Fiorentina vs Roma

Fiorentina vs. Roma: Got home for the last 20 minutes of the match. The penalty call against Roma in the 80 something minute was a combination of Fiorentina striker Vieri's experience and a really bad call by the referee. I am going to try and explain what happened to those that did not watch. Bear with me. Vieri was 1 on 1 with a Roma defender along the left side of the penalty area. The Roma defender went for a slide tackle and his attempt did not result in touching the ball, but was also at an angle that was innocuous to Vieri’s run. The slide tackle was very log and was initiated just as Vieri and the ball went left. As the ball was going left towards the end line, Vieri basically tripped himself on the sliding defender. It sounds weird, I know, but you need to see how long the slide tackle attempt lasted in distance to get a good picture of how Vieri easily could have avoided the defender and gotten to the ball. However, he knew if he tripped himself on the defender, a penalty would be called. Mutu chipped the ensuing penalty attempt strait down the middle as Roma’s Brazilian keeper, Doni, went right. I have watched Mutu play twice this year for Fiorentina and have been impressed with his ability from both games. I did a bit of research on his career and it seems that his goals per game has increased considerably since arriving at Florence. Mutu’s Romanian national side, which he is a vice captain of, resides atop Group G of Euro 2008 qualifying.