Catenaccio N/A

Conte asks, Tavecchio responds. As I pondered in a piece on December 23 , Conte’s “furiousness” about the scheduled end of 2015-16 Serie A (May 22, 2016) is responded in turn by Tavecchio: “A European tournament cannot be prepared in 18 days. The average is 28.8 days. I will personally request an earlier end to the season” , he told Milanese daily Corriere della Sera . Such a request may become moot for future tournaments, should Tavecchio’s “mother of all reforms” be passed. In fact, the FIGC president wants to finalize a decision to contract Serie A to 18 teams and Serie B to 20 by June 30, 2015. The change would take effect as of the 2016-17 season. The additional time that a 34-game tournament would afford could be used for the cementing of the national team group of players through minicamps – which the FIGC would prefer – or for players to rest and recuperate their energy – ostensively, the clubs preference. One solution only sets up another fight between nation...

The Roma midfielder often dubbed " capitan futuro " (future captain of Roma) stayed with the giallorossi  despite past links to many clubs. According to Gazzetta dello Sport, De Rossi may be on his way to the new MLS Franchise, New York City FC should Roma win teh scudetto . A further clue are reports of De Rossi purchasing a home in NYC and that people close to him claim he would be fascinated to experience life in the USA. De Rossi's temptation may be dampened by Roma's race for a scudetto title this season. As referred to above, Roma may be inclined to let him go should they be crowned Italian Champions in May. De Rossi’s current contract with Roma is set to expire in June 2017. He has scored one goal in his 11 Serie A appearances this season.

Italian national team coach Antonio Conte is reportedly furious about the lack of time that he will have at the end of 2015-16 to prepare the azzurri for the upcoming Euros. Serie A is slated to end on May 22, 2016 which is a week after the Bundesliga and La Liga, and two weeks after the English Premier League. This only exacerbates the friction between clubs and the national team that’s brewing as a result of the proposed minicamps the first of which is to take place a week prior to the resumption of UEFA club competitions. FIGC president Carlo Tavecchio supports Conte on the minicamps but has amended his position stating that it will be up to the clubs to allow their players to attend the minicamps since the clubs are not obliged to lend their players to the national team because the minicamps are outside the dates imposed by FIFA for national team activity. One can empathize with Conte’s position, which might go something like: “I have a group that is in an embryonic sta...

 

Walk into any bar of any Italian town, and you'll see a copy of the local newspaper, one or two sports dailies, and a gentleman speaking to the bar owner about the officiating injustice that is condemning his favourite team. It seems everyone, except top sporting brass - including Blatter - are against ending this scene. Except Italian FA's top boss, Carlo Tavecchio. In October, he wrote an open letter to FIFA asking them to use the Italian top flight as a testing ground for new technology.  Today, Tavecchio took cue from yesterday's goal-line clearance at the San Siro to restate his case: "the debate that has arisen on the in-field use of technology shows how appropriate our request to FIFA was on October 9" . "On that day, we stated our availability to use goal-line technology and to experiment instruments that indicate with certainty and immediacy the positioning of the football in boarderline fouls near the big box" , reports t...

Antonio Conte and Carlo Tavecchio Days after Antonio Conte's public intimation of feeling abandoned from the Italian footballing world as national team coach, the FIGC introduced measures to spur growth of available talent for the nazionale . To recapitulate, the measures will mirror Champions/Europa League roster limits (25 players of which 4 must be home grown, and another 4 must be grown in Italy), and place conditions (such as national team appearances) on a second incoming non-EU player from a foreign league. Ostensibly, these reforms are meant to bolster playing time for Italian talent, thereby expanding the universe of players available to the national team. In my opinion, these reforms will not have the intended effect, are feeble at best, and ascribe to a small-minded defeatist philosophy.  Specifically, the reforms by Tavecchio will likely have: 1. a small, positive effect on improving the breadth (quantity) of Italian national team players, but unlikely to have a ...

According to the Corriere di Bologna, the felsinei will make a move on Montreal Impact youngster Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé. The 19 year old has been followed closely by Canada's senior team coach Benito Floro. The axis Montreal-Bologna begins to take shape, leveraging Joey Saputo's ownership of both clubs.

The final match of my Serie A roadtrip saw my Juventus face Parma. Juventus-Parma has seldom been a bore. In fact, this encounter decided the scudetto, UEFA cup and Italian Cup final in the early to mid 1990s, was the official opening match in September 2011, and often ended in high scorelines like 3-0, 4-0, 3-1, and 5-0. This encounter stayed true to the trend. The match got off to a hot start, with Juventus coach Allegri proposing a 4-man defence (featuring Lichtsteiner, Chiellini, Bonucci, and Padoin) once again after the forced experiment 4 days before, against Olympiacos in Champions League. The starting formation also featured 3 midfielders (Romulo, Pogba, Marchisio), 2 attacking midfielders (Tevez, Pereyra) and one striker (Llorente) up top. The match had very little to say, except for one-way traffic from Juventus whose continuous attacks produced three goals in the first 30 minutes, featuring a brace by Llorente and a goal by Lichtsteiner. Juventus would add ...

As a Juventino who is not from Turin it's difficult to fully appreciate the rivalry with crosstown rivals AC Torino. Perhaps this one is the least balanced crosstown derbies in Italy: Hellas-Chievo in Verona, Inter-Milan in Milan, Genoa-Sampdoria in Genoa, Roma-Lazio in Rome, can go either way in any given year. For the better part of the last 20 years Juventus-Torino is a derby that has gone one way: the bianconeri 's.  In fact, Torino hasn't even scored a goal in a derby in the last decade. This hasn't made a difference, however, with respect to the historical rivalry that exists between the two factions. As soon as you identify yourself as a Juventus fan, some  granata  fans will turn away or simply call you a " Gobbo di Merda " (shitty juventus fan - gobbo , hunchback, is a nickname for Juventus fans).  I did attend the last derby in February 2014, and was able to gain an appreciation for the rivalry between the two sides. This time aroun...

Recovering from the merrymaking that followed Juventus-Olympiacos was item one on my agenda. The match's events are still surreal in my mind: Pirlo's unbelievable free kick, Llorente and Pogba's double salvo a few minutes after Olympiacos' go-ahead goal, the missed penalty, the celebrations. I decide to start my day a little slower, a little later, and take Turin on. For one, I know that it's common for players and coaches to frequent some of the downtown locales. So, I work "player hunting" into the day. First, around lunch I head to the One Apple, where former Juventus and current Italian national team coach Antonio Conte has lunch from time to time. No luck, as he was in Milan, the city that will host Italy-Croatia in a few weeks. As I sip my americano I see Luca Marrone descend from the upper floor. As I'm leaving the One Apple, I notice an ad on the newspaper stand with a large photo of current Juventus coach Max Allegri on ...

Yet another soupy, clammy day in Turin. The weather has been the most disappointing thing during my time in Italy. Over a week and a half here, and I've had cool and or rainy days except for two of them.  Day 6 is the day of the Champions League match between Juventus and Olympiacos. But it was much more than that.  I started the day by travelling to the Juventus Stadium (the "a" is pronounced open and long - it's Latin) and took advantage of the special matchday tour. On my way, I met a group from the Lecce area. They spoke mostly dialect but I could still make out what they were saying. Their Italian accent sounded more Sicilian to be honest - I can hardly believe that we hail from the same region (Puglia). I spent about two hours in the Juventus Museum, and then took the Stadium tour. I was happy to see that the matchday tour changes slightly from the canonical tour that I attended twice before. I was disappointed, however, that the changeroom was not p...

A week has gone by, but it feels like one day. This period was a time for some catching up, merrymaking and for consuming some delicious typical barese and southern Italian delicacies. The latter included dairy (first among which mozzarelle and gelato), meats (braciole and sausage alla barese, bresaula), fish (trout, salmon prepared in cevice) as well as some wonderful sweets (bignè and zeppole) prepared by my aunts. Speck and Stracciatella Pizza, my faviourite White beans with steamed chicory, Altamura bread to dip My week-long break from Turin saw Juventus fall to Genoa, with a last-gasp goal by Antonelli, and rise again (establishing once more a 3 point gap atop Serie A) thanks mostly to a Pirlo free kick that broke the ice in a tricky game against newly promoted side, Empoli. My departure from Bari was difficult as always, not due to difficulties in reaching my destination but for sentimental reasons. I'm very tied to my family in Italy, and to my par...

I could not make a two-week trip to Italy without an obligatory stop in Bari (where my extended family still lives). In turn, a stop in Bari could not preclude a stop at the San Nicola, especially if the galletti  feature in an Adriatic Sea classic against Pescara. Tickets in hand and my cousin at the wheel, I approached the stadium. "The Starship" as it's known around here, was already lit for the occasion and visible for miles. Hypnotized, we went to it. After the ritual pregame panino and Peroni, we lined up and entered the stadium. Same check-ups that I witnessed at the Juventus Stadium: photo ID was checked against your ticket, then tickets were scanned by a bar code reader to ensure that you're entering the right part of the stadium, and bags were checked for illegal items. A Tuesday night game cannot easily be well attended when many close shop at kick off or later, as only about 11,000 were present on hand. The atmosphere was entrusted, as a...

Sunday, October 26 was the day of Juventus-Palermo. No nonsense on this day, off to the Juventus Stadium where I had agreed to meet Enrico, a gentleman I befriended over social media. After a quick photo, off I went into my section looking for my star.  That's right, my star. I own a piece of the Juventus Stadium, a plaque on the "promenade of stars" that surrounds the top ring of the Juventus Stadium. After several failed tries through stadium tours and matches I finally learned that my star is viewable only by purchasing tickets in the North end of the stadium. Alas, this was not section 205, which was the part I had seats for but section 206 or 207 - for which I have tickets for the match versus Olympiakos. After a few ritual photos with the three scudetti characters, I gained my seat and enjoyed the prematch which, as always, includes the singing of Juventus anthem "Juve, storia di un grande amore". The match showed that Juventus is buil...

Well, first class was a dream. I don't even know what the other thing is called. Other than torture. Some wonderful meals, real cutlery, seats that turn into beds, and on-board entertainment. Top stuff. Once landed in Turin, I went straight to my favorite pizzaiolo and friend Davide and immediately indulged in a few pizzas and a Moretti. Checked into my hotel, got a little rest then I went out on the town to visit some of my favorite places: Piazza Vittorio Veneto, Piazza Castello, Via Po, and via Garibaldi. On my to do list for this night was to try the Piedmontese delicacy, Bagna Cauda. The first place I tried was booked solid until 10pm but I was able to score a seat at an Osteria that offered it, which I found by chance off of Viale Corte D'Appello, one of Turin's many pedestrian streets. The main feature in the Bagna Cauda is a hot dip made of pureed anchovies, garlic, and margarine within which one dips vegetables (served cold). It ...

Second time in Italy in 2014. My first, called Cultural Trip To Turin ! In this same blog took place in February. Back to Turin I go for Juventus' home games against Palermo, Olympiacos and Parma; with an intermezzo in Bari when the galletti host Pescara. At home, weighing my luggage and finalizing the last-minute loose ends (who am I kidding, it was darn right scrambling). My ride to the airport pulls into the driveway and my phone rings. "Why doesn't he just ring the bell?" I ask myself. "Hello, is this Rocco Fasano?" Says an Italian accent on the other end. "It is Juventus FC Press Office calling ". Juventus is calling me! In truth it was a bad news phone call: my media accreditation was denied on the grounds that I had purchased a ticket already, and two tickets cannot be held simultaneously by the same person . Ephemeral hope remains for Juventus-Parma, the second league match that I plan to attend. The lady from the ...