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Roberto Mancini
   

Friday, June 11, 3:00PM Stadio Olimpico Turkey - ITALIA Wednesday, June 16, 3:00PM Stadio Olimpico ITALIA - Switzerland Sunday, June 20, 12:00PM Stadio Olimpico ITALIA - Wales

Uefa, once more, could not resist... They had to start the tournament
with bulls**t, true to their character and revealing their true values,
true goals and true "ideals". Take the most beautiful game in the
World away from those vultures. Implode UEFA before it becomes
too late to do anything about it (if it is not already). Do not grant them
permission through inaction and acquiescence to do even more damage
than has already been done under their greedy and insatiable lurking.

Donnarumma                                  21 (Milan) Florenzi          Bonucci          Chiellini         Spinazzola 24 (PSG)         19 (Juve)        3 (Juve)          4 (Roma)             Barella            Jorginho          Locatelli             18 (Inter)      8 (Chelsea)      5 (Sassuolo)             Berardi            Immobile          Insigne         11 (Sassuolo)        17 (Lazio)      10 (Napoli) 24 Florenzi - 2 Di Lorenzo (Napoli) 5 Locatelli - 16 Cristante (Roma) 11 Berardi - 20 Bernardeschi (Juve) 17 Immobile - 9 Belotti (Torino) 10 Insigne - 14 Chiesa (Juve)

 
 
 
 

Is it also true that you have to buy from the vultures a separate service,
on top of the TV rights, to have scoring account and time on the screen?
Well, what's next from those blood suckers? Are they going to be
charging separately for Ceferin's travel expenses and meals? I would
not be surprised if they even send a special bill for his underwear...
or, perhaps, to broadcast, you'll have to make a special donation for
the teams' shorts and jerseys? Where is this going? Will it stop any-
where or are they completely out of control?

This Euro is not developing well. Second day and a terrible tragedy
unfolding. Every one is hoping and wishing the best for Christian
Eriksen... and some positive news are just coming through. May all
go well... May all go well.
 
 
 

Football is there and celebrated not to remind us of political
differences and of grave breaches of international law and
of crimes against humanity, but to unite us and to remind us
of our Humanity and our common destiny. Pity that there
are, unfortunately, States (the usual suspects, I may add)
whose teams include players who are not attuned to, nor do
they have any understanding, of decency and the very basics.

Donnarumma                                  21 (Milan) Di Lorenzo          Bonucci      Chiellini         Spinazzola 2 (Napoli)         19 (Juve)        3 (Juve)          4 (Roma)             Barella            Jorginho          Locatelli             18 (Inter)      8 (Chelsea)      5 (Sassuolo)             Berardi            Immobile          Insigne         11 (Sassuolo)        17 (Lazio)      10 (Napoli) 3 Chiellini - 15 Acerbi (Lazio) 10 Insigne - 14 Chiesa (Juve) 11 Berardi - 25 Toloi (Atalanta) 5 Locatelli - 12 Pessina (Atalanta) 18 Barella - 16 Cristante (Roma)

 
 
 
 
 
 

This EURO has provided unquestionable evidence about
something that many had already been convinced about
while many others viewed with skepticism and that is that
in the already illustrious cohort of excellent Italian managers
there is one more to be added. Roberto Mancini, regardless
of how well Italy does in the sequel and how far it advances
in the tournament, has proven beyond the shadow of a doubt,
with his selection and with the athleticism, the feistiness, the
energy, the stamina and the will that he has instilled in this
squad, that he will be a man to watch in the years to come
and that he has the skill and experience to win many trophies.

On the other hand, sad news from the home front about
Gianluigi Donnarumma. He is leaving Milan and is moving
to PSG. The natural place for the best Italian keeper right
now, the successor of formidable men, like Dino Zoff and
Gigi Buffon, under the Italian posts, should be in Italy. If
he was determined to move away from AC Milan, JUVE
should have been the most reasonable, the most natural,
the best and the most welcome choice.

The most beautiful sport on the planet is justifiably
complemented by some of the most beautiful fans.
Here is one from our neighboring North Macedonia,
embellishing the National Arena in the Romanian Capital.


Implode Uefa! Help cut the bulls**t and elevate football to
where it ought to be, beyond the reach of self-serving,
dangerous, avaricious idiots, people that do not care about
health at all, ready to support whatever, however unhealthy
and however injurious, as long as it makes them money and
fills in their coffers. These organizations have nothing to do
with the most beautiful and most popular sport on Earth
and should be banned from any involvement with it and
totally scrapped and disbanded.

And some more beautiful fans gracing Hampden Park in
Glasgow before Group D tally between Croatia and the
Czech Republic. And England faces Scotland in the same
group later today at Wembley.
 


Hungary-France under way in Budapest. Here are Olivier Giroud,
Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema just before kick-off.
 

Let me add my weight in supporting making permanent
the arrangement of distributing the EURO competition
to various Footballing Cities for the Group stage of the
tournament. It adds variety, it gets us acquainted with
various Cities and their people and visitors and spreads
the joy and excitement to multiple places. This should
be, by definition, the meaning of EURO!!

And here are Bruno Fernandes and Cristiano Ronaldo at
the Allianz Arena in München, preparing for the Group F
tie between Portugal and Germany. And a company of
jubilant Portuguese fans with a strong showing outside
the beautiful stadium.
 
 
 
 

Donnarumma                                  21 (Milan)        Toloi                   Bonucci           Bastonii           Emerson 25 (Atalanta)           19 (Juve)         23 (Inter)       13 (Chelsea)             Verratti                 Jorginho             Pessina            6 (Paris)               8 (Chelsea)        12 (Atalanta)          Bernardeschi           Belotti               Chiesa          20 (Juventus)        9 (Torino)       14 (Juventus) 19 Bonucci - 15 Acerbi (Lazio) 20 Bernardeschi - 22 Raspadori (Sassuolo) 8 Jorginho - 16 Cristante (Roma) 12 Pessina - 7 Castrovilli (Fiorentina) 21 Donnarumma - 1 Sirigu (Torino)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What an unforgettable night in the beautiful Danish Capital...
Denmark gave it all in the fight for survival, and, with a moving,
inspirational and convincing performance downed Russia by
four goals to one, which, coupled with Belgium's parallel win
against Finland, gave Denmark second place in Group B. Games
that do justice to the life, the passion, the joy, the inspiration and
the excitement drawn from the most beautiful sport on the planet.
Unforgettable evening indeed.
 
 
 
 
 
 

People are wondering what is the explanation behind UEFA's
refusing to endorse lighting up the Allianz Arena in support of
LGBTQ rights. And the answer is very simple. UEFA does
not want any controversy and could not care less about Human
Rights. Their only concern is for money to flow abundantly into
their Swiss accounts and fatten their coffers and their pockets.
And that is the sad, but plain, truth. By the way, the name
"UEFA" suggests that it is the Union of the State Footballing
Associations of European States. Those associations supposedly
represent us, the footballing community and fans of European
States. I want to strongly emphasize that UEFA does in no way,
absolutely no way, do that, nor do its decisions reflect the will
and the feelings of the footballing community in Europe. That
is why the National Associations have to work jointly to implode
this unfortunate monstrous outfit. But until then, let's not call
it "UEFA" to give it legitimacy as a representing body; let us
call it by the more suitable and deserving name UCATRO (for
Union of Corrupt, Avaricious and Totally Redundant Oligarchs).
 

Saturday, June 26, 3:00 PM Wembley

Donnarumma                                 21 (Milan) Di Lorenzo          Bonucci          Acerbi         Spinazzola 2 (Napoli)           19 (Juve)       15 (Lazio)       4 (Roma)             Barella            Jorginho          Verratti            18 (Inter)      8 (Chelsea)         6 (Paris)             Berardi            Immobile          Insigne         11 (Sassuolo)      17 (Lazio)      10 (Napoli) 6 Verratti - 5 Locatelli (Sassuolo) 18 Barella - 12 Pessina (Atalanta) 17 Immobile - 9 Belotti (Torino) 11 Berardi - 14 Chiesa (Juve) 10 Insigne - 16 Cristante (Roma)

Big scare...narrow escape...wake up call...
As much as Italy did prove the better and more
resilient side in extra time, Austria, unfortunately,
outperformed and outclassed Italy in regulation,
and, moreover, Italy was nowhere close to that
sparky and flairy team that we saw in at least the
first two games of the group stage. And yes, fatigue
creeps in and, yes, the strategy in a knock out game
should be different, as there is absolutely no margin
for defensive errors. But organization and maestry
do not necessarily have to go to accommodate a firm
defensive performance.

The Netherlands paid the price for a hand-handling
incident by Matthijs de Ligt; frankly, something rather
shocking and inexplicable by a central defender of that
caliber, no matter from which angle one tries to view it,
even though it might be a natural reaction for a baller
less attuned to the tricks and intricacies of the sport.


Portugal, on the other hand, with a rather disappointing
performance, paid a price, in my view due, partly, to their
and their coach's overconfidence; and that, even though
Belgium did not perform as well as they could have and
seemed to start the game holding back and in fear of the
defending Champions. What is sad, but perhaps a lesson
for many to be more cautious, is that Santos will have to
unpack and smoke the remaining packs of cigarettes at
home. And what is enervating, once more, is that even
though Cristiano Ronaldo, once more, contributed very
little, we can be certain that, even under this same
lackluster performance, had a foul kick gone his way or,
had one of  his teammates earned a penalty which he had
converted, he would have been lauded as a hero and a
master of football. This happens quite often and it just
seems to have served him well and built for him an aura
and a reputation that seems excessive and unjustifiable.
 
 

Tragic mistakes by Croatia and France in the third day
of the Round of 16. Croatia, after being gifted an early
goal through a tragic mistake of Unai Simon, and despite
having a team as skilled and as adept as any in playmaking
and in attacking, started playing behind, defending as tightly
as they could in their own quarter of the field. Only thing
is that their coach should have known that if you have
opposite a team like Spain, which knows how to hold the
ball and how to be patient, it was only a matter of time
and a recipe for utter disaster. The fact they they played
as they should have played all along only when they were
in absolute need to does not speak very highly of their
chosen strategy; in fact the feeling was aggravated by
those moments in which they showed what they could
do, but it was obvious they chose not to in the best part
of the game. Too bad... Not a big admirer of the way they
were coached and their strategic choices in this game.
And they did pay the price for them...
 
France also messed up, perhaps for the opposite reasons.
They showed overconfidence. After they had a narrow
escape through a Lloris penalty save and got their break
by scoring two goals in quick succession to go 2-1 up, they
should have exercised better defensive control of the game,
without, however, completely abandoning offensive
initiatives. My impression was, however, that they did
continue play as usual, even though they knew that it
would not be play as usual for their opponents, who
were now hanging from a very narrow thread and were
forced into taking any chances that came their way very
seriously and finish them clinically. Too bad... France,
by their strategic mistakes and shortcomings, allowed a
clearly worse team to take them down in the end...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Too much of today's style of play is relying on strategy
and coaching has become more important than ever.
Coaches should know that it is critical that they make
the right decisions based both in their own team's ability
and playing power at their disposal and in their opponent's
general ability and strategy, taking, of course, also into
account the purpose of the specific match and analyzing
and adjusting throughout, as the game develops and as
it progresses. Mistakes in strategic choices may some-
times prove fatal and, I am afraid, this was partly what
we witnessed in this third day of the Round of 16 in both
Copenhagen and Bucharest.

Never before in the history of European football have
we witnessed a coach who reached both the apex and
the absolute bottom at the same stint coaching the
same team, but, in this Euro, Löw achieved this
remarkable (if not so commendable) feat. Those of
us, long admirers of German footballing prowess,
organization, planning and strategy, tuned in yester-
day, in the fourth day of the Round of 16, but instead
of fast moving well-organized blitzkrieging panzers,
we were left watching a miserable, pathetic fleet of
outdated, undirected, disorganized U-boats, in complete
disrepair, which had run aground. If anyone thought
that Captain Nemo's Nautilus had reached the bottom
of the deep blue ocean, they had probably not seen
Jogi Löw's nationalmannschaft, which last evening
attained depths by far dwarfing those envisioned in the
masterpiece of Jules Verne. Pity, absolute misery for
Germany. Its coach outstayed his welcome and seemed
to have done nothing more than simply select the men...
Football needs obviously more, but some managers
either have stayed behind and lost their edge and what
it takes, or are simply sitting content in the enjoyment,
and reaping the benefits, of past successes and laurels.

Donnarumma                                 21 (Milan) Di Lorenzo          Bonucci        Chiellini       Spinazzola 2 (Napoli)           19 (Juve)       3 (Juve)          4 (Roma)             Barella            Jorginho          Verratti            18 (Inter)      8 (Chelsea)         6 (Paris)             Chiesa            Immobile          Insigne           14 (Juve)         17 (Lazio)       10 (Napoli) 6 Verratti - 16 Cristante (Roma) 17 Immodile - 9 Belotti (Torino) 10 Insigne - 11 Berardi (Sassuolo) 4 Spinazzola - 13 Emerson (Chelsea) 14 Chiesa - 25 Toloi (Atalanta)

MAMA MIA! OH LA LA! AYAYAYAYAAAAA!
One of the few times Italy is up 1-2 in a knock out game
and the strength, the fighting spirit and the vibe is such
that we are not praying for not being scored against but,
instead, for scoring another one. What a TEAM, what
a performance, what a game!!
FORZA AZZURRI! ITALIA ALL THE WAY!
     

Donnarumma                                 21 (Milan) Di Lorenzo          Bonucci        Chiellini        Emerson 2 (Napoli)           19 (Juve)       3 (Juve)       13 (Chelsea)             Barella            Jorginho          Verratti            18 (Inter)      8 (Chelsea)         6 (Paris)             Chiesa            Immobile          Insigne           14 (Juve)         17 (Lazio)       10 (Napoli) 17 Immobile - 11 Berardi (Sassuolo) 6 Verratti - 12 Pessina (Atalanta) 13 Emerson - 25 Toloi (Atalanta) 18 Barella - 5 Locatelli (Sassuolo) 10 Insigne - 9 Belotti (Torino) 14 Chiesa - 20 Bernardeschi (Juve)

How could it be otherwise? The Most Beautiful Team on the Planet
has some of the most beautiful fans on the Planet. But the opponents
have their charms too. May the wish about where the beautiful cup
is heading become a prophesy. London is a beautiful city, no question
about it; but everyone (including the cup) would love to reside in the
Capital of the Ancient World!
 
 
 

I also had my doubts about the penalty awarded to England
that proved crucial in the England-Denmark semifinal. I am
not certain either way, but was taken aback by the fact that
the VAR review was over within a matter of seconds and
that the referees at the monitors did not ask Danny Makkelle
to review the action on the side monitor. The ambiguity and
the importance of that decision deserved at least that much.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sunday, July 11, 3:00 PM Wembley ITALIA - England 1-1 (3-2) FORZA AZZURRI!!

Donnarumma                                 21 (Milan) Di Lorenzo          Bonucci        Chiellini        Emerson 2 (Napoli)           19 (Juve)       3 (Juve)       13 (Chelsea)             Barella            Jorginho          Verratti            18 (Inter)      8 (Chelsea)         6 (Paris)             Chiesa            Immobile          Insigne           14 (Juve)         17 (Lazio)       10 (Napoli) 18 Barella - 16 Cristante (Roma) 17 Immobile - 11 Berardi (Sassuolo) 14 Chiesa - 20 Bernardeschi (Juve) 10 Insigne - 9 Belotti (Torino) 6 Verratti - 5 Locatelli (Sassuolo) 13 Emerson - 24 Florenzi (Roma)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The irony is that Southgate ended up being the person
most responsible for both England's successes and for
England's final under-performance. England essentially
gave up on their successful recipe and their strong assets.
It had been obvious to most of us, but, alas, not to him,
that, throughout the tournament, England's most powerful
weapon was its attacking might. Not only because, due to
the speed and skill of its attackers, it could create and
score goals, but, also, because, due to the constant fear it
instilled on the opposing sides, it was forcing them to
keep several players behind and, in this way, was also
lending a hand to England's defensive line. But yesterday,
by his strategy in all but the first 20 minutes or so, the
English manager neutralized himself England's most
potent weapon by forcing them to sit oftentimes behind
the central line and allowing Italy to roam and play their
own game and in their own style in the entire field, released
from the fear of England's offense, and harassing them
only when approaching Pickford's line. So, in my view,
Southgate made exactly the same miscalculation that
the Croat coach had made against Spain, of allowing
the opponents to use the entire field, despite the fact that
their own side had the skill and ability to go up high and
be very menacing to, and exacting from, the opponent.
And with teams like Italy and like Spain and like the
Three Lions themselves, when you do that and allow
them space to combine, they are bound to hold ball, to
bounce ball, to pound hard, to create and to eventually
do the damage and cause heartbreak.