Preseason Pictures 2.0
(Walking Living on the fine line between smolder and pout.)
Since the last update, Corvino has developed a posse, vice-Gila Castillo has arrived (pictures of that coming later, sorry), Pasqual signed his extension, Babacar has been awesome then hurt, and Fioretina crushed a local team in a their first friendly, 13-0.
Look who's back!
Check it out, people -- Corvino has a freakin fan club. NICE.
And it's even got its own Facebook group -- what other DS gets that kind of love?
Corvino: "Hey, check that shit out!"
Corvino: *grumps* "It's about damn time, that's all I've got to say."
Corvino: *strips down to show the posse his pipes*
Corvino: "Yeah, what? Not bad for an old man, huh?" (So, so, so loving the fact that he's got his name on his tshirt. Fiorentina rules.)
Thank god he went to see his people, the shrieking and begging was really starting to disrupt practice. (That's what she said.)
Cesare is in absolute awe of Corvino's capacity to generate body heat.
Also, he would like to know where HIS wildly creative fan club is.
Cesare: *taps watch* "I'm waiting, people. Fan club me up!"
Cesare: "Look at all the love Corvino is getting! He sold Melo, for fuck's sake."
Fitness coach guy: "Oh, here we go."
Cesare: "I'm giving them 20 minutes to make a 'Wizard of Orz' sign. After that, it's on."
Di Tacchio: *are confuzzled*
Kuzi really, really isn't happy about being awake already.
Cesare: *yawn*
I'm starting to think Vargas and Gobbi are jogging together because they know the fangirls like it. (LOL Da Costa.)
(That's Natali, scouting out Santana's possibilities as a meal.)
(Still scouting.)
Hmm. It appears he's come to some sort of decision. Hopefully it's not one we'll learn of only when Santana disappears.
Everyone: *gazes at Natali with a combination of fear and awe*
(Da Costa is so out of favor, the photo guys only catch him by accident. I think he's depressed.)
Comotto, meanwhile, is tan but not depressed in the slightest.
Di Tacchio is doing his best not to look scared, but doesn't always succeed.
He just arrived from Ascoli and had a great Mediterranean Games -- hopefully as his awesome increases, he fear will decrease.
Jefferson went through what Di Tacchio is going through last year. (He's over being scared, and has moved on to the stage of looking utterly mystified by everything around him.)
Dainelli isn't scared of anything, ok? Well, apart from being mistaken for Ray Romano's brother, who it's well know is utter shit at football.
Donadel faces no danger of being mistaken for anyone on Everybody Loves Raymond.
Well. Maybe his mom?
Jojo's hair really loves the climate in Cortina.
It's less pleased by being hacked down by Papa Waigo, however.
Papa: *successfully distracts Jojo with his cool tricks*
Man, Papa better go somewhere he can play. He's been so cool about spending his entire Viola career in limbo, he deserves something good.
Krol is bored.
*vegetarian monster sigh*
Krol: "Mister, I am bored by you drills. Why do I need to juggle? You know I can't juggle."
Cesare: *goes to his happy place*
Whoa. Kuzi looks weirdly frumpy and old from this angle.
Well, that's a little better. Or maybe I'm just distracted by Comotto's impressively tan pegs in the background.
It's a little-known fact that Pasqual earned his extension with this very cross -- Cesare realized right then that he was indispensable.
Pubes, meanwhile, is thinking hard about Samp, who desperate want him but claim they tragically have no cash.
OHAI LITTLE ONE.
He's working awfully hard to win us over, this one.
Mutu: *senses someone else is getting attention that should be his*
"HEY, EVERYONE! I'M OVER HERE!" (The staff guy is ashamed by Adi's lack of discretion.)
*flashing his skillz*
*shows off more*
Santana: *runs obligingly over to admire*
All is well with the keepers.
Scuffi is still scruffy.
Seculin is still adorable.
Avramov, meanwhile, is suddenly getting photog love.
(His ability to play in the field is his ace in the hole -- the other keepers can't match him there.)
Seb, disappointingly, is dressed like a human being again.
It looks like there's been more goalkeeping and less running the last few days. Pity that.
Not that it's stopped him from busting out the headband or the peeved look, though.
Definitely not.
Uh oh, too much water. (Also: LOLOLOLOL.)
After training, there are always autographs, sometimes even by people who aren't Corvino.
Damn, Marco. Lookin' good.
&hearts &hearts &hearts
Supa Dupa Fly, people. Supa Dupa Fly.
Before you even ask, of course Corvino's people were there.
Cesare: *sigh* "Still no posse for me?"
The guys in blue and white are Cortina d'Ampezzo, a local amateur side.
(They're about to get smoked.)
Before the match, there was lots of very nice togetherness, this despite the fact that Seb seemed to be have some sort of equilibrium problem.
A minute of silence for the landslide victims.
The starters were more all senior players, many of them regulars.
Since Pasqual had a knock and wasn't playing, Vargas and his new, more practical (less fabulous) hairstyle played in the back.
... Yeah. Definitely in midseason form with the crotch situation.
Gobbi played in front of him, thus proving that Alarming Crotch Definition is something that afflicts the entire left side of the team.
The photographers, at long last, seem to have fallen in love with him. Woo hoo!
The same cannot be said for kneebrace man, though -- he was determined to squash Gobbi like a bug.
Marchionni, too, got insane amounts of love for the two photographers who turned up.
With Mutu not playing, they were desperate for someone adorable to photograph, so Marchionni was the obvious second-choice.
He and Natali scored in quick succession which please everyone tremendously, and not just because of the height difference.
Since Comotto's the team's only right back, he seems to have played the whole match.
No worries -- he had his tiny shorts are always up to the task, being it football or putting pasty opposing players to shame.
Natali played the whole match, too, and came through it alive, which pleased Cesare greatly.
Much to the joy of the tifosi, Jorgy reportedly played great, and even got himself a goal. Huzzah!
Kuzi had not one, but two goals!
Clearly this happened because he's allowing his inner muppet to appear on the pitch again. Thank goodness.
If these lineups are accurate, Donadel seems to have played in the middle of the back during the second half. Look at him, making himself useful!
Playing only the first half, Jojo got on the scoresheet, too, albeit "only" once.
(Oh my god, I just figured out who he looks like -- it's Beaker! Have we discussed this before?)
Most of the babies went on in the second half, and they promptly added to the halftime lead.
Even though he only played 20 minutes, Babacar was the big star.
In those 20 minutes, he managed to get THREE GOALS. Yes, he is only 16.
After the third goal, though, he hurt his leg and had to come out.
Aw. He was sad, and even Cesare was concerned.
He'll be out 7-10 days, much to the relief of the first-team defenders who have been busting their asses not to get embarrassed by him in training. (In his distress, he stole Kuzi's jacket.)
Gulan's back from his loan spell in Germany and, if wiki is to be believed, has been added to the senior roster.
Di Carmine is also back from loan, but he's likely to be sent out again, or even sold.
Papa Waigo, too, is going to be sold. Or so he hopes, anyway.
He didn't score but, based only on the picture, damn was he ferocious.
Di Tacchio: Still looking scared. Actually have we seen him make any other face?
I wonder if he made that face so much, it got stuck that way. (I bet his mom said "I TOLD YOU SO" the moment it happened.)
This is Maritato, a youth striker who got two goals in the second half.
He looks sort of like he could be Bocchetti's brother, doesn't he?
And, finally, Agiely, looking way older than his 17 years.
Gila and Gambit are due back today, finally. Woo hoo!