Catenaccio N/A

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...

Today newly elected president Carlo Tavecchio presented Antonio Conte as new Azzurri coach at the FIGC's (Italian Federation's) headquarters. Highlights from the press conference: Tavecchio: "The first phone call with Conte didn't end with his assent [to take on the role of coach]. I had to insist to create this energy with one of the best coaches in Europe. The second and third phone call gave me certainty that Conte would have accepted. The Nazionale is FIGC's biggest asset: choosing excellence was a must in order to emerge from this last World Cup. We needed a leader, a commander like Conte that may make us feel united and strong when the Italian national anthem is playing [before kickoff]" . Conte: " I can't deny I'm excited, because any coach in the world would like to be in my place, to represent Italy , which with Brazil is among the most important national teams in the world. I'm proud that president Tavecchio thought of me...

Giuseppe Rossi returned to Serie A action in style today, against US Sassuolo. The 27 year-old, sidelined due to injury since January, picked up where he left off by scoring Fiorentina's second goal, his 15th in Serie A this season .  This was perhaps the only good news for the viola as they fell to a very motivated US Sassuolo, who was battling relegation. Pepito   led the Serie A scoring charts when he picked up a serious injury on January 5th, with 14 goals in 18 games. His goal today is quite timely, as Rossi will hold a press conference tomorrow at 15:00 CET . CatenaccioNA, the blog for the Italian soccer movement in North America, wishes our North American hero continued success for the remaining games this season and in projection for representing Italy at the upcoming World Cup in Brazil.