| European Coaches Education Tour |
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| on 03 Dec 2007 | |
Primavera (U19) Game A.C Chievo Verona vs Vicenza Calcio and Serie A game AC Milan - Juventus Northern Italy – Saturday , December 1st , 2007 After arriving back to our hotel Friday night, we were worn out. Paolo Bonomo was born in Vicenza and grew up in the area we are currently in. Paolo has a great contact Ettore who helped to arrange the vans, hotel and the visits to the Calcio Clubs. Ettore found an incredible hotel/resort called the Parc Hotel in Castelnuovo del Garda, Verona. It is a huge estate with a few hotels, cottages, golf course, soccer fields, wellness center and more. After checking in, we sat down for a 3 hour 5 course meal together. It was great to get to talk as a group and get to know each other. As most of you know, soccer professionals are very open and love to joke around. If you watched the group of 17 coaches who are on the tour after only a few days, you would think that we had known each other for years and years. Of course some of us have, but some just met everyone a few days ago. This of course is because we all have one thing in common……..Soccer, Voetbal, Futbol, Fussball, Calcio…….i think you get the point!!! After a great night of rest, we woke up , had a typical European Continental Breakfast, and loaded in the vans to observe the Primavera (U19) Teams Chievo vs Vicenza. This level of play also serves as the Reserve Team for the Professional team. Chievo and Vicenza both currently play Serie B. The age groups are 88, 89 and 90 with both teams are able to field two older players. By using older players, teams are able to play players coming back from injuries or give players who are not getting playing time a chance to stay game fit. The reason there are only two spots is because this division is mainly for the younger players and their development and if older players need, they can always get loaned out in the following divisions: Serie B Serie C1 Serie C2 Serie D or Excellenza Promocione Vicenza played in a 1:4:2:3:1 system – They were a bit weaker than Chievo and when they had the ball played the ball very fast forward with very little buildup. Most of the attacks were from crosses over the wing or overlaps from one of their backs coming forward, mostly on the left. They had a very tall center forward who played as a target and held the ball while some of his teammates joined the attack. They did not keep the ball much in the midfield. When Chievo had the ball, they backed off a bit in front of the midline and did not pressure and tried to make the field as small as possible. It was very difficult to stop Chievo since they had some dynamic forwards and midfielders who could find the spaces in behind the defense of Vicenza. The Hungarian Keeper (brought to Vicenza by Ettore) saved the day many times and kept Vicenza in the game. Chievo played in a 1:4:1:4:1 system Chievo was the stronger team and was able to keep the ball more and build the game up. Although neither team passed back to the goalkeeper to create more space and begin the game again from the back, the keeper of Chievo did take many goal kicks with a pass to one of his back line. Chievo kept the ball pretty well in the midfield and tried to switch the ball , but their most dangerous attacks were counter attacks over the left side with a very dynamic left winger and left defender. When Vicenza had the ball, Chievo pressured higher up on the pitch and moved up the field, which made it difficult for Vicneza to play, but also left a lot of space behind the defense of Chievo. Chievo made the space very small and were able to win the ball up front or in the midfield and have a fast lethal attack against an unorganized Vicenza team. Although the game was 1-1 at halftime, Chievo won 3-1 and deserved the result. This left Chievo with 16 points and Vicenza with only 3 from 8 games. General observations of the game: - The play is very physical with many fouls, but not many yellow cards. - Teams are very organized with a lot of emphasis on tactics, especially when the other team has the ball. - There is very little space since the opponent is so organized, which means that most attacks are from a fast counter attack - Both teams had one target and attacking players who stayed more behind the ball , which meant many players running into the space versus being in the space - The players play 100+% and accept the fouls and stay very disciplined even after getting taken out very badly - The players are very fit and mentally strong. The players were very strong on the ball and great at shielding. - Most of the players read the game very well and excel at applied technique. The first touch is very strong and away from pressure and into space. - The players were very good at finding the early pass forward to a player deep on the field or a player who was open or moving into the space away from pressure. AC Milan vs Juventus Torino matchday 18 in 2008 Posted on November 29th, 2007 by ilnino in Football Last season Juventus was in Serie B, and they came back to win this season, they are in 2nd place after Inter. Milan at this moment is just in position 9 From 6 games in San Siro, AC Milan suffered 2 lost and 4 draws. No victory for the Queen of Europe this season at home. Juventus away from 6 games won 2 at Cagliari and Torino, 3 draws with AS Roma, Fiorentina and Parma. The only lost game is at Napoli. Where Juventus play football goals are comming, in the 6 games away it was an 1-1 with Fiorentina, a 0-1 at Torino, in the other ocasion it was a minimum 4 goals/game. Milan is oposite to this, in all games in SanSiro maximmum goals scored this season is 2. All time statistics not help Milan, from 144 games they won 44 and Juve 49. But in San Siro they look beter with 25 victories and Juve with 17, the last one in 8 May 2005. Past results in last 3 seasons : Milan vs Juventus Juventus vs Milan Season 2003-2004 * 1 nov 2003 Milan vs Juventus 1-1 * 14 mar 2004 Juventus vs Milan 1-3 Season 2004-2005 * 18 dec 2004 Juventus vs Milan 0-0 * 8 may 2005 Milan vs Juventus 1-1 Season 2005-2006 * 29 oct 2005 Milan vs Juventus 3-1 * 12 mar 2006 Juventus vs Milan 0-0 AC Milan – Juventus After the game was over, we quickly loaded into the vans and started the 200+ kilometer drive to Milan for the AC Milan – Juventus game at San Siro. Once again in fine Euro Tour fashion we are seeing one of the biggest games of the year and for sure the biggest of the weekend. Over 1 billion people world wide will be watching the match. As we neared to toll road exit near Milan traffic started to slow down and after the toll road it was bumper to bumper and moving at 10 kilometers per hour. Finally, we got within 2 km from San Siro and parked and with less than 30 minutes until kick off all 17 of us took off on a run to try and get to our seats before the opening kick off. Not less than 8:25pm did the last of the Euro Tour group sit down (very sweaty) and get settled in before the roar of the crowd started and we saw on the big screen that the players were at the exit of the tunnel. Juventus ultras (hard core rowdy fans) were not allowed to attend the match due to the recent violence in Italian Soccer. Juventus had a few thousand supporters whom were much too civilized against the 70,000+ AC Milan fans. The environment was incredible and as always at such matches, the time flew by and left us wanting more. Of course we waited until the stadium was almost empty and the security guards told us it was time to leave. Starving for such an environment, the group of coaches from Canada, Mexico , Holland and the U.S. who committed so much to attend this trip, wanted to savor every moment and make it last as long as we could. As most big games world wide are , which are called Classicos there is too much at stake and often do not lead up to all the hype. This was a classic case as both teams played very tactical with many players behind the ball and taking very little risk. Space was not to be had and most attacks were during loss of possession or a individual mistake. Both goalkeepers made some spectacular saves, combined with some not so good finishing, to end in a result of 0-0. After the game, we had a snack outside the stadium , walked back to the vans and drove back to Verona. It was close to 2:00am and once again we had succeeded in packing another day full of Soccer excitement. |
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