EPL Talk » Italy

Giuseppe Rossi to Manchester United?

David Schiavone — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:30:29 +0000

Will Rossi be back in Manchester?

One positive to come out of Italy’s disastrous Confederations Cup adventure was the emergence of Giuseppe Rossi. Having been on the fringes of the Azzurri squad for some months, he finally made his breakthrough against the nation of his birth, putting himself firmly in the shop window this summer.

Having begun his career in the youth team at Parma, he quickly caught the attention of Manchester United, who took him to England as a 17 year old. After spending a successful spell in the reserves, he was loaned to Newcastle United, where he only made five starts. His old club Parma took an interest in the forward, deep in a relegation battle and in need of goals, Rossi joined the Tardini outfit in January 2007, and scoring 9 goals in 19 appearances, helping them avoid relegation.

On his return to Old Trafford it become clear he would not be guaranteed first team football and Sir Alex Ferguson, recognising this allowed Rossi to leave for Villarreal for around £7 million. But aware of his potential and ability a buy back clause was reportedly inserted into the deal.

During his first season in Spain, the potential that was bubbling under the surface at Old Trafford finally made its way to the surface. Twenty-three starts, five substitute appearances returned eleven goals and three assists. His performances were exceptional and a keen eye for goal demonstrated as he lead the front line during his first season with the Yellow Submarine, helping them qualify for the Champions League.

This season Rossi has progressed even more 12 goals and 7 assists in La Liga, plus 3 goals in the Champions League. His international career also blossomed, top scorer in the Olympics with four goals in four games, whilst also making his debut for the Azzurri against Bulgaria in October.

His rise has been rapid with his first goal for the Azzurri coming against Northern Ireland in June, another two were added against the USA, his country of birth in the 2009 Confederations Cup. One of the few positives to come out of Italy’s disastrous campaign.

I would advocate for the inclusion of the youngster in the Azzurri first team from now on, he brings a verve and tenacity the other forwards do not possess, he is not afraid to have a shot from long range, as his goals against Northern Ireland and USA are testament. One criticism of his game may be his lack of predatory instinct in the penalty area, though his finishing ability is fantastic.

It is these performances that have brought him to the attention of various clubs in and around the peninsula. Juventus have been mooted as a possible destination, but Rossi has expressed his desire to play for Milan. However, one team who could put a spanner in the works are former side Manchester United, after losing Tevez and Ronaldo, they may find the replacement is a player they know very well. Although he has expressed a desire to return to Italy, I feel SIr Alex Ferguson is a keen admirer and would love to have him back, but only time will tell.

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GolTV Acquires TV Rights To 2009 European Under-21 Championship

The Gaffer — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:00:47 +0000

GolTV has acquired the U.S. TV rights to the 2009 European under-21 Championship, scheduled for June 15-29 in Sweden.

The eight countries competing in the tournament will be England, Italy, Serbia, Germany, Finland, Belarus, Spain and Sweden. The draw for the tournament takes place on December 3rd.

For connoiseurs of the beautiful game, the European Under-21 Championship will be an excellent opportunity to watch some of the up-and-coming players in action.

Coached by Stuart Pearce, England will favor its chances of doing well in the tournament especially with a talent pool that includes Aston Villa’s Gabriel Agbonlahor and James Milnar, Chelsea’s Michael Mancienne (who has been called up for today’s game against Germany), Tottenham’s Jamie O’Hara, Manchester City’s Joe Hart, West Ham United’s Mark Noble and many more.

Spain And Italy’s Bore Draw Gives Soccer A Bad Name

The Gaffer — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:56:30 +0000

It was supposed to be a classic. Two of the top teams in Europe, Italy and Spain, with some of the best footballers in the world on display. But what we saw was a dire game featuring two teams more focused on avoiding defeat than trying to win. Other than the Romania against France game, this was the worst match of the tournament.

With such a big game being broadcast around the world, you would hope that the teams would come out and play attractive football. Italy, especially, was absolutely abysmal in the way that they treated the game putting so many players behind the ball that it was no wonder Spain had difficulty trying to score. For so much of the match, the Spanish attackers had to try and weave their way past eight players in the back.

Instead what we saw, over and over again, was Spain going down the wings and floating balls into the box only for Italy to head the ball away due to their height advantage.

Living here in the United States, it’s always a battle to try to win over fans of traditional sports and make them soccer fans. But in a game like we saw tonight, the criticisms those non-believers cry out became true: Soccer is low scoring and boring (this one almost put me to sleep at times). Soccer players feign injuries (the Italians were particularly guilty of this). Penalties are a dumb way to end games (I agree). And so on and so forth.

Games like these don’t make it easy for soccer fans in the United States. Sure, not every match can be a classic but I thought Italy’s negative tactics were embarrassing. They defended superbly, yes. But they were far too cautious and sat back hoping to hold on for a 0-0 draw or grab a late winner.

The better team on the night won but only barely. Spain, the consummate underachievers, lacked the creativity and clinical finishing in front of goal to put this match away. Against a different opposition they may have had a chance to shine better but I expected more from the Spaniards. Unless they can improve in a few days time, I feel Russia has an excellent chance of making it to the final.

Is Fan Segregation At Football Matches A Good Thing?

The Gaffer — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 16:36:38 +0000

One of the pleasures of going to see a live match in England and continental Europe these days is the lack of fan segregation.

After leaving Wales in 1984 and returning to England in 2006 to attend a professional match again, I was shocked by how fans were allowed to mingle together in the streets outside the grounds. Inside the Premier League stadiums, the away fans were put in their corner surrounded by stewards. But before and after the games, the fans from both teams could be seen standing and walking next to each other with no aggro or insults traded.

Such is the difference between English football in 1984 and 2006. Not having been to a top tier professional match in England for so long I was stunned by how much things had changed.

I experienced the same thing at the Holland against Italy match at Euro 2008. While I didn’t expect the supporters to be herded into the different stands as was common in the late 70s and early 80s, I was surprised by how there was little to no segregation in the Wankdorf Stadium in Berne. Sure, there was the Italian end and the Dutch end both at opposite sides of the ground where the official supporters club stood. But throughout the remainder of the stadium Dutch fans sat next to Italian fans and neutrals.

This is definitely the modern day football experience where hooliganism is becoming extremely rare except for small clashes. Fans of all ages and races sitting together in stands without trying to attack each other.

All of this happens though with Big Brother playing a large part behind the scenes. In the build up to the Holland against Italy match, there were several helicopters circling around the ground conceivably looking for trouble or possible terrorism. There are also lots of security cameras in key locations watching for trouble. And there’s still quite a big police presence lurking from a distance and waiting to pounce if any trouble kicks off.

Watching the Turkey against Croatia match, it was hard not to notice the large presence of stewards behind each goal. Their presence seemed excessive especially the three rows of stewards standing in front of the Croatia end. There was a noticeably smaller presence in front of the Turkey end. Before and after the match there were some isolated clashes between fans, but looking at the large numbers of Turkish and Croats throughout the other parts of the stadium, everything seemed to be pretty calm, thankfully.

While it’s refreshing to see fans from both sides — whether it’s in the Premier League or Euro 2008 — attend a football match without the worry of violence happening, there is a little part of me that misses the tension and the abusive chants between opposing sets of fans. Now the atmosphere feels more like a company picnic party. Everyone’s there to have a good time but it’s all so sedate.

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The Euro 2008 Stadium Experience: Berne

The Gaffer — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:34:50 +0000

Experiencing Euro 2008 from the comfort of your home, office or local pub is so different than seeing the game live in person. But what goes on inside a stadium in the buildup to a Euro 2008 game?

For the first round of Euro 2008 matches that began at 2.45pm ET, most — if not all — of the stadiums televised the noon ET game on the giant screen TVs to encourage fans to get to the stadium early and to reduce traffic congestion in the buildup to the match.

When I watched the game between France and Romania on the giant TV screens before Holland played Italy in Berne, there were two problems. One, it was very difficult to watch a game on a giant screen TV no matter where your seat was in the stadium. Two, the stadium organizers had a DJ playing music throughout the game so it definitely took away the atmosphere of the match. But luckily we didn’t miss much as the French played an absolutely boring game against the very physical Romanians.

I was really impressed with the pre-match events organized by the Swiss. Sure, there was the predictable dancers running across the pitch carrying banners to pump up the crowd. But there was also a host who spoke to the crowd in English and explained what would happen in the build-up to the match. He then introduced two men. One spoke in Dutch to the Oranje army. The other man was Italian and spoke in his native tongue to his fellow countrymen.

Both the Dutch and Italian men tried to pump up their fans. The English-speaking host then explained how he wanted the Dutch and Italian fans to work together to ensure that the match was celebrated in the spirit of the game.

He then got the fans involved in a novel crowd participation game. A very large canvas sheet in the shape of a soccer ball was given to the Dutch fans at one end of the stadium. The host then encouraged the fans to pass the soccer ball canvas over their heads to the opposite side of the stadium where the Italian fans stood. The object of the game was to see if they could get it to the other end within 60 seconds.

While it was fun to watch the fans fumble the ball, it was definitely a good exercise to get the crowd working together as a team.

As the time sped forward toward kick off, the DJ continued to spin his records. The Italian and Dutch fans tried to sing above the din of the music but to no avail. The blasting music was detrimental to the atmosphere in the ground. By the time the game was almost ready to kick off, the fans were singing but not as loudly as they could have been. I really feel the music was to blame for this.

The site for all of these pre-match activities was Berne’s Wankdorf Stadium. Despite it’s laughable name, the ground is one of the best smaller stadiums I’ve ever visited. Recently rebuilt in 2005, the ground looks boxy from the outside, but inside it’s quite compact while still allowing enough leg room in the 32,000 all-seater. What surprised me was how well designed the concourse was than ran beneath the upper deck. The restrooms, for example, were as modern as what you’d expect to find in most larger hotels. And the way the concourse was designed allowed for easy flow of football supporters in and out of that corner of the ground.

Other than the annoying DJ, I give the Euro 2008 stadium experience at Berne’s Wankdorf Stadium a massive thumbs up.