Welcome to Catenaccio!
Catenaccio, Italian for "door bolt", is a tactical approach which focuses on defending. It is the only Italian word that has entered English-language soccer lexicon.
This blog originated as one about the Serie A experience in North America (NA), which is why the name of this blog was CatenaccioNA. Over the course of time, my experiences that blogging gifted me through various online publications brought me to expand my view to soccer (or football, if you will) more generally.
My experience that began as a "little blog that could" took me to Turin where I covered Juventus-Frosinone and, after that, Toronto FC for several MLS seasons (including two MLS Cup finals) and CONCACAF Champions League matches, as well as the Canadian national men's team.
For this reason, the blog has undergone a metamorphosis: it's now known as Catenaccio Not Applicable, as a "tip of the hat" to Italian football's evolving game play from one that was primarily focused on defending and counter-attacking to the modern version.
My love story with soccer begins in the 1987-88 season, when I was a young child living in a small southern Italian town. Before my father enrolled me in a scuola calcio (soccer school), I used to cause a ruckus scrimmaging about with my peers in the quieter streets of the town's periphery, using stones or garage doors to form the goal. In school, I used to sit in the back of the classroom and, instead of doing the assigned work or paying attention to my maestra, I would draw renditions of the previous Sunday's goals or saves, or stick my "trader" Panini adhesives to my agenda in formation.
As I prepared to move back to my native Canada in the early 1990's I was told from my peers that I would be forced to start following hockey, baseball or Canadian football because "there is no Serie A over there. They don't even know what it is".
Once I landed and started to become accustomed to life in Toronto I discovered, to my delight, that Serie A games were televised every week, and that there is a vibrant community of followers from all Serie A teams.
Many Serie A followers who reside in Italy don't know this, but Serie A fans of all stripes gather in North American bakeries, industrial units that double as a bar (Italian-style coffeehouse) or fan club headquarters, participate in radio talk shows, and organize bonafide (or "legit" as the kids say today) trips to Italy to follow the team that they have loved since their childhood. Some North Americans have trotted on Serie A grass, as some Italians are doing the same in North American stadiums.
If you are a resident of the United States or Canada and a Serie A lover, this is your blog space. In this space I will give a voice to fans (whether they are organized through clubs or not), former Serie A players who practice(d) their craft in North America, visiting Serie A teams, and current and upcoming Serie A players with roots in North America.
So, subscribe, and keep http://www.catenacciona.blogspot.com in your favourites. Like a door bolt.
This blog originated as one about the Serie A experience in North America (NA), which is why the name of this blog was CatenaccioNA. Over the course of time, my experiences that blogging gifted me through various online publications brought me to expand my view to soccer (or football, if you will) more generally.
My experience that began as a "little blog that could" took me to Turin where I covered Juventus-Frosinone and, after that, Toronto FC for several MLS seasons (including two MLS Cup finals) and CONCACAF Champions League matches, as well as the Canadian national men's team.
For this reason, the blog has undergone a metamorphosis: it's now known as Catenaccio Not Applicable, as a "tip of the hat" to Italian football's evolving game play from one that was primarily focused on defending and counter-attacking to the modern version.
My love story with soccer begins in the 1987-88 season, when I was a young child living in a small southern Italian town. Before my father enrolled me in a scuola calcio (soccer school), I used to cause a ruckus scrimmaging about with my peers in the quieter streets of the town's periphery, using stones or garage doors to form the goal. In school, I used to sit in the back of the classroom and, instead of doing the assigned work or paying attention to my maestra, I would draw renditions of the previous Sunday's goals or saves, or stick my "trader" Panini adhesives to my agenda in formation.
As I prepared to move back to my native Canada in the early 1990's I was told from my peers that I would be forced to start following hockey, baseball or Canadian football because "there is no Serie A over there. They don't even know what it is".
Once I landed and started to become accustomed to life in Toronto I discovered, to my delight, that Serie A games were televised every week, and that there is a vibrant community of followers from all Serie A teams.
Many Serie A followers who reside in Italy don't know this, but Serie A fans of all stripes gather in North American bakeries, industrial units that double as a bar (Italian-style coffeehouse) or fan club headquarters, participate in radio talk shows, and organize bonafide (or "legit" as the kids say today) trips to Italy to follow the team that they have loved since their childhood. Some North Americans have trotted on Serie A grass, as some Italians are doing the same in North American stadiums.
If you are a resident of the United States or Canada and a Serie A lover, this is your blog space. In this space I will give a voice to fans (whether they are organized through clubs or not), former Serie A players who practice(d) their craft in North America, visiting Serie A teams, and current and upcoming Serie A players with roots in North America.
So, subscribe, and keep http://www.catenacciona.blogspot.com in your favourites. Like a door bolt.
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