The sad joy of 23 years ago The big match that made history – Sport

Salernitana-Venezia next Saturday evokes an unforgettable match of 23 years ago, which only fans over thirty can remember clearly. It was played on 10 May 1998 in a crowded but silent Arechi, with the flags lowered and the banners praising the regained Serie A not fully deployed to respect the serious mourning that had struck Sarno and the neighboring centers. It was a D-Day full of expectations, but made sad by the mud that killed 160 people in their sleep in the night between 5 and 6 May. The two contenders faced each other with the non-negotiated pact not to sink the blows, as they say in the boxing jargon; and moreover to the men of Delio Rossi a draw was needed to be mathematically sure of the promotion with 5 days in advance, while the lagoon’s interest was not to tease an opponent who, in Venice, in the first round, had shown his clear superiority, winning 3-0, with two goals from the unforgettable Marco Of Vaio and the third of Greco, and taking the lead without giving up. We played, therefore, in slow motion, so much so that in the last 6-7 minutes, and it was clearly understood, the guests invited the hosts to do melina.
The two teams were the most gifted and brilliant in a Serie B lot in which there had never been so many noble fallen league winners. Turin, Genoa, Cagliari and Verona on paper were considered 90 calibers, and the outsiders they seemed to have little space. But the predictions were denied by the championship which told another story. Before the Venice and, immediately after, the Salernitana monopolized the primacy leaving to Cagliari of Ventura third place and fourth to Toro which, however, the grenades of the Mole were blown by Perugia in extremis.
In their second frontal clash 6 days from the end of the tournament (today there are 5 missing), Salernitana and Venice decided to enjoy a relaxing Sunday after the stress imposed on the grenades by a long escape and on the lagoons by a nerve-wracking chase. The audience watched 90-plus minutes of harmless pantomime performed by two teams exchanging caresses and bows instead of jabbing muscles and poisonous thrusts. And in the end he brought together so many mimes in the delirium of a choreography never forgotten by those who lived it. Fifteen days later, on May 24, the same indulgent treatment was not reserved for Monza beaten with a heavy 4-1 by a Salernitana who returned to her ruthless role as a war machine, which forgave her opponent nothing.
This had to be written to complete the information on the two next opponents who will get in the way of the grenades in the race to the second place that gives direct access to Serie A.
For the avoidance of doubt, it must be recognized that the context in which we play today is profoundly different from the one just mentioned. Apart from the names of the actors who have changed, the championships have been hit at the heart of their technical-competitive figure by a devious and obscure evil that is hard to face. Pandemic, fear of the circulation of an invisible virus, infections that knock out the best of players, deserted stadiums and dormant enthusiasm, are conditioning elements whose extent is unknown.
Never has there been such an exasperating and frustrating situation. The same Salernitana who today has been attempting the feat expected for 23 years is different from that of 1997-98. How important are the prohibitions and privations that put our spirit of endurance to the hardest test? And how much is the desolation of Arechi without voices, without flags, without emotional impulses, without encouragement and, even, without whistles and mockery? We remained tied to the irresistible team of Marco Di Vaio, of the brothers German, of captain Breda, of Quick, Dancing e Franceschini; of the two Salerno from Mariconda Fusco e De Cesare; by Delio Rossi and the president Aliberti. But how not to admire Fabrizio’s patrol Beavers, the coach with the heart of a philanthropist, capable of reopening a dream in health and social conditions, rather than technical, so precarious? However things go in the next five days and in the playoffs, if there will be for the grenades, it is sure that Castori and his boys have already obtained a place of respect in the history of the grenade club.
For all the reasons explained, next Saturday’s match will also be different. Venice, it must be sworn, will not ask the grenades to make melina, but will fight with bayonets grafted, knowing that they will be repaid with the same coin by an opponent, who is proving to be stronger than the hidden and devious adversities that threaten. the daily life of all of us, and that continues to fight for a second place that is no longer a mirage now that Lecce is injured and less sure than two Sundays ago.
We all know these things. What we do not know is what can happen in minutes in a football as fragile, precarious and exposed as the one played in the hellish season of the pandemic and the millions of deaths of Covid-19. And then we just have to lull ourselves into the illusion that the 90 ‘we are about to live belong to a normal football waiting for this persistent nightmare to leave us forever.
May the Arechi soon return to be filled with choirs and flags moved by the hot South wind.
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