Ormai siamo all'incredibile, al ridicolo, questo non è nemmeno più giornalismo. Stamattina leggendo il Corriere dello Sport (che parla di "Coppa Spettacolo") mi ero quasi illuso che oggi pomeriggio ci sarebbe stata una partita interessante, spettacolare, tra le prime due squadre del campionato. Invece poi ho guardato la prima di Tuttosport, stessa proprietà ma area geografica diversa, e mi sono illuminato: ormai nel calcio italiano va tutto al contrario.

Sì, dev'essere così, altrimenti non si spiegherebbero molte cose. Prima fra tutte che l'Inter debba consolarsi per avere vinto lo scudetto cercando di vincere la Coppa Italia, quella competizione che nell'estate del 2006, al suo inizio e per la precisione nei turni preliminari per squadre un po' sfigate faceva delirare le società di serie B. "Puntiamo alla Coppa Italia, così l'anno prossimo (l'annoprossimo è ormai diventato il tormentone sotto la Mole Antonelliana) andremo in UEFA", dicevano alla Juve. E poi sono stati sbattuti fuori dal Napoli. "Adesso che abbiamo eliminato la Juve puntiamo dritti alla Coppa" esclamavano all'ombra del Vesuvio, e anche loro -puff!- evaporavano dalla Coppa Italia. Ecco, per loro sì che sarebbe stata una consolazione da grandi decadute.

Un altro indizio del fatto che dalle parti di Torino il calcio sia visto a testa in giù è l'importanza dei tornei: più qualitativa la Serie B della Serie A, ovviamente, e -incredibile!- più importante la Coppa Italia Primavera di quella senior, basti vedere lo spazio dedicato alla vittoria juventina (e di chi, se no?) tra i giovani, e il titolo di oggi. Titolone a nove colonne in un caso, ancor più eclatante se si pensa che nello stesso giorno la Roma batteva 2-1 il Manchester, taglio basso oggi, sotto a un titoletto in cui un fantozziano Buffon è costretto dai tifosi in festa (che hanno da festeggiare, lo sanno solo loro) a saltare perché "Chi non salta interista è".

Insomma, verrebbe da dire che Tuttosport è ormai diventato Tuttojuve: esaltazione per sé stessi, e tentativo continuo di sminuire le (più importanti) vittorie altrui. Forse però è andato oltre, almeno gli House organ non devono parlare, a malincuore, degli altri. Per la finale di oggi, che vinca il migliore, Mancini la vedrebbe come la ciliegina sulla torta, mentre Spalletti vuole finalmente vincere qualcosa: stia tranquillo, Luciano da Certaldo, nonostante due coppe perse in finale, una Supercoppa persa dopo essere stato avanti 3-0 e un 1-7 in Champions League, nessuno si permetterà di cantargli "Non vincete mai!" se non dovesse farcela. Quello lo lasciamo fare a chi adesso è in B e ha dimostrato che il dileggio verso il nemico è usato non solo quando perde, ma anche quando vince.

 

 

È un anno che mi sento dire che il campionato vinto non valle nula perché manca la Juve e il Milan è partito da -8.

È un anno che mi sento dire che dovevamo dimostrare il nostro valore in Champions da gente che ha sempre rimediato figuracce (leggi Anfield e Highbury).

È un anno che ce la menate con Ibra e Vieira, che vinciamo per merito loro, e non oso pensare a cosa ci avreste detto se non avessimo vinto lo scudetto, come minimo ci avreste preso in giro fino al 2027.

È un anno che ci accusano di complotti e intercettazioni manco fossimo la Spectre.

Ma io vi dico, con Calciopoli 2 e Calciopoli 3, Moggi, Meani e compagnia bella, schede svizzere, slovene e del Liechtenstein, ci starete mica tirando un altro colpo e vi farete penalizzare per sminuire le nostre eventuali future vittorie? Io voglio, se possibile, il prossimo anno vincere eventualmente un campionato "regolare"...

(nella foto Neri Marcoré, che col voice changer e l'id nascosto è riuscito a ingannare il figlio di Moggi e Giraudo fingendo di conoscere gli affari di Lucianone...bravo eh?)

 

Pavel Nedved è turbato: povero, non voleva vedere Ibra sul pullman. E poi gli ha fatto tanto tanto dispiacere sentire gli interisti che dicevano di aver vinto senza rubare. "Non si può mettere in dubbio che fossimo i più forti, abbiamo vinto sul campo" ha tuonato il "drago di Cheb". Ho deciso di rivolgermi direttamente a lui.

Caro Pavel, ora non vorremmo essere troppo crudeli nei tuoi confronti, è umano cercare di difendere la propria carriera professionale. Certo non è bello scoprire che le proprie vittorie non sono proprio tutte genuine, ovviamente non è come se io vincessi il Pulitzer per questo post e scoprissi che le votazioni sono tutte truccate, ma chi gioca o ha giocato a calcio sa che certe situazioni si percepiscono. Sacchi ultimamente ha detto "sapevamo di lottare contro una grande squadra, ma anche contro qualcosa di più forte, di esterno", forse ci si accorge di questo solo quando i poteri forti remano contro? L'atteggiamento di un arbitro non è chiaro?

Dai, Pavel, quante volte ti abbiamo visto dopo un falletto subito, rotolare per una decina di metri tenendoti la gamba come se fosse stata amputata, aspettando fiducioso nel cartellino per il tuo avversario per poi rialzarti più baldanzoso di prima? Ti ricordi quel 5 ottobre 2003, stavi giocando contro il Bologna al Delle Alpi, Zambrotta cadeva a terra e l'arbitro vi assegnava un rigore che non c'era? Ti ricordi il volto smarrito di Zambrotta, roso dal dubbio se dire o no all'arbitro che si era buttato. Ricordi, Pavel, che andasti a bloccare Gianluca, a dirgli che non era il caso in quel momento così delicato di parlare con l'arbitro? Lo convincesti, da bravo sportivo, a dirgli che il rigore c'era, e vinceste col Bologna 2-1.

Eppure, Pavel, alla Lazio non eri così, molti qui a Roma ti ricordano, oltre che per la generosità, per la tua sportività. C'è una scuola di 'stile Juve' a Torino, per caso? E poi, sicuro che dal campo non si capisca come vanno le cose? Non si capisce l'atteggiamento di un arbitro? A me sembra -sembra- che quest'anno le cose siano cambiate, dopo Calciopoli la Juve è trattata come le altre. Non è favorita, ma nemmeno sfavorita. E se prima non percepivate il trattamento di favore, com'è che ora un trattamento equo lo considerate sfavorevole? Pavel, hai dimostrato con le scene isteriche di Genova che ti costarono cinque giornate di squalifica, che a certe decisioni non eri abituato. Anche Del Piero, a quanto pare, è tutto l'anno che è nervoso quando parla con gli arbitri...

E va beh, dai, tornerete in serie A e prima o poi riprenderete a vincere. Spero per te faccia in tempo a vivere dei nuovi successi in maglia bianconera, visto che hai 35 anni ma non pensi di lasciare. Però non venire a dire che in passato eravate tanto più forti degli altri da non aver bisogno di aiuti, nel 2006 avete vinto per 3 punti, nel 2005 (l'unico anno sotto indagine, anche se probabilmente non è l'unico irregolare) per 7, non sono molti se consideriamo le 38 giornate. E non ti arrabbiare se vedi dei tuoi colleghi festeggiare uno scudetto, visto che quando è stato il momento l'hai fatto anche tu!

Lesile Lievesley is a 36 y.o. man from Staveley, Derbyshire. He's a goodlooks man, always smiling. When he was a boy, he used to play football at Doncaster Rovers, Crystal Palace and Manchester United (where he played only two matches in 1932), with no results. He runs in the family, his father was English National Team goalkeeper. In the summer of 1947, when coach Luigi Ferrero leaver Torino and young teams coach Sperone gets a promotion, president Ferruccio Novo hires Lievesley for his breeding ground: funds are few, so better raise some talentous boy and make money with his transfer. Lievesley seems to be the right person for this task.

His arrival has a violent impact: he also has in his tasks the athletic training of Grande Torino, and some players don't like his methods, too hard to them. Especially Gabetto and Marsso, that immediately named him "L’Ingleìs". Torino of Sperone wins 47/48 Serie A, and it's the fourth consecutive Scudetto, and for Novo it's normal giving to Lievesley the main team coach title. He also knows very welle the WM tactics, thet in Englans is in place since the 20's. Close to him Ernest ‘Egri’ Erbstein, as technical director. On the other side of Turin, in 1948 Juventus' coach is Renato Cesarini, the striker of the Golden Age of Bianconeri (5 titles between 1931 and 1935). At the end Juventus is second, but Cesarini comes back to Argentina, because of the results but also due to Lira depreciationthat makes his salary lower than expected. Just in Turin, no May 16th 1948, the Azzurri got a football lesson by the English teachers: a 0-4 that raises a lot of discussion. That's why young president Agnelli decides to look for an English coach.

William Chalmers becomes the new Juventus coach. Hes Scottish, and a former player of Glasgow Ranges and Newcastle. He is 43 and comes from Aldershot Town FC. Inter Milan hires a complete stranger, John David Astley, that will lead the team together with director Giulio Cappelli. That summer, even the Italian National team might have an English coach: Pozzo is dismissed after the Olympic Games and someone would like the famous coach Whittaker, but at the end nationalism predominates. Chalmers e Astley are a bluff, the first one has a very strong team (Boniperti, Parola, and Danish striker John Hansen) but at the end is fourth; Astley is deprived of authority in favour of Cappelli even for the daily training, and is sent away after two thirds of the season.
Lievesley? The granata coach goes very well in that 1948/49, he wins the scudetto but unfortunately dies in Superga crash together with Grande Torino, on May 4th.

In the meantime, Gianni Agnelli hires a new British coach, in spite of his baad experience with Chalmers. In the summer of Jesse Carver, ex Dutch national team coach, and coming from Milwall FC is the new Juventus' coach. He will be the last of UK coaches in that period of Serie A, and the one who remained for more time. HE wins the championship immediatelu -after 15 years- thanks to Boniperti, Hansen and the other Danish Praest. The Welsh man likes attacking game and runs a lot of risks (famous his 1-7 defeat at AC Milan, the second classified that year), moreover he tries for the very first time the zone marking. Though his game is spectacular, after a third place during his second year, he is replaced by great Hungarian Gyorgi Sarosi. Carver starts awondering around Italy, and will be a coact at Marzotto Valdagno, Torino, Roma, Lazio, Inter e Genoa. He'll be back also teice in England, at West Bromwich and Coventry City, but he won't win anymore.

Roberto Baggio...turned tail after his retirement

I forgave Marcello Lippi for sending Baggio away from Inter in 2000 only last Summer, as the coach from Viareggio won the World Cup on Italy's bench. Well, it's always been Roberto's destiny to be kicked away by coaches that suffered too much his important presence. It happened at Juventus, when Del Piero came and took his place, it happened at AC Milan, and it happened also at Inter. Baggio left the Nerazzurri with two goals in a very important match vs Parma that qualified them to Champions League. Then, he went to Brescia and everybody said he was over: 95 games with 45 goals in four years were his reply.

Most of all, Baggio for the Italian fans is the heart and soul of the Notti Magiche (magic nights) of the World Cup 1990: Stadio Olimpico in Rome shouted with joy and people couldn't believe their eyes after his goal to Czechoslovakia, a fifty metres ride as he entered the goal with the ball glued to his magic right foot. He had just dribbled six opponents!

Before Cannavaro in 2006, Roby Baggio was the last Italian to win the Ballon d'or and the Fifa World Player in 1993. Then, his mistake in the penalty kicks sequence in World Cup final -Usa 94- was a spot in his career, but back to Italy he won two consecutive Scudetti with two different jerseys: Juventus and AC Milan. Once he left Milan, he did well in Bologna, Inter and Brescia, played another World Cup in 98 and in 2002 fans and media entered into debate with Trapattoni because he didn't bring Baggio to its possible fourth World Cup. The lost versus South Corea helped keeping this debate live, even a lot of time after tha World Cup had finished.

Roberto Baggio will be 40 on the 18th of February, next Sunday. He stopped playing football in summer 2004, and after that we did not hear a lot of him. Now he lives in a large country house close to Caldogno (Vicenza), his home town. He doesn't follow Italian football, just hardly knows that Inter is dominating. From time to time he goes to the stadium, but only while he is in Argentina (over there he owns a farm), in his frequent shooting holidays. In fact, hunting is an old passion of his, and now he can practise it almost full time. He lives in a golden isolation, runs a sport goods shop where his sister works. He still follows Buddhism.

In other words, he enjoys the pleasures of family life (he has a wife and three sons), and lives in a home where he has even built a museum with 300 wood birds, a stuffed wild pig and a small boat with some ducks around. Well, it is not necessary that every top player stays in football world after retirement, but only the great stars will never be forgotten even if they become just family men or everything but a coach. And Roberto Baggio is one of these...

Last Saturday Juventus was in Vicenza and 20’ before the end of the match it was 2-0 ahead. In just six minutes, Greek defender Evangelois Nastos and youngster Gabriele Paonessa scored for the draw, and the Bianconeri had no reaction and the only occasion was a free kick that Del Piero threw away. After Napoli’s win behind closed doors, Juve is still first but the Azzurri reached them on the top.

Trezeguet and Camoranesi left out, a defence that is still the second in all Serie B but doesn’t work as it should in the away games are the reasons why French coach is on trial. Deschamps talked yesterday to his players, but no one of the board of directors were present. For some media, Deschamps’ position is bad, some of them points out Marcello Lippi as his successor even before June.

We think that after Calciopoli, all that happens around Juventus has been amplified. The Turin club is not playing good football, but chances to be promoted are still high and many players are injured or are about to come back. And new executives, despite the announces on the newspapers, are really working in order to have a competitive team, at least for fourth place, in next year’s Serie A. And we think that will make it.

Another good news in this bad period for Juve, is that the new stadium project has been approved by the board of directors and will be submitted to FIGC. The new stadium, built on the old “Delle Alpi”, will have 45000 seats and will be ready for –eventually, if Italy will be designated on April 18th- Euro 2012.

What a strange country Italy is! Each time a scandal comes out, after a period of indignation, protagonists and guilty has pulpits from which they can explain (of course without cross-examination) there is a plot against them or, if damning evidence is found, that everybody is guilty as they are.

It happened in politics, when a batch of corruption were discovered in early 90’s: in first two years, we had people’s demonstrations against politicians and in favour of judges. Then, after months and months of press campaigns, and false pretences against most representative public prosecutor, Di Pietro, a lot of people think that no one is to blame, because everybody is guilty.

The same happens now in football. Calciopoli big-name Luciano Moggi, after some wiretaps of his phone conversation with referees’ chiefs that brought his club to relegation, was firstly pointed out as the devil. Then, just because he still has a lot of allies among journalists, he became columnist of a newspaper (Libero) and special guest in some sport programs (local and national TV stations, and recently on radio station "Kiss-Kiss").

He always has a microphone, through which he says “what happened to me is paltry”, or “Never stole anything, neither a candy”, or accuse other clubs without any evidence, for example “Inter is the true “Mafia” of Italian football".

Some days ago, polytechnic school “G.B. Vico” in Agropoli (Salerno), invited him for a conference on sport education, and then he was supposed to make the opening of a “Juventus Club Luciano Moggi” that some nostalgic fans dedicated to him. And who is the organizer of these meetings? Sergio Vessicchio, a local journalist but also creator of some libellous websites like “Odio Collina” (I hate Collina) and “Dossier Inter”.

Sometimes, luckily, someone turns against this Italian way of thinking. This news has immediately created a dispute, and some students wrote to the board of supervisors. “We think it’s a bad thing that the school principal –who has to educate students- could invite a person that is investigated for a sport fraud and for this reason is not the appropriate person to teach” say in a dispatch. Minister Fioroni decided to order a review to local school and this pandemonium –here is the “happy end”- pushed Moggi to regret the invitation.

It happens that a team wins 13 consecutive matches breaking all records, and leads a league with 11 points advantage, and this team is Inter Milan. It also happens that main Italian bookmaker, SNAI, decides to suspend bets on Inter due to its evident superiority. Matchpoint, another bookmaker, keeps Inter quote, but it has been lowered to 1,01, meaning that if I bet 100 Euros, I win just a one euro coin.

Inter numbers are impressive: 54 points in 20 matches, best attack and best defence. Though we think that such a result should be underlined and maybe celebrated, we understand that when you are too strong and kill the competition, a lot of people might hate you. Anyway, this doesn’t justify some “whispering campaign” against Inter, lead by journalists we like to define “Moggi’s widows”. You've got to know that sport journalists are one of the categories whose image have been destroyed by Calciopoli. Last summer we could listen to wiretaps with some of main sport journalists asking Moggi and Co. what they should have written or said. Well, they are still in their place, just a couple of them were suspended by the Association of journalists for a short period. And they still are good friend of Moggi.

Last Sunday Inter won at home vs. Fiorentina. The Viola scored after 5’ with Luca Toni, and that was the only shot on goal they did in the whole match. In five minutes (19’ to 24’), two goals by Stankovic and Adriano put Inter back in control. In the second half, Inter slowed down the rhythm of the game and scored with Ibrahimovic, whose goal has been disputed by the Florentines, who stated that the ball was not completely in goal. Viola coach Prandelli and sport director Corvino after the match said none of Inter goals, especially the last one, was valid. Immediately Moggi’s widows put some poison into Inter’s win, assuming what Prandelli and Corvino said, without considering that the referee denied a couple of penalties to Inter.

In general, media like Turin newspaper Tuttosport (who is leading this campaign) and TV program Controcampo, would like to show that always the leading team has favours, and the same happened to Juventus or AC Milan during last years. And they would like also to let us know that the doubts we had in the past about Calciopoli are the same they have now. "If everybody is guity, no one is guilty", is their slogan. The problem is that they forget –or pretend to- all the stuff that came out in May 2006. A player gets a yellow card and won’t play against Inter the following weeks as he will be disqualified? Inter is doing something wrong as Juventus did, they say. But in one case we know about phone calls between Moggi and the referees chiefs, where Moggi asked to give some players a yellow or red card, now it is different.

Let’s just put an eye on some statistics of current season until now, they are self-explanatory:

Inter: 51 yellow cards, 4 red cards, penalty kicks: 3 in favour, 4 against
AS Roma: 45 yc, 1 rc, penalty kicks: 5-5
AC Milan: 37 yc, 1 rc, penalty kicks: 3-2
Palermo: 51 yc, 4 rc, penalty kicks: 5-1
Fiorentina: 47 yc, 2 rc, penalty kicks: 1-0

And here you have Ibrahimovic's 3-1 goal

Italian football never stops suffering: a new scandal has come out, this time referred to some clubs’ wrong balance sheets. The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Milan, Turin, Genoa and Rome are investigating the legal representatives of Inter Milan, AC Milan, Roma, Juventus, Lazio and many other teams of any professional football leagues.
The main reason is the overrating of some players, after that Berlusconi government voted a law (later on considered illegal by EU) authorizing football clubs to spread debts over many years. What happened? The clubs –i.e. Inter and AC Milan- exchanged some young players, giving them a higher rate than they had according to the market, in order to put incomes for their sale in current balance-sheet and spread the expense for the purchase over many years. In this way, the profit and loss account of the company was better than it should. But not only players were overrated. Another example? Juventus Turin sold his headquarter with a 15 million Euros income to a real estate agency on June 30th 2005 (last day of the football season) and then the day after (in the following season) rented it.

So, though the worst situation in terms of criminal law is for Juventus, AS Roma and Lazio, as they are quoted in Italian Sock Exchange, according to Sport Justice Code (more interesting to football fans) Inter Milan is really in trouble. The reason is that without that malpractice Inter could not join in Serie A 2004-05. Art. 7 no. 3 of the Sport Code says: “The club that, by means of accounting irregularities, tries to or succeed in joining a championship to which it could not be admitted according to federal law at the moment of the fact, is punished with one of the sanctions established by art. 13, letters f), g), h) and i). So, if Inter made those accounting irregularities (at the moment there’s only the request of Public Prosecutor in Milan), and if without those irregularities Inter –as it seems- could not join Serie A in 2004-05, it risks one of these sanctions: one or more points of penalization, demotion to last place of the ranking, ban from its championship (Federal direction to assign a lower championship), and revoke of the Italian Championship title.

Though risk is high (for the club and even more for Massimo Moratti who has signed the balance sheet), and though, on the sport law side, prosecutor Borrelli says that last summer his office already investigated on it and will go on, Moratti and Inter seem to be serene, and so are Galliani and other clubs’ executives. Maybe they’re right, if we consider that Mattia Grassani, a lawyer and maximum expert in sport right, says that “in my opinion limitation has expired. This issue might be controversial, but documents has been presented in 2003-04, so the hypothetical crime cannot be prosecuted”. Just for your information, sport laws say that an irregularity involving clubs can be prosecuted within the end of the second season after the one in which the irregularity has been done. So, Inter Milan submitted the documents in 2003-04, while those documents had been used to join Serie A in 2004-05. If 2003-04 is the season, Inter is safe, in the second case there will be for sure a trial.

Whatever happens, it’s another chapter of Italian football’s “Black book”, and we cannot see how could it be better in the future if there’s always indulgence and no one will be appointed in order to write new and more rigid rules. And we cannot accept the thought that in Italy everything works this way, sport has to be a field in which probity is main valour. We see dark clouds over Italian sky, if this won’t happen, especially if we consider that next choices of Football Association executives will probably done in the name of Restoration (Matarrese was FIGC chairman in 1987 and he’s one of the main candidates after commissioner Pancalli will leave).

Ok, we’re addicted to football, but three weeks without it are really too much for anyone. Here in Italy, we do not have the good British tradition to play more than usual during Christmas holidays, but we have never had such a long stop. It’s really a nonsense to play three-time in a week, between Dec. 17th and 23rd, and then hole up. We understand that playing friendly matches in Bahrain or in the Arab Emirates can make you earn some millions of Euro, but Italian fans are certainly unhappy about that.

Consequences of a long stop. We don’t have to be surprised if Serie A –a long time ago number one in Europe- is now fourth in attendance, after Bundesliga, La Liga and Premiership. Christmas holidays are a nice period, schools are closed and so a lot of offices. People have a lot of time to spend in fun, and go to the Stadium for a football match is supposed to be a leisure activity: unfortunately, players are elsewhere. This is just one of the reasons (others are uncomfortable stadiums, without parking, etc., and violence everywhere) of a fall that seems to go on.

Transfers. “Calciomercato” is occupying a large part of the newspapers, not only because of January window, but also regarding next season. You can read a lot of bullshit, and it’s not easy to understand if there is something true, or at least seeming. Consider that a club like Juventus, which is a glorious club but now in Serie B and still fighting to be promoted, according to the sport press could have this team next year: Buffon, Zapata, Grygera, Barzagli, Heinze, Amantino Mancini, Malouda, Mavuba, Nedved, Klose (Claudio Pizarro), Ronaldo…
Roberto Mancini is still waiting for his contract renewal at Inter Milan, and incredibly coach and chairman Moratti are discussing about…the doctor: Mancini had an argument with doctor Combi and wants his dismissal as a condition to accept a new contract. Let’s wait and see, Josè Mourinho could join Inter together with Cristiano Ronaldo. 2008 is the centenary year, Massimo Moratti has 100 million Euro to spend for signing new players, and the Portuguese is one of the candidates to wear the black and blue jersey.

Sexual doping, or just an excuse? The lack of football matches makes us talk also about gossip. AC Milan striker Marco Borriello has recently tested positive for prednisolone, a banned substance based on cortisone, after AC Milan-AS Roma. Now Argentinean showgirl Belen Rodriguez, Borriello’s girlfriend, says it wasn’t doping, but only love. She states doping was due to an unprotected sexual love, as she took an ointment to heal an infection, but also the AC Milan forward caught same infection and took same ointment, which contained the banned substance. Some doctors say this is not possible, as this kind of medicine are not absorbed by the liver. So, as Borriello is wating for counter-analysis, this seems to be an excuse, such as Fernando Couto’s shampoo, containing –according to the defender- a little bit of nandrolone.