O Fenomeno

It’s a shame really. You know him as the fat-nomeno, a caricature of a carioca forward, butt of a thousand Real Madrid jokes, last remnant of a Galactico winter, but those like me who remember 1994, when Brazil won the World Cup against favored Italy, the name Ronaldo still carries weight.

For me, he was the paciest player I have ever seen. At PSV he was, a gangly center forward, just off the shuttle from Brazil, spending two fruitful years in Eindhoven bagging 42 goals in 46 appearances and drawing notice from Barcelona, leaving for the waiting arms of Sir Bobby Robson and big time European football.

We often forget how dominant a forward he really was at his heights. He pulled Brazil almost singlehandedly into the 2002 World Cup, won the Golden Shoe scoring eight goals, and lifting the trophy for the selecao. He was called up for the last 4 World Cups, playing in three, becoming the greatest goal scorer in the history of the World Cup. He trails only Pele and Zico as the greatest international goal scorers in the history of the Brazilian national team. In 11 years playing on the biggest stage, for three of the biggest clubs in the world (Inter Milan, Barcelona and Real Madrid), Ronaldo scored 166 goals.

Despite all the accomplishments, we often note that he never won the Champions League and that his clubs often struggled to win league titles with him. We remember him for the weird soul-patch haircut on his forehead, the weirder chia-pet one for Milan, the epileptic seizures that took him before the 1998 World Cup final against France, and the devastating knee injuries that robbed him of most of his pace, but none of skill and panache on the ball. Instead of remembering him for his perseverance, returning to play for Inter after many had written him off, we call him a mercenary for repaying Moratti’s loyalty by taking Real Madrid’s money and leaving for Spain. We call him an destabilizing force, a poor teammate, undedicated, and the worst of the Galactico policy.

We even remember him more for his personal life, filled with a litany of Brazilian supermodels, television presenters, singers and actresses. We see the fast cars, the easy money, and the high life. We see him slow down, gain weight and we call him lazy. Even the President of Brazil calls him fat and lazy.

We all age and change, but a phenomenon has no business being human, he is constantly compared to the player he was, even if he has a lot left to give. It would be so much easier if he went away, if we could just remember the good times, then he could be a legend one that burned brightly and flamed out, rather than the one who lagged about and overstayed his welcome.

Now he has injured himself again. A twin injury to his first, one in rossoneri compared to one in nerazzurri. We blame Milan labs, or the PSV doctors, or the Brazilians themselves, and again we ignore the player. We continue to ignore the man for the myth. We break down our idols after building them up. Will we be able to appreciate his skill only after he has retired?

I think he still has a great deal to play for and to play towards. Is it in Brazil or in the U.S.? Who knows. Remember, he is younger than Hernan Crespo, David Beckham, Alessandro Del Piero, Clarence Seedorf and Fernando Morientes. He is only slightly older than Thierry Henry and Raul Gonzalez, and he is the same age within days of Francesco Totti. I think he has earned a right to choose for himself.

He is not just a commodity, a manufactured image, a poster on a wall. Nike’s football savior, until they find another one, a younger, slimmer model with rock star good looks, and pretty step-overs, but none of the definition and serene finishing. Despite sharing the same name, and a common language, this new Ronaldo (Cristiano) will never fill the shoes of Ronaldo Luis Nazario da Lima. Ronaldinho before Ronaldinho.  O Fenomeno.

Batten Down the Hatches

This won’t be a long post for the week, we’ve closed up shop at Forza Futbol and we’re moving to Champions Soccer Radio Network. The leagues have grown dark for midweek games, Italy dominated Portugal in a friendly and Spain did enough to win against France as well, Fabio Capello has swept away the last vestiges of the entitlement culture in the England squad and 9,000 miles away little old me was watching the Argentinian B-team pummel an over matched Guatemalan side that was clearly missing captain and L.A. Galaxy forward Carlos Ruiz.

I know, a completely diferent class of player. What I did get to see was some of the most exciting Argentinian players playing in what is essentially their U-23 youth side.

The most recognizable name on the pitch was of course ex-Villareal general Juan Roman Riquelme who was his usual, efficient self, setting up Napoli dynamo Ezequiel Lavezzi for their second goal, which was obviously a complete howler by the Guatemalan keeper who barely touched the ball at all despite it being a fairly weak shot point blank.  Playing just in front of Lavezzi, was Real Madrid winger Gonzalo Higuain, who looked tentative early on, but scored the first goal in tight quarters in front of goal.

Argentina soon got in a rhythm, a dominant display not only by Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano, but by Valencia youngster Ever Banega who was by far the class player on the pitch. He was incisive in his passes, passed well especially over 30 yards, and directed traffic at the back in a role similar to Pirlo’s role for AC Milan. Of course, Mascherano can make anyone look good because of his skills in front of the back line, but the next generation of Argentinian players is in good hands with Higuain, Banega, Lavezzi and Mascherano.

While the final score said 5-0 to the Argentinians, it was exciting nontheless, less a contest than a training session of course, but a very interesting window into the future of the Argentinean squad. Weird that not everyone got the same out of it as me.

I was sitting in the Guatemala section at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum at the opposite end to the famous peristyle and the Olympic torch, and at times there was a tangible sense of danger, with dozens of fights going on all around me. The crowd was lively and sarcastic at first, but became the more frustrated as the Chapines made the match more and more difficult for themselves. Inexplicably, the fans around me insisted that their players had been “bought” and were tanking the game on purpose against a bunch of “nameless Argies” and a “useless Riquelme”.  Just shows you how delusional you can get with a bit of liquid courage in your system.

Learning to Lead

Italy found itself in a bit of a crisis this week. I know, I know, but trust me this one is a humdinger because Prime Minister Romano Prodi resigned on Thursday at the time of writing nobody knows what is going to happen next. Yikes. Italy it would seem does not have a leader. Which brings us quite craftily to the subject of this week’s blog, because on Saturday afternoon even the most hardened cynic could not have failed to be impressed by the heart warming performance of possible leader in the making . . . (drum roll) . . . Antonio Cassano.

I hear laughing at the back.

Now you could say it was only Siena and I am not suggesting for one moment that Cassano is the man to resurrect the flagging economy, fight the gripping tax evasion epidemic and get those streets in Naples cleaned up, I mean the boy has to train – but sticking to calcio, seeing him on the sideline after being substituted, encouraging his team mates, pointing, gesticulating . . . well, it “warmed the cockles” as my Nan used to say.

It looks like he is enjoying life at the Luigi Ferrari and clearly looked “up for it” from the first whistle against Siena. After three minutes, he cut inside from the left and smashed a twenty five yarder against crossbar and when he got a sniff of a chance just before half time, he swept the ball into the far corner past the despairing keeper. No fuss. The kind of goal that’s made to look easy by players of class, the kind of goal that wins matches and 1-0 was how it indeed finished.

He made a point of celebrating with his coach Mazzari and seeing them both on the touchline in the later stagesof the game, it is clear a special bond has been forged between the two.

So, Sampdoria captain? Could be. Possibly.

Now granted, the man with the armband for now is midfielder Sergio Volpi who is as much of an unsung name in Sampdoria’s midfield as I’m guessing Alexei Aleksandrovich Mikhailichenko was for them in the early 90’s, but he is a consistent and reliable figure and given that the previous captain was cocaine quaffer Francesco Flachi, it may not seem particularly prudent to hand the armband straight over to the pot-marked prince of petulance from Bari.

But Cassano is growing and hopefully maturing and fans of Italian football must be hoping that the corner being turned is one that leads to a call up from for la nazionale and a telling contribution at Euro 2008.

If all that happens, by the time we reach South Africa 2010, Italy will really have a leader on which to rest their hopes.

-Ross Howard

Even at La Scala Del Calcio, it’s not over till the Fat Lady sings. Or is it?

If last week the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium in Milan had provided the setting for even the most reserved of Serie a enthusiasts to get a little excited about their league, this week’s Sunday night installment at the San Siro served up as much of an enthralling spectacle albeit with an ominous, sobering twist. And wouldn’t you just know it, like anything with a twist, I guess, it could have been all so different.

For while the last seven days one could have been forgiven for getting all dizzy about a Slimmer Ron, a Duck and using KAPARO like it’s really a word, the next seven could have easily been devoted to stout veteran Couto, the glory of Gasbarroni and more importantly a first Inter loss of the current campaign. As it was 1-2 down with three minutes left, Ibra happened. Again. Tucking in a penalty to equalize and then dispatching a Julio Cruz cross from the right with his annoyingly typical flourish for a 3-2 finish. Cruz and Ibrahimovic. The Argentine and Swede have been perennial
party poopers this year for anyone else who dared to dream and just like big, fat, laughing bullies kicking down the sand castle you spent hours working on, they went and did it again.

If Parma were hoping at the beginning of the evening, they were positively hopping at the end of it. The penalty was harsh. Fernando Couto making a goal line clearance first with his head but ultimately with his arm as replays subsequently showed. Parma looked good however and when they’ve calmed down they will be able to take a lot from their efforts. Couto and Rossi were impressive at the back, Dessena and Cigarini in midfield were a throwback to the Ranieri-inspired rise to safety that Parma enjoyed in the latter part of last season. Gasbarroni too is a burgeoning talent and looked like he was going to be the hero there for a while after his splendid free kick put Parma 2-1 ahead. He did waste a couple of late counter attacks that seem very important now in retrospect, but with the gloriously unpredictable Reginaldo, workhorse Corradi and now comrade Cristiano Lucarelli back from the cold (literally, he has just joined from Shakhtar Donetsk) in attack – they should have enough to stay safe this time also.

Good to see Lucarelli back in Serie a, one of the league’s enduring characters and good to see another Sunday night cracker in Serie a, but if seven days ago was a precious glimpse into the future of Italian football, this week was a potent reminder of who rules the roost for now.

In any event, here’s to the second half of the season.

-Ross Howard

Like a duck in a thunderstorm

Give Alexandre Pato credit. He has said all the right things, he has impressed all the right people and tomorrow he’ll be introducing himself to the rossoneri faithful after almost 5 months in the shadows. The kid, likened to a young Ronaldo when he was at Cruzeiro (listen to our interviews, you’ll hear the most interesting comments), one who will score 30 goals by this June.Let’s take a step back folks. The kid is no saviour. Yet.<br>Alexandre Rodrigues da Silva from Pato Branco (that’s why he’s got the nickname) has played 26 times for Brazilian club Internacional of Porto Alegre.

Inter. . . how ironic and, yes as usual, like that broken toy that talks aloud when nobody even touched him, Inter honcho Massimo Moratti said yet again, “Pato? We could’ve had him too!” Well, Pato scored 5 goals at the South American Youth Championships to help qualify Brazil for the Olympics. He helped Inter to the Brazilian Sub-20 Championship, the Recopa Sudamericana, and led them to the 2006 Fifa Club World Cup title beating the European champs Barcelona: a game that he was taken off in if memory serves me correct, and one that he had little to measure himself by.

Still, the kid can play. He’s a phenomenal talent and the sort of player that the Milanistas have been craving for, dying for as they’ve seen one talented South American player after another travel across the courtyard to the nerazzurri side of town.Calm down folks. He just barely turned 18. Kaka was two years older than Ducky when he reached Milano in 2003, and didn’t crack the starting lineup until a month later. Ricky started off slow, playing comfortably in a five man midfield just behind Shevchenko as a trequartista and alongside Pirlo, Gattusso and the like. Alex won’t have that luxury.

Sure, he’ll have Kaka and whatever the club can squeeze out of O Fenomeno, but this isn’t your older brother’s Milan (let alone your dad’s). He’ll do well. He might even score that brace that he predicted against Napoli tomorrow, but he can’t do it alone. There is no midseason Brazilian miracle for Milan this year, unless it also come with the names Lucio, Ronaldinho, Amauri and Dida attached.Well, maybe not Dida.

Jesus belongs to Kaka’

Our friend Sheridan Bird recently wrote a great article on Ricky Kaka’, check it out here; great we’ll wait, and when you get back we can start the post all over again.

Now, I wouldn’t say this is a direct response to that article, but it did get me thinking. There is a dearth of talent in Serie A, a league that in my lifetime had the likes of Maradona, Ronaldo, Vieri, Baggio, Del Piero, Totti, Gullit, Van Basten and a slew of others in their prime, and the cupboard does look bare, especially for the sort of young talent that is inspirational and charismatic.

Other leagues have them, those young players that are known by one name, C.Ronaldo or Cesc in England and Robinho or Messi in Spain; in fact Barcelona is loaded to the gills with the sort of inspirational young talent, from Krkic to Gio Dos Santos, not to mention their older counterparts Xavi and Iniesta.

Why then is the Serie A in such dire straights? Is Kaka’ the only one, and as Sheridan says, what of Serie A if Milan fail to qualify for the Champions League and Ricky takes a Spanish holiday?

I wouldn’t worry too much. You could resort to the “It’s cyclical, everything that’s down, comes back up again”, but it goes deeper than that. The big clubs, the ones that don’t rebuild but just reload, all have transition periods where older players are led off to pasture, like Beckham leaving and ultimately giving his place to a lanky kid from Madeira, or Viera forced out so that a cheeky genius from Barcelona could find his place in North London. Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United have found their talismanic young players. Thierry Henry and Patrick Viera had to leave so that Robin Van Persie and Cesc Fabregas could shine. Paul Scholes and Ruud Van Nistelrooj made way for Rooney and Ronaldo, and Ronaldinho and Raul have seen their respective clubs look to younger talismans. Barcelona and Real Madrid have both begun the process of pushing out the dead weight to make way for their home-grown or imported gems.

In contrast, Italian clubs like Juve, Roma, Inter and Milan have all been reluctant historically to give their youngsters the keys to the Ferrari. Look at the case of Yoann Gourcuff of Milan. Highly respected at Rennes, and starting to draw attention for France, he plays in cup matches and in injury time for the rossoneri. What gives?

Which World Cup winner do you replace in that side? Pirlo or Gattuso are irreplaceable, even Seedorf is still productive, and even Ambrosini and Brochi have their place; all parts of a well oiled machinie. Things will change however. There will come a time that the shadow of Totti, Del Piero, Inzaghi, or Pirlo won’t hide the brilliance of the younger generation.

Italians like Lavezzi from Napoli, Rosina from Torino, Pazzini and Montolivo in Firenze, De Rossi and Aquilani in Rome, and Palladino and Nocerino at Juve, all will one day be the focal points for their teams. South Americans like Alexandre Pato, Ever Banega, Falcao Garcia, and many others, have already shown interest in leaving for Europe. With places at the big clubs in England and Spain taken by their slightly older brethren, will the next generation of great and inspirational players go to Italy first? One can only hope.

Violence in Serie A

In a filling station near Arezzo, Italy this weekend, 5 miles from Florence in Tuscany, there were a group of Juventus and Lazio supporters that met on the way to a match, a fight broke out and the police were called in, warning shots were fired and a stray bullet killed a Lazio fan. As soon as word broke of what happened, the powder keg that is the Italian football landscape turned into the violent equivalent of one of the many wildfires we’ve had here in Los Angeles. Insatiable and uncontrollable it spread to Rome, Atalanta and many other cities in Italy and while it may have looked like a football problem, this most definitely reaches deeper into the fabric of modern Italian society.

The FIGC weighed in, “It is a day in which there will be major institutional steps taken.” Many are calling for the suspension of the league, tighter controls in and around the matches, limiting away support, etc. While some of those may be effective, it ignores the crux of the problem.

Those that seek the answers in emulating the “English model”, where safe and sane, family friendly stadia changed the fabric of English football are bound to be disappointed. These aren’t hooligans who are in it to “get a few thrills” or “up the aggro” though they look outwardly much the same. The ultra on the curvas see their enemy, not across the way at the other side of the stadium with the away support, but in authority itself. It’s not about taking the stadium, invading the pitch, knocking down the other firm, although all of those things do happen. Football is not the end, just a means to another end. It’s about confrontation, and escalating the response, destabilizing society and ultimately anarchy. The authorities in this sense too are caught in a viscious cycle; that violence leads to a violent response, leading to more violence., and as such, the police are just as much the problem as the solution.

This must be met, not only by the FIGC, but by the Italian government itself. The response needs to be all-encompasing and not just a cosmetic fix. Frankly, targeting only the ultras is a mistake. Everyone should look themselves in the mirror.

The violence from last year in Catania brought many changes to the league, matches were cancelled, calls to suspend the season were brought up, but a measured approach was taken and new relegations were setup to limit away fans at controversial matches, a new ticketing policy was setup that had league officials stating violence inside stadia was down 80%. That may be, but as we’ve all seen in the reports, violence can spark at any time.

Serie A 2007-2008

Week Two has come and gone, and while I’ve been busily working on the podcast, I’ve skimped badly for the last few months on my day job which is as yeoman blogger. So, after interviewing last week a few notables like Paddy Agnew (author of Forza Italia) and Sheridan Bird (of football 365.com), I’ve been sooper-excited to get back to blogging about my favorite league: Serie A.

Well, have we learned anything after two weeks and another useless International break? Juventus are better than we thought, or basically luckier than anyone thought, and Roma have had fast starts and lackluster finishes for their 2 wins. Milan looked a tired side after drawing to Fiorentina on Monday, that’s after beating Sevilla on Friday in the Super Cup between the Champions League and UEFA Cup champs (but that wasn’t saying much as the Spaniards were rocked by the death of Puerta). Inter are, as always Inter, shockingly introspective and in need of some mood altering substances to control the stress. Thankfully they got a bit of azzurrini in a match against Empoli where Nosferatu Cagni looked dapper but angered by his Tuscan brood’s performance, or was that at the ref’s? In the end, I’d watch out for Fiorentina and Palermo who look to make headway in the table soon enough, as Roma go on a month long buzzsaw run through the top of the table.

Here’s an extra bit of sum-sumin’. My friend Elisa requested a review of our predictions, as she wants to taunt the lot of us for doubting the mighty Juve I guess. Therefore, here’s a tabulation of our 2007-2008 Serie A predictions we made on our podcast. She wants it in writing. No wonder she likes Empoli’s Cagni.

Elisa’s

1.Top 6

1.Inter

2.AC Milan

3.Roma

4.Juventus

5.Fiorentina

6.Udinese

2.Relegation:

1.Parma

2.Cagliari

3.Napoli

3.Top Signing/Transfer of the Year:

1.Fabio Quagliarella

4.Top Flop – Signing/Transfer of the year:

1.Bobo Vieri

5.Coppa Italia winners:

1.Juventus

6.Best peformance in UEFA Cup –

1.Palermo – semi finals

7.Best performance in Champions League –

1.Inter in the final

Hannah’s

1.Top 4

1.AC Milan

2.AS Roma

3.Inter Milan

4.Juventus

2.Relegation:

1.Napoli

2.Genoa

3.Cagliari

3.Top Signing/Transfer of the Year:

1.Ludovic Giuly

4.Coppa Italia winners:

1.AS Roma

5.Best peformance in UEFA Cup –

1.Fiorentina

6.Best performance in Champions League –

1.AC Milan

The Best (of course by me): wink wink

Mando’s

1.Top 6

1.AS Roma

2.Inter Milan

3.AC Milan

4.Fiorentina

5.Palermo

6.Juventus

2.Relegation:

1.Genoa

2.Parma

3.Napoli

3.Top Signing/Transfer of the Year:

1.Fabio Quagliarella

4.Top Flop – Signing/Transfer of the year:

1.Antonio Cassano

5.Coppa Italia winners:

1.Juventus

6.Best peformance in UEFA Cup –

1.Palermo

7.Best performance in Champions League –

1.AS Roma- quarter finals