Tag: italian football
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un’estate italiana / chapter five
“The past doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes”; the phrase is often assigned to Mark Twain, but like most quotes by the famous American author, there are many versions and no one’s quite sure where and when he said it first. Regardless, there’s some truth to it as once again the Parma Calcio season…
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un’estate italiana / chapter four
“It’s always nice to lift a trophy”, said Serafín Vázquez. He could’ve been talking at the end of the season, but he wasn’t. It was actually less than a fortnight before the start of the 2025-26 season. “The Coppa Nevio Scala is born out of a desire to give back to the fans before the…
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un’estate italiana / chapter three
“What did you feel when the last penalty went in?”, I ask. Serafín Vazquez’s smile contorted as he wrangled to keep his emotions in check. “I hate it when you ask that kind of question”, he replied. We are in a VIP lounge at the Madrid-Barajas airport. We’ve taken the opportunity to meet up, as…
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un’estate italiana / chapter two
This story starts at the ending; it may seem counterintuitive but that’s how it is. It’s not that uncommon, I’m sure many of you can name many stories that do. Sometimes, the odds are simply too big, the finale too grandiose, and the events too incredible, so we have to anchor them somewhere. The story…
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un’estate italiana / chapter one
“Come inside, I’ll show you something you’ve never seen before”, said the old man I was interviewing. The year is 1997 and I’m in the town of Las Acequias, just under 40 km away from the city of Rio Cuarto, in Argentina. The old man invited me to his home, asked me to sit down…
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un’estate italiana / chapter zero
Notti magicheInseguendo un goalSotto il cieloDi un’estate italiana “Magic nights, chasing a goal, under the sky of an Italian summer”. For a World Cup that was played two years before I was even born, I sure know those lyrics by heart. The thing is, there is something truly magical about Italia 90. It’s hard to…
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Guide to the 92/93 DB – Indomitable Warrior
We continue in our search for the best saves on The MadScientist’s 1992/93 Database for Football Manager 2022. diving into the story of some of the most interesting teams and players of the era and making the case for a save with them. For our second episode, we travel some 2,000km east, from Seville to…
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The Italian Roles: The Trequartista
Since this Italian Month started, we have moving forwards through the tactics blackboards of il Calcio Italiano. We commenced at the back, talking about the Libero, its defensive excellence and its free runs. We then moved to the defensive third and discussed the Regista, its artistry with the ball and its playmaking creativity. And lastly, we…
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The Italian Roles: The Mezzala
Il Calcio Italiano is a game of great players, great teams and great myths. It is also a game of great language. As Sam Griswold points out in his article for These Football Times, it’s not a game of positions and passes but of ruoli(roles) and dialogo (literally to dialogue, in football to pass). It’s a language worthy of the…
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The Italian Roles: The Regista
Last time around we discussed the role of the Libero, a player who was made free from the chains of Catenaccio to roam the pitch both in defence and in attack, to close down his opponents and create for his teammates. However, there is another role in the Italian game with the same freedom in…
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