Catenaccio N/A

Mississauga, Ontario native Robert Stillo has been called up to the Canadian national team in occasion of the friendlies against Bulgaria and Moldova. Robert gained promotion into Serie B  and won the Lega Pro Supercup  with AC Perugia this season. Canada will play Bulgaria on May 23, and Moldova on May 27, Canada Soccer reports. Both friendlies will take place in Austria.  Here is the complete list of call ups:  GK- Milan Borjan | unattached / sans club GK- Roberto Stillo | ITA / A.C. Perugia GK- Ricky Gomes | POR / Uniao Mentemor D- Nik Ledgerwood | GER / MSV Duisburg D- Jeremy Gagnon-Laparé | CAN / Impact de Montréal D- Andre Hainault | GER / FC Aalen D- Adam Straith | GER / Wehen Wiesbaden D- Daniel Stanese | GER / FC Augusburg II D- Tyler Pasher | FIN / Kemi Kings D- Manjrekar James | HUN / PMFC Matias D- David Edgar | ENG / Burnley FC D- Luca Gasparotto | SCO / Glasgow Rangers M- Julian de Guzman | GRE / Skoda Xanthi M- Pedro Pacheco | ...

Gaetano D'Agostino, former Palermo, Bari,  Udinese , Fiorentina and current  Siena  player may be headed to Major League Soccer. According to Sky Italy journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, the 31 year-old is pondering a move to North America, with Chicago Fire, DC United , and Montreal Impact interested. Over his career, D'Agostino has scored 28 goals and 26 assists in Serie A and has collected 6 caps with the Italian national team. Stay tuned for updates at Catenaccio, NA.

As anticipated yesterday, Giuseppe Rossi held a press conference this afternoon in Florence. "The past few months have been tough for me, of hard work and with the support of my family, my team mates and Luke Bongiorno. Now I'm well, and I must thank all of those who helped me ", remarked the 27 year old from New Jersey. On his return to the scoresheet, Rossi said " Yesterday's goal was truly beautiful , alas it was only our second versus the four that Sassuolo scored. I dedicate it to my father, but also to my girlfriend and my sister who flew over just to see me play, and to Fiorentina fans, who've always supported me". What interests Serie A lovers and those who hold dear the fate of the Italian national team, however, is Pepito 's return to la Nazionale: "All I have to do is play and demonstrate that I'm in good physical form and am able to lend a hand to the azzurri . I never thought about not going to the World Cup. I want to...

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.

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...

Mole Antonelliana from Via Montebello Having archived the Europa League match, and as Juventus prepared itself for the Derby Della Mole against Torino FC, I took some time to visit Turin. The ritual Juventus Stadium and Juventus Museum tour were followed by a visit to the Museo dell'Automobile , (auto museum) and last but not least Turin's landmark, the Mole Antonelliana , in keeping with my intention to marry the cultural with the profane aspect of a football match. Leonardo Da Vinci's Automobile Design Performance automobiles on a track give the illusion of racing each other During my time in Turin I realized that it is grey and melancholic (particularly its outskirts); a reflection of a city that has fallen from its florid period: the ugly offspring of a metropolis that burst at the seems in the 1960s and 1970s from the rapid growth of its economic engine, FIAT. Parts of the city that were built in that era are now in decay, unkempt like ...