Tomorrow Milan face off against the team who currently sit
in second place in Serie B, Crotone. Why should you care? Because it’s for the
Coppa Italia, also known as the
Precious. Also known as the only competition that Milan truly have a
chance of winning a bonafide trophy in this season. And that reward also comes
with a patch to wear all next year, so our kits don’t look quite so empty.
(Also because Juventus have way too many patches this year, they can afford to
lose some of them.) At this stage of the competition, it’s win or go home. So
even if we are facing i Squali, or
the Sharks, a team perfectly capable of surprising us, we need to take this
match seriously and be fearless against the shark attack.
 |
| "Wait, they have sharks in Serie B?" |
Crotone had to defeat Lega Pro side FeralpiSalo as well as
fellow Serie B side Ternano to earn their ticket to the fourth round and the
San Siro. In Serie B, they are undefeated in their last four matches, winning
three of the four of them, including their match with Spezia on Friday. Their
coach is Croatian Ivan Juric, who was an assistant at Inter and Palermo before
coaching Mantova last season and now Crotone, a club he played with for five
years. For their victory against Spezia on Friday, he lined up Cordaz; Yao, D.
Santos, Ferrari, Zampano; Capezzi, Barberis, Martella; Ricci, Budimir, and
Stoian. Stoian scored the winner in that match, his fourth goal for them this
season. However, he is second to youngsters Ricci and Budimir, who both have
five goals each thus far.
Mihajlovic has got to bring everyone back down to earth and
be on high shark alert, as the only thing better for Serie B players than
playing at the San Siro is winning at the San Siro. A number of Serie A sides
were sent home by lesser teams so far this season in the Coppa Italia, a fate
that would be particularly embarrassing after such
a great win on Sunday. The question is how many first team players will
Mihajlovic risk to ensure a victory? This is no midweek friendly, so it’s not
time to call up all of the Primavera players. Yet if some key players were to
play and get injured, it could be devastating for our league hopes. My guess
would be that he will field most of his starters, but maybe give some time to
others, too.
 |
| They don't look as scary as sharks |
A lot of people say they don’t care about the Coppa Italia.
But I hope that Milan do. Even if it is secondary to trying to improve in the
league. Milan have the best path to the last rounds of any of the big Serie A
teams, so it would be great if we could take advantage of the little luck
afforded us. Also, taking out Crotone would be empowering for those of us who
have a ridiculous fear of sharks… (did I just say “us?”… ummm… yeah, I’m afraid
of sharks, there’s no shame in that, especially living at the beach… right?)
With a lot of work and a little luck, maybe we can fend off this shark attack.
This post inspired by the music of
the John Williams’ Theme from “Jaws”
Coppa Italia 4th Round
Milan vs. Crotone
Tuesday, December 1 • 21:00 CET (3pm EST)
This match will not be shown LIVE on TV in the U.S.