I have no idea what will happen to this blog, I’d love to tell you that it was just me, but I am certainly not the first blogger to leave because of the people at SB Nation, and I know I won’t be the last.

I had another blogger interested in taking over here, but unfortunately, I cannot set up their account, and my emails to SB Nation have gone unanswered. What a shame, with the Euros around the corner. Perhaps when the potential to make advertising money on this blog by switching over to the new SB Nation blogs is realized, they will change their practices. Or maybe not.

I would like to give a special thanks to Sam, who is ufortunately also unable to continue blogging at this time, and did me a huge personal favor by taking time out of his very busy schedule to write such fantastic posts here.

Anyway, I will definitely be watching every game in June and thinking of the friends I’ve made here. Thank you so much for putting up with my girliness and my ridiculousness and for making this blog such a fun place to be.

Forza Azzurri!

Ciao,

Elaine

Flashback to Euro qualification. It’s September of 2010 and the match is Italy vs. Serbia. You remember the images? Serbian fans, balaclavas, flares, smashed plexiglass, netting dividers being cut. Match suspended. Italy was awarded the 3-0 win. Why would Serbian fans do this? How would a violent protest in another country get you what you want in your own? How can you claim to be a fan of a sport, of a team, and then disrupt that sport, insult your team and give up the one thing every fan craves: victory? Furthermore, why would you risk being banned from the stadiums for the very game you claim to be supporting?

Well we all know how this ended up. Fines, games behind closed doors, bans and arrests for the ringleaders of those ultras. Plus the aforementioned 3-0 win awarded to Italy, which likely cost them their chance at the playoffs for Euro qualification. Unfortunately for Serbia, this wasn’t the first time violence had touched their beloved football, domestically or internationally. But wouldn’t it be nice if it had been the last?

For the Stadio Communale Luigi Ferraris, affectionately known as the Marassi, this also wasn’t the last time fans would interfere with the beautiful game. Yesterday, disturbing images of Genoa Ultras throwing flares onto the pitch, climbing on top of the tunnel, threatening to invade the pitch, and asking for their own players to remove their shirts, claiming they weren’t worthy to wear them. And who were they, exactly, causing the game they claim to love to be stopped for 40 minutes, to tell anyone they were or were not worthy to wear a shirt? All because they might be relegated… again?

Genoa have 9 Serie A titles and are a familiar face in Serie A. Every team has its bad years, and they aren’t exactly strangers to Serie B, either. Maybe it was just the pain of following their rivals, Sampdoria, who were relegated the year before, that got to them? Or was the coffin they dragged through the streets of Genoa last year as a “funeral” for their rivals weighing heavily on them?

Either way, the images of these fans holding a whole stadium and 2 teams hostage instead of letting them determine who is or isn’t relegated on the pitch is highly disturbing. More disturbing to hear their defense: that their throwing flares and their threats and holding their team hostage were “non-violent” and therefore okay. Or that losing to Siena 3-0 was okay, but not 4-0, despite the fact that either score cost them three points. Truly, some sort of madness has overcome them, as no rational mind could justify this nonsense.

And now, Genoa is forced to play its final two home games behind closed doors, and two of them so far have received 5 year bans from all sporting events for their actions. But worse, the humiliation they gave their players, their captain, even, by asking them to remove their shirts because they weren’t worthy – how do they think that will motivate their team to stay in Serie A? In what universe is this display of “anger and concern” helping anyone? Who are players playing for if not their own fans?

One thing is certain: unfortunately this is actually not just a problem at the Marassi. Maybe we’ve witnessed 2 events in the last few years at this stadium, but everywhere you look, there are fans behaving badly: racist chants, signs that cross the lines of healthy sportsmanship, fan violence outside of the stadiums, and yes, even people killed by fan violence. And more commonly, the kinds of things that happen online in a forum like this one, especially with rival fans or even with fans of the same team.

So at what point do fans sacrifice sport for their own twisted sense of justice? What true fan would risk a lifetime ban from a stadium just to throw a banana or make a monkey sound? Who wins when fans behave so badly? How do players not get discouraged when they leave everything they have out on the pitch, think they’ve won, only to have to play behind closed doors or forfeit a match because of their own fans?

One thing’s for sure. They should check into the water at the Marassi. They seem to be setting a new standard there in Genoa for fans behaving badly.

Do you think the 5 year ban is enough for ultras who orchestrated the standoff in Genoa? Do you think playing 2 games behind closed doors will solve anything for the club? What did you think about the players being humiliated by their own fans?

Elaine is on Twitter where the spirit of the Marassi lives every day. @ItalyWCB

It’s been a bit of a slow week, and aside from the tragedy at the weekend and the news of Guiseppe Rossi’s new ACL injury, all is rather quiet on the Azzurri front.

So, I am going to endeavour to round up some Calcio/Italian based news of the week as we head towards the weekend’s fixtures..

- Ex-Azzurri boss Donadoni will remain at Parma next year after his excellent  firefighting mission during the last few months, but has essentially shrugged his shoulders when asked where Giovinco is going in summer. Juve and even Barca are reportedly interested, and my bet is on the former, the Atomic Ant apparently setting his sights on the probably absent number 10 jersey at Juve.

- Juve play Roma this weekend, with the tantalising sub-plot of the final showdown between Alex Del Piero and Francesco Totti, a theme expertly summed up by Football Italia’s Dave Taylor. The two famous fantasisti are their respective flag bearers, and as self respecting Italy fans you should all take the time to sit down and enjoy it.

- Emiliano Viviano has expressed his desire to return to Inter, the Italy international clearly looking for a big team to support his career. He’ll never replace Cesar unless the Brazilian’s hands fall off, so perhaps not the best move for him.

-Milan are reportedly on the look out for Italian defenders, reports over the last couple of days suggesting that long term replacements for Nesta include Cagliari’s Astori,   Chievo’s Acerbi and Fiorentina’s Natali. The Rossoneri are still rumoured to be interested in Domencio Criscito, the Zenit man saying however that there has been “no recent contact” between him and the club.

-After El Sharaawy and Borini’s upsurge as young guns playing excellently in a Calcio giant’s colours, Inter and Juve are looking to bring their own youth in, with Verratti and Destro for Pescara and Siena looking to return to the youth teams that borne them. Excellent to see, Calcio needs some youth.

-San Siro will reportedly change to a synthetic pitch next year, after problems have resurfaced during Milan’s Champions League run. As the stadium is steep and hangs over the pitch, the grass receives little light and degenerates to the condition it’s in. An interesting development, if true.

-Juve have reportedly got the deal to sign Brescia wonderkid Nicola Leali all but done. The “new Buffon” has made remarkable progress in his short future, and we could be looking at the next decade of Azzurri glovemanship once again residing in Turin.

-Like Juve, it is reported that Riccardo Montolivo will be a Milan player by August. The contract has supposedly been agreed, and the Rossoneri will land the former Viola captain. Good for all involved.

]]> http://italy.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2010/friday-afternoon-calcio-round-up.html/feed 0 http://italy.worldcupblog.org/euro-2012/votd-calling-up-kobe.html http://italy.worldcupblog.org/euro-2012/votd-calling-up-kobe.html#comments Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:48:11 +0000 elaine http://italy.worldcupblog.org/euro-2012/votd-calling-up-kobe.html While we work out our blogging schedule, please forgive the shameless promotion, but this is more than just the greatest commercial ever featuring several Azzurri players, past and present. While we have been talking about who should or shouldn’t go to Euros, we may have missed an important player: Kobe Bryant. He was raised in Italy, right? He certainly has Wesley Schneijder’s number.

When Elaine isn’t watching this commercial for the 1,000th time, she is on Twitter. @ItalyWCB

Here are the 20 players memorialized in this year’s Panini Euro 2012 album:

Gianluigi Buffon, Morgan De Sanctis; Giorgio Chiellini, Andrea Barzagli, Andrea Ranocchia, Federico Balzaretti, Domenico Criscito, Christian Maggio; Daniele De Rossi, Andrea Pirlo, Thiago Motta, Claudio Marchisio, Riccardo Montolivo, Alberto Aquilani, Simone Pepe; Sebastian Giovinco, Pablo Daniel Osvaldo, Antonio Di Natale, Giampaolo Pazzini, Mario Balotelli.

1) Who doesn’t belong in this squad?

2) Who does belong but is not listed? (someone you really believe might be called up)

And now for a little fun. Who would never belong in the squad in a million years? They must have an Italian passport and be an active player now. (Ideally someone who might be considered only after Prandelli drank a whole bottle of Limoncelli.) Best answer wins a special virtual gift from me. Here’s my answer:

Elaine is on Twitter where she doesn’t pretend to know who Prandelli will call up or if he even drinks Limoncelli. @ItalyWCB

As Mario Balotelli trotted around Arsenal’s pristine Emirates pitch last Sunday, floating lazily through the game, only making his mark on proceedings when driving his studs into various areas of the opposition, it makes you wonder what a horrible job Prandelli sometimes has.

After Cesare’s imposed disciplinary scheme based on meritocracy and good behaviour began when he took over as manager, the Azzurri boss has had no qualms following through; dropping Daniele De Rossi after the Roman spent the latter half of the 2010/11 season elbowing members of the Bari team in the face, he has been praised for his uncompromising attitude in punishing big name stars; including our very own Balotelli.

I would like to bet that Prandelli has on average spent more time warning Balo on his “conduct” in his press conferences than he does spend talking about any other subject related to his job. However, the Mancini-Prandelli “good cop-bad cop” paradigm that appears to be in effect at the moment has not stopped Mario starting fights with opposition, teammates, travelling to Milanese nightclubs(because clearly the Mancunian equivalent just aren’t good enough) and ignoring all written and commonly understood logic and allowing friends to set off fireworks in his bathroom.

The last of these misdemeanours(which if you believe the British Tabloids, is quite a list) was the aforementioned Arsenal game, where it seems Mario and Manchester City as a whole threw their title challenge away due to a collection of tired and seemingly lackadaisical performances, most notably Balotelli, who managed to get himself sent off again after getting away with a tackle worthy of a red card on its own.

It is evident that Balotelli heeds no warning. He has obviously apologised, because that’s what his agent told him to do, but he has arguably played his last game for Manchester City after a series of increasingly tepid and disappointing displays that have slowly unravelled his club’s aspirations this season.

Which puts Prandelli in a bit of a pickle. With the Euro’s fast approaching, Prandelli is still short of Guiseppe Rossi and Antonio Cassano, the former still having not stepped on a pitch this calender year, while the later having only seen a handful of minutes since being sent to hospital with a heart condition in November.  Can Prandelli really afford to go without another potentially world class striker, especially by choice? If I were Prandelli, depending on Alessandro Matri, Giampaolo Pazzini and Pablo Osvaldo to lead the line in June would send shivers down my spine.

That being said, if he doesn’t – he undermines the very philosophy he has built his stint at the Azzurri on, potentially pissing off his entire squad and opening himself up to mass criticism; especially if the tournament isn’t a successful one. Why is Balotelli special? The cry will rankle around Il Mister’s ears.

The question is, does he stick? Or twist?

He’s damned if he does, and damned if he doesn’t. Is it better to be on the right hand of the devil or in his path? Do I know anymore of these ambiguous statements? Probably.

Either way, Prandelli is in trouble. The last man on the planet you’d want your career to depend on is Mario Balotelli. You just hope he does what’s right.

Sam is on Twitter. He does know more ambiguous statements, if that’s what you like.

Buffon is giddy with excitement for Euro 2012

• Prandelli got one of the midweek training camps for the Azzurri approved by the Lega Calcio after all. It will take place midweek during the last week of April.

• Balotelli was sent off again while playing for Manchester City on the weekend, which will likely influence Prandelli’s decision whether or not to call him up.

• Cassano played for the first time since his stroke and heart surgery for about 10 minutes for Milan over the weekend. He looked pretty good in that few minutes, certainly looked thrilled to be on the pitch again.

• Giuseppe Rossi is supposedly in training again with Villareal while rumors of a Serie A return, quite possibly to Roma, continue to pick up speed. There is still no known date set for his return to competitive action.

• Prandelli is still looking at Di Natale for inclusion in the squad this summer, and recently made a brief stop at Udinese to have a conversation with Guidolin. Speculation is that Prandelli requested Di Natale to be released for his training camp on April 23-24.

Italy’s Euro Schedule – Mark Your Calendars

Spain vs. Italy

Sunday, June 10 • 18:00 CEST (12noon EDT)

PGE Arena, Gdansk, Poland

Italy vs. Croatia

Thursday, June 14 • 18:00 CEST (12noon EDT)

Municipal Stadium, Poznan, Poland

Italy vs. Republic of Ireland

Monday, June 18 • 20:45 CEST (2:45pm EDT)

Municipal Stadium, Poznan, Poland

The countdown is on… are you ready for Euros?

Elaine is on Twitter as often as Gilardino will be called up, but you can try to find her like he’s trying to find his form… @ItalyWCB

If you’ve been reading since last Easter, you’ll know that one Italian Easter tradition includes big chocolate eggs that are hollow, but have a surprise inside. This year, I would love the surprise of the Henri Dalaunay Trophy to be in my chocolate egg courtesy of our boys in blue. (Even if the Euros are still 2 months away)

How about you? If you could have a chocolate egg with an Azzurri surprise, what would you want? Specific players called up? A Euro dream lineup for this summer? New uniforms? WAGS with super hot friends who like boys that frequent football blogs? Tickets to one or more matches? For the Spanish National Team to all develop the bubonic plague, at least during Poland-Ukraine?

Think of it as my Easter gift to you, the chance to dream big and find your dreams within delicious, decadent, divine Italian chocolate in the shape of an egg… mmmmm…. Oh, sorry, I get carried away with the chocolate part. Please tell us your Azzurri dreams, because come Monday, either Sam or I will wash them away with some new drivel loosely associated with the Azzurri.

Buona Pasqua!!

Elaine is on Twitter when she’s not eating chocolate eggs (so not very often.) @ItalyWCB

A couple of weeks ago, on the 19th of March, Alessandro Nesta celebrated his 36th birthday, an event that soberly reminds us that old ‘Sandro is nearing the end of a career that has provided Milanisti, Laziale and us Azzurri fans with more than a few memorable moments.

Born in 1976(for those that aren’t too strong with maths) in the Cinecitta area of Rome – christened such for its reputation as the hub of Italian Cinema, Nesta enrolled at his local football club after seeing his brother Fernando apply for the side. Little Sandro threw a tantrum, and his father duly obliged.

It wasn’t long before Nesta’s talent was spotted, being offered a place at Roma’s youth academy by Francesco Rocca – but his father, a Lazio fan – turned the move down. In 1985, at the tender age of 9, he was enrolled at Lazio’s youth academy.

Nesta progressed through the youth gauntlet very quickly, being inducted into Lazio’s first team in 1993. However, his budding career didn’t get off to the most auspicious start, breaking star player Paul Gascoigne’s leg in traning, a challenge John Foot in Calcio: A history of Italian Football says “left both players in tears”.

Strong, quick, mentally and tactically exceptional and a natural leader, Alessandro’s talent was too much to ignore. Becoming a vital player at the back for Lazio and becoming the captain at just 21, Nesta led the Biancocelesti through their most glorious period in recent history, scoring the winning goal in the Coppa Italia final(his first and last goal for Lazio) against Milan in 1998, before becoming the defensive linchpin for a star studded side including Pavel Nedved, Hernan Crespo, Juan Sebastian Veron and latterly Christian Vieri securing a rare Scudetto and Coppa Italia double in 2000.

During this period Sandro made waves for Gli Azzurri too, winning the 1996 European Championships for the under 21’s(before you started frantically scrolling through wikipedia to prove me wrong) and being named as part of the full team that traveled to England for the more famous trophy, but was an unused substitute as Italy crashed out in the group stages.

By the 1998 World Cup Nesta was a regular alongside Paolo Maldini and appeared in all three group matches, but played no further part because of injury, a melancholy theme that has underpinned his career.

By 2000, Sandro just coming off the back of the aforementioned domestic double, forming part of a defense that must go down in Azzurri hearts as one of the best backlines it has ever produced, a feat that has numerous rivals littering a glittering defensive tradition.

Nesta, Fabio Cannavaro, Paolo Maldini and Mark Iuliano formed a near impenetrable foursome that was a golden goal away from becoming European Champions, in a tournament it had expertly and pragmatically negotiated.

Nesta returned with the squad with his reputation secured as a world class defender, and as Lazio’s financial walls came crashing all around them in 2002, Nesta departed for Milan for a sum of approximately £19m.

Nesta’s first season at Milan was a success, the Rossoneri outdoing their Scudetto rivals Juventus in the Champions League Final, being named in Uefa’s team of the tournament alongside fellow Italians Gigi Buffon and Paolo Maldini.

The year after came a Scudetto win with Milan in supreme style, the Rossoneri mostly famed for a wealth of attacking talent including Andriy Shevchenko, Pippo Inzaghi,Rui Costa and a young Kaka’, but was built on a dominant defence that Nesta was again a huge part of, partnering Maldini, Jaap Stam and Cafu and conceding just 24 goals all season.

Internationally, Alessandro’s career was full of bitterness and regret from here on in. Injured for the controversial loss against Korea in WC 2002, Sandro was once again invloved two years later, but was present to see Italy crash out once again.

In 2006, Italy’s crowning glory, Sandro was again at the heart of the defence, but again suffered an injury that kept him on the sidelines from the knockout stages onwards, merely a passenger as his teammates brought home the trophy, his replacement Marco Materazzi scoring in the final(and you’ll remember, making more than a telling contribution to the game in another way).

Nesta won his 2nd Champions League trophy with Milan in 2007, exorcising the ghosts of 2005, but by 2008, Nesta had counted himself out of the Azzurri fold – first refusing Roberto Donadoni and then Marcelo Lippi’s invitation back into the Savoy Blue. Internationally for Nesta, the race was run.

Nesta is now very much in the twilight of his career, but has shown no signs of losing the innate ability to read the game that made him such a prospect over a decade ago.

At the age of 36, Nesta was once again marshaling the backline with experience and guile against Barcelona and perhaps the biggest threat to his determination to keep a clean sheet in his entire career. Bar three penalties, Lionel Messi could not wrong foot Nesta enough to net from open play, a stat that says more about the Roman’s ability than any prose.

It is a great shame that a career so littered with trophies and personal plaudits cannot also lay claim to an international trophy that has been earnt on the pitch rather than bandaged up in the stands, but it is now merely a small footnote on a glorious two decades.

So, as we wish Nesta a very happy(and very belated) 36th Birthday, we recognize the achievements, the tackles, the glorious hair that washes over the melancholy filled with the inevitability of his eventual absence.

In a changed game, where pace, power and training methods tend to supersede tactical awareness and intelligence, we raise our cappuccino’s to  a man that is truly the last of his kind.

Buon Compleanno, Alessandro!

Sam is on Twitter. He remembers people’s birthdays much better usually.

If you’ve read any of the obituaries, you’ll know he was born in Italy, moved to Great Britain when he was very young, and thus played his first professional football there, specifically at Swansea. When his family moved back to Italy, he was not allowed to play in Serie A for three years, so he found clubs in the lower divisions to play for. When he did move to Serie A, it was to Lazio, where he would score 98 goals in 209 appearances. He became legendary there, helping them to their first ever Scudetto, winning the Capocannoniere, and would eventually return to serve as club president. When Lazio held their centennial celebration, he was named their most influential player in their first 100 years.

But he became perhaps more beloved in the United States, when he moved there to play with the New York Cosmos. He played there from 1976 to 1983, with a few more years devoted to their indoor team. At the Cosmos, he played alongside Pele, amongst others. Someone asked him, “I heard you played with Pele?”….. “No, no, Pele played with me” That’s the kind of guy he was.

His time with the Azzurri was based on his performances at Lazio. He didn’t make it to the final 22-man squad for coach Ferruccio Valcareggi for the 1970 World Cup, but got to travel with the team to Mexico for the tournament. After Lazio were relegated to Serie B in 1971, he became the first Italian national team player to be called up from a lower tier club in modern times.

His infamy in Britain was sealed when he traveled to England with the Azzurri to play a friendly in 1973. In that match, he beat the legendary Bobby Moore to cross it in to one Fabio Capello, who tapped it in. This match marked Italy’s first win on England on English soil.

The 1974 Azzurri Squad – Chinaglia is the one on the left looking at the camera

His fiery character both helped and hurt him. He played in the 1974 World Cup, and when substituted off, offered Valcareggi some choice words and an obscene gesture, while storming to the locker room, where he broke water bottles for good measure. This tantrum spelled the end of his time with the national team, a brief career that saw 14 just appearances and 4 goals.

But he never stopped being involved in football. At the time he died, he was hosting a football show on satellite radio with Charlie Stillitano. He scolded his co-host, “Charlie, don’t compare Lionel Messi with Digo Maradona, please.” Charlie replied, “Everyone else has, Giorgio.” His reply to that? “Everyone else is an idiot.”

Fiery to the end, and unfortunately for the Azzurri, maybe a bit too fiery for his own good. But still a legend, and a gift to football in three nations. Ciao, Giorgio.

Elaine is on Twitter, where she randomly breaks water bottles and makes obscene gestures. @ItalyWCB