Catenaccio N/A

  The Toronto FC man took part of 50 minutes of his side's loss to OKC Energy last night in Florida Sebastian Giovinco looked good in his debut against lower-division OKC Energy last night in Florida. Albeit being marked tightly, he moved well to free himself up front, made several dribbles past defenders, and passed well. "I only played fifty minutes. It went well. I've only been practicing with this team for one week and we did pretty well. We conceded on the only shot on goal received, we were unlucky" , he told Tuttomercatoweb.com . The atomic ant also spoke about his new city: "The city is beautiful, the club is an important one and they want to grow. I saw an NBA and NHL match so far: sports here are wonderful". Overall, Giovinco is happy with TFC, and likes the facilities at the players' disposal: "I like the structures here, things are well-rounded. I knew Altidore and Bradley, who told me good things about the club. We want to enrich th...

Sebastian Giovinco is here. After touching down in Toronto at 2:20pm yesterday, Sebastian was welcomed by a sea of jubilant TFC fans, armed with drums and flags and, of course, cameras and paraphernalia. Today, Toronto FC presented Giovinco to the press, to Major League Soccer, to Toronto.  Toronto FC Bazbatchenko introduced Giovinco and explained how Sebastian will have a team built around him, and how a player like him contributes to a solid foundation built brick-by-brick, starting with Bradley, Altidore before him. Giovinco's first words as a Red: "Thank you all of you, I will try to pay back this warm welcome on the field trying to win with this jersey because I want to be a part of this club and of this team". Andrea D'Amico, his agent said "Sebastian understood right away the importance of this challenge, and the possibility of this project. After wearing the Juventus and Italy jersey he wanted an important challenge". Giovinco was as...

As reported earlier this week, Sebastian Giovinco's agent Andrea D'Amico was in Toronto, planning his client's next move.  With Giovinco's anticipated passage to Toronto FC in July, the diminutive striker could have been turned into a "lame duck" in Turin.  That situation turned into an opportunity for all parties involved: a January departure would save Juventus a little over €1 million of Giovinco's salary, and Toronto FC would have the player for the beginning of the season which would benefit the club in terms of sporting and marketing outcomes. This morning both Romeo Agresti of Turin and Gianluca Di Marzio have reported that the Atomic Ant will leave Juventus in this transfer session . D'Amico is smoothing the final details which may include Toronto FC taking on the deal from February 1, Giovinco walking away from his Juventus salary, or Juventus paying him out the rest of his salary. CatenaccioNA will reveal further details...

Further details arise on Giovinco's somewhat shocking transfer to Major League Soccer. The talent from the suburban Turinese city of Beniasco, born and raised - football-wise - at Juventus will make his move to Toronto after the expiry of his current contract with the bianconeri, therefore as a free transfer. Giovinco didn't spend much time humming and hawing over TFC's contract offer. In fact, today's Gazzetta dello Sport confirms a pharaonic five-year contract of $7 million per year plus as much as $3 million more in bonuses. Catenaccio-NA learned of the news yesterday afternoon, confirmed later in the evening by traditional Toronto-based media outlets, and this morning by Italian ones. Juventus currently denies any knowledge of the deal, officially or unofficially, while TFC has set a "major announcement" tomorrow at 1pm Toronto time. In the deal, Toronto does not acquire his image rights, therefore he is free to earn 100% of eventual endorsement deals. G...

According to  SportsMediaset  Toronto FC is interested in bringing the Atomic Ant across the pond With a contract expiring this coming June, Sebastian Giovinco is quickly becoming the object of desire of many clubs. Bologna for January, and Fiorentina and Parma upon contract expiry, have expressed interest in the Atomic Ant without ever entering into a real negotiation with Juventus. Enter Toronto FC. According to  Sportmediaset , the MLS side hungry for a playoff spot wants the player. Ostensively, the player would move to North America on a free transfer, in July. In order to convince the striker from Beniasco to accept the North American destination, Toronto has reportedly offered him a two-year contract worth €3.5 million per season. This season he has collected 9 appearances (for only 191 minutes, or the equivalent of 2 matches) and is yet to score or provide an assist.

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 ...

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...

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...

A legend of the Italian footballing movement in North America has decided to hang up his boots. Marco Di Vaio announced that this is his last season as a footballer, and will do so as a Montreal Impact.  The former goalscorer for Bologna, Juventus, Lazio, Bari, Salernitana and many others was interviewed by Emanuele Righi for GianlucaDiMarzio.com , showing that his feelings are quite mixed: “I’m happy, sad, and worried at the same time. I’m happy that I’ll return home to my family in Bologna, sad because my living dream of being a footballer has come to an end, and finally I’m worried because I don't know what my new life will be like. Of course, I want to continue living and working in the football world”. The 38-year old reminisces of his time as a Serie A player: “Lazio is my home base, I grew up in their youth system. At Salerno I felt strong emotions for the first time as a professional in an incredible and unique environment. At Juventus, I competed with many champ...

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...

Last week I went to Italy to fulfill a childhood dream of watching Juventus play live, in their home stadium.  Truthfully, this wasn't my first Juventus game in the most absolute sense, since I saw the bianconeri - then featuring Schillaci, Baggio and led by Maifredi - lose in Bari against the home side 2-0 on November 25, 1990. I'll never forget that there was a "welcoming party" of my friends (all anti-juventini) who readily derided me upon setting foot outside my father's car. Upon landing in Turin, I typically went to the closest pizzeria , sat down and enjoyed some of Italy's most popular and prostituted food item along with a 660 cl of Moretti.  After all, the trip wasn't only about watching Juventus: it was also about enjoying every cultural aspect Turin offered. View of the Occidental Alps from my hotel's balcony After a short rest I headed to Juventus Stadium early to take in the atmosphere ahead of the Europa League match ...

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:

On Tuesday December 3, Marco Di Vaio was named to Major League Soccer's (MLS) 2013 Best XI team. The Best XI recognizes the top players at each position, and Di Vaio was selected as one of the strikers. The former Bologna FC player, was named the Montreal Impact's Most Valuable Player (MVP) for 2013 and is in the running for the MLS MVP, due in part to his scoring prowess in 2013 with 20 goals in 33 games played. Followers of the Italian soccer movement in North America will be happy to see Di Vaio return to the Impact for one more season, as announced by the club on October 15.

In  John Lennon in His Own Words , the former Beatle wrote "Today America is the Roman Empire and New York is Rome itself".  Catenaccio stops in the city Lennon alluded to as the World's capital to feature one of the most present Italian soccer booster clubs on social media, JuventiNYC - the Juventus supporters club in New York City. And how apropos, Juventus FC was recently featured in a video on the big screens of Times Square in a week-long celebration of Turin, Italy during the Year of Italian Culture, celebrated all over the United States. Club president Cheryl was gracious to grant me an audience, and talked about JuventiNYC. Here's what she had to say:  1. How and when did you become a Juventus fan? I grew up in Canada. Soccer was not terribly popular in the country at the time but in 1985, Canada qualified for the 1986 World Cup, which, of course I followed and supported my national side!  As you know, Canada didn't fair very well in that ...

Catenacciari , this feature switches gears a little, focusing not on fan clubs, but on the individual fan.  And what an individual. I had the pleasure of chatting with a young Italian-Canadian whose talent in making video-montages is eclipsed only by his unapologetic love for Juventus FC.  Millions have had the pleasure of viewing the authentic works of art that Philistines otherwise call "soccer videos" on his youtube channel . Ladies and gentlemen, here is my chat with Dan Colosimo, or as he's known in all four corners, Colosimo99: How did you become a Juventus fan? My father was a Juventino and as a kid I would sit with him and watch the games even though I was not that big of a supporter yet.  It was more about being young and spending the  Sunday  afternoon with my dad on the couch.  It mostly began after Del Piero scored his goal against Mexico in the World Cup back in '02.  I remember being 9 years old, hearing the Italian commentato...

Eleven mysterious figures wearing black hoods with a logo in the front were spotted at the Juventus Stadium last Sunday.            Picture courtesy of Leggo.it They entered the stadium as a single group all walking in a slow, synchronized pace. Once in the stands they all made odd gestures (all synchronized, of course) that wasn’t a reaction to game play, or pace. Sometimes they would raise their arms aloft, other times they would put them out in front of them, or all standing up together.          Juventus Stadium spectators look on, bewildered (Picture courtesy of Leggo.it)             Hooded men stand up together during Juventus-Genoa (Picture courtesy of Leggo.it).