Total Pro Sports » Italy

Kickboxer Gets Knocked Out…Of The Ring (Video)

JamieD — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:54:22 +0000

During a kickboxing match in Trieste, Italy, Giuseppe Patane was on the receiving end of several vicious shots. However, many of us are left wondering which shot was the hardest? The deadly left-right-left combo from his opponent, Tadas Jonkus, which knocked him unconscious, or his ensuing spill through the ropes that resulted in him landing head-first on the floor outside the ring?

You can check out the knockout and ensuing spill at the 1:00 mark of the video below.

AC Milan Ties Barca In 90th Minute, Tiziano Crudeli Goes Crazy (Video)

JamieD — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 15:35:31 +0000

AC Milan and Barcelona faced off in a classic UEFA Champions League group stage match that saw the Italian club take a 1-0 lead thanks to an Alexandre Pato goal less than a minute into the game. However Barcelona would respond with goals from Pedro Rodriguez and David Villa in the 36th and 50th minute, respectively. That 2-1 scoreline would stand up until the 92nd minute, as Milan had one final opportunity to tie the game on a corner kick, and Thiago Silva made the most of it, heading home the goal that sent AC Milan superfan Tiziano Crudeli into the following frenzy.

Italian Prison Inmates Sure Do Love Mario Balotelli (Video)

JamieD — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:59:00 +0000

Gianluigi Buffon has won eight Serie A goalkeeper of the year awards, three UEFA Team of the Year honors, one European Footballer of the Year award, a Yashin Award, and most importantly, he backstopped the Italian national team to the World Cup title in 2006.

Mario Balotelli has won…well, nothing really.

So why would Balotelli be the one receiving all of the attention from dozens of inmates during a recent visit to a prison near Florence, while Buffon was almost entirely ignored? Perhaps being in prison has made them unaware of Buffon’s many accomplishments over the past decade? Or maybe the televisions in Italian prisons only offer feeds for English Premier League games? Or, as prison inmates, maybe they simply can’t stop themselves from rooting for the bad boy?

Whatever the case may be, I am still surprised to see that Balotelli was somehow able to escape that mob with all of his jewelery still on his body.

Hat Tip – [101 Goals]

This Day In Sports History (July 11th) — España ’82

JamieD — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:33:42 +0000

It was on this day in 1982 that the 1982 World Cup of Soccer finals were played at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid, Spain. Italy would go on to claim their third World Cup title with a 3-1 victory over West Germany.

Italy finished the round robin stage with three draws, tying them with Cameroon for second place in Group 1. However, with identical points and goal differential, the Italians were awarded a spot in the second round because of their greater number of goals scored. They would go on to win Group C in the second round after beating Argentina and Brazil, and they advanced to the finals via a 2-0 victory over Poland in Barcelona.

Italy appeared to have the fresher legs in the finals and after a scoreless first half, goals from Paolo Rossi, Marco Tardelli and Alessandro Altobelli put them up 3-0. West Germany would score a goal of their own in the 83rd minute, but that was all they could manage as the Italians came away with the trophy.

Paolo Rossi would earn both the golden boot as the tournaments leasing scorer and the golden ball as the tournament MVP. Italy has since added one more World Cup championship to their trophy case, winning the tournament in 2006.

Here is a look at the highlights from the 1982 World Cup Finals between Italy and West Germany.

Notable Birthdays

Caroline Wozniacki, WTA – Born July 11, 1990 (age 21) in Odense, Denmark

Andre Johnson, NFL – Born July 11, 1981 (age 30) in Miami, Florida

Éric Abidal, Soccer – Born July 11, 1979 (age 32) in Lyon, France

Backspin Turned This Penalty Kick Miss Into A Penalty Kick Goal (Video)

JamieD — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 18:43:59 +0000

If every soccer goalkeeper would read our blog or take a class in physics, they would all know that a penalty kick isn’t over until the ball has come to a complete stop or is safely cleared from the vicinity of the net.

The latest goaltender to learn this lesson was Loris Angeli of Italian seventh division club Dro. During a shootout in a playoff game against Termeno to decide which club would be promoted to the sixth division, Termeno’s Michael Palma watched his shot ricochet square off the crossbar and land several meters in front of the net. But after falling to his knees in disbelief and watching the opposing goalkeeper run to his teammates in celebration, the ball took a wicked bounce backwards and slowly rolled past the goal line. The referees watched it all transpire and after having a few words with each other, they decided it was a good goal.

Termeno’s goalkeeper stopped the following shot, sealing the victory and their club’s promotion to the sixth division. It wasn’t the prettiest win by any stretch of the imagination, but I’d assume most wins aren’t all that pretty when you are playing in the seventh division of any sports league.

Hat Tip – [Dirty Tackle]

This Day In Sports History (June 8th) – World Cup 1990

CP — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 15:40:23 +0000

It was on this day in 1990 that the 14th FIFA World Cup began in Italy. Italy became the second nation to host the tournament for a second time, joining Mexico who held the competition in 1970, and again in 1986.

The Italians would host the reigning champions Argentina in one semi-final, while the defending runner-up German team took on England in the other semi-final. Both matches remained tied after 120 minutes of play and needed penalty kicks to decide the winner. Argentina prevailed over the host Italians and the Germans would reach the finals by beating the squad from England. In the end, the Germans proved too powerful for the Argentineans winning their third World Cup trophy by a score of 1-0. Salvatore Schillaci scored six goals to win the Golden Boot award as well as the Golden Ball award as the tournament’s best player.

Here are highlights from the 1990 World Cup.

Notable Birthdays

Troy Vincent, NFL – Born June 8th 1971 (age 40) in Trenton, New Jersey

Bryan McCabe, NHL – Born June 8th 1975 (age 36) in St. Catharines, Ontario

Kenji Johjima, MLB – Born June 8th 1976 (age 35) in Sasebo, Japan

Chievo’s Marcolini Shows Some Range With 45-meter Goal (Video)

JamieD — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 16:15:20 +0000

It isn’t often that a misplayed ball just inside your own half of center turns into a goal less than two seconds later, but then again, there aren’t many players with the accuracy and range of Chievo’s Michele Marcolini.

During yesterday’s Italian Serie A action, Marcolini was on the receiving end of an errant pass from a Bologna player, when he decided to give it a go from 45 meters away from goal. That decision would prove to be a good one, as he delivered a perfect ball over the goalkeepers head and into the top corner of the net, giving Chievo the late 2-0 lead. They would hold on to win by the same score.

Here is a look at Marcolini’s goal from long range.

Is This Footage Of Kobe Bryant Being Served Paternity Papers Following A Game? (Video)

JamieD — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 23:09:02 +0000

As the story goes, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant was served paternity papers as he made his way to the locker room following a game last month. Now more information is beginning to surface as reports are indicating that Kobe had impregnated a groupie and shipped her off to Italy. Unfortunately for him, she wants to return to the United States, and she may be ready to talk.

We’re all ears mystery woman!

As for the footage of Kobe being served his paternity papers, you can check it out below. I’m not quite sure if the package that is handed to him actually contains the papers that the reports speaks of, or if it was just another groupie who found a clever way to give Kobe the key to her hotel room, but either way, it makes for quite the interesting story.

Hat Tip – [MediaTakeOut]

Milan And Bari Give Us The Strangest Pre-Match Warm-Ups Ever! (Video)

JamieD — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:45:14 +0000

Talk about confusion. I can only imagine that is what fans at the San Siro were faced with after watching what appeared to be players from AC Milan and Bari taking the pitch for warm-ups and performing some rather strange acts, whether it was dancing, swimming, limboing, or playing frisbee.

Despite bearing a striking resemblance to the player on the back of their jersey, the men who took the field prior to Saturday’s game were not actually the players themselves. Instead, they were actors performing as part of a marketing campaign for the Italian sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport.

I’ll credit the paper for putting together this creative and entertaining scene, however, I can’t help but wonder why they wouldn’t use the real players. After all, no one is better at acting than a footballer.

Hat Tip – [Dirty Tackle]

Owl Kicking, Canine Intruding And Sportsmanship FAIL: Three Soccer Videos You Need To See (Videos)

JamieD — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:17:27 +0000

The day is winding down and I am sitting here with three incredible clips of three unusual incidents from three separate soccer matches. So rather than have you browse through three different posts to see them, why not just stuff them all into a single post?

The first comes from Brazil, where a police dog got tired of watching the action from the sideline and decided to get in on the action. As you would expect, none of the players from Boa or UEC were willing to get between this dog and his toy.

The second clip is from a match in Colombia between Deportivo Pereira and Atletico Juniors, where an owl’s poor decision on a resting spot would prove to be quite costly. The owl is said to be Athletico’s mascot, and after landing on the field during play, it was struck by the ball during a clearing attempt. Laying motionless on the pitch, Deportivo’s Luis Moreno thought it would be a good idea to kick the injured owl to “see if it would fly.” Needless to say, his healing theory would not work out as planned.

And for the third clip we take you to Italy, where an act of sportsmanship by third tier club Gela backfired, resulting in a rather entertaining soccer brawl. With Gela leading by a goal, a Foggia player went down with an injury. As is often the case in the game of soccer, Gela kicked the ball out of bounds as an act of courtesy for the fallen Foggia player, but rather than return the ball to Gela, Foggia quickly put the ball back into play and scored the tying goal. Mayhem would ensure shortly after.

Hat Tips to Buzzfeed, Deadspin and TheScore