Mihajlovic calls for COURAGE!! Bilbo stays home :(

By: Ben | November 15th, 2008

In an interview Sinisa Mihajlovic has stated that tomorrow’s encounter with Siena is a match that will be met with more difficulty than that of last Saturday against the struggling Roma. He failed to elaborate with the eloquence of metaphors as with Roma but has praised the leadership of his opposite Giampaolo and the resilience of the Tuscans. A certainty tomorrow, we’ll find out within the first ten minutes whether this will be a contest of tactics or grit.

Siena is a side since their first and only promotion to Serie A in 2003, never been relegated back to the lower division. Marco Giampaolo has only brought more stability and organization to the team, along with the additions of Gianluca Curci, Cristiano Del Grosso and unknown Colombian import Juan Camilo Zuniga, have reinforced their defense (though Lazio had no trouble finding 3). Their goal-mouth threat remains the polished scalp of Massimo Maccarone; a man built in the same manner as the Cro-magnon brute Simone Tiribocchi of Lecce, a category of strikers I can find no better description for than ball-breakers.

There is nothing to say about Siena, that is the lack of the snide and offensive remarks for its beauty and community is paralleled only by Luca; at least in this man’s opinion. Many are familiar with the famous Palio di Siena, the great horse race pitting ten of seventeen city wards against each other twice a year in the summer months of July and August. The race itself lasts only a matter of minutes yet it can take a good hour for the contest to begin. The most aggravating rule of the Palio is the manner in which the race is to be initiated. A ward is picked at random from the start of the race. This year (the August race) it was Il Drago or the dragon. A thick rope is strung across the racing lane and the other nine wards must line their agitated, hoofing horses along the rope and wait for the start of the race. Yet there is no starting pistol, that right is held by the random draw, in this case Il Drago. When the chosen ward snaps the tension of the rope, the race has begun. Simple yes, yet with ten aggravated horses and a salivating crowd all does go wrong in the manner of false starts and bullying jockeys. This is where the anticipation transforms from excitement to rage and to no fault of the random draw for the fortunate chosen one will want to use the advantage and will not be quick to break the tension of the line. In this case, after a good hour or so of false starts and taxiing jockeys, Il Drago burst forth with an enormous rush, only to meet an unfortunate slip crashing the jockey into the barrier wall; the horse rode on.

Davide Carrus, the Sardinian Hobbit was left out of the team line-up. No doubt in a shambles after freshly claiming his victory of spirit and perseverance over the ex-manager Daniele Arrigoni when finally featuring once again in the starting eleven against the capital giants last Saturday. Yet with the return of ex-Sampdoriani Sergio Volpi, Bilbo must once again suffer the dehumanizing agony of the unacknowledged.