 days later, Genoa beat Lazio again by 1-2.

Mr. Gasperini again suprised everybody by starting with De Rosa and Milanetto in the line-up in stead of Santos and Paro, 2 of the best players in the last match of 2007 against Parma. But as often Mr. Gasperini was right with his tactical substitutions. In the first half both teams were equal, but in the 23rd minute Lazio scored the first goal after a mistake of Rubinho in the air: 1-0.

After half-time it was Genoa that was the boss in the field to score the equalizer. In the 51st minute Omar Milanetto was hit softly by a defender, but referee Stefanini decided to give us a penalty which Borriello scored: 1-1. Within 4 minutes Borriello doubled his and Genoa’s production by heading a perfect free-kick of Milanetto behind Ballotta: 1-2.  

Borriello scores his 10th goal of the season: 1-2 

In the last 39 minutes Genoa had a lot of chances to decide the match definitively, but till the last 94th minute we had to suffer. But us Genoani have a great suffering history, which helped us this time to beat Lazio in Rome after 49 years. Mille grazie ragazzi !!

1000 Genoa-fans in Stadio Olimpico supported the team to the first victory in Rome in 49 years   

Mr. Gasperini takes 19 players to Rome

Stadio Olimpico in Rome

Tomorrow the team of Genoa goes by plane to Rome, which is 500 kilometers away of Genova. Sunday-morning very early (mostly between 6 and 7 o’clock) around 1000 fans follow the team that plays for the first time in 12 years in Stadio Olimpico, with a capacity of 82.000 the biggest in Italy after San Siro.

Mr. Gasperini has selected 19 players for the important match against Lazio:

Goalkeepers: Rubinho and Scarpi

Defenders: Bega, Bovo, Criscito, De Rosa, Lucarelli, Masiello and Santos

Midfielders: Fabiano, Juric, Konko, Milanetto, Paro and Rossi

Strikers: Borriello, Figueroa, Leon and Sculli 

Genoa misses: Danilo (injured) and Coppola (not selected) in midfield and the strikers:  Di Vaio (not selected) and Papa Waigo (Afrika Cup). Because the official transferpapers did not arrive yet from Uruguay also Matias Masiero can not play this weekend, but he travels tomorrow with the team to Rome. 

Enrico Preziosi promises extra wing-striker

Enrico Preziosi enjoys a victory on the field

President and owner of Genoa C.F.C., Mr. Enrico Preziosi, who invested already 17 million €uro’s in transfers last summer (spend € 21 million, earned € 4 million) promised the fans of Genoa an extra wing-striker in the next days. At the moment Mr. Gasperini has 4 wing-strikers in his team: Leon, Sculli, Papa Waigo and Di Vaio. Because the last two don’t play like we all hoped at the beginning of the season one of them will be substituted by the new wing-striker.

The new striker will be the 3rd new player this transfer-period. Last week Domenico Criscito returned from Juventus and Matias Masiero arrived from Uruguay. Because Mr. Gasperini does not want more than 22 players in the team also 1 defender (Bega or Lucarelli say the newspapers) has to leave the club this winter. Will be continued ……