Italian Football: An Organized Sport?
Saturday, 09 February 08, 06:44 AM
For a short while there in my pre-pubescent youth, I got quite into watching wrestling. It was called the WWF back then. They changed the name of it later and thus in one
fell swoop remedied the rampant confusion scores of us had between large, sweaty man throwing each other to the floor and wildlife conservation.
Anyway, once I got over the Santa Claus-like revelation that the whole thing was fake, I remember being impressed by the organization of it all, the plot lines and the pay offs to those
plot lines and so on.
This week, Italy’s pink sporting daily, “La Gazzetta Dello Sport” published an alternative Serie A table where refereeing errors were corrected and interestingly enough, in this parallel universe of justice and perfection, the league leader is. . . Juventus. Not only that but they top Inter by three points, rather than the twelve points that they trail the Nerazzuri now.
Other notable differences from the real standings is that Milan sit comfortably in that fourth spot, five points clear of Fiorentina in fifth, and then. . . . well, that’s it, really.
Yes, Juve and Milan are getting the right royal shafting it seems.
So it got me wondering. Not so much about whether there is a specifically Inter-sponsored conspiracy against Juventus and Milan - the idea of that is too exhausting, depressing and let’s face it, unlikely - but firstly, does your average non-Juventino or non-Milanista really care about this finding? And even more tellingly perhaps, can it be seen as acceptable for Juventus and Milan to fight with one hand behind their back for a while because it’ll be for the good for the spectacle of the Italian game anyway?
I ask this because bizarrely enough I’m beginning to see a number of things taking shape in Italy and post-calciopoli that I think is going to a lead to a rather spectacular revival of Serie a in the eyes of the world that few would have expected so soon after Luciano Moggi’s fondness for the phone call was exposed.
What’s changed about this post-calcopoli world? Well the main one obviously is that we have a new winner. An imperious Inter. They look every inch the part of champions, decent football at times, lots of goals, win even when they’re rubbish and they get dodgy refereeing decisions going for them left and right. All that is a new phenomenon. For them.
Next, are Roma who have managed to keep their coach, star players (bar Chivu) and have added to their squad with relative ease of late. Again, not the case in the years prior. Last Sunday’s performance at Siena aside, they’re getting stronger.
Then there’s the teams just below that size or standard; Fiorentina and this year’s underachievers, Lazio. Prandelli’s team from Firenze is getting to be a pretty solid proposition and you would really fancy them to keep hold of young players such as Montolivo and Pazzini, to name but two. They are also pretty handy at getting in players also. They too are getting stronger.
Lazio, who arguably overachieved last year getting into the Champions League, squandered their progress last summer with a catastrophic transfer campaign which left them short handed. They have been busy bring player in this January window, but more importantly have kept continuity by sticking with Delio Rossi as coach, who you get the idea is actually good for them.
Napoli too, are now up with the big boys and seem pretty astute in the transfer market with Lavezzi, Hamsik and Gargano their performing summer arrivals, and the other week they tweaked the nose of Inter by signing the coveted youngster, Daniele Mannini from Brescia.
It all seems a slightly fairer fight these days. It seems everyone in Serie A breathes a little easier now and moves around a little more without fear of getting squashed.
With all that mentioned and a new collective TV rights deal on its way, which would resemble more the English Premier League’s allocation of TV money, there’s a real chance that a “Seven Sisters” could emerge once more. Just like the bygone days where serie a was king. A big seven. Big city teams, with big money and all with the ability to attract talent from all over the world.
Italy might not be all that far behind as those in the English media would seem to suggest.
Add to that there are whispers that Poland and Ukraine are struggling with preparations for Euro 2012, and Italy has declared itself ready to take their place. A lot needs to happen, or I suppose in the case of the currently elected hosts, not to happen, before Italy gets the green light; but such an event transpiring would signal a boost in renovation and investment in the pennisula’s stadia. Much needed.
Now it is Italy. And things can always implode. But there are signs.
And because, I suppose, Milan and Juventus will always be there or thereabouts with the resources they each have, anything that is going on now, well it’s all for the better.
And if the flag stays down when the Milan or Juventus defenses are breached, if the ref really didn’t see that shirt tug on Kaka or that Trezeguet’s chest is mistaken for an arm, it’s all for the greater good. Just while things are set straight.
The sad thing about life after calciopoli was that it made anything seem possible and that now even when things seem a little better, you still think somebody somewhere may be pulling the strings in one direction or another. Even if it is just for the excitement and the spectacle.
Just as they do in wrestling.
Ross Howard
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Italy
Serie A
AC Milan
Sexshy Football
Wednesday, 23 January 08, 06:54 AM
The biggest story to come to England in the last few weeks has been the return of the “Messiah” Kevin Keegan as manager of Newcastle United just weeks after the firing of Sam Allardyce. Big Sam grew increasingly under fire at the Toon for what many supporters in the Northeast called a Neanderthaloid brand of football, especially after being compared to the high-flying sides Keegan himself led 12 years ago, and he was unwilling or unable to change his approach. Although he employed dietitians, and psychologists, used scientific training methods and ran a tight ship defensively, Sam was a squarish man, who preferred a squarish style, and couldn’t adapt to the culture of the club, or the expectations of the Toon Army.
What does this have to do with Serie A or La Liga? Well, if anyone followed the dour side that Fabio Capello ran out to the Santiago Bernabeu last year, no one was surprised that he was fired despite his winning the Primera Liga title. His replacement, Berndt Schuster, whose plucky, serviceable Getafe side was amongst the defensive leaders in La Liga last year, was inexplicably hired by the Meringues to deliver a more attractive, attacking philosophy. The press, the socios, and even club leadership are now more than a bit disappointed that rather than Joga Bonito, the club are winning with that same plucky, defensive style Schuster used to good effect at Getafe. Imagine that.
At Valencia, Quique Sanchez-Flores also drew a great deal of criticism for his boring brand of football, and his successor Ronald Koeman continues his misguided legacy, but it’s nothing new; there’s been an ongoing problem there at the Mestalla since before the time of Hector Cuper. In Italy, land of Catenaccio, there are still a few sides that play in the classic style of Il Grande Inter coach Helenio Herrera. While his old club Inter do tend to grind out wins without excelling, city neighbors Milan have also played tentatively, lacking offensive punch due primarily to injury and an uncharacteristic lack of quality in attack. Just look at the fate of one of the most successful managers in recent history: Jose Mourinho. He was essentially fired, because he wouldn’t bend to the pressure of entertaining the masses. His Liverpool rival, Rafa Benitez, is coming under similar fire. Finally, even with a “Golden Generation” of English talent, Steve McClaren was not able to qualify the English national team for Euro 2008 because he unable or unwilling to take the reigns off his squad against the minnows of European Football.
There’s a disconnect here. The clubs and the supporters groups are calling for one brand of football, football as spectacle, and the managers are teaching another brand entirely. They make excuses, that the modern game can’t be played openly anymore, that a team needs to be strong at the back and wait for an opponent’s mistake on the counter. They feel the pressure of results, the economic realities of relegation, so they play not to lose, handicapping their chances before a fan has even sat down for the match. You can guess which side I fall on.
Whether it’s by choice, or by necessity, it is rarely in a club’s best interest to grind out a 1-0 victory. A slight lead in a match allows a slim hope of belief in the opponent, the small mistakes get magnified, and all it takes is a faulty decision, under the duress and fatigue late in the game, to allow an opponent a late equalizer or worse yet a decisive goal. Worse than his oft criticized rotational policy, it is in this manner that Benitez’s negative tendencies that have hurt Liverpool most. They play a match close in the first half and wait to attack on the counter in the second, and have suffered disappointing results against inferior clubs, whereas a similar club with a similar talent pool like Arsenal, that play to their own strengths and exploit weaknesses in their opponent, are within a hair’s breath of a much more talented Manchester United side at the top of the table.
Close your eyes and think about which sides play beautiful, attacking football. Roma play 6 midfielders essentially, but they are bombs away from essentially all parts of the field. They are unpredictable, mercurial and when on their game, no side in Serie A can match the waves of offensive talent that they can throw at you. Barcelona, under Frank Ryjkaard, have some of the best attacking talent in La Liga. They have unprecedented skill on the ball, the dribbling skills of Messi, the powerful shot of Eto’o, the silky smooth runs of Henry and no one is more deadly on set pieces than Ronaldinho. In England, there is a reason why Arsenal and Manchester United have dominated the Premiership over its existence. It’s not just because they have more money and buy the best talent. The primary reason is that they play with confidence that their skill players can play better than your skill players and they will punish you for it. Other sides that play beautifully? Werder Bremen, Lyon, Sevilla, and Spurs are all taking the bait.
Do these clubs necessarily have more talent, and thus can afford to take more risks? Certainly if you’re comparing them to a recently promoted side like Derby, Almeria or Genoa, but a club like Valencia with top door quality should not be playing a mixture of 4-3-3 and 4-5-1 with the wingers tracking back. Neither should Liverpool, or Real Madrid, or especially one of the richest clubs in the world: Chelsea.
Is there a ground-shift happening as we speak? I hope so. With some managers playing two defensive midfielders and a man up front against non-league sides and drawing 0-0, I look at the re-appointment of Kevin Keegan as Newcastle United manager as a return to what Ruud Gullit called “Sexy Football”. Frankly, it’s about time.
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FIFA Player of the Year?
Sunday, 21 October 07, 05:18 AM
Every year, the infamous Fifa World Player of the Year Award comes out and every year I find myself wondering why I ever paid attention. Yes, if you’ve been living under a rock, or as I have suffering the after effects of jet lag and Barcelona, here’s the list. ‘ll join you after you read it.
FIFA World Player of the Year nominees:
Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Fabio Cannavaro (Italy), Petr Cech (Czech Republic), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Deco (Portugal), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Michael Essien (Ghana), Samuel Eto’o
(Cameroon), Gennaro Gattuso (Italy), Steven Gerrard (England), Thierry Henry (France), Juninho (Brazil), Kaka (Brazil), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Frank Lampard (England),
Rafael Marquez (Mexico), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Alessandro Nesta (Italy), Andrea Pirlo (Italy), Franck Ribery (France), Juan Roman Riquelme (Argentina), Ronaldinho (Brazil), Wayne Rooney
(England), John Terry (England), Carlos Tevez (Argentina), Lilian Thuram (France), Fernando Torres (Spain), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Netherlands), Patrick Vieira (France.
See anything glaring? Now I won’t argue that Lionel Messi, Didier Drogba, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ruud or even Riquelme deserve to be on that list. Maybe Essien. They all had spectacular years. Kaka, Gerrard, Pirlo and Gattuso met in the Champions League final so you could also make a case for them as well. But the rest? How many of these are here because of reputation? Thuram and Viera are washed up has beens. Ribery hadn’t yet come into his own, and Torres had never lived up to his billing in Spain. Tevez spent most of the year on the bench at West Ham, Buffon most of the year in Serie B, and most everyone else spent a significant portion of the year injured; except for Deco who spent most of the year being confused with Iniesta and Xavi. Am I getting to my point yet?
I think I’m not arguing that these people shouldn’t be nominated, I’m not even worried so much with who will win because it’s obvious that one of these, Kaka, Drogba, C. Ronaldo, or Messi, deserve it just as much as any.
Yet, eternally injured Rafa Marquez gets nominated, over the Golden Boot winner in Europe- Francesco Totti?
I realize that I’m biased for Totti, but I’m trying to be objective here as well. Is Petr Cech more deserving of the award than Pepe Reina who got his club to the CL final? Is Miroslav Klose more deserving than Raul Tamudo or Daniel Alves who both met on the field in Scotland for the UEFA Cup final? God, even David Beckham deserves votes for inspiring his club to wins down the stretch for Real Madrid.
I realize this is a popularity contest, and Francesco Totti, who isn’t even liked by the majority in his own country (outside of Rome I guess) won’t be winning any, but there are glaring cases like this that completely underscore how stupid this award really is. Give it to Kaka, who seems the darling of Fifa anyway, and of Brazilian extraction which helps for starters but don’t come to me afterwards and tout a player by how many individual awards he’s won, because clearly don’t matter.
Mando from FF
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Being a Fan part II
Sunday, 07 October 07, 02:16 AM
The last time I asked this sort of question, it was whether or not someone could call themselves a true fan if you questioned a manager or the direction that your team was going in (clearly I don´t know what I´m talking about because my team is first place in the Premiership in spite of the criticisms I gave it), but instead I have another question for you all.
Well, I interviewed Tim Stannard of football365.com the other day here in Barcelona, you´ll hear the interview when I get back and not a minute sooner, but one of the questions I asked him was if you still support a club. and while I won´t reveal his club, he did say that you couldn´t in his opinion support more than one club. A club chooses you, it defines who you are, and you could no more choose more than one club as choose more than one set of parents. Those are my words, not his in case anyone cares.
Well, I support Arsenal in England and they define who I am in that sense. I´ve watched them since Dennis Bergkamp came to them in the early 1990´s and they have a style that suits what I like about football, but I also care deeply about AS Roma, for not as long and yes I´ve only followed them since Batistuta went there to win Fabio Capello a scudetto, but I have the scarf and I sing the songs, and I consider myself a fan.
Which makes sense to you? I´m ambivalent about it actually, there were times that I felt like I was cheating on my girlfriend, but I´ve sort of squared it by saying to myself that Arsenal hold my interest intellectually, they define what I think is good and precise, almost mathematical about football. AS Roma on the other hand hold my heart, and I root for them despite them not being very good most years and when they´re good I rub it in people´s faces and when they lose I spin out of control by it, it has nothing to do with my head or a choice I´ve made but a gut feeling I had all along.
If asked to choose between the two I almost always say Roma, but I still think you can support more than one team in one league or else I wouldn´t be struggling with really finding a squad to support in La Liga, or the fact that I like Werder Bremen, PSG or Ajax, Chivas de Guadalajara or especially Boca Juniors in other leagues around the world.
What do you think?
Mando of FF, La Liga Talk and Serie A Talk
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FORZA FUTBOL PODCAST WEEK 13 is now up!
Monday, 09 July 07, 09:49 PM
FORZA FUTBOL WEEK 13 is available for your listening pleasure!
In episode 13 we discuss-
*IN FOCUS - Calciopoli Revisited
*Serie A and La Liga Silly Season
*Copa America, U20 World Cup and Asian Cup roundups
*Up Close and Personal with Forza - How did Elisa get into the beautiful game?
Listen to us on our myspace page or at podbean.com. Subscribe to us on itunes. Check out our facebook, ziago-zoga, or oleole.com page. We would love for you to comment and give us your feedback. Email us at forza.futbol@yahoo.com
Adios y grazie**
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Best Eleven Serie A 2006-7!
Wednesday, 06 June 07, 09:38 PM
Here's our Lega Calcio Best Eleven as mentioned on our Weekly podcast, episode 8. Let us know what ya think!
Hannah-
Top 11 of the Season
Sebastien Frey (Fiorentina)
Manuel Pasqual (Fiorentina) -- -- Marco Materazzi (Inter) - Cristian Zaccardo (Palermo)
Adrian Mutu (Fiorentina) -- Kaka (Milan) -- Gattuso (Milan) -- Dejan Stankovic (Inter)
Francesco Totti (Roma) -- Tommaso Rocchi (Lazio)
Subs: Christiano Lucarelli (Livorno), Giuseppe Rossi (Parma), Javier Zanetti (Inter)
Elisa-
Top 11 of the Season 4-4-2~*
In goal, Angelo Peruzzi (Lazio)
In defense, Javier Zanetti (Pupi, Il Tratore, the Tractor) (Inter) RB, Matrix (Marco Materazzi or Zidane's worse nightmare) (Inter) CB, Cristian Chivu (Roma) CB, Manuel Pasqual (Fiore with 2 great
years. He was in my fantasy team last year.) LB
In the midfield, Genaro Gattuso (Mil), Pirlo (Mil), Dejan Stankovic (Inter, Stan the Man) and sitting in the center in front of the strikers, Kaka (Mil, Future FIFA Player of the year)
In attack, Cristiano Luccarelli (Liv) (20 goals so underrated), Francesco Totti (Roma, capocannoniere, and potential Golden Boot with 32 goals this year, 26 goals in the league, angle
screws).
Captain - Totti (1 Argentine, 1 Czech, 1 Serbian, 1 Brasilian and 7 Italianos)
Mando-
Top 11 of the Season 4-4-2~*
In goal Sebastien Frey (Fiorentina) Most minutes played: 3420, most clean sheets: 19
LB: Fabio Grosso (Inter): I realize he doesn't play alot for Inter, but does for the Azzurri
CB: Marco Materazzi (Inter)
CB: Dario Dainelli (Fiorentina) Captain of the best defense in Serie A
RB: Cristian Zaccardo (Palermo)
M: Adrian Mutu (Fiorentina): Most assists and honored by GDS with best player Serie A.
M: Cristiano Doni (Atalanta):
M: Kaka (AC Milan)
M: Stankovic (Inter)
F: Cristiano Lucarelli (20)
F: Francesco Totti (26)
Captain - Totti
*Totti, Lucarelli and Mutu respectively are amongst the leaders in goals, assists, and a weird stat called first to goal first: 8 times the 3 scored the first goal in a game.
What are your Best Eleven? What do you think of our picks? Email us at forza.futbol@yahoo.com, comment or reply on our myspace, our oleole.com blog or page or on our facebook
page.
Ciao y Gracias**
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On Calciomercato: Top Ten Signings in Serie A So Far