March 2011
18 posts
Serie A Weekly Italy Special With Giancarlo... →
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Fabio Capello: Why even a million words in English...
And so it came to pass, just as it always does. The great foreign saviour of the English national team saw his honeymoon period flash by in an instant before the inevitable decline. Now the knives are out for him and his funny overseas ways.
Fabio Capello has limited English language skills, apparently. How simply unforgivable. He even went so far as to claim he only needed 100 words to...
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Italy v Ukraine: When Luca Toni shot down all my...
Superstition and pessimism have always been the cornerstones of my calcio credo. Whenever any major tournament comes around I tend to underplay my own team’s chances, as if mentioning them as contenders might jinx their prospects. And I generally find it better to expect the worst when following Italy, if only in order to be pleasantly surprised when things go well.
That was definitely my...
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Slovenia v Italy: Can Cesare Prandelli trump...
Arrigo Sacchi and Marcello Lippi have seen plenty of silverware over the years. They have coached teams to success around the globe in glittering careers for both club and country. But Cesare Prandelli can trump them both if he achieves something neither of them could manage – an away win against Slovenia. Back in September 1994, Italy travelled to Maribor as World Cup runners-up. Much of the...
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Mario Balotelli: Why Italian football should...
“Ho bisogno d’aiuto, rovino sempre tutto.” With these simple words - “I need help, I always ruin everything” - Mario Balotelli made a plea for assistance to Italy coach Cesare Prandelli. It has a desperate ring, especially coming from one so young.
Anyone with any experience of some form of depression will find the statement terribly familiar. It is easy to get...
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Fiorentina v Roma: When Ancelotti's clanger put...
It is not the kind of moment a coach draws to his players’ attention. So the chances are Carlo Ancelotti has never troubled a Chelsea team talk with any mention of a goal he scored in front of the Curva Fiesole in Florence nearly 30 years ago. It was one of his most perfect finishes in an illustrious Roma career before moving to Milan. The only trouble was, it was scored past his own...
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Goran Pandev and the glory of getting Champions...
If Goran Pandev could have surveyed the social network sites with 10 minutes left in Inter’s clash with Bayern Munich he would not have been pleased. The kindest description he might have found of his evening’s work was “useless”. I was among those who were particularly persistent in pleading for his substitution.
Well, if there is a Macedonian recipe for humble pie, I...
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The little aeroplane's finest flight
Francesco Totti might have had a premonition. Or, more likely, he just hoped to have another opportunity to get up the noses of his eternal rivals. When he tucked a T-shirt carrying a celebratory message beneath his Roma top, he may have had an inkling his team was going to produce one of its most special performances to beat Lazio. But even he could hardly have dreamed of his spectacular goal...
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Italy's fresh-faced coaches fight it out with some...
About 68 years of football experience separate Serie A sides from the Champions League quarter finals. The coaches of Roma, Milan and Inter – in strict chronological order – will need to beat counterparts old enough to be their dad in order to progress. Each one must try to mastermind the reversal of a home defeat by a single goal margin.
The most striking maturity deficit is between Vincenzo...
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An open letter to Giancarlo for Antognoni's Day
Dear Giancarlo,
You don’t know me but you have been both the making and the ruination of my existence. From the first time I read your name in a dog-eared copy of La Gazzetta dello Sport to your last emotional wave to the Curva Fiesole you have been my football idol. It has probably done me more harm than good.
It’s because of you, and the historic roots of my family, that I...
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The unbearable absence of Jojo
They say that when the human body loses one of its senses, the others can improve to try to make up for its absence. There has been little sign, however, of its footballing equivalent taking place in Florence. Nobody has managed to fill the void left by Stevan Jovetic’s long-term injury. The recent thrilling win over Palermo was a sticking plaster over the pain that has been felt by Viola...
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Five reasons Napoli should not give up their...
If it had been an entrance exam, Napoli would not even be waiting to see the disastrous results. The Azzurri flunked their Scudetto test in the San Siro in the most abject manner. It seems hard to imagine them raising their game now in order to challenge for final honours this year.
But they owe it to their fans and the division as a whole not to give up the ghost just yet. There are a few...
