{"id":14452,"date":"2012-08-04T21:17:09","date_gmt":"2012-08-05T01:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=14452"},"modified":"2012-08-04T21:17:09","modified_gmt":"2012-08-05T01:17:09","slug":"milan-crush-olimpia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=14452","title":{"rendered":"Milan Crush Olimpia"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Robinho scored and had an assist as AC Milan defeated Olimpia, 3-1, at Gillette Stadium. (Photo: Walter Silva)<\/p><\/div>\n

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. \u2013\u00a0Italian\u00a0giants A.C. Milan cruised to an easy 3-1 victory over Honduran champions C.D. Olimpia at Gillette Stadium in an international exhibition on Saturday evening. Antonio Nocernino scored twice and Robinho added a goal for Milan, while Jose Escalente scored a consolation goal for Olimpia in the second half.<\/p>\n

The heavily favored Milan had the added advantage of playing against a tired Olimpia squad that was playing their second match in three days. Olimpia defeated Salvadoran club C.D. FAS 3-1 in CONCACAF Champions League play on Thursday. Only five players from their starting eleven that night also started Saturday\u2019s friendly.<\/p>\n

Robinho opened the scoring for Milan in the 24th minute after getting the ball from Nocerino about 30 yards from goal. The Brazilian forward cut around a defender and hit a low shot inside the near post to put Milan in the lead.<\/p>\n

Nocerino combined with Robinho again to add the second in the 38th minute after Antonio Cassano found Robinho in the far side of the box with a cross. Robinho headed it to Nocerino in front of goal, who slotted it in to make it 2-0.<\/p>\n

Nocerino then made it 3-0 two minutes before halftime after Robinho played Ignazio Abate into space on the right side of the box with a fantastic through ball. Abate drew out the goalkeeper than slid the ball across the box to Nocerino, who slotted it in.<\/p>\n

After wholesale changes on both sides, Olimpia finally clawed one back in the 72nd minute though Jose Escalante after he rose above his defender to head in a cross from Brayan Beckeles.<\/p>\n

AC Milan asserted their dominance early and Olimpia\u2019s Noel Valladaers was forced to come up huge in the 10th minute with two saves in quick succession. First Valladaers denied a Robinho effort targeted for the lower corner with a diving save. The rebound fell to Stephen El Shaarawy, who quickly hit an effort on frame, but Valladaers recovered to make another impressive save.<\/p>\n

After Robinho opened the scoring, Milan continued to pile on the pressure and just <\/strong>two minutes after taking the lead nearly added a second. This time Robinho played the role of provider, setting up Nocerino just outside the box. Nocerino placed a shot towards the lower corner, but Valladaers tipped it wide.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nocerino scored his first in the 38th minute and then had another opportunity in the 40th minute, but Valladaers punched it out. He\u2019d get his second goal three minutes later.<\/p>\n

Olimpia had essentially their first chance of the game in the 45th minute when Carlos Will Mejia found Douglas Caetano near the penalty spot with a cross from the right flank. Caetano put a header on frame, but goalkeeper Marco Amelia was well positioned to make the save.<\/p>\n

Cassano then threatened seven minutes into the second half after he was played behind the defense on a long ball. Cassano powered a shot on frame, but substitute goalkeeper Escober Izaguirree was there to make the save.<\/p>\n

AC Milan took their foot off the gas from there and Olimpia had a few more chances, but were only able to break through in the 72nd minute on Escalente\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n

Milan continues preseason on August 8 against Real Madrid at Yankee Stadium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Italian giants crush Honduran champions, 3-1, in Gillette Stadium friendly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[133,26,134],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/robinhofeature.jpg?fit=490%2C240&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14452"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14452"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14454,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14452\/revisions\/14454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}