Hey guys, thank you everyone for the welcome! Well… Almost everyone :roll:
Super Liedson: No, I’m not an imposter. As it is explained here I am Argentinean and if I couldn’t come here earlier (I signed up in December 28 ) it was because my account hadn’t been accepted. Let me warn you though, I said I can’t speak or write Portuguese properly, but being from Argentina, and hence Spanish being my mother tongue, I can understand most of what is written here in Portuguese (luckily! otherwise I would miss out on everything I could read in O Jogo, Record, A Bola, Mais Futebol and Sporting official site) since there are many similarities between Spanish and your language as you must know by now. Did you even bother checking those two links I provided at the bottom of my first message in this thread? I’m the author of said reports (entirely written in Spanish just for you jubaverde 
) but if you still have your doubts you can e-mail me to the account that is featured at the end of those reports and confirm that it’s me. :idea: And Incitatus has just said it but I was going to propose it as well: you can always ask Administrators and they will confirm that my IP is from Argentina.
DUH! WHY SO MUCH PARANOIA IN THIS FORUM? 
Well, at some point I can understand you. On that site I told you I participate there’s also a message board and every now and then some Bosta (as I like to call them), River or Independiente fan comes disguised to play a joke on us. Whatever… But I can’t see the reason why I would do that if all I’m doing is speaking positive things about Romagnoli.
Incitatus: thanks for the prompt reply and kind explanation. Yeah, I understand it was just an innocent joke. I recall reading someone calling him “Raviolli” as well… We also do it in our forums with players we dislike all the time, and we are far way evil! :twisted: It’s just that, as I said, Romagnoli is my all-time favourite player so it tends to bug me more than it should. Yep, that was the U-20 World Cup we won in our own country in 2001 and Romagnoli was the starting playmaker all the way through (leaving D’Alessandro in the bench), he was in charge of most free-kicks and corner-kicks, he scored 2 goals (against Egypt and Paraguay if memory serves) and dished many assists for Saviola. In January 2003 (shortly after single-handedly winning the Copa Sudamericana in late 2002 for San Lorenzo with a Maradona-esque goal in the finals against Atlético Nacional from Colombia… By the way, I have it somewhere if you’re interested in checking it out) he was called for the absolute National Teal by Marcelo Bielsa for a friendly tour in North and Central America but unluckily he didn’t get a chance, Bielsa only played him for the last 15 minutes or so against USA and that was all. 
Well, I don’t want to write an Encyclopedia article about Romagnoli (believe me, I could) so I will just leave it here and we can continue later on if you have any questions… Yes, I know all players must defend once in a while, and Leandro can do some sacrifice, but maybe I didn’t explain myself clearly. What I mean is that he’s not one of those players we call in our country “carrileros” who can run back and forth in the sides as if they were defenders, midfielders and strikers all at the same time. I don’t know, Sorín comes to mind… Yeah, I don’t think Leandro might mind sliding a little to the left to start plays (you call them “lances” in Portuguese or that means something else?). As a matter of fact, when Pellegrini (now in Villarreal) coached him in San Lorenzo in 2001 (our last great season and probably Romagnoli’s best season) although Romagnoli could do whatever he wanted and float anywhere in the midfield, he tended to slide to the left because being right-footed he could always dribble to the inside and shoot at will if you know what I mean. But yes, here in Argentina we are more used (or we used to be since now the 4-4-2 appears to be dominating everywhere) to the diamond shape formation, that is, one central midfielder (your typical "5), one midfielder on the right (your typical “8”) and another one on the left (the typical “11”) and the playmaker, “enganche” or “enlace” in Spanish, “reggista” (for Italians), the typical “10”, which would be Romagnoli in our case.
Mauras: I’m relieved you have already checked my exclusive thread for you. Too bad those links aren’t working now. I told you, new season in Mexico was starting yesterday so they might have removed those stats. Anway, BETO ACOSTA copied and pasted them for everyone here. Take a look. Yes, I later read that you had good remarks for Romagnoli but I just wanted to clarify this thing about his assists in Mexico. I had it choked in my throat since I first visited this forum. 
By the way, I think you had provided the link in the 12-page-long Romagnoli thread but I can’t find it either now.
Rui: I’m surprised you know about Tinelli because he’s not that much known outside Argentina. I take it you lived here once? And please, don’t call me that, will you? :evil: Ignacio (my real name) or Leãodro (I banged my head against the wall to come up with such an original pun!!! haha) Romagnoli will do. Now, I didn’t understand something you said. First I thought you were complimenting Romagnoli but then I saw that emoticon and the Ronaldo remark now I’m clueless. :?: In any case, let me make it clear that Romagnoli played professionaly in San Lorenzo from mid 1998 (he debuted at the age of 17) to the end of 2004 so he played for us quite a while to be a favourite among the crowd, don’t you think?. Besides, you always have to consider people’s age factor. I’m 22 and was 14/15 when I first saw him. Yes, sure, I could talk about players who played in the 60’s or 70’s because I know my San Lorenzo history lessons very well but of all the players I have actually SEEN, Romagnoli is my all-time favourite because there’s always something about the first love (soccer wise, mind you! :oops: ). Sure, I have other favourites who played in San Lorenzo like Iván Córdoba (now in Inter), Gonzalo Rodríguez (now in Villarreal), Mario Santana (now in Palermo) or Zabaleta (now in Espanyol) or Pablo Barrientos (still in San Lorenzo and the next big thing in my mind, or the next Maradona hahaha, I’m just kiddin, that one was for you Maures, I recall that remark about being tired of all these so-called next half-Maradonas… See? I can understand Portuguese)
Thank you very much Nuno Lapa! Brief, but wiser than some others here. 
BETO ACOSTA: Thanks for helping me out and pasting those stats. Do those links I provided still work for you? Mmmm, by the way, your nickname rings the bell… Where have I seen him???
Karol: You too, thanks again for defending me! Again, younger than my “accusers”, but wiser. Nice phrase, by the way! “Vocês diparam primeiro e só depois perguntam quem está lá…” HAHAHAHA (I might copy and paste it as my signature if you allow me, it will always remind me of my first posts here)
jubaverde: It’s not that hard to memorize a name like Paulo Bento. Like I said, I’ve been reading the O Jogo, Record and A Bola for the past three or four weeks (I have saved all Romagnoli’s front cover pics too) so I can say I have a pretty accurate picture of your team. Of course, I already knew about Sporting, I’m a Soccer fan first and foremost, and a former San Lorenzo player like Alberto Beto (and MATADOR for you, Sporting fans, right?) Acosta has played there. I also know that Argentine Yazalde is a legend there. By the way, his Portuguese widow lives here and I would place her in my MILF list :twisted: (don’t ask me what that means, go and Google it). Ah, y te puedo escribir todo el español que quieras si te parece más cómodo. Como preguntaba antes, si prefieren que escriba en castellano, me da lo mismo, pero me parece que el inglés es más neutral como para que nos entendamos todos mejor. Igual, a medida que pase el tiempo y pierda la “vergüenza” y adquiera más experiencia, tal vez me anime a escribir algo en portugués. So, how much of that did you make out?
Toca_do_lobo: thanks for the warm welcome man! I agree on football being a universal language. And it’s like you say, nowadays with the Internet, the almighty Google and our will to learn and find out things, we can do whatever we want. The moment I first learned about Sporting’s interest in Romagnoli, I started Googling Sporting so I first learned about the official site, then I looked for a forum and I found this one and luckily I also found the daily O Jogo (I know some of you guys don’t like it and call it “Pasquín” hahaha, which reminds me of myself because I call Olé here the same), Record and A Bola. Of course, mine is always a special case because I’m such a San Lorenzo and Romagnoli freak that I go a bit too far. :lol: And of course I already knew about Sporting, as I explained above. I knew about the three more important teams in Portugal, Sporting, Porto and Benfica (Argentinean Caniggia played there). And since mid 2005 I also started paying attention to Sporting Braga because Maxi Bevacqua (on loan there until last week, now he’s in Estrela de Amadora) is from San Lorenzo as well.
Sorry Super Liedson, one more thing… :lol: I know, I know, I’m so bright I came up with such an original pun combining Leão with Leandro’s first two syllables to form my nickname! HA-HA 8) You didn’t have to say it, I already knew it! Seriously, could you or anyone here tell me what ALT + number I have to press to get that “ã”? I’m sick and tired of copying and pasting that symbol whenever I need to type mi nickname (luckily there’s the autocomplete function when loggin in here). By the way, no Bileao, we only have the “ñ” which sounds similar to “gn” (although my name “Ignacio” is actually pronounced stressing both letters).
Well, I’m EXHAUSTED. This was a very long second message but I guess you have to pay your dues when you’re a newbie. :oops:
SO WE ALL AGREE THAT I’M NOT AN IMPOSTER? :shock: AGAIN, SHOULD I STICK TO ENGLISH OR THE MAJORITY WOULD RATHER I SWITCH TO SPANISH. FROM WHAT I CAN SEE, MANY OF YOU (like Incitatus, Nuno Lapa and Toca_do_lobo) SPEAK ENGLISH VERY WELL SO IF SOMEONE DOESN’T GET SOMETHING I’M SAYING, THEY CAN ALWAYS TRANSLATE FOR YOU :idea:
Later everybody!