Istanbul, Athens, Kiev: England v Italy is Gerrard v Pirlo

Hello everybody around the World,

It’s the fourth Quarter Final of Euro 2012 with England taking on Italy at the Olympic stadium in Kiev. It’s a 60,000 sell out with the live television signal being beamed to a global audience of millions of viewers Both teams are unbeaten in the tournament and face each other for the first time in a competitive game since a tense draw in 1997 at the Olympic stadium in Rome.

A total of 69 goals have been scored in Euro 2012 with 18 scored by English Premiership based players and 6 from the ‘giocatori’ who play in the Serie A. England have scored 5 times in the tournament with 5 different scorers, all under the age of 30. Italy have scored 4 goals with 4 different scorers who, with the exception of Mario Balotelli, are all over the age of 30.

History

Italy have fared better in International tournaments having won the World Cup four times, lastly in 2006, and finishing runners-up to France in Euro 2000. England’s best record in recent times is two semi-final appearences in Euro 1996 and in Italy in the 1990 World Cup. For the last Euro 2008, England did not even qualify.

The key men of tonight’s game have met on two unforgettable occasions before. In Istanbul Liverpool and England captain Steven Gerrard inspired the most remarkable comeback performance of recent times.In 45 minutes he brought his team from 3 goals down to draw 3-3, and then onto win the penalty shoot-out, against Pirlo’s AC Milan. In Athens, the silky Italian playmaker would gain revenge with a 2-0 win for the Rossoneri. This third confrontation, therefore, is decisive. Istanbul, Athens and now Kiev with the winner taking on Germany in the Semi-final.

Preview

Italy’s veterans can out-think the England defence if they have too much of the ball. England are prone to giving the ball away too easily. The control and positional play of Pirlo and Cassano can pull England’s organized shape apart and allow the gaps for Balotelli, or Di Natale, to find shooting opportunities. The loss of both Thiago Motta and Giorgio Chiellini are a blow to the Azzurri hopes of fielding their best XI. Midfield will be deliberately crowded by the Azzurri with De Rossi, Marchisio and Montolivo providing the tackling and movement to allow Pirlo’s quick decision making to be decisive.

England’s pace and clinical finishing sets them apart from the other teams in the tournament. The introduction of Theo Walcott against Sweden showed how quick paced attacks can unsettle top International opposition. I believe that the right side of England’s attack will provide the key to unlock the Azzurri defence, whether through the movement of Rooney, the determination of Gerrard, or the searing pace of Walcott. Balzaretti at left back is suspect and surely this represents a great chance for England to score their goals. Rooney is feared by the Italians but, although he has an excellent scoring record in the Champions League against Serie A teams, at International level he has often been found wanting. His winning goal against Ukraine, the joint host nation, in the last game may be the sign of things to come.

* In 14 Champions League games against Italian teams, Wayne Rooney has scored 10 goals

* Both Welbeck and Balotelli, United and City, have scored 2 goals for their country

* For England, if booked, these players are banned for the next match:

Gerrard, Cole, Young, Milner, Oxlade-Chamberlain

* For Italy, if booked, these players are banned for the next match:

Buffon, Maggio, Balzaretti, Bonucci, De Rossi, Montolivo, Balotelli

Coach Roy Hodgson is unbeaten with 4 wins and 1 draw and England have scored 7 and conceded 3 under his guidance. Former coach, the Italian legend Fabio Capello was dismissed after a dispute over the selection of John Terry as England Captain.

I’ll be watching the game tonight by the Duomo in Milano. I’m into my last two weeks as an Italian resident before emigrating back to England. I’d hoped for this game to be the semi-final and wish that whoever wins goes on to win the tournament.

Grazie everybody!

Max

Thinking Inside The Box

Dear FIFA and fans of football,

I’m a commentator for Italian football and would just like to share an idea with you about the value of penalty kicks in the modern game.

We see so many penalty kicks and, in normal time and extra time, they settle so many big matches. I’d like to make a suggestion to make the game even more beautiful in such a simple way. Here is the suggestion:

‘A goal scored from a penalty becomes a ‘penalty goal’ and the increase to the teams score is 0.5. The officiating is still done in the same way. The objective is that it places a greater value to a goal that is scored in open play or from a corner or free kick. If the ball rebounds from the post or from the Goalkeeper then the former rules apply’

Simple.

With best wishes,

Mr.Max Patrick (@Maxpatrick)

The Montolivo Story

During the Fiorentina v AC Milan game it was the Dutch Master Clarence Seedorf who was the artist in the middle of the pitch. The Milan Captain’s first goal was reward for a masterclass of control and vision that would go a long way to ensuring that the Rossoneri were the colours that took the spoils. His opposite number, Fiorentina Captain Riccardo Montolivo, could only really stand back and admire. The curio that is ‘The Montolivo Story’ is a tale that is unfinished and needs your help, if you’d like to, in unlocking it’s mysteries. The opening of the story came to my attention recently with a letter from a viewer from San Francisco, Mr.Villarreal Jr. Mr Villarreal Jr. is a big fan of Italian football and is also a collector of Medieval art. He wrote to me about a painting dated back to the XV Century called ‘The Three Kings’ in which the three Neopolitan Magi are depicted. The nobility in this picture are clearly shown and one of the Kings looks just like …Riccardo Montolivo! There is no doubt about the likeness.

The contact from Mr.Villarreal jr. is an interesting entry point to a big question…

‘Is Riccardo Montolivo descended from European Royalty?’

We don’t have the answers to this little curio but we’re sure interested to find out! So, dear reader, if you have an interest in art, European history, Italian football, Fiorentina, Atalanta (as this was where Montolivo started his career) then go ahead and investigate! I’ll get in touch with Mr.Villareal jr. with any specific enquiry you have and, who knows, maybe we’ll find the clues to piece together this 500 year old question!

Good hunting!

Best wishes,

Max

Napoli 4-3 Lazio

Dear reader,

In my previous blog I wrote about some of the things that I prepare for as a football commentator and my approach during the games. Every so often, something special happens. We wait for it and sometimes we wait so long that we forget that dreams can come true. I’d like to share this link with you taken from the Epic, the Amazing and the Exhillarating Napoli Vs Lazio game. Edy Cavani is now the all-time single season highest scorer in the Serie A for Napoli and this is the goal for his hat-trick. For me, the goal was a dream, the reward for a remarkable fightback from a team that refused to give up. My emotion tried to speak the joy of the moment; beyond language to something truly wonderful! ‘Gooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaalll’

Hope you enjoy it again and again and a thank you to the person who put the video on youtube.

Max

 

8 plus 5 – AC Milan in charge as Juventus fade away

Hello everybody,

AC Milan went 8 points clear in the Scudetto race thanks to a rare goal from their gritty No.8 Gennaro Gattuso. His goal, which owed much to a mistake from legendary Goalkeeper Gigi Buffon, put the Rossoneri another step closer to achieving their 18th title and condemned Juventus to another week of soul searching and pained analysis. The results from the rest of the Game Day 28 ganes have since shown another victory for second placed Inter Milan, so, AC Milan currently stand plus 5 points at the top.

In this blog I wanted to share with you some of the things that I do when I call the game and give you an insight into how I prepare for the big match and the thought processes I have when I’m commentating on the match. I hope you find it interesting!

The few days before

The daily pink pages of the Gazzetta Dello Sport are my preferred Italian soccer reference point for any forthcoming game. I live outside of Milano and enjoy a good espresso coffee and I always end up talking with people who love the game. In Italy that’s about everybody. Juventus have a lot of popularity all over Italy so I often talk to Salvatore, who owns the bar in the local Piazza, about the Bianconeri. Lots of places in my little town have photographs up behind the counter of Shevchenko facing Buffon from the penalty spot in the Champions League final played in Manchester. Needless to say there is a strong Rossoneri presence. So, if I’m ordering a glass of wine in the evening then there’s always a willing chat going about AC Milan.

If I need to find out about Inter Milan, I’ll chat with Marco Palmieri who covers a lot of their games. For Napoli, well, most Pizzeria’s the World over have a Neopolitan owner, right? There’s a pizzeria called, what else, Vecchia Napoli, that have an array of scarves and flags of the Partonopei. if I’m covering Napoli, as I am on Sunday night in their game away to Parma, then you can expect that I’ll be tucking in this week to a Margherita and chatting with the staff about what they know.

The Game

I’m a musician and I write songs. Therefore, about everything I try and do has a rhythm and tries to be at least passionate, maybe poetic, and/or melodic. I love to use words in a creative way and link it with what I know about a player or a team. If I’m covering a team from Rome, for example, I use a lot of  vocab from the days of the Roman Empire; Mexes was a ‘colossus’ at the back or Lazio record an ‘epic’ win. For the Juventus vs AC Milan game the theme of ‘A Tale Of Two Cities’ seemed appropriate and my research showed that Juventus were 39.5 million Euro in the red based on this season whilst Milan were quoted as being the 7th richest club in European Football. There were a lot of comparisons on this theme to make; such as Juventus being 3 points worse of at this point of the season than 12 months ago, whilst Milan are unbeaten in the Serie A in 2011. This theme ran through the game in my mind.

The goal

The little snippet on youtube (It’s on my facebook link page if you goto Max Patrick Commentary Music) starts with a long ball toward Ibrahimovic and me saying:

‘Milan had 59% possession against Napoli…’

Then Ibra chested the ball into Gattuso’s path and he turned away from the defender and hit the ball toward goal.

In a split second my mind flashed Gattuso, ‘on target, left, not struck well’…in real time commentary it sounded like:

‘Here’s Gattuso, can he make it Count?’

Now, this action was taking place right in front of us, so I could see that the ball had somehow beaten Buffon, so it felt very natural to then lift the pitch and the volume of the last word ‘count!!!’ and then follow up with the player’s name ‘Gattuso!’ From then I could feel the noise of the away fans from the opposite end of the stadium. Another shout of ‘Gattuso!’ As he was then mobbed by all the Rossoneri players I looked quickly at Buffon standing alone, hands on hips, in the penalty area. I remembered the ‘Tale of Two Cities’ again and made a comment about how much Gattuso would love to score the winner past his old International team mate. I knew Patrick would be thinking about the analytical side of the goal so I finished my little description as animated as I could before I passed to him to do the analysis of the action replay.

The Next Game

Parma Vs Napoli coming up next. Two cities reknowned for their cuisine! Both sides need the points to climb the table…lets hope for some sweet goals !

Thanks for reading and a big thanks to World Football Daily for having me on their show on Monday 7th March.

Max

http://www.maxpatrickmusicfootball.com

Facebook: Max Patrick Commentary-Music

Twitter: Maxpatrick

Brace yourself! The Scudetto will go to the wire

Hello everbody,

The midweek European results for Italian teams was like a visit to the dentists. The well known cavities in the AS Roma defence were found 3 times by a well drilled Shakhtar Donetsk team, Napoli lacked their usual bite against Villareal in a toothless 0-0 draw at home and AC Milan simply failed to make their appointment against Harry’s Spurs. That particular game made the headlines for Gattuso headbutting Joe ‘Jaws’ Jordan after the pair had ‘got mouthy’ after the final whistle.

I’ve just commentated the Napoli Vs Catania game and, you guessed it, the whole tooth thing came up again. From grabbing his brace against AS Roma, hotshot striker-man-of-the-moment Edison Cavani now seems to have dispensed with the metallic apparatus from around his gums that made him look a bit like Richard Kiel in ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’. There was more pressure on ‘El Matador’ to score tonight as his teammate Lavezzi began his ban sat in the stands. The match against Catania is the first of three games that ‘El Pocho’ will miss after he took a less than hygenic ‘spit’ in the direction of Rosi from Roma in Game Day 25.

So, the braceless Cavani has the chance to score from the spot for goal number 21 of the season of his life. From Cavani’s point of view, Andujar dived right, the penalty kick went left… hitting  the outside of the post before going wide. No goals yet for the braceless Cavani.

Catania defended with precision. Every space, every cavity, was filled between midfield and defence and there was no way through for the Partonopei. It was going to be a game of patience for Walter Mazzarri’s men. On 24 minutes Napoli took the lead as Schelotto played Zuniga onside and the Colombian passed the ball in-between keeper and near post into the back of the net for his first ever Serie A goal. The smiles were big as the scorer ran to his coach on the touchline.

Napoli searched for their second goal but Catania held on tooth and nail and played a smart counter attacking game that would grow into all out attack before the game was over.

In the second half, Giuseppe Mascara made an appearance for his new club against the team where he is a legend. The former Captain of Catania is the Elephanti’s highest ever scorer of Serie A goals. He had a rather subdued evening by all accounts and probably felt a little numb playing so soon against his former teamates. And I didn’t once mention his teeth.

Catania started the game with a 4-4-1-1 formation but with 20 minutes to go they had gone 4-2-4 with Morimoto, Bergessio, Maxi Lopez and Ricchiuti playing up front and causing stress and discomfort to all of the Napoli fans gritting their teeth all over the World. The seconds on the clock ticked so slowly but the pain continued. Santacroce kept giving away needless free-kicks and Lodi of Catania showed tonight that he really is one to watch from the dead-ball. Surely for the game against AC Milan, gum-shield-wearing Hugo Campagnaro will return to his regular place to combat Ibra and Co.

A great chance went begging for Catania. De Sanctis was brave to dive at the feet of Morimoto. Napoli held on and are now just 2 points behind the Rossoneri at the top of the pile. The Scudetto will go to the wire and the next game between the top two promises to be a classic.

For Catania, no major surgery is needed for them, they’re surely too good to fall-out of the Serie A. I’ll be calling their game against Genoa next Sunday afternoon at 12:30 CET.

Until then, have a great week,

Max

http://www.maxpatrickmusicfootball.com

It’s no wonder Lazio are fighting their corner; Mickey Goldmill is the coach

Hello everybody,

After covering Lazio for their last two games, away to AC Milan and Brescia, I’d like to do a light hearted  focus on the Biancoceleste in this blog and look at why they are going so strongly in the Serie A and why they will go the distance with the other heavyweights.

Before the game today at the Rigamonti stadium the Rocky hits just kept belting out: The Eye Of The Tiger, In The Burning Heart and the Rocky Balboa theme. I remembered how Kozac packed a punch in the previous game causing Bonera to leave the field with a TKO and Legrottaglie with a straight KO on his debut. To the sound of distorted guitar and solid backbeat the Lazio side looked to take a battle to their opponents, even in the warm up. The sight of Hernanes’ black eye was a shiner of an example of a player sent off midweek for Brazil against France.

The formation that the coach selected was designed to beat Brescia into submission. To bully them in the middle of the pitch with the tattooed necked Matuzelem, intimidate them up front with the smash and grab Kozac and generally scare them at the back with Dias. Dias was the player sent off against Bologna for an outrageous challenge on Giminez. What was significant was the quantity and quality of artistic flair left on the bench; Zarate, Foggia, Floccari…clearly this was no game for middleweights. The Brescia team looked nervous in the warm-up and they looked terrified when they had to shake hands with their opponents before kick-off.

‘In the Burning Heart’  built up to the big chorus and the players took their positions on the field. The gloves were off but the intensity remained. It was then that the camera showed the Lazio coach grimacing, standing on the edge of his technical area, eyeing up the XI fighting men chosen to bring home the purse of 3 points. It was then that I realised that Mickey Goldmill, legendary trainer of Rocky Balboa, was the coach of Lazio. As the game progressed, Brescia were floored by a cross from Lichtsteiner, smacked in by Gonzalez and a dealt a knockout blow by Kozac as the ball swung out from the Blue corner.

‘You’re a nobody Rock! A bum!’

The late Burgess Meredith (1907-1997) in his role as Mickey Goldmill in the Rocky series seems to be the lead that Edy Reja is following in appearance and manner for Lazio. It is bringing in some excellent results however! The Laziale are 5 points clear of Palermo, who lost an amazing match 4-2 to Fiorentina at The Barbera stadium. Roma lost at the Olympic stadium to Napoli in the big Saturday night match (I thought I’d throw that one in there for my Biancoceleste friends), Milan hammered poor Parma with Cassano, at last, scoring his 100th goal for all Italian clubs and his first for the Rossoneri. Inter play Juventus tonight in chilly Turin and that match promises to be a pivotal game for both teams. If Inter win…If Juventus win…

For the Biancoceleste though, they have Bari at home in the next game. I wonder what sort of approach Mickey Goldmill is going to take with this one? Does he try to outplay Bari, or stay aggressive? Either way,  I wonder if Rocchi will play?

Keep in touch folks, I’ll be doing the Napoli Vs Catania game next Sunday night.

Max

http://www.maxpatrickmusicfootball.com