Catenaccio N/A

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...