As we all know, "The human animal differs from the lesser primates in his passion for lists." As I am an human animal, I thought I would quickly post up a couple lists. We sort of glossed over the Champions League list and I thought I would post a guide to our boys on their national teams. I know, I already missed some qualifiers on Friday, but better late than never.
First, Benitez has submitted his list of 31 players for the Champions League. It inlcudes 4 club-trained players (*), 4-locally trained players(‡), and 6 youth players (†):
Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar, Luca Castellazzi‡, Paolo Orlandoni*, Alberto Gallinetta†
Defenders: Ivan Cordoba, Javier Zanetti, Lucio, Maicon, Marco Materazzi‡, Walter Samuel, Cristian Chivu, Davide Santon*, Felice Natalino†, Cristiano Biraghi†, Andrea Romano†, Lorenzo Crisetig†
Midfielders: Thiago Motta, Wesley Sneijder, Sulley Muntari‡, MacDonald Mariga, Esteban Cambiasso, Dejan Stankovic, Amantino Mancini, Joel Obi*, Coutinho, Obiora Nwankwo
Attackers: Samuel Eto'o, Diego Milito, Goran Pandev‡, Jonathan Biabiany*, Simone Dell'Agnello†
So there you go. Even the famously international Interzationale has the requisite number of locally and club-trained players to meet with UEFA regulations (whatever those may be. Their web page is not the most forthcoming). In fact, we have some club-trained players to spare! I will admit to being startled at seeing Mancini on the list, but what are you going to do? Besides, this list only hast to get us through the group stages. We get to submit a new one after Christmas.
For those of you looking for a little Inter fix this weekend, we have 15 players off with their respective national teams. I know, I missed a couple games today, but on the up side, now we have youtube highlights.
Cambiasso, Milito, Samuel, and Zanetti. Catch them in an internation friendly against the mighty Spain in Buenos Aires, Tuesday, Sept 7, 5pm local time (1pm pacific, 4pm eastern)
Cuchu, back among the chosen.
Cordoba: Mexico v Columbia (international friendly) in Monterrey, Tuesday 7 Sept, at 7pm local time (5pm pacific, 8pm eastern - I think)
Sneijder: San Marino v Holland (Euro 2012 qualifier), finished 0-5 with a hattrick from Klaus Jan Huntelaar.
Holland v Finland (Euro 2012 qualifier) in Rotterdam, Tuesday 7 September at 8:30pm local time (11:30am pacific, 2:30 eastern)
Chivu: Romania v Albania (Euro 2012 qualifier), finished 1-1, Chivu didn't play.
Belarus v Romania (Euro 2012 qualifier) in Minsk, Tuesday 7 September at 7:30pm local time (10:30am pacific, 1:30pm eastern)
Dejan Stankovic: Far Oer v Serbia (Euro 2012 qualifier), finished 0-3 with a great free-kick goal from Deki.
Serbia v Slovenia (Euro 2012 qualifier) in Belgrade, Tuesday 7 September at 7:30pm local time (11:30 am pacific, 2:30pm eastern)
Goran Pandev: Slovakia v Macedonia (Euro 2012 qualifier), finished 1-0 for Slovakia. Pandev played the whole game
Macedonia v Armenia (Euro 2012 qualifier) in Skopje, Tuesday 7 September at 7pm local time (11am pacific, 2pm eastern)
Samuel Eto'o: Mauritius v Cameroon (Africa Cup of Nations 2012 qualifier) in Bellevue, Saturday 4 September - no time given
McDonald Mariga: Guinea v Kenya (Africa Cup of Nations 2012 qualifier) in Bissau, Saturday 4 September - no time given
Cristiano Biraghi, Felice Natalino: Bosnia U21 v Italy U21 (2011 UEFA Under-21 Championship qualifier), finished 0-1, both Biraghi and Natalino where unused subs.
Italy U21 v Wales U21 (2011 UEFA Under-21 Championship qualifier in Pescara) Tuesday 7 September at 5pm local time (8am pacific, 11am eastern). This one is a must win for the kiddies.
Jonathan Biabiany: Ukraine U21 v France U21 (2011 UEFA Under-21 Championship qualifier), finished 2-2 with Biabiany playing roughly 30 minutes.
France U21 v Malta U21 (2011 UEFA Under-21 Championship qualifier) in Amiens, Tuesday 7 September at 5:00pm (8am pacific, 11am eastern). Also a must win for the baby blues.
Coutinho: training camp with Brazil in Barcelona until Thursday 9 September
How super cute is Coutinho training with the big-boy Brazilians?
And now, just what you have been waiting for: The Contest Entries (drum roll please)
Name............Points..Goals for..Goals Allowed
Miki.....................78.......... 68.......... 30
Skyder.................78.......... 68.......... 41
Mites...................78.......... 72.......... 35
Nikko...................80.......... 70.......... 30
Mikko ..................80.......... 70.......... 35
Inter Forever.........80.......... 77.......... 30
Pedro ..................81.......... 85.......... 44
Maryam................82..........78.......... 34
Yormie.................82..........79.......... 38
ronny...................82.......... 81.......... 43
Thatdude..............83.......... 70.......... 20
fandibong..............83..........70.......... 29
Paolo....................83..........73.......... 32
Kabir....................83.......... 78..........35
Sandro ................84.......... 39.......... 22 (Sandro, is your goals for number a typo?)
Gerrymc...............84.......... 74.......... 48
Kirby....................86..........79..........32
Nomad.................86..........79.......... 42
Vinod..................86..........82.......... 40
vincent vh............87.......... 73.......... 37
Kazaan...............87..........79..........38
Anthony................88..........79..........42
And just for comparison, Inter's actual stats for the last few years:
2004/5.................72..........65..........37
2005/6.................76..........68..........30
2006/7................97..........80..........34
2007/8................85..........69..........26
2008/9................84..........70..........32
2009/10...............82..........75..........34
So, as you can see, some of you think this will be a break-out, record setting season. The highest guess for number of goals was Vinod with 82 goals. That means that Inter has to average 2.2 goals a game for the rest of the season. They better get cracking! The lowest was Sandro with 39. I double checked the email and that is what he sent me. It will be tough to get to 84 points with only 39 goals.
Well, that is about it. I will be going out of town this weekend so unless MAD gets something up (did you get my email?), you will all just have to stare at this for a few days.
Have a great weekend
FORZA INTER
And just in case you need some reminding as to who Cristiano Biraghi is: