Catenaccio N/A

1. How and when did you become a fan of Inter? It happened during the summer of 1997, when Inter bought Il Fenomeno  Ronaldo Da Lima. That triggered my life-long love for Inter. I had been following Serie A for a few years already, and enjoyed watching Batistuta very much at Fiorentina but never did pick a team to follow. But that move for Ronaldo was it for me. I recall I had just started working and one of my very first purchases was an Inter jersey. I’ll never forget starting in to that black and blue jersey! Love at first sight. Club president Ricardo Galiano with El Capitan Javier Zanetti 2. How did Inter Club LA come about?   A couple of guys had been meeting for many years during the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Three of them every weekend would meet and cheer on the black and blue. Then the idea came about where they decided to become officially organized. Inter Club became an official club during the U.S. tour of 2009. It was a great coincidence th...

This week Serie A returned and so does my Serie A Weekly Round-Up in which I review the performance of North American Serie A players. With Bryan Cristante  not utilized by Inzaghi in Milan's home debut against Lazio and Giuseppe Rossi sidelined due to a slight injury, the sole North American player who played - and shined - was Scarborough, Canada native Jonathan De Guzman . De Guzman , in fact, came on at the 74th minute in Genoa-Napoli with the score locked at 1-1 . In the dying minutes Napoli poared on with multiple chances from Insigne, Callejon and Higuain respectively but Genoa shot stopper Mattia Perin was equal the the task every time. In stoppage time, however, Zuniga floated a ball in for De Guzman who brought the ball down with his chest and came across the 6-yard box and hammered the ball in to give Napoli the win . The goal brought joy to Napoli's fans, still languishing midweek heartbreak from Champions League elimination at the hands o...

UEFA club competitions have not been kind to Italian clubs recently as victims were made of Lazio and Milan, ousted in style by Ludogorets and Atlético Madrid. European exits are never taken lightly in Italian football, newspapers typically lambaste coach and club choices and fans urge the club president to multiply spending in the transfer market. As of late, however, these premature exits offer opportunities and challenges for the Italian football movement (CONI, FIGC, Lega di Serie A) to reflect on its course. Italian football is on a downward trajectory. Once the Mecca of club football, Serie A was the envy of the footballing world. To play in Serie A alongside Riva, Rivera, Antognoni, Platini, Socrates, Maradona, Van Basten, or Baggio was the dream of any child kicking a ragball in a dusty street. Italy boasted an astronomical UEFA Club Coefficient with an advantage of hundreds of points over chasers Spain and England. Despite the rise in aggregate financial debt, Se...

Few Canadians have ever bent grass blades of Italian soccer fields, and even fewer were born in Canada. Robert Stillo , a 23 year old Mississauga native is living the dream of so many Italian-Canadian Serie A enthusiasts: to play soccer in Italy. Robert is a self-declared "crazy Canuck goalie", currently plying his trade at AC Perugia Calcio . The Grifoni,  once a hotbed of soccer featuring Japanese superstar Hidetoschi Nakata and South Korean Jung-Hwan Ahn , is currently looking to revive past glory and is fighting for promotion in the Lega Pro. Stillo is currently on loan to Perugia, a city he says he's in love with, from none other than Serie A's Parma FC . Robert granted me an interview, in which we talked about his soccer background, his present and his prospects for the future. Tell me about your career in Canada. Which soccer clubs did you play for there and for how long? "Growing up in Mississauga I played for my local club Erin Mi...

New in 2014 is a weekly look at the performances of North Americans in Serie A, and of Italians and non-Italian former Serie A players in Major League Soccer . I mean, what kind of credible source on Serie A as experienced in North America would  Catenaccio  be if it didn't report on the weekly  slings and arrows  of our North American protagonists in Serie A? With the likes of Di Vaio, Henry, Paponi, and Ferrari off until March the task is rather easy since, after extensive research, I have found that there are only two North Americans who ply their trade in Italy's top tier league, and both are New Jersey-born: Giuseppe Rossi and Michael Bradley . However, being born in the same State is about all that these two have in common. Bradley is a born-in-Princeton, raised in the mid-west, son of well-known and well-respected coach Bob, sown and harvested in the US college system, all-American darling. And when the US national team call-up came his answer was a ...

After a little taste today, Serie A lovers will get a full serving of soccer tomorrow. Will the befana bring your team treats or coal? Check out the TV listings for North America:

The Befana  comes one day early for Serie A lovers, offering up a delicious top table clash at the Juventus Stadium between the bianconeri and Roma. Here's how the TV schedule looks like for North American television on January 5:

CEO of Ethnic Channels Group Slava Levin returned to Radio Regent 's Serie A Live Radio show this Monday to deliver some early Christmas presents for Canadian lovers of the Italian (and Spanish and French) soccer movement. Last week we reported that Levin confirmed that they will distribute BeIN Sport to Canadian homes in High Definition through local cable satellite providers. As some of you are aware, BeINSPORT was made available to Canadian viewers on  http://www.beinsportplay.ca/ , for free until January 6, 2014. Today he upped the ante: "While we work hard to get BeIN Sport set up on Canadian cable and satellite, we are extending the online freeview of BeINSport online until January 31, 2014". The question remains: when will this happen, and on what channel(s) will BeINSport be available? Keep checking periodically on CatenaccioNA, or subscribe for free!

Slava Levin, CEO of Ethnic Channels Group who recently reached a deal to launch BeINSPORT in Canada, spoke to Regent Radio 's Serie A Live Radio   show on Monday evening. "Now is the right time to do it, because all the conditions are right.  We will distribute BeINSPORT to Canadian homes in HD through local cable and satellite providers" , said Levin. BeINSPORT is the exclusive carrier of English-language coverage of Serie A and Coppa Italia (among other soccer competitions like La Liga, Ligue 1) and, unlike RAI International/Italia - the current sole carrier of Italian soccer - BeINSPORT broadcasts in High Definition. "We currently haven't hammered out the details on timing and pricing, but stay tuned" , he concluded. As always, CatenaccioNA will keep you abreast of developments. Serie A Live Radio airs every Monday at 20:00 EST.

According to Canadian Newswire , BeIN Sport has partnered with Ethnic Channels Group to launch into the Canadian television market. The move comes after two seasons without English-language Serie A. With BeIN Sport Italian soccer lovers will be able to once again access exclusive English-language coverage of Serie A and Coppa Italia ; as well as other competitions that the channel covers such as Spain's La Liga and Copa del Rey, Ligue 1, CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifying, Copa America, and England's Football League. More information on this exciting initiative will be released soon with respect to specific channel(s) that will carry BeIN Sport's broadcasts. CatenaccioNA will keep you up-to-date on developments.

Brazil fans celebrate Hulk's go-ahead goal Serie A came to North America on Tuesday, as Italian soccer stars from Brazil and Chile faced off in Toronto's Rogers Centre. Atalanta's Carlos Carmona (for Chile), SS Lazio's Anderson Hernanes, AS Roma's Douglas Maicon (for Brazil) featured in the game with good performances, but it was AC Milan's Robinho who stole the show by scoring the game-winner on 79 minutes. Just 13 minutes in, Hulk put Brazil ahead thanks to a powerful left-footed diagonal shot from just inside the 18-yard box.  Brazil created numerous chances thanks to a Chilean midfield left vulnerable to Brazil's counterattacks. Fan-favourite Neymar entertained the crowd with impressive runs and attempts at goal. One shot that was truly worthy of note was preceded by a dazzling double- sombrero  on a Chilean defender, which was stopped by Chile's goalkeeper, Claudio Bravo. However at the 70th minute, former Napoli man Edu Vargas equalize...

Major League Soccer and North American  catenacciari  lost a major figure today. Former SS Lazio and AC Milan superstar defender Alessandro Nesta announced his retirement today. The 37-year old Montreal Impact defenceman said that he's had enough after 21 years as a professional. Nesta stated that he will gun for a coaching job after he moves to Miami, but denied rumours that he will manage the Impact next season. Buona fortuna and arrivederci Sandro!

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 ...