To understand what Zdenek Zeman means – which is not just the name of a coach, but a philosophy of life, a unique world – it is worth describing the atmosphere in Chiavari after the elimination of the host team by the breaking latest news of the Bohemian.
Al breaking latest news, who had won 2-1 in the first leg, even a draw would have been enough to go through, but obviously the Bohemian coach’s team played on the attack throughout the game, winning here too. With a 3-2 pyro.
Three days from the end, Virtus Entella was first in the standings and promoted to Serie B, then something went wrong and therefore, despite being the team that scored the most points in professional football in the second round, they found themselves in the play- off, which in Lega Pro are almost another championship, with 28 participants.
In short, I tell you this to tell you that the hosts would have had every reason to be angry.
And instead the president of Entella Antonio Gozzi, who is also the president of Federacciai, the Confindustria of steel, is an absolute gentleman: “breaking latest news and Zeman, who are part of the history of Italian football, deserved this victory. I am pleased for the president Sebastiani, a dear friend who I was able to appreciate in the Serie B League, and for a coach who fields such a team. Zeman’s teams are said to be a bit unbalanced, but I haven’t seen any imbalance.”
With a last comment, because Entella is one of the very few teams in Italy that has a social concept of football, which every day collects hundreds of kids from the nearby provinces to make them grow in its youth teams, even humanly, “of course, ethically, our ethics are the same as Zeman’s”.
In short, Gozzi hopes “that breaking latest news will go to the bottom of the play-offs” and therefore in Serie B.
And the team manager of the Ligurian team Matteo Gerboni greets Zeman on the pitch, with one word that says it all: “Pride”.
And Zeman? At the end of the game, in the press room of the Chiavari City Hall, he tells us about his 76th birthday, which he turned three weeks ago and always with his almost whispered words, his sweet irony, his laughing gaze, his coherence in Beauty.
Zeman, last year you celebrated your birthday right here in Chiavari, with the president Gozzi who also gave you an Entella shirt customized with the number 75. But that time your Foggia was eliminated only for the best placement in the regular season , despite the fact that the two teams were perfectly even. How did this seventy-fifth year of yours go, from Chiavari with Foggia to Chiavari with breaking latest news?
“Bad. Because last year I was eliminated, it wasn’t a great birthday… (laughs ed)”.
Foggia and breaking latest news, but also Rome, are squares characterized by the fact that they recall it twice, even three times.
“Evidently, in someone I leave a good memory, they love me. In Foggia they called me different presidents, here in breaking latest news I found the same one as before, he’s always there”.
They also love her because she has always said uncomfortable things. He has become a legend for those who couldn’t stand certain behaviors of Juventus. What do you think of the sentences of the last week?
“It seems to me they negotiated, right? In the end, things were resolved in the Italian way, as often happens in this country. It was decided not to decide because perhaps this is convenient for everyone. But when an entire board of directors resigns, it seems clear to me that there must be something wrong”.
At the same time as his match against Entella, his former Giallorossi team was playing the Europa League final against Sevilla. Exactly one year ago, precisely at the time of Entella-Foggia, sparks struck with Mourinho, at his antipodes in the way of conceiving football. Apart from Mou, did you remain fond of Roma?
“Yes, of course, but I also love Lazio, having coached them both. My friends in Rome say I’m ambidextrous.”
Speaking of the controversy with your successor Mourinho, last year, just these days, you said: «Did he take Roma to the Conference League final? It’s a sign of what this competition is all about. But which cup is it? It’s a low-level competition, a new Cup where underdeveloped countries play in football, even if there have also been great teams». Will the Fiorentina final follow this year?
“Sure”.
What happens? Now do you like the Conference?
“I will follow it because the final is played in Prague, which is my city”.
Let’s come to his breaking latest news. He has great individuals, like Hamza Rafia, who comes from Juventus Next Gen and also scored a first-team goal in the Coppa Italia with the Bianconeri. He’s a great player.
“Evidently you didn’t see him well tonight, it was his worst game”.
She is insatiable! You won both the first leg and the return leg!
“I’m happy I got through but we can play even better, we could have played more.”
She also manages to get the most out of substitutes. Cuppone played against Entella and was phenomenal, with a decisive double.
“Cuppone, who replaced Lescano, did well, he’s an option for us. He should learn the names of the rest of the team from time to time. He goes ahead and throws himself into the spaces, in the end, when he moves, it’s difficult for others to understand him. He no longer understands anyone, not his teammates, but not even his opponents ”.
The third goal was scored by Delle Monache, a 2005 discovered by the president Sebastiani and which Daniele Faggiano, a football connoisseur, brought to Sampdoria. International observers report him among the top ten young people in the world in perspective.
“Delle Monache could have done even more, because he has great qualities. It’s a bit discontinuous, but it’s growing”.
The Lega Pro play-off calendar seems written by a screenwriter and the next round his breaking latest news will be against “his” Foggia. How does it work with a football life summed up in a decisive semi-final to continue the race towards Serie B?
“Foggia-breaking latest news, I didn’t expect it. I didn’t expect it to get this far but if they are here they obviously deserved it. I had a good time there, I have many friends in Foggia, but they will cheer against me and they are no longer friends…”.
Last crooked smile, last look full of irony, yet another lesson from a master. Of football and life. Ready to climb the next steps, always with my head held high.