This is supposed to be an epic matchup, a game that both entertains
and is sporting. With Milan in the mix, that was already in question. However, the
game itself is overshadowed by serious questions about human rights and gender discrimination
in Saudi Arabia. For example, as a woman, if I were to attend this match, I
would not be able to sit pitchside or even close at all. Because women are only
allowed to sit in the third tier.
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| Livin' large |
To be fair, sitting as far away from Allegri’s whiny voice
is a blessing. Juventus have won like everything for forever, I think they’re
even expected to take top honors at the Oscars without even being nominated,
and yet Allegri’s voice is still more annoying than the incessant winning. Most
recently, they dispatched Sampdoria 2-1 just before the break. For that match,
the weasel-face lined up Perin; De Sciglio, Rugani, Chiellini, Sandro; Can,
Pjanic, Matuidi; Dybala, Mandzukic, and Ronaldo. He will be missing Cuadrado,
Benatia, Barzagli, and Mandzukic to injury, but will have Cancelo back from his
injury. Not that any of those injuries will impact them much, their bench is so
deep I’m not even sure Allegri knows all of their names.
Women would be wise not to go to the stadium at all to see
Milan play. Unless Cutrone pulls off a couple of more insanely beautiful goals
like he did on Saturday. Then they would want to be up front for sure. Gattuso
is so lost as to what is going on with his team that he doesn’t even understand
why a player like Higuain would want to get out now before he destroys his
career even more or gets seriously injured. To his credit, Gattuso did figure
out two impact subs on Saturday, which won us the game. However they weren’t
until extra time. And Juventus will not likely afford us the luxury of extra
time.
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| Best to keep the ladies away from him or they're gonna need more DNA samples |
Gattuso will still be missing Caldara, Biglia, and
Bonaventura to injury. Halilovic was also not called up, rumors are that he is
working on a transfer. But Gattuso is still carrying around the dead weight
that is Montolivo. If, as Gattuso said on Saturday, he would lock Higuain up
and feed him three or four times a day just to keep him at Milan if he could,
it would also be nice to imagine locking Montolivo up and just forgetting about
him forever.
Milan had to play 30 extra minutes on Saturday, but will
have been acclimating in Jeddah for an extra day or two, so maybe that evens
out. I don’t think we have much of a chance of winning, but stranger things
have happened. Even Montella won this trophy, so it’s not impossible. Sadly,
the bigger stories which eclipse the football are the glaring human rights
issues and the unabashed discrimination of women. Some broadcasters have
threatened not to show the game, which means because of
Serie A, everyone misses out. It’s an honor for Milan just to be in
this game, but shameful that women can only watch from the third tier.
This post inspired by the music of
Lush’s Ladykillers
Supercoppa Final
Juventus vs. Milan
Wednesday, January
16 • 18:30 CET (12:30pm EST)
This match will be
shown LIVE on ESPN2 in the U.S.