Calcio Corner: The (melo)drama continues

It has been an eventful month and a half at Serie A after which the usual contenders are leading the tables. But there has been developments in Italian football away from the league too. Here Debopam Roy covers some such stories.

Tavecchio Gets a Rap

The president of the Italian football federation (FIGC), Carlo Tavecchio, has been banned for six months by European football governing body UEFA for making racist remarks. The ban relates to the remarks by Tavecchio made during his election campaign in July by referring to “eating bananas” when he was discussing about foreign players. The duration of six months doesn’t seem much significant but it would mean that he would be barred from the next UEFA congress in March 2015. Tavecchio who was member of UEFA’s youth and amateur football committee would also have to relinquish that role during this period.

However this is not more than a rap on the wrist for the FIGC President. His presidency is not in doubt after the Federation’s internal prosecutor dropped the enquiry over the comment last month. Tavecchio though would have to do some face-saving gestures as UEFA has also asked him to “organise a special event in Italy aimed at increasing awareness against racism”. That might just teach him a lesson or two.

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Chiellini having a Ball…or two…or three

While the President was getting his knuckles reddened, La Nazionale tried to follow suit; well almost. It was supposed to be a set of minnows up against Antonio Conte’s Azzurri. Azerbaijan (FIFA ranking 95) and Malta (FIFA ranking 155) are minnows of world football in every sense of the term. In the two matches that they played against other opposition this game week, Malta lost 0-3 to Norway at home and Azerbaijan conceded six goals while playing away against Croatia.

All that though changed when they faced Azzurri. Italy, playing in 3-5-2, were bottled up by Berti Vogts’ Azeris in a home match before Giorgio Chiellini headed in from a Andrea Pirlo corner in the 44th minute. That lead almost seemed all that the Azzurri would get before Chiellini got on the end of another corner – this time from Azerbaijan’s Dimitrij Nazarov in the 76th minute. The ball bundled in from his touch to give the Azeris a barely deserved equalizer since they scored without even having a shot on target till then. Chiello made amends six minutes later with another header from another corner – this time from Sebastian Giovinco, thankfully. That was how the match ended, and Chiellini ended up with a highly unusual hat-trick. He was candid after the match “Luckily I scored one more in the right goal! It would have been very sad not to win this match”. Chiellini became the first player to score a goal and an own goal in a Euro qualifier since Fernando Hierro of Spain who scored for and against his team against Austria in 1999.

One would have thought that Conte would urge his team to go for the jugular against Malta. But another insipid display followed with another bundled goal by debutant Graziano Pelle from a corner being the decider. The fact that Malta played more than an hour with 10 men after Michael Mifsud saw red didn’t prove any helpful. Instead Leonardo Bonucci was sent off after 73 minutes of the match to plunge further gloom into the performance.

The two wins will still keep the Azzurri on top of the group and Chiellini is still the only player to score past his own defence.  But that’s the only consolation as Italy’s next opponents are the toughest – Croatia and Bulgaria.

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Usual Suspects lead on

It’s over a month since the start of Serie A and the main protagonists have already showed their mettle. Juventus, the three time reigning champions, and Roma, the team which had the best transfer window, led the charge for the title from the beginning. They both had 100% winning record in Serie A before they faced each other. The match, which was crucial to both the defending champions and the challengers, ended in a controversial 3-2 win for Juventus. The game was marred by three penalties – two in favour of the Bianconeri and both highly controversial and two straight red cards – one apiece for the teams. In addition to that Roma manager Rudi Garcia was sent to the stands for protesting against the penalties. Roma threatened and took the lead once to make it 2-1 but those two penalties and an outstanding volley on a corner from outside the box by Bonucci of all people settled the score for Juventus. Juventus were dominant throughout but Roma truly showed what an improved team they are this season.

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The Allegri Curse lifted

It has been a strangely effective start for the reigning champions. Nothing strange about their pedigree or their record which now stands at 22 games unbeaten in Turin – an all-time record for Serie A home matches. It is their hastily cobbled manager – Massimiliano Allegri who has had a makeover. Much maligned before being dismissed, somewhat unceremoniously, from Milan, Allegri has now had six wins in a row – which has included away wins against Milan and home win over direct scudetto rivals Roma. Just to put this into perspective, the last four seasons with Allegri, Milan notched 11, 8, 7 and 8 points respectively in their first six league games. Known as a notoriously slow starter, Allegri has somehow managed to squeeze in wins by the slimmest margin in away matches at Chievo and Milan. This latest 5-goal-thriller at the Juventus Stadium against Roma only confirmed that the hastily concocted marriage has probably given more to Allegri’s reputation than to Juventus. That is because Juventus had primarily brought Allegri to improve their European results which had been disappointing even in the middle of their scudetto hat-trick. But one win and a loss so far has had hardly made the Bianconeri’s European trips a memorable one. Perhaps the consecutive matches against Olympiacos, who managed a thumping win at home against Atletico Madrid only to capitulate away to lowly Malmo, can redeem Allegri’s reputation of overachieving in Europe with a less than mediocre Milan.

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Inter crossroads?

They were supposed to have turned the corner with a new owner who was supposed to pull in funds. They had a manager who has been highly successful in Serie A and in his second season at the helm of Nerazzurri was supposed to lead the club out of doldrums. They are in Europe while city rivals Milan are not. That has not happened since 1998. They had a middling transfer window but had many under the radar signings which could have turned out trumps and may indeed turn out to be eventually. However, six matches in, and Inter are struggling. One 7-0 drubbing of Sassuolo aside, there has been hardly any performance worth mentioning. A symmetric record of 2 wins 2 draws and 2 defeats, both of which came in the last two matches has angered owner Erick Thohir so much that manager Walter Mazzarri’s job is said to be on the line.  Ironically the match to save his seat is against another team which has had a disappointing start to the season – Napoli, Mazzarri’s old team. Napoli though have strung a few results and would fancy themselves to topple Inter who have conceded seven goals in the last two matches. To sack Mazzarri at this stage of the season may be suicidal for the serpenti. There is hardly another manager worth his credentials who is available in the peninsula. Thohir’s predecessor Massimo Moratti was well known for his sackings, having seen off 20 managers, of which only Jose Mourinho left on his own terms, in his 18 years as Inter’s President. Thohir has been patient with Mazzarri so far but another defeat to his former club and Inter may be at another managerial crossroads.

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Serie A Table (as on 14th October)

Position Team Played Win Draw Loss Goals For Goals Against Goal Difference Points

1

Juventus

6

6

0

0

13

2

11

18

2

Roma

6

5

0

1

11

4

7

15

3

Sampdoria

6

4

2

0

7

2

5

14

4

Udinese

6

4

1

1

9

5

4

13

5

AC Milan

6

3

2

1

13

9

4

11

6

Hellas Verona

6

3

2

1

6

5

1

11

7

SSC Napoli

6

3

1

2

8

7

1

10

8

Lazio

6

3

0

3

11

7

4

9

9

Fiorentina

6

2

3

1

5

3

2

9

10

Inter

6

2

2

2

11

8

3

8

11

Genoa

6

2

2

2

6

6

0

8

12

Empoli

6

1

3

2

8

8

0

6

13

Cesena

6

1

3

2

5

10

-5

6

14

Torino

6

1

2

3

4

7

-3

5

15

Cagliari

6

1

1

4

7

9

-2

4

16

ChievoVerona

6

1

1

4

5

9

-4

4

17

Atalanta

6

1

1

4

2

8

-6

4

18

Parma

6

1

0

5

11

16

-5

3

19

Palermo

6

0

3

3

6

14

-8

3

20

Sassuolo

6

0

3

3

3

12

-9

3

About Debopam Roy

Debopam Roy follows football in Italy and South America. You can reach him on Twitter @rossoneri