Tomorrow
we are hosting a bunch of homeless people. Theirs is an epic story of the kind
one only finds in Serie A, as they are currently technically without a home
stadium to play in – at least one the fans can watch them in. And on Sunday,
they lost a potential 3 points because of it, too. Which means they are a
well-rested bunch of vagrants, likely angry because of everything that
happened, too. So Milan are really going to need to step it up to be able to
conquer the homeless team. Bring on the vagrants!
 |
| The homeless team is coming to OUR house |
Why are Cagliari homeless? Last season, their stadium was deemed no longer safe, so they finished out their season’s home matches playing in "nearby" Trieste (over 500 miles away.) But the home fans wanted to be able to play in Cagliari. Cellino, their club president, tried to get approval to build a new stadium, but the city denied it. So while their old stadium is being repaired and upgraded, he decided to take this field, basically a park, and turn it into a temporary stadium so home fans didn’t have to travel:
 |
| This would become a stadium? |
With
construction nearly complete, and a game already played behind closed doors
because the FIGC did not approve the stadium’s use yet due to fan safety
issues, on Sunday, they were meant to have hosted Roma. Despite the FIGC’s
ruling, Cellino invited season ticket holders and those who had already
purchased tickets for this match to come to the game. Giancarlo Abete, FIGC
president was having none of this rebellion and postponed the game, which was
later officially forfeited and a 3-0 win awarded to Roma.
 |
| The transformation nearly complete, but deemed not safe for fans yet |
God
bless Cellino. I thought that we were stuck with Zamparini, De Laurentiis, and
Lotito as the craziest club presidents, but after some great sound bytes in the
past, he has secured his place with the best of them. Read the papers to see
just how crazy he is, we really need to make a Lega Serie A reality show with
these guys in their meetings and such, I bet every team could build a new
stadium and then some with the money from a show like that.
Unfortunately
for us, we are going to face the wrath of those players scorned by their own
president and circumstances tomorrow, and I am not looking forward to that. I
mean, sure, this story replaced all of the Allegri-Pippo gossip, so our guys
can be a little more focused, but Cagliari are also rested. And despite the
fact that as of this writing, Allegri is suspended for insulting the refs on
Sunday, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind taking down the club of their former coach,
too. They also have yet to record a win this season, so I’m going to guess that
the homeless team is hungry for Milan blood.
 |
| Davide Astori... will Milan be made to pay for the one that got away? |
Coach
Massimo Ficcadenti will likely play a 4-3-3 formation tomorrow with a starting
lineup of Agazzi; Ariaudo, Pisano, Rossettini, Perico; Nainggolan, Conti,
Ekdal; Cossu, Ribeiro, and Pinilla. And don’t forget he’s got Milan youth
product Davide Astori who he might put on to face his old team at the San Siro.
 |
| Allegri will have to sit this one out... is it an audition for Tassotti? |
My
guess is a 4-3-3 like Sunday, with Abbiati, De Sciglio, Mexes, Yepes, Mesbah;
Montolivo, Ambrosini (De Jong), Nocerino; El Shaarawy, Pazzini, Bojan. Okay,
maybe a lot of that lineup is wishful thinking, but what else do we have left
this year but our imaginations?
One
thing is for sure, a lot people are afraid of homeless people, but this team,
we should definitely fear. With Cellino ranting on and on and a team full of
players with no stadium, they will have no qualms about embarrassing their
former coach, even if he’ll be in the stands. But despite the curse of the San
Siro still having not been broken, I wouldn’t rule out our boys, either. You
got homeless? We lost half our family, our daddy and mommy are fighting all the
time and daddy is broke, and we’re well on our way to another 307 injuries this
year. I’ll see your homeless and give you home field. A field that is waiting
for us to conquer it, and take you down along with it. Okay, I don’t really
have that much optimism for this match, I just want to see more improvement,
but it feels good to pretend to believe again. Bring on the vagrants!
This post inspired by the music of
the B-52’s
Milan vs. Cagliari
Wednesday, September 26 • 20:45 CEST (2:45pm EDT)
This match will NOT be shown
live in the U.S.
Please check for streams before game time