The Weird and Wonderful World of Italian Football
On June 1st last it was announced that the Brazilian player Arthur Zico had signed a contract with the Italian club Udinese.
This was a strange piece of news to say the least. Many consider Zico, "The White Pele", as the best player in world football today. But few people outside Italy have heard of Udinese - a club situated in Udine (population 100,000) an hour's journey from Venice.
For years Zico had been turning down offers from Europe's wealthiest clubs. A family man with three young boys, he was happy in Brazil and earning a small fortune. He had "high" connections in Brazilian society as a personal friend of Brazil's military ruler Viceredo, and was vastly popular with the fans. He was extremely successful with his club Flamengo. Together they had won Rio de Janeiro championships, Brazilian league titles, the South American champions' cup and the World Club championship. Odd to exchange all this for a small town club like Udinese. There must have been a vast sum of money involved to entice him across.
At first no one could understand where the money had come from. The Udinese directors are not particularly wealthy men. Eventually it transpired that an English publicity consortium called Grouping Limited had financed the deal, intending to exploit Zico as an advertising puppet on a large scale.
The mystery ended there. . . until it was discovered that the total value of Grouping Limited's shares amounted to the princely sum of three pounds sterling. Further investigation revealed that a church building stood on the site where their London office should have been. It was clear that Grouping Limited was a front for something else.
Meanwhile back in Italy, Juventus Turin - the sporting arm of the Fiat empire - were furious about the Zico transfer. For a start they had been trying to get him for years themselves. Now Udinese, with Zico, could possibly represent another threat to their supremacy in the Italian league.
That supremacy had been broken last season by A.S. Roma who had taken the league title from them. Roma had reinforced themselves for the new season by contracting Toninho Cerezo, another Brazilian ace.
Juventus decided to kill two birds with one stone and set about using their influence inside the Italian Football Association. On June 9 the Italian F.A. issued a veto on the Zico/Cerezo transfers on the grounds that the money which had financed the deals had come from sources out¬side the two clubs and that the conclusion of the deals has occurred after the fixed deadline for transfers in the close season. Zico and Cerezo would have to stay in Brazil.
There was uproar in Rome and Udine. A revolutionary fervour was ignited, recalling the heady days of Garibaldi. The Italian F.A. could decide what they liked, but the fans weren't having it!
Udine is situated in the province of Friuli in the north¬east of Italy on the Austrian border. Friuli used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The cry went up for a re-severing of political connections with Italy and a return to Austrian rule. It wasn't completely serious of course, but the indignation at an externally imposed decision which blocked Zico's arrival at Udinese was profound.
At the hale old age of 87, the President of the Republic, football fanatic Mr Pertini, lent his weight to the debate by declaring that it would please him greatly If the Brazilians came.
A special committee was called into being to consider the validity of the Football Association's course of action. The president of Roma, Mr Viola, was confident of the
outcome: "I am sure justice will triumph". After long debate the new committee declared the Italian Football Association's case invalid and overruled their decision. On July 23rd the veto was lifted. Zico and Cerezo were to arrive in Italy after all.
It's still a well kept secret as to who provided the money to bring Zico to Udinese. One guess is that it came from a group of Friulian industrialists. The people of Friuli have a strong sense of their separate identity and pride themselves on their self reliance. These feelings were strengthened after the earthquake tragedy in the area in 1976 which took more than one thousand lives. Many people returned home to take part in a consolidated effort to build things up again. Udinese football club has become a symbol of a reborn society and a focal point of Friulian pride.
So far Zico has been an unqualified success at Udinese though he complains about the ultra-destructive methods of ltalian defensive tactics.
“I left the pitch with thirty minutes to go in the game against Catania and I was surprised that my marker Ranieri didn't follow me all the way into the dressing-room. Osti of Avellino never stopped pulling my shirt all match and at one point even hit me in the face! Football is full of types like these who are bent on destroying rather than playing themselves. To be honest, sometimes I feel I've had enough of all that."
Despite these close attentions Zico heads the Italian goal-scoring charts vvith eight goals after nine games - a sensational average. Six of these came in the first four games. Zico's most important goal was his last one – scored with four minutes to go against his old international team¬mates Falcao and Cerezo to defeat champions Roma by one goal to nil.
Irish star Liam Brady is due to clash with Zico on November 27th as Udinese visit Genoa to take on Sampdoria. Bot at the last minute lieo polls out with a bad bout of influenza. It's cold up there in the northeast. Paolo Mantovani's unexpected arrival in Genoa makes up for Zico's absence to some extent. Mr Mantovani, oil and shipping magnate, is club president of Sampdoria. In March he was found guilty of smuggling 500 million pounds out
of Italy and he faces further charges of tax evasion. These matters of legal nicety have forced him into exile in Switzerland where he follows his team's progress from a safe distance.
Sampdoria's most fervent, wealthiest supporter (he is one of the wealthiest men in Italy and his money has brought the present side together) hasn't seen the team for over two years. He has never seen them perfonn in Serie A (Italy's 1st Division) until today. His appeal against his conviction vvill be heard next February. With his health (weak heart) reportedly improved he has obviously decided to take his chance and see them while he can.
Fifteen minutes before kick-off Mantovani emerges from the Sampdoria dressing-rooms, up the steps and out of the tunnel into the stadium. He is greeted by a thunderous ovation. Each seat has been provided with a Sampdoria flag and the entire stadium becomes a sea of blue, red, white and black waving in the sunlight. Mantovani moves slowly on the long walk to the presidential box, pausing periodi. cally to wave to the crowd.
"Mantovani!". "Mantovani!".
As he passes the southern side of the ground behind the Sampdoria goal, a huge blue flag is unfurled from the bottom row of the terraces. It moves in a gentle wave slowly upwards until finally almost the entire terrace is covered. Ten thousand fans under a coral blue flag.
Mantovani is visibly moved by the experience and wipes a teardrop from his eye before taking his place on million¬ aires row in the centre of the box. Observed at a distance five rows further up the stand he seems a nice man - un¬pretentious, dignified. Certainly his wife and eldest daugh¬ter Francesea have no airs or graces. Nice people, multi-millionaires.
Udinese are missing Zico and Sampdoria miss Trevor Francis, out with an inflamed achilles tendon. Ex-Juventus star Franco Causio captains Udinese. "II Barone" directs operations from midfield in the latter days of his career, but today he is playing up front due to lieo's absence.
Mind you, it should be made clear that "up front" in Italian football means that the player in question spends most of his time around the half-way line.
The game is disappointing. Sampdoria are on a run of three victories in a row which is quite something in the cut-throat competition of Serie A. But they are a young side and it is plain that their run isn't going to go on for ever. They have most of the play but cannot translate it into serious pressure and must be thankful when Udinese defender Cattaneo heads a centre into his own net.
Samp's inexperience shows at this point because they lose their grip on the game immediately after going in front. Ninety seconds later Brazilian sweeper Edinho equalises for Udinese with a 20 yard free-kick.
The highlight of the first half is a protracted quarrel between Causio and Edinho as to who is going to take a subsequent free-kick. The Udinese coach, Enzo Ferrari, settles the argument with some difficulty by ordering Causio away. Edinho strikes the ball beautifully - but over the bar.
The decisive incident of the match occurs just before the half-time whistle when Udinese's Marchetti is given the yellow card for a foul. He reacts by poking his finger at his forehead to tell the referee that he's crazy. Out comes the red card. It's a long, head-shaking walk to the dressing¬room for Marchetti, though not as long as Mantovani's earlier walk in the opposite direction.
The wind gets up for the second half. It's ten men plus the wind against eleven Sampdorians. Causie moves back into midfield (i.e. near his own penalty area) so only Virdis (another ex-Juventus player) is left in the opposing half. Vierchowod, Samp's star international defender, keeps Virdis very tightly under control. As a result Udinese offer no offensive threat, though man-of-the-match Causio gets through trojan work trying to compensate for the missing player.
Italian football is a game of uneven numbers. No matter what the game situation, it always seems that there are five defenders fitted against one attacker or else six against two. And despite their numerical superiority in the second half Samp are still short of men up front because they keep two men almost constantly behind Vierchowod, marking noth¬ing but the wind. That leaves seven Sampdorians – almost all behind the ball - against nine Udinese players who are jammed in or around their own box.
Brady has two and sometimes three men hanging out of his neck. By his own standards he has a poor game though you can see he is an exceptional player in almost everything that he does.
All this means that there are few threatening moments in spite of Samp's almost continual possession until Cap¬tain Scanziani pops up to knock right-back Galia's cross home.
Samp's trainer Ulivieri brings on a third sweeper to tighten things up further in defence for the last quarter of the game. Udinese storm desperately. Brady, freed of his shackles, almost scores. Samp hang on to their 2-1 win where a more experienced team would have tied the match up long before and sent the two points off express postage.
'The lads were a bit nervous today what with the president turning up to watch us for the first time." - Trevor Francis.
GIORGIO CHINAGLIA IS BACK IN EUROPE. WHEN last heard of here Giorgio was smashing a crate of coca¬cola bottles against the wall of a West German dressing¬room after being substituted on the Italian team during the 1974 World Cup. After this therapeutic release of the emotions (Catharsis goes better with coke) he packed his muddy boots and left on 3 jetplane for the States: destina¬tion New York.
It was a time when certain North American businessmen were convinced that soccer was going to take off big in their continent. Pele was engaged to spread the gospel. Cruyff was to follow some years later. The North American league became an old-age pensioners' home for players who had distinguished themselves in valiant world cup service - Francisco Marinho, Bogicevic, Neeskens, Cubillas and Beckenbauer to name just a few.
Of all these Chinaglia was nearest his prime and proved to be the most successful of the lot. He led New York Cosmos to repeated title successes and was always to be found on the top of rile North American goal-scoring charts. Success on the field. And what was more important for his future career, success off the field as well. Chinagli infiltrated the Cosmos administration and worked his way to the top. Cosmos are run by the film and "communications" conglomerate Warner Brothers and are a powerful organisation in their own right.
Chinaglia made important business contacts in the Italian American sector. When his old club Lazio Roma promoted to Serie A at the end of last season hc returned to Italy to take over their presidency with a large sack stuffed full with Italo-American dollars.
He bought Brazilian mid fielder Batista, victim of Maradona's vile foul during the last world cup. The Italians just can't gct enough of the Brazilians. He also rented Danish wonderboy Michael Laudrup from Juventus. (Each club is allowed a maximum of two foreigners. Juventus already have two of the best in Platini and Boniek but they snapped up Laudrup in case any of their rivals might get him first. Then they farmed him out to Lazio. The newly promoted club docs not offer a serious threat to them as yet.)
According to a member of the outlawed fascist group the "Tradizionalisti" whom I spoke to, Chinaglia is a member of the Movimcnto Sociale Italiano. The MSI is a neo-fascist political grouping. As the sole legal fascist pany in Italy, it is a sort of fascist wolf parading in the sheep's clothing democracy. Last novembcr the MSI more than doubled their vote in local elections in Bolzano, capital of the province of Alto Adige. gaining 15.4 percent of the total vote as opposed to 7 percent five years earlier.
When Chinaglia came back to Italy he was greeted at Rome airport by several thousand Lazio fans and a banner in fascist jargon reading "Welcome back, revered Warrior!"
It would be overstating the case to describe Lazio as a "fascist club". Nonetheless an important element of their support is undeniably fascist. A.S. Roma belongs to the
workers and Lazio is the club the upper class like to support in Rome.
In Mussolini's time Rome was a hotbed of fascist thought and Roman intellectuals continue to flirt in that direction. To the world at large "fascism" has become synonymous with jackboot totalitarianism. To a certain faction of the Roman Intelligentsia it is a seriously thought out political philosophy. (Remember Ezra Pound?) Hence the search for new terms to express fascist ideologies - "Tradizionalista". "Movimen to Sociale" etc.
Whatever about Lazio's political colouring, it's reputation as a sporting organisation was badly tainted in recent years. Lazio was at the centre of the bribery scandal which hit Italy in 1980. The club was relegated to Serie B for having "fixed" results. International forward Bruno Giordano was suspended for two and a half years for his part in the bribery affair. Inside Italy Giordano is considered as a player to be on a par with Paolo Rossi who was also involved in the scandal.
Before Italy went to Spain to compete in the 1982 World Cup the Italian F.A. announced a general amnesty for the players who had been suspended in order to clear the way for Rossi's return to the national team. (That particular decision wasn't overruled.) Italy had been having desperate trouble finding the back of the net. Rossi solved the problem by scoring six goals in the crucial duels against Brazil, Poland and West Germany in Spain. Italy wun the World Cup.
Meanwhile Giordano had also been reprieved and he was the main reason why Lazio got promoted to Serie A again last year, cnding the season as Scric B top scorer with eigh¬teen goals. Now he too is back on the national team.
NIELS LIEDHOLM, 61, LEFT HlS NATIVE SWEDEN in 1949 to begin a lengthy career in Italy. As a player he won four league championships with AC Milan and was a member of the Swedish side which lost the 1958 world cup final to Brazil.
Liedholm is an extremely cultured, intelligent man and these characteristics are reflected in his team. He is married to an Italian Countess and is owner of vineyards in the Asti regjon which produce an excellent red wine. He is a serious student of astrology and possesses a large collection of valuable paintings.
If Liedholm has run out of money and comes across a painting he particularly wants to buy, he goes to Roma's president Mr Viola, and says: "President, there is a painting I need to buy," The president simply writes him out a cheque for the amount required.
Viola is a close friend of Foreign Minister Andreotti. Like Mantovani and Agnelli, money is no object as far as he is concerned. Viola makes his money in the armaments business.
Hard man Tardelli has put hard man Gentile out of Sunday's game with a tackle during a Juventus training session. Otherwise both sides are a t full strength.
Liedholm's line-up is cautious. He drops international forward Graziani and puts young Daria Bonetti as an extra man in the centre of defence. Bonetti came from Samp¬dona in the summer as part of the deal which saw Vicrcho¬wad move there from Roma.
This year Liedholm has ordained superstitiously that Roma stay in a different hotel in Turin. Last year they lost the corresponding match after going one in front. It is a perfect winter's day with a nip in the air. The sun shines down on the must expensive array of talent club football can muster on to a single stage as Juve and Roma march out into Turin's Stadia Comunale.
If Samp-Udinese was disappointing, then Juve-Roma surpasses all expectations. The quality of play is fantastic, the amount of "touch" on evidence stupendous. There is a beautiful painting of "an Ideal City" hanging in a gallery in Urbina. This contest wuuld not be out of place there ¬a glass bead game of Utopian dimensions.
Roma seem to me to be a superior team to Juventus. For a side in the throes of a "crisis" playing against such a superb team as Juventus on enemy territory Roma aren't doing too badly. Their play has a flexibility and serenity which that of Juventus lacks. But of course with players like Platini, Boniek and Rossi, Juventus can win any match, any time, with a single burst of brilliance.
After an initial Juve assault Roma settle down and im¬pose themselves on their opponents. They maintain fertile possession for long periods of time and go very close just before the half-time whistle. A flowing triangular exchange of passes between Nela, Chierico and Cerezo releases Cerezo in space on the right. He waits and waits before releasing the ball almost at the byeline. Falcao is flying in beyond the far post and connects with his left foot at full stretch on the volley. Prandelli clears off the line in extremis.
At half-time the Juve fans produce a long red and yellow banner (Roma's colours) with the inscription "Roma ¬Decidedly Champions of the WC". It is typical of the inventiveness of the Italian fans to wait until halfway through the match before unveiling that particular message. The champions will be facing that end in the second half.
Before the game Juve fans had paraded a piglet dressed in Roma colours. How they smuggled it into the stadium is anybody's guess as police frisking appeared to be very thorough.
Liam Brady
The game explodes with firecracker goals in the second half. On 62' Conti puts Roma in front with a low 20 yarder from the left. On 72' Platini equalises with a free-kick special, swinging venomously round the right side of the wall into the left hand corner of the net.
The game is turned upside down after Rossi sends in a cross to thc centre to nobody on 77'. There is a terrible mix-up as three Roma players hesitate on the same ball. Then Bonetti and Nela rise to head it away as goalkeeper Tancredi stays back. The ball stutters to Penza and he lashes it in to give Juve the lead.
The game seems lost for Roma now for all their fantastic play. Juve play keep-ball to the oles of the fans. Tacconi makes a scintillating fingertip save to keep our Cerezo's powerful header.
In the dying seconds of the game Roma's Chierico knocks in a volleyed centre and centre-forward Pruzzo hits an overhead bicycle-kick into the net. Tacconi fractures two fingers on the post in his at tempt to save it. The referee blows the final whistle on a truly wonderful match. It has ended all square at 2-2.
Liedholm analyses the game in a slow, gentle voice for the press. lie explains that the man further behind the ball should have called out directions before the incident which led to the Penzo goal. In this case that was the inexperienc¬ed Bonetti, though the trainer doesn't mention him by name.
Throughout the game Liedholm remained quietly seated in the dug-out. A refreshing contrast to his myriad colleagues who jump up and down like monkeys, working themselves into a froth, shouting tactics which the players are too busy to hear. Liedholm prepares his team before the event. During the match he observes what happens with an Apollonian calm. An impressive personality, Mr Liedholm.
UNLIKE ENGLAND, ITALY DOES NOT SUFFER from a cloying surfeit of football. Apart from the occasional Wednesday night match for the few clubs in. valved in European competition, footbalJ in Italy is can. fined to just one day in the week - the Sunday. The rela. tively long time between games makes the occasion of the games themselves all the more intense.
The big match on December 4th is between Juventus (La Juve) and AS. Roma (known as Roma for short). In terms of individual footballing ability these sides have the two most talented squads, pound for pound, in the world today.
Juve have five of Italy's world cup-winning team, as well as the brilliant French captain Platini and the outstanding East European player of the present era, Poland's Zibi Boniek. Roma have six Italian internationals, including the outstanding winger Bruno Conti, as well as the incomparable Brazilian duo, Cerezo and Falcao.
The transfers of the four foreigners to these particular clubs says a lot about the wheeling and dealing which goes on in the Italian soccer business. Part of the background to the Cerezo deal has already been sketched. Platini's arrival at Juve and the negative effect it had on Liam Brady's career is well known. Fiat boss Gianni Agnelli rode roughshod over the wishes of Juve directors, training staff and players by single-handedly arranging Platini's arrival at Turin. Brady had to leave.
Boniek's transfer from Widzew Lodz to Juve was unusual because at the age of 26 he became the only Polish player under thirty years old ever to be allowed to move to the West. The Polish govemment didn't release him for charitable reasons of course. Fiat have a sister automobile factory in Poland - the Lada Factory - and Lada's ties with Turin are vital to the industry.
It has also been said that Juventus used contacts inside the Vatican to facilitate the smooth running of the deal. You can just see Pope Wojtyla ringing up Lodz at all hours of the morning, haggling with Boniek over rhe size of his slice of the transfer fee.
This is Falcao's fourth season at Roma. In the close season it seemed certain at one poin t that he would be transferred for one year to Inter Milan and return for the '84-'85 season to Roma. Talk about football mercenaries.
Italy's Foreign Minister Giulio Andreotti, a fanatical supporter of Roma ever since boyhood, is said to have played a major pari in persuading Falcao to stay at the club. Andreotti is a very powerful man. He has the repu¬tation of getting what he wants. His influence in the Vatican is considerable.
Clinching the Falcao deal was very important. If ever a player was vital to a team's success then that is Falcao to Roma's. Make no mistake: Roma are something special - the most interesting side to emerge in Europe since the great Ajax team of the seventies. Roma's play is founded on Falcao's superb generalship. If he had left the bottom would have fallen out of the team.
In sporting terms this is the make-or-break year for Roma. Falcao is now 30 years old and the team must be close to its peak. Having won the Italian championship last season Roma's sights have been set on the big one¬ the European Champions' cup. That trophy has eluded Italian clubs for the past fifteen years.
Roma's backroom boys have done their work well. This year's Champions' cup final is being held in Rome. Surprise, surprise. This is the first time Roma have ever competed in the competition and yet it is precisely this year that the European Football Union (UEFA) should choose to select Roma's backgarden as the place where the final should be played. What a pleasant coincidence.
At the tjme this decision was made the president of UEFA just happened to be Italian - Dr Artemio Franchi. Ever since the end of last season a Roma-Liverpool or a Roma-Benfica final has been plotted as the grand climax to the season in this year's scenario. Roma are hoping that Falcao will mastemlind their side to success. Stranger things have happened.
THERE IS A HUGE BUILD-UP TO TilE BIG GAME all week. Everyone agrees that Roma are in "a crisis". In the past three games they have taken just one point out of six. They were defeated by Zico's goal at Udinese, held at home 1-1 by Ascoli and beaten 1-0 at Inter Milan.
Back in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Cerezo's wife has given birth to a pair of twins. "La Gazzetta Delio Sport" has landed a great scoop - the first photo of Mamma Cerezo and the tiny tots. Front page splash: Cerezo, we present you your two splendid twins!
But how are little Leandro and Gustavo affecting Cerezo's form? Certainly not in a negative sense. According to "Gazzetta" statistics Cerezo was striking the ball as well as ever against Inter: 73 passes delivered of which 69 were accurate.
Trainer Liedholm insists that Roma are still playing well. "The crisis is a crisis of results, not a crisis of play."
Roma's dressing-room is jam-packed with journalists. There is scarcely room for their doctors to strap up young international midfielder Ancelotti who is grimacing with pain on the treatment table. An injury to his an Ide put him out in the rust half. He will be out for the rest of the season - a major blow to the team's champjons' Cup hopes.
Falcao is centre of attention. "This was a point lost We should have won the game. It would have been a tragedy if we had lost." He's right.
Cerezo is still able to escape most of the journalists because of the language problem, but there are still a few in the room who can speak Portugese. The match has been televised in Brazil, the US and Canada (for Italian Americans) Switzerland, Japan and Venezuela.
Conti is pulling at a cigarette to relieve the nerves.
Up in Genoa Sampdoria have broken the club record by winning their fifth game on the trot. Brady missed a penal¬ty in front of Mantovani, but made good by laying on the only goal of the match. Juventus are now on 15 points, followed by five teams on 14 including Roma and Umpdoria.
The Championship is hotting up.