Juventus v Roma: Ain't No Love

[Image done by Franco at Zemanlandia. Still learning the system re-sizing parameters, so here it is in all its glory.]

Juventus v Roma

Want some background? Roma disliked Juventus and Juventus disliked Roma. That's your background. Or it was, until Roma went on an hired their maniacal Mister, Zdenek Zeman, a progressive Czech football coach whose free time is spent hastening to lung cancer and single-handedly tearing down Juventus' image.

This is no place to dismiss objectivity, however: Juventus is the front runner and the favorite for the scudetto. That's Ray Charles territory - even a blind man can see that. Their defense is downright medieval and the attack can do some things too; helps that they've got a Bearded Pirlo - no, not an urban dictionary entry (though it should be) sandwiched in the middle.

Roma got some sandwiches. And some hors d'ouevres. But mostly, they bring the party to the party, because this just might be the season's real derby. At no point will Zemanlandia be any more evident than tonight.

Release the fullbacks, release the midfield, release the runners, release the hounds - release everybody. This one's personal for one man.

Welcome to Zemanlandia.

Running updates to follow here.

***

OFFICIAL

JUVENTUS: Buffon, Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini, Caceres, Vidal, Pirlo, Marchisio, De Ceglie, Vucinic, Matri. A disp: Storari, Isla, Lucio, Asamoah, Pogba, Brown, Lichtsteiner, Giaccherini, Padoin, Bendtner, Quagliarella, Giovinco. Herds : Carrera

ROME: Stekelenburg, Taddei, Burdisso, Castan, Balzaretti, De Rossi, Tachtsidis, Florenzi; Lamela, Osvaldo, Totti. A disp: Goicoechea, Svedkauskas, Romagnoli, Piris, Marquinhos, Perrotta, Marquinho, Right, Lopez .. Coach: Zeman.

-1h: No comment.

"Who wants a preview.


Just find a picture of a Zebra being fucked by some guy smoking a cig. We are good."

Marcos:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Forza Roma <a href="http://t.co/fnFhECX2" title="http://instagr.am/p/QKseUcykPB/">instagr.am/p/QKseUcykPB/</a></p>&mdash; Marcos Aoás Corrêa(@m_aoas) <a href="https://twitter.com/m_aoas/status/252092975407046657" data-datetime="2012-09-29T17:10:23+00:00">September 29, 2012</a></blockquote>

<script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

-90m: And it's raining in Torino. Slick football ahead. The pitch will be wet too. (Sorry.)

-3.25h: While Juve's defense is imposing, it's certainly not the quickest, and that's something with which Zeman's kamikaze tactics could exploit that a lot of other Serie A teams would find of far greater difficulty. Right? Right.

Juve projected: Buffon, Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini, Caceres, Vidal, Pirlo, Marchisio, De Ceglie, Vucinic, Matri.

IMPORTANT: Pregame tunes have been decided.

Projected:

Stekelenburg

Taddei, Burdisso, Castan, Balzaretti

DDR, Taxi, Florenzi

Destro, Osvaldo, Totti