Lots of Preseason Stuff
(Dammit, who was supposed to keep the Frenchie away from the booze?)
Though there haven't been posts to prove it lately, Fiorentina have, in fact, been playing friendlies and/or training constantly. Throughout both, two things have been constant: People getting hurt/coming down sick, and Adem scoring buckets of goals. The latter, while way awesome, is nevertheless not quite enough to distract from the suck of LDS's and Vargas' and D'Agostino's injuries, or from Jojo's catastrophic blown-out knee. Sadfaces, all around.
First of all, the internationals have made their triumphant, collective return.
Interestingly, it appears that Krol is the only one who can dress himself without making the eyes of onlookers bleed.
Oh, Gila. *pats*
Not that Monty could ever dress, but things aren't exactly being improved by his relationship with a woman who, at times, has thought stuffed animals made good clothing.
Bolatti's person people immediately welcomed him back with the gift of baby. And Mutu thinks he's beloved -- when was he ever given a child by a fan?
Gambit wants a baby. He'll wait. Thank you.
Adem, on the other hand, is unconvinced about this baby-giving trend.
Ah, yes, much better -- frantic love from near-adults is much more his style.
(Artur thinks these people might just be alright.)
The main miracle of the preseason is that Mutu has not spent all of it pouting, and thinking about how hard his life is. Well done, Adi. And Sinisa. And small, adoring children.
Jeez.
Most of these dudes are not actually much older than the people asking for their autographs.
I mean, Haris? Isn't he like 12? I bet this shaggy-haired kid is about three months younger than he is.
Aw, man. It's Jojo when he was ambulatory! *sniffle*
While they were training in Cortina, Sinisa rode a bike to training.
Vargas wanted to know where he could get a damn bike, because walking is bullshit.
Mutu: *tries to bribe Sinisa with water in the hope it'll somehow make him quit beating him in free kick contests*
When he wasn't having free kick contests with Sinisa, he was flashing his skillz, and lecturing younger teammates.
And, also, being cute. A little. Sometimes.
(Mutu, however, is far from Sini's only problem. Mighty Marco, for example, disrupts training with his giggle fits far more than you'd expect.)
And then there's the situation with the keepers.
Seb is always trying to tell Artur how it is, and then Artur ignores him, and Seb starts pouting.
Srsly. The drama never ends!
He's not always being stern with Artur or pouting, though -- there is some training that goes on.
Training, and that requisite training camp activity for Seb, the Very Determined Jog.
Artur, irritatingly, seems to suffer much less from the mere fact of having to train.
(Totally waving at Seb, who's probably lying in a heap after a particularly demanding jog.)
LDS, meanwhile, is dabbling in performance art.
... Yeah. Don't quit your day job, alright?
Ok, I realize no one is going to believe this, but apparently, apart from Adem, Comotto is the person who's been most impressive during preseason. Do you think they're referring to his arms?
Or maybe his socks?
Obviously, we can rule out hair, because Jojo wins that contest before it even really gets started.
I mean, srsly. Comotto knows better than to even bother. (He does shave, though. +1 for Comotto.)
Apart from the shaving, Jojo had a fantastic training camp.
Until he pulled up in training with a knee injury. A knee injury that turned out to be a torn ACL, which means surgery and an absence of 6-7 months. :(((((
(Adem's doing the stiff upper lip thing, and pretending he can hold it down without Jojo. Yeah, right.)
Gulan, however, is quite concerned. Not sure if it's about Jojo, though, or the keepers and their constant bickering. Either way, training camp is making him old beyond his years.
Unlike Gulan, Natali isn't bothered by anything, even short little board presidents trying to chat him up.
Things are different, needless to say, for Felipe.
... And D'Agostino.
(Thank goodness he couldn't sense Adem judging him, because he'd probably have burst into tears then and there.)
Agyei is really, really not sure he gets grown-ups.
He's not sure he wants to get them, actually. Maybe standing over here might be safer.
Pasqual: *strongly approves of Agyei's plan*
Forget the neurotic teammates, Di Tacchio has a MUCH MORE URGENT ISSUE RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM.
Di Tacchio: *watches Sinisa run off, having effortlessly smoked him*
Donadel: "RAWR."
Di Tacchio: "EEEEEEE!"
Donadel: "Yeah, so I'm basically captain. I mean, Monto just got back, so you shouldn't listen to him at all. I'm in charge here."
And, finally, we get to the evidence that the internationals not only came back, but also are training.
Check it out -- Bolatti has a (small) posse. Who'd have guessed?
Monty, too, has a posse, but that's perhaps less surprising.
Monty: "Hey ladies. How you doin'?"
Oh, check it out -- the cool kids (and Di Heels) like him! Cappy's got it made.
Whoa. Being Mr Popular is, apparently, not enough for Monty. He seems to be wishing ill upon the preseason's superstar.
Ah, that's better. I'm sure he never meant anything by that face, Adem. No, really.
WERK.
Gila, too, is back, and he's brought his misery with him.
Not to mention his crotch issues.
But mostly his misery.
And his fear. Misery and fear. I bet Gila's the only one on the team who can understand Felipe's outlook of constant doom.
In addition to the training, there have been friendlies.
Lots and lots of friendlies, pretty much all utter destructions of local teams.
Sinis doesn't approve, but I'm going to mix pictures from a couple of them together whether he likes it or not.
In friendlies, Artur's not overly worried about tending goal.
Mostly, he just wants to look good.
Look good, and show off his impressively ugly tats. Mission accomplished!
Comotto, on the other hand, was just showing off his amazingness for Sinisa. (Still slightly unbelievable, but exciting nonetheless.)
Yeah, that's right. CAPTAIN DONADEL.
Oh, forget Donadel. CAPTAIN JOJO! SQUEEE. Oh, wait. He's gone. *weeps bitter tears*
Gambero, with this defensive play alone, somehow convinced Cesare he's back on form. Woo hoo! (Also, is that Alan Smith he's jumping on?)
Mighty Marco!
He marauds no matter what color he's wearing, thanks to his ever-helpful hand-steering.
Man alive. Can't they get a youth kit out for Papa, or something? Dude is just swimming in that gear.
Ah, Vargas. Look at those skillz!
He, too, is hurt, but he's only out for 10 days -- compared to Jojo's, Vargas' injury is like a lovely massage, or something.
You know who Sinisa has played the most in friendlies, apart from Adem?
Di Carmine. He, too, is surprised by this, as is his hair.
Adem, though, has been the hands-down start of preseason.
He scores in basically every friendly -- often with free kicks, and usually more than once -- and has countless assists, as well.
It's the mad skillz that do, clearly.
And the posing.
(Adem sends his love to the fangirls.)
One of the results of the billions of pictures of him from preseason is the revelation that, under all that floppy hair, he's a really ... unusual-looking kid.
Yet another reason he and Jojo are a perfect match! SIGH. Or they will be again in, say, seven months. Hopefully.
Until then, he's just going to have to make do with these two. They'll do their best to match Jojo for hair volume, at least.
When the team brought their Cortina stay to a close, they had a reception to thank (I think) the city for being so awesome with the hosting and the support and whatnot.
Seb, obviously, was there for the open bar.