Durres is on the sea. Durres is kissed by the sun after a light but thick rain, while Albania awaits Mancini’s Italy who will land only in the afternoon in the capital Tirana, about forty kilometers from the training center of the Albanian federation, the Tropical, a resort in a few meters from the beach, three fields, two artificial, one grass, the Coverciano of Edy Reja, the coach who is doing a bit like his colleague Roberto Mancini. He has to build the team for the future, for the next European Championships, even if there is a contract expiring in December that still needs to be renewed.
Reja’s greeting to Cainero before the friendly against Italy: “Enzo, see you soon”
The coach’s life lasts. Not only in Italy. “But I’m doing the job that I like, that still excites me: think of this appointment, when I hear the Italian anthem I’ll be moved”, explains the technician from Lucinico when speaking of that “black on white” yet to be put on paper . «I am 77 years old, I know how this world works and I also know that I am dealing with a president Armand Duka, with whom the relationship is frank. He knows how I work», he underlines with a realism dear to us, as a Friulian, a Friulian from the border like his father, born in Vipulzano, in that part of Collio now in Slovenia, and his mother from Lucinico, but Slovenian-speaking. Here’s Edy, for more than fifty years in top-level football and Italy’s next opponent baby who today and next Sunday in Austria the “Mancio” will put to the test.
Reja, let’s start from afar, from the blue: did you ever dream of wearing that shirt when you were a player? Ultimately he has 123 appearances in Serie A between Spal and Palermo …
«To tell the truth, I wore that shirt and with pride. It was the Under 23 shirt, once the antechamber of the senior national team. In 1967 I played as a starter against England in Nottingham: we lost 1-0, I remember that in the team there were Anastasi and Bob Vieri, together with many players from Cagliari and Fiorentina who also managed to win the Scudetto in those seasons».
His blue dreams instead stopped at the City Ground in Nottingham…
«All the fault of a knee injury. Meniscus with ligament involvement: at the time it wasn’t easy to overcome a problem like this and for me it was a blow, not only in an Azzurri key, given that I had also been optioned by Nereo Rocco’s Milan. I missed that train and that was a real blow to morale.’
Well, he continued to play for another ten years between Alessandria and Benevento and two seasons later he was back in the fray as manager.
«Yes, the world of football is my world. That’s why I still keep going and I never lack enthusiasm, it’s my fuel».
And being a coach is good for her: since then 23 Italian, foreign and now national clubs have called her.
«If the results don’t come, nobody gives you a contract. That’s why I’m proud of my career: I made the minor leagues, the Serie A, the cups, I went to Hajduk in Croatia and now in Albania. And I have had demanding presidents like De Laurentiis at Napoli and Claudio Lotito at Lazio».
In short, he is not frightened by the rumors that refer to a possible candidacy of Gigi Di Biagio for the Albanian bench. What project will you propose to President Duka?
“I’ll just tell him: what do you want to do now? He is a football man, as well as a great entrepreneur: TV, supermarkets, vineyards, training sessions. He has an active role in the UEFA board. He knows everything and he knows my passion. In some ways he reminds me of Percassi, the very president of Atalanta, someone who has been successful in business, but has also been a footballer as a young man ».
What future does football have in Albania?
«The Albanian project is already mapped out: I’m back from two friendlies, one in Abu Dhabi against Saudi Arabia, where we drew 1-1, and one in Marbella with Qatar who are preparing for the World Cup: there we lost for 1-0, but with all the guys from the Albanian championship teams who don’t have the intensity and malice that is needed at an international level».
Albania narrowly missed qualifying at least for the play-offs for the World Cup.
«Better not think about that goal scored by Poland a few minutes from the end. We could have gone in their place. We were very close, but the group won by England wasn’t easy, we put a Hungary behind us that you’ve seen what it’s worth in the Nations League. Nothing, it’s a question of continuing to work on this path».
One more difficulty: Reja is forced to travel around Europe to feel the pulse of the many Albanians who play abroad…
«Lately I’ve been lucky, many are professionals in Italy: Berisha, Ismajli, Hysaj, Kumbulla, Bajrami. The problem with national teams in general is represented by the little time you have to influence the game, on what you want your team to propose. For this you have to work on a hard core and add some pieces, some young people».
Mancini was a bit screwed over by the hard core after winning the European Championship.
«Sometimes we coaches get carried away by gratitude. Sometimes it happened to me too. It also happened to Mancini who had done an outstanding job by winning the European Championships in England. But in the past I remember that it also happened to Marcello Lippi, when he was in the national team ».
Moral of the story, or of the football nightmare, another edition of the World Cup is about to start without Italy: what do you think?
«It’s a long discussion, also linked to the high number of foreigners in Serie A teams, but I saw that everything and everything has already been said about the absence of our national team, including that Mancini no longer understands anything, that he is boiled . Imagine. Instead, I want to talk about the World Cup in Qatar in winter, halfway through the season in Europe: it’s a scandal. And don’t make me go any further.”
Reja, do you play too much?
«Yes, the calendars should be reviewed, perhaps the qualification mechanism, but it’s not my job, there are managers and international federations who have to think about it. I only see that there are too many injuries».
Maybe UEFA and Fifa are getting attracted by the whirlwind of entertainment…
«I don’t know, even if I have to say that after the pandemic I see the public as more present, involved and enthusiastic. You will see here in Albania for this friendly, there will be a full house ».
Here too: it will be for the recovery after Covid, it will be for the results of Udinese, it is certain that the Friuli stadium is often full.
“I saw. And you know that it gives me enormous pleasure. I’ve always had a soft spot for the Friulian black and white, ever since I was a kid. I still remember when dad took me to Moretti. It was 1954 when I saw Selmosson with Udinese. On a professional level, my career has never taken me to Udine, but I recognize the Pozzos’ great foresight and knowledge of football. Otherwise you are not there for grace received at high levels for so many years”.