Passioni. Il mondo di Andrea Meccia

One of the worst Sundays in Italian football history. A farce match took place in Salernitana-Nocerina (Lega Pro). In Serie A, Juve are again the undisputed Old Lady. Pirlo, Conti and Rossi: made in Italy is timeless. Arechi Stadium of Salerno. The local derby Salernitana-Nocerina (11th match-day of  Lega Pro, Group B, Italian Third Division), is one of the most burning rivalry in Italian football and a high-tension match . 'No entry' for Nocerina supporters for reasons related to public order. The same fans -  irritated by the disposition of the local Prefecture - threatened to death their own footballers that didn't want to take the pitch . At the end, after the reassurances of a Police commissioner, the match started with a 40 minutes delay and lasted only 20. A game fraction in which the away team made three substitutions and 'suffered five injuries' , making the referee suspend the game. We are talking about a farce , one of worst Sundays in ...

Totti: "We have got balls!". Conte: "They are obscuring us". Perin looks like a young Buffon. Klose leaves his mark on Lazio's victory. Bologna and Livorno remember Morosini Roma are still the beautiful (and lucky) queen that are killing Serie A. Without Totti and Gervinho, the  Giallorossi win again. They did it suffering against a good Udinese that got back to lose at home after 22 matches. Luis Muriel , Colombian forward, was overwhelming but the  Giallorossi did nit concede any goal. They played in ten men for the entire second half  (red card for Maicon) and achieved the expected result with Michael Bradley, USA midfielder. Supporters crowded Fiumicino Airport. A sanguine Totti wrote on his website: "We have got balls!". Antonio Conte, Juventus coach, declared: " Giallorossi are obscuring Juve and Napoli too ". The  Partenopei and the  Bianconeri kept on doing their duty beating Torino and Genoa with the same r...

Pablo Alabarces, Argentinian academy teacher (University of Buenos Aires) specialized in Popular and Mass Culture. He wrote, among others, Football and Patria (2008) Chronicles of aguante and Football, violence and politics (2012). Do you think Italian soccer has lost its charm after the glory days of Maradona, Platini and Zico in the 80s? What is the European league that you deem more interesting nowadays? I think so. Italian soccer has lost its charm and attractiveness. For example, the best footballers play in other leagues and its teams aren't great anymore. It gains global attention more for cases like violence or corruption, than for great victories and triumphs (like Maradona's Naples, for example). The Spanish Liga , on the other hand, stands out for other reasons: an unforgettable team like Messi's Barcelona or the multimillionaire Real Madrid that have money to burn: but they don't have much to offer. Personally, I prefer and I give atte...

Tévez derides Batistuta, Rossi scores a hat-trick and Conte breaks down. Hellas wins again. Toro-Inter, exciting draw but Mazzarri is furious The best news of the day for Italian football comes from Rioveggio, suburb around Bologna, where football players of local team - that plays in the lowest level of "amateur" soccer - took the field with black painted faces to say : " No Racism ". But the script of 8th Serie A match-day starts chronologically with a team ( AS Roma ) acting its symphony N. 8 in a militarized city ( the Italian capital ), goes on with the return of a great player at San Siro stadium ( Kakà ), quicken with two football player (Tévez and Pogba) who confronts the legend of a king ( Batistuta ) , a coach in tears ( Conte ), and  runs out with another one mad who keeps silent ( Mazzarri ). Napoli and Juventus, losing the first march of the season , seem to resign themselves to excessive power of Roma. On Friday night match , Benit...

Rudi Garcia:"Napoli are favourite". Benitez: "We can win". Totti vs Insigne, challenge within a challenge. The Olimpico stadium is militarized. Maradona is in Italy. Will el Pibe de Oro go to the stadium?  Someone calls it " The Derby of the Sun ", others " South Derby ". This year let's call it " Derby of the discord " or " Derby of the public order ". The attention of all Italian supporters is eventually concentrated on this match that smells of Scudetto, but in the previous days Roma-Napoli was, first of all, a problem of security measures . Today, in Rome, USB trade union will march in the center of the city. But the match will take place unusually on Friday, because tomorrow, NO TAV movement - a group that opposes the high-speed railway network planned to be implemented in the Susa Valley (on Italy-France border) - will demonstrate in the city. Was it impossible to guarantee the right to protest an...

  Exclusive interview with the author of "A History of Italian Football", columnist of The Guardian and professor of Italian History at University of London Professor Foot, how did  you get to love and study Italian soccer? I moved to Milan in 1987 to work on my PhD (world war one in Milan) and I started watching Serie A and going to San Siro. Those were the years of the great Milan team. It was extremely exciting. Parochialism is something that is deeply ingrained in Italian culture, and fans sing chants against Naples, Milan, or Rome every Sunday: what do you think about this year's decision to disqualify the groups of fans that sing chants that are defined by the sporting judge as “territorial discrimination?” I don’t think this is particularly helpful, as these chants have been going on for years and nobody has done anything about them. The important battle is the one against racism. The ultra, however, tend to get what they want. If they win thi...

The Italian Stallion scored 37 goals in 38 matches with Feyenoord. Ronald dotes on him, but Barcelona is looking for a classic forward It is said a football player reaches full maturity around 28 years old . Until that moment, he can show his talent, his aptitudes and at the same time he can't keep up with his potentiality. Many elements can influence in his career. An injury, poor confidence from own coaches, strategies that don't enhance own characteristics, no affinity with supporters, no incentive to personal improvement. Goodness knows what happened to Graziano Pellè, Italian striker who plays for Feyenoord. He was born 28 years ago in San Cesario di Lecce, a small town in the "heel" of the Italian "boot". That is a land of sun, sea and wind. Nothing to do with the maritime climate of South Holland. But the breeze of North Sea welcomed him in the best possible way. And now Graziano Pellè is "the hero of Rotterdam". In hi...

Francesco sends a message to Prandelli. Juve and Napoli win again. Milan and Inter ko. Cassano rules Parma to the victory. Iturbe, the ace in the hole of H. Verona Seven are the hills of Rome. Seven were the kings of the Eternal city. Seven are the deadly sins. And seven are the consecutive victories of Roma in these first seven Serie A matches. Rudi Garcia molded a perfect war machine. The Giallorossi don't want to stop now. They dance like valkiries on the bodies of the opposite teams. Inter of Walter Mazzarri were the last demolished victim. Pjanić, Strootman and De Rossi  probably compose  the best midfield in Italy . Gervinho and Florenzi seem sons of the wind. De Sanctis is insormountable. Totti - who scored twice against Inter - grows day by day. He is a young 37 years old that would like to play again a World Cup. Brazil, the land of football, would welcome the best Italian scoring active player in Serie A. Mister Prandelli, what about Francesco? ...

Sport justice obliged Milan to play last home match in a San Siro partially closed for discriminatory chants against Napoli. An umpteenth case of interregional racism, old Italian tradition Last Saturday, Milan faced Sampdoria in a San Siro Stadium partially closed . A sport judge decision obliged Rossoneri to play one game with an area of the stadium " free from fans after some of their followers expressed an insulting, explicit and discriminatory chant towards an opposition player based on his origins ". The " opposition player " in question was SSC Napoli , the main Italian southern team. Against Sampdoria, the " second ring-blue area " - the so-called Curva Sud - was deserted. Milan supporters wrote a public announcement as if they were a political association, denouncing " the denial of every rights " and recalling a legendary age of cheer, when football was free from the slavery of TV broadcasters. Then they met around the sta...

The Wolves devour Bologna. Juve wins local derby. Tevez (offside) gains Pogba's goal. Napoli beat Genoa and Liverani is fired. Iturbe enchants Verona's fans And Rome sails on. In Sunday night match, Giallorossi won again. At Olimpico Stadium, after 25 minutes Florenzi, Gervinho and Benatia annihilated Bologna ( 5-0 the final result) . Francesco Totti still celebrates his 37th birthday at the top of the table. Statistics say Rome is an invincible fleet (17 Gf, 1 Ga). 18 points, six wins from six. Rudi Garcia planned a well-balanced team. His system of play remembers Zeman's one, but only on paper. His impure 4-3-3 has an impenetrable defense, a powerful midfield and a crackling attack. Next match, Rome will visit Inter at San Siro Stadium. Exams never end. Dino Viola, A. S. Roma's President of second scudetto (1982-1983), usually said: " In Italy, if you win a Scudetto, supporters are never content. They want to win the following season, too. Th...

Napoli beats a bad Milan at San Siro after 27 years. Roma wins the Derby against Lazio. Inter, Juventus and Fiorentina share second position The story of this fourth round starts from these frames. While Milan's striker Mario Balotelli is bare-chested and Luca Banti issues him the red card , Napoli's supporters are exulting. The match finished just a second ago. Azzurri - after beating Borussia Dortmund in Champions League - storm San Siro after 27 years (1-2, Britos, Higuaín) and can still and again share the top of the table with Roma. Milan loses the second match of the season. Allegri is afflicted. A furious Super Mario is discussing with the referee after the final whistle. Without a doubt, he is the pleasure and pain of this Milan. He played a personal match against Pepe Reina, scored a wonderful consolation goal only at 91', but at 61' the perfect shooter missed the first penalty in his career. Reina is the first goalkeeper who hypnotized him. ...

Welcome back to Acerbi who debuted with Sassuolo after a cancer surgery. Genoa won Derby of the Lantern. Lazio defeated Chievo after 10 years. Bad news for Fiorentina The best news of this Sunday comes from Verona but it has the Black and greens Colors of Sassuolo. Francesco Acerbi - 24 years old, Sassuolo's central back - debuted in this season 60 days after a cancer surgery . His team has still 0 point in the table - H. Verona won the match 2-0 ( Martinho , Romulo ) -  but today, these dates are not so important. The last act of this third round will be Monday night match Parma-Roma . Antonio  Cassano will face Francesco  Totti .  If Giallorossi will conquer the third consecutive victory, Napoli will share the first position with Rudi Garcia's team. At the moment Azzurri are the only team that won these first three matches. They didn't yet face a top team, they played twice at San Paolo but they shown strength and personality. Bologna, Chievo ...

We are only at the third round of this season but for both teams there's too much at stake. The Blucerchiati and The Rossoblu have known very dark nights in these years. That's why they honor always this match. We are in the city of Christopher Columbus , the man who discovered America. We are in a city gold medal for the Resistance during the Second World War. We are in a big industrial city, fatherland of great singers. We are in northern Italy but here, in the Old Town's streets, if you want, you can find a Latin soul. Welcome to Genoa , the city of Genoa Football Cricket Club (the oldest Italian football team) and Sampdoria UC . This Sunday will be a thrilling day for Genoese people. The Derby of the Lantern is knocking on city's doors and an odd spy-story monopolized the atmosphere in the last hours. "LIKE RAMBO UNDER A TREE" - Luca Del Pra , a youth team Genoa's coach, was found hiding in a bush at Sampdoria's training. He...

Last Serie A's top scorer joined for PSG for €63m. The club reinvested that huge amount to sign Gonzalo Higuain, Pepe Reina, José Maria Callejon, Dries Mertens. Is Napoli even stronger? If we want to evaluate SSC Napoli's 2013 transfer market, probably we can't use our magnifying glass to focus on this last period, in which the club received €70 million and spent €87 million . We have to produce a magnified image that includes the last two off seasons . We have to put a marker on our timeline that should start on July 2, 2012 , when Paris Saint Germain signed Ezequiel Lavezzi, the Argentinean forward, on a four-year deal (about € 30 millions for Italian club). At the time, the wonderful trio Lavezzi-Cavani-Hamšík - nicknamed The Three Tenors – was dismantled at the end of an important season, which culminated in the conquer of the Italian Cup. Lavezzi was a symbol of the Neapolitan Renaissance with Marek Hamšík, Walter Gargano ( el uruguayo ) ...

He scored 3 goals in qualifying matches against Vardar Skopje and Legia Warszawa. Steaua fans fell in love with him. In these days, Italian media celebrate him as a case of brain drain, saying: " No one is a prophet in his own land ". They look ready to kill the fattened calf if he returned home, describing his biography as the metaphor of contemporary Italy, a country that doesn't invest in its talents.  And yet, until yesterday, only seriously addicted football fans knew that some years ago (2010-2011) - in Cittadella, small football club in Northern Italy - there was the Serie B Top Goalscorer (23 goals in 39 matches). We are talking about il pifferaio ( the Piper ) Federico Piovaccari, football player that travelled around Italy, playing for 10 different clubs (Vittoria, San Marino, Triestina, Treviso, Ravenna, Cittadella, Sampdoria, Brescia, Novara, Grosseto). In his youth career, he played an unforgettable season (2003) with Inter's primavera...

  When the rossoneri visited the Bentegodi, the Milanese side found themselves on the wrong side of history Saturday afternoon. In the first act of Serie A Tim, Milan loses 2-1 to Hellas Verona. For the gialloblu - one Scudetto in their history (1984-1985) - it was the first match in Serie A after eleven years of hardship between the second and third division. Notwithstanding this unforgettable debut, the main objective of Mandorlini's team will be to stay in Serie A. Luca Toni - 36 years old striker, World Champion in Germany 2006 - scored a double against the rossoneri and will represent the ace up their sleeve. At the same time, we know that Massimiliano Allegri's teams usually have a hard time in the first part of the season. Apart from that, can Milan supporters smile after this defeat? This could in fact be the odd paradox of the first Serie A Tim match day. Yes, because matchups between H. Verona and Milan have a special place in the history of Italia...

The Spaniard coach has a great chance in Napoli after the bad experience at Inter Marca , spanish Daily paper, said: "He was born to sit on the bench". In his career, he achieved significant national and international honors with Valencia , Liverpool and Chelsea . But now, Rafael "Rafa" Benítez wants to make history in Italy, in Serie A league. This will be his second italian experience, this time as manager of Napoli. He replaces Walter Mazzarri, who won the Italian Cup against Juventus (2012) and in the last season took Napoli to the second place in Serie A. In the 2013-2014 season, Mazzarri will guide Internazionale, the first italian team of Rafa. Crossed fate. The Spaniard joined Internazionale after the departure of José Mourinho, winner of the first "treble" in Italian history (season 2009–2010). It was an hard experience to replace the unforgettable "Special one". In seven months, as coach of Nerazzurri, Rafa ...

From Sivori to el Pipita. Higuain is the last heir of the Argentinian dinasty Between Napoli and Buenos Aires there is a special feeling. We know that and probably  it's no coincidence. The I talians immigrants in Argentina were called tanos , diminutive of napolitanos . By this verbal expression it was "possible" to indicate indiscriminately all southern Italians that populated the streets of Argentinean cities. While tanos carried with them the sounds and the words of Neapolitan song , on the banks of Río de la Plata, the Tango Music took origin. Goodness knows if it's a " musical matter ". For sure  the Argentinean football players have an important places in the history of SSC Napoli. BRUNO PESAOLA - Nicknamed Petisso for his small stature, he was a very speed left winger. He was born in 1925 in Buenos Aires. His parents were immigrants from Italy. In Argentine he played for River Plate and Dock Sud. In Italy for Roma, Novara and Ge...

Ok, this is not the Serie A of Platini, Maradona, Falcao and Van Basten anymore. But we love it anyway. And, furthermore, we are optimistic. After years of decadence the Italian championship is starting see the light at the end of the tunnel. Top players are coming back, people have never ceased to support, season tickets as well as revenues are going up. And we want to tell you this story. Italian football has often been somewhat protectionist: for a supporter from abroad, it is hard to read analysis, details, stories of Serie A in English. Italian is not an easy language, and life, for foreign tifosi, is sometimes hard. Serieaddicted wants to be a safe refuge for them. Italian football is still competitive. And it has strong roots and a long tradition. Its story is full of beloved players, damned talents, great coaches, crazy and wise chairmen, picturesque characters. Our goal is to spread this 'heritage' as far as possible. But we want your contribution as well. We have...