[FM08] American Calcio

Thursday, March 27
Naturally, someone has leaked the news of the “Supporters” letter to the media, which created quite a controversy here in Padua.

We are leaving tomorrow for Busto Arsizio and I will be 150 miles away from Patty while the worst of it is happening. It is bad enough at the moment that I suggested getting her a hotel room to serve as a safe house while I’m gone.

Media was everywhere at my training session this morning and that was quite upsetting to me. We are playing for a playoff place, we need to win to stay ahead of Novara and what people want to talk about is basically anything but football.

The helplessness I feel isn’t about the letter sent to me – it’s about leaving Patty, to discharge my responsibility of managing a very important match. One of these things is a lot more important to me than the other, and now the questions about my commitment can be fairly asked.

I received assistance from other club employees when they set up a media cordon, and that helped keep people out of my face. The changing rooms have always been ‘players and staff only’ so once we got in there, we were safe from prying lenses.

Despite it all, we did do well at training this morning and I think the players’ focus is as good as can be expected. Though to make sure, I sat everyone down after the session for a heart-to-heart.

“Fellows, this is all on me,” I said. “I can’t control any of what’s happened here but the end result is going to be a test that is unfair to each and every one of you. I want to apologize for what has gone on this week and remind you that I appreciate your professionalism and dedication. You’ve done well this week and I have every reason to believe you will do well this weekend.”

Crovari, as captain, now spoke.

“Gaffer, you’re a human being,” he said. “We know it’s hard sometimes. We would appreciate a quieter scene as players but sometimes bad things happen in life as they do in football. We’ll get through it and we’ll do our best for a result on Saturday.”

I thanked the players again and they headed to lunch, while I headed out to the club offices to try to get rid of the media. They wouldn’t leave until I talked, so I had no option.


“I’m not worried about threats,” I said. “People have sent hate mail to football managers since they started playing the sport. It’s not going to affect me.”

“What about your girlfriend, who was the one assaulted?”

“No comment.”

They looked at me like I had two heads. Then, I commented.

“Look, what do you want me to say, that she’s living in terror?” I said, my anger beginning to rise. “Do you want me to embolden people who would write something like that and send it to my desk? If I were taking steps, do you honestly think I’d tell you what they were? I mean, I realize I’m just an ignorant Yankee but I didn’t fall off the turnip truck yesterday, know what I mean?”

Silence reigned for a few moments as I let out my frustration. Finally, I spoke again.

“If anyone wants to ask me about football, I’d welcome it.”


My main concern is naturally for Patty, who seems to be holding up better than I am for the short term.

I did go to see her this evening, after clearing it with the local constabulary. Not my date, mind you, but that it was okay to travel to her apartment building.

The investigation is centering around groups of hardcore supporters – though I shudder to use that term since there’s no way they are what I consider to be true fans – from both Padova and Venezia. If there’s an alliance between supporters of both these groups, there’s only one reason they could be united.

That would be me, I suppose. When you’re not the people’s choice in some quarters, life can be hell. I’m learning that right now.

Still, I can’t let it affect me, especially at this point in our fixture list. Saturday’s match is very important to the club and after that, we play Cup matches that the board expects me to win. Things aren’t getting any easier and won’t get easier from this point forward.

Her look of determination inspired me.

“I read what you had to say this afternoon,” she said. “Don’t you give in to them, Rob. Don’t do it. I want these two put away for what they did to me and I know I won’t give in to them either.”

I smiled at her and she advanced to my arms.

“Besides,” she said, “this cloud may have a silver lining. Who knows, I may have to come back to your place to stay for awhile!”

Friday, March 28
With great apprehension, I left with the team for Busto Arsizio this afternoon to prepare for tomorrow’s match.

There was no activity in court today and there won’t be this weekend, either. That made me feel somewhat better as Padua disappeared behind us to the east on what is now becoming the oh-so-familiar trip to Milan.

I’ve started to pick out landmarks as we drive, to help make the drive go a little faster. Yet as we drove, my thoughts were with Patty, who is again at my apartment for the weekend.

I’ll have my first choice eleven for this match, mainly due to the upcoming schedule. I’ve made my choice on how we’ll line up and the league will take priority.

I verified this choice in conversation with my chairman on the trip west.

“We have a road match we need to win, our Cup tie is on the road at midweek and then Novara,” I explained. “The squad players have done very well in the Cup so far, but Novara is the match we need to win more. If we get a result against them, we might be able to set out the first choice eleven for the home half of the Teramo Cup tie.”

“I assume you have plans to avoid a loss at Teramo?” he asked.

“I think we can handle them,” I answered. “The video I’ve seen shows they are a Serie C2 side and deserve to be, with no disrespect to them. We have a better side. I would like to get to Euganeo with an away goal or a clean sheet. Either will do and I think the squad players are capable of doing that.”

“Very well,” he said. “The board agrees with you that the league fixtures must take priority. We still do believe you can reach the semifinal per your expectation but if this does not happen we will sustain you. Still, you must do your best on all fronts.”

“I wouldn’t ask for anything less from me,” I answered.

Then, I called Masolini to the front of the coach (and away from the poker game) for a little heavy-duty thinking on our team sheets for the next ten days.


I also didn’t mind missing my regular Friday media gaggle.

The last thing I need is more people piling on the pressure with regard to either the pending trial of Patty’s alleged assailants or the pending end of the season. I need a day away and today I got one. That felt nice.

But there is something that feels quite odd about leaving the woman I love when the week has gone like this one has. It’s a normal thing to want to protect her, but the police have advised me that it’s safe to travel. Presumably if there are other conspirators around, they’re laying low while the police make their enquiries.

I naturally wonder if they will find more of these “supporters” around or if the police will simply stop looking after awhile and give them another opportunity to strike. Police obviously keep track of known hooligans so one would assume these people are minding their p’s and q’s until the heat is off.

Such things prey on my mind. It’s just one of the things that makes being a victim so difficult – and I wasn’t even driving the car that crashed. I can only imagine what it must be like for Patty to have this situation unresolved.

Neither of us could sleep. I was half expecting her to call and at about 2:00 in the morning, she did. I answered on the first ring of my mobile phone.

“You couldn’t sleep either,” I said, by way of greeting.

“Not a wink,” she said. “Not because I’m scared, either. I just miss you terribly.”

“I miss you too, babe,” I answered. “It sounds to me like you need a hug.”

“I need you next to me,” she said. “So you’re close.”

“Hang in there,” I said. “I’ll be home tomorrow after the match and we’ll have a nice day Sunday. How does that sound?”

“Like I wish it were Saturday evening,” she said. “Hurry home, Rob.”

Saturday, March 29
Pro Patria v Padova – Serie C1A

We have assured ourselves of a playoff place but we made it much harder on ourselves than we had to. The game wasn’t nearly as close as the score, yet we still almost found a way to split the points.

Worse yet, the trouble we had came in the last five minutes of the match, which means we still have work to do in terms of choking off opponents.

Positively, we scored three goals – we haven’t done that in almost four months, since the January 7 win at Venezia. Our scoring totals have hovered around the acceptable level for much of calendar 2008, but today was the first day in some time where I felt we were a threat to score whenever we got the ball into a favorable position.

We have Muzzi to thank for that. The veteran picked up a brace today and did it riding right on the razor’s edge. Both of his goals had a hint of offside about them – and the first one may have been.

The howls of disappointment at his opening goal 36 minutes into the match after a wonderful piece of skill to control Caputo’s entry ball were somewhat muted. That’s because only 1,116 supporters showed up to watch the match and they didn’t make a whole lot of noise.

The Pro Patria bench made plenty, though, and they had a point. Keeper Luca Anania was also exercised, waving his arms in disgust at the referee’s assistant. Still, the the flag stayed down even after Muzzi appeared to bolt beyond the defense just a fraction too early.

There’s really nothing you can say when something like that happens because every manager has several instances a year when he feels the flag should have either come up or stayed down.

In fairness to the assistants, offside is quite probably the most difficult official’s call in world sport on many occasions, especially when it’s called on a long pass. The eyes of a human being can only focus on one thing at a time, and when a long ball is hit an official must sometimes rely on more than one of his senses to make a call.

When you add screaming fans into the mix you get an idea of what can happen. The resulting sensory overload prompts some managers to ask whether the assistant has taken leave of all his senses at the same time.

Yet, we got the break this time and headed to the changing room one goal to the good. Pro Patria hadn’t done much against our defense and I saw no reason to make dramatic changes as we went out in search of our second goal.

We didn’t have to wait long for it, with Muzzi finishing his brace in the first minute after the restart.

This time he worked a 1-2 wall pass in beautiful combination with Gentile, who played a strong match today in the center of the park. The return feed again saw Roberto burst through the defense, and again the back four raised their arms for offside. Again the flag stayed down, and again Muzzi beat Anania toward his right post.

Now the home bench was irate, berating the fourth official for what they saw as a double insult. This claim had less merit, though, and I was inwardly happy we had scored a goal that could much more easily be interpreted as good.

From that point forward, we controlled the second half right up to the closing moments. Caputo then made it 3-0 on 86 minutes by using his head as well as his right foot.

Grujic, on as a late substitute for Gentile, was felled just outside the penalty area and Caputo noted that the referee had allowed him to take a quick free kick if he wished.

He did wish, and the ball was by Anania for a three-goal advantage. This time the upset on the home bench was at the defense for not being prepared to defend the free kick. Caputo’s quick thinking would turn out to be important for more reasons than one.

This was where things got tricky, because with four minutes to play in normal time most of my players figured they didn’t have to play defensively any more.

Substitute Guerrino Gasparello noticed that, and virtually from Pro Patria’s kickoff weaved his way past Grujic, Paz and finally Faísca to launch a shot past Orlandoni to make it 3-1.

That gave them energy and while I scowled at my defense for letting the opposition off the mat, they prepared to score again.

This time it was straight up Route One, a thundering punt that traveled sixty yards from Anania to the suddenly wing-footed Gasparello. He strolled right between Sacchetti and Faísca before finshing high to Orlandoni’s right in the first minute of injury time.

Now the place was alive, our lead was one goal, and I had a serious problem. If I had access to a time out as in North American ice hockey, I would have used it here.

The players were shaken and instead of screaming, I quickly called my central defenders over to me while the ball was returned to midfield for our kickoff.

“Get the ball into the corners and keep it there,” I said. “And you might want to think about watching Gasparello a little closer, yeah?”

I then smiled at my defenders in an effort to take off a little pressure. Faísca, who had been responsible at least in part for both Pro Patria goals, showed some surprise.

“Shut him off, Vasco,” I said. “These guys gave you no trouble at all for 85 minutes.”

With only three minutes of added time, though, there was little time for Pro Patria to surge forward for a potential equalizer. When the whistle blew, I shook hands with Pro Patria manager Marco Rossi and we hurried off the pitch. I was pleased at the win but quite upset at how the last few minutes had gone.

The result was me taking a few minutes to think about my team talk as the players waited for me to speak. Finally, I stepped out of the visiting manager’s office to say what I felt I had to say.

“This is a warning to you, fellows,” I said. “You came here and got a result so we’re going home no worse than a playoff side. Congratulations for that. And I don’t want to concentrate too much on the last five minutes after 85 minutes of very solid play. But you have to work for ninety minutes – not just when you feel like it, but all the time. Today they scored twice on you in four minutes and they damn nearly wiped out a three-goal lead with four minutes of regular time and three minutes of stoppage time.”

“You know the last moments of the match weren’t acceptable, but the first 85 minutes was frankly excellent. I’m going to stay positive here and remind you that no matter what happens to the end of the season, you are in the playoffs. That’s because you’ve worked hard from the first day of training and you deserve credit for that. Well done!”

I then went to the interview area and heard Rossi complaining to media about how two of our goals were offside, the third was scored through chicanery and how he should have beat the league leaders 2-nil.

“This is what happens when a team at the top of the table plays a team that isn’t,” he said. “We feel we should have had three points which would help us out of the playdown places. Referee error cost us this match.”

As one, the journos turned to me as Rossi stomped off to his changing room. I stepped into the interview position and for the second time in ten minutes, said what had to be said.

“I do feel sorry for Marco to a point,” I said. “Roberto’s first goal had a shade of offside in it but his second looked good to me. As for the third, the attacking team can take a free kick whenever it likes provided the referee doesn’t intervene, and as far as I’m concerned it’s not our fault that his defenders weren’t ready. Whether they should have beaten us, I’m not going to speculate. Maybe if we go ahead 1-0 on the free kick we hold them off at the end and still win by one. So you don’t go on with that kind of talk.”

“Were you distracted at all by the events of this week?”

“Not once the match started,” I said. “Look, I’m a human being, okay? What happened to us this week is out of our control now and in the hands of authorities. I have to go on with my life and that’s what I intend to do. So does my girlfriend. We expect to emerge stronger, better people because of it.”


Truth be told, though, we were fortunate to have had Caputo’s goal to fall back on. Rossi was closer to the truth than he may have realized – the last eight minutes of today’s match were an absolute disaster for us defensively and after 29 matches, that’s not a good sign.

Novara handled Lecco 2-0 at home, meaning the visitors are now winless in their last eleven and are a virtual certainty for automatic relegation. Cremonese has passed once-invincible Sassuolo and into third place. Their 3-0 dismissal of Citadella is their second win on the trot since we played them.

	        Pl       W	D	L	Pts
Padova 	        29	18	9	2	63
Novara	        29	18	7	4	61
Cremonese	29	14	11	4	53

There’s a lot to smile about. We are in the playoffs and in pole position with the final stretch of games still to play. Bring it on.
Pro Patria 2-3 Padova

Sunday, March 30
We didn’t have team activities today, so we had a chance to recharge our batteries.

Patty was as good as her word as well – she was ready for me to pick her up at her apartment after we returned from the road. She had switched back and forth – at police suggestion – during the weekend.

“I don’t like this as much,” she said, as she got into my car for the short drive to my apartment. “I’d rather meet you at the stadium. I think it’s fun to watch you come back from the road.”

“Honestly, I love seeing you there,” I said. “What man wouldn’t?”

“I don’t care about other men,” she teased. “I just want to be with you.”

“Time’s a-wasting,” I smiled, putting the car into gear and driving away.


Monday, March 31
The squad players are fired up – we’re back in the Cup at midweek but unfortunately spending more time on the coach to get there.

The players now getting back into the eleven don’t care about travel time. They are happy to simply be playing. Yet we only have two days to prepare for that match and frankly my thoughts are far more closely tuned to the weekend, when Novara visits for our rematch.

They have problems of their own in Novara, though – their quarterfinal Cup tie is against suddenly desperate Venezia and they’re going to have a much more difficult time of it than we ought to have at midweek. They also have their home leg first so they won’t be traveling at midweek.

There are lots of little equalizers between the clubs but the fact of the matter is that while they don’t have to beat us Sunday, they certainly can’t afford a loss. I’d like nothing better than to go five points clear with four matches to play. We did video work on Novara this morning and I had the full attention of my players.

To do that, though, we have to stop the “flying circus”, as even our media are starting to call Sunday’s opposition. I can’t get them to compliment my team, but they can use my words to praise our opponents.

Rubino has to be on everyone’s shortlist for Player of the Year, and he’ll get my vote since I can’t vote for any of my own players.

But if I get too far ahead of myself we’ll get bitten on Wednesday. Teramo is a club that’s putting all its eggs in the Cup as their league season is a lost cause.

They are the tenth-placed side in Serie C2B and are as mid-table a club as you’ll see in the lower leagues. Yet in the Cup they have played quite brilliantly, and deserve their place in the last eight.

Their club nickname is Il Diavolo, translated as “The Devil”. Unfortunately, at their level of play and given their place in the table, their devil has been in the details.

We had a full workthrough today and even though we have no video of Teramo we do have a rudimentary scouting report from former club employee Vittorio Rossi, who now lives in Teramo, which wound up on my desk with the morning mail.

I smiled as Christina handed over the envelope.

“Nothing threatening in there, I hope?” I asked, and she didn’t find that quite as funny as I did.

“Do not talk like that,” she said, stopping just short of being cross with me.

“I’m sorry, Christina,” I said, wiping the smile off my face.

“It isn’t funny,” she said. “These people are beasts. You and Signorina Myers are so wonderful together, it is a crime that people should interfere.”

“Literally,” I mused, opening the envelope.

I read Rossi’s words, and rang Balló to find out what Rossi had done for the club before my tenure. I found out he had been a physio and Balló, who was a holdover from the prior staff here, trusted his judgment.

Since Balló has been running my u-20 side with great effectiveness, I felt that was an opinion I could trust in turn, so I read through Rossi’s comments with interest.

DiNardo is going to make his return to the XI in place of the resting Muzzi, and Varricchio will play because he has to. I’m short on strikers with Paponi out of the mix and my reserve striker for the match will be Gentile, who has trained all season to learn a new position.

Grujic will get his first start for the club in central midfield. I think this is the ideal place to try him out and test his mettle, with DiVenanzio and the recalled Andrea Bovo holding down the wings.

My goal on Wednesday is to keep a clean sheet, and get Teramo on my home pitch to deal with them. Naturally we want the away goal but again, Sunday’s match is more important. The squad players will have to do a job.

Sestaro knows this as well. He congratulated me today on securing the win and the playoff place, but noted as I had that there were difficulties in obtaining it.

“We aren’t done working yet,” I promised my chairman. “We need to be better on Sunday and we have to be better on Sunday.”

“See that you are,” he said, in as close to a warning as he has ever given me. “We know the importance of this match and the board would like to see you win it.”

I nodded. Expectation can be a heady thing and right now my bosses are filled to their eyebrows with it. I don’t care for the inference if we lose, but frankly it’s quite possible for them to take our measure.

We know they can score and I know when we stand around in our own half we can be had. Just ask Pro Patria.

I have never in my life in this game looked past an opponent to get to another. I’m as close to that as I can get at the moment. I would frankly like for it to be Thursday.

Tuesday, April 1
Today was travel day so I missed my monthly meeting with the board. Instead, we’ll hold it Thursday after we return from the trip. Tonight, though, I am badly shaken and wondering what I am going do to next.

It was another day away from Patty when it would have been better from the point of view of my relationship to be at home. Today she was back in the Court of Assizes, and laid eyes on her alleged assailants for the first time since the accident.

I felt an inch tall as the coach sped to the southeast. I was traveling away from her when she needed me the most. Yet what happened when I arrived at Teramo’s stadium, Comunale, has shaken me to my core.

We got off the coach after a lighthearted trip of about three hours, and went inside for a brief training session on Teramo’s ground. I arrived in the changing room and headed into the visiting manager’s office to drop my travel gear on the desk. I found a note addressed to me sitting in the middle of the metal table.

Frowning, I opened it. It read:


The fact that it’s April Fool’s Day played into my thoughts, but only for a moment. Carefully, I put the letter back down on the desk and took out my mobile phone. I called Cipriani’s office in Venice and when he picked up, I told him what had happened.

“Inspector, I’ve gotten another letter,” I said. “It was addressed to me and waiting on the desk when I arrived here in Teramo.”

“Have you touched it?” he asked.

“I opened it. I didn’t know,” I said. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”

“Obviously, whoever did this knows your travel schedule,” he said. “I recommend security for you now. This has crossed the line.”

“This crossed the line a long time ago,” I said. “How is the investigation going?”

“Once I have that letter, I hope it will be going better,” he said. “Leave the letter where you found it and don’t touch anything. I will ring the local office and have them come to pick it up. In the meantime, go about your business.”

“Very well,” I said. “I’d certainly appreciate Patty being looked after while I am gone.”

“We will make sure our patrols are vigilant but you will wish to consider private security of some sort,” he said. “While she is in court she is quite safe. And she has the victims’ group to look after her.”

“I should be looking after her,” I said, venting my frustration.

“You are indisposed,” he noted, quite correctly. “You must do your job. In the meantime, we will continue our enquiries at your club offices.”

“That won’t go well,” I predicted. “I’d better tell my chairman.”

“We will tell your chairman,” Cipriani said. “From this point forward you are to go about your business in your usual way and let the police handle the questioning. I do not mean to sound harsh but you are now a victim of a crime as well, that of terroristic threats. I urge you to let us handle the work.”

I sighed heavily. “Very well, Inspector, but you know I would appreciate a speedy end to this.”

“Naturally. We will also inform your friends in Rome.”

With that, we hung up. My heart felt like it weighed ten tons but I couldn’t show that to my players, who were awaiting my arrival in the changing room.

I opened the door to the office and stepped out, with a forced smile on my face that felt odd. I spoke.

“Okay, fellows, let’s get to work.”

Wednesday, April 2
Teramo v Padova – Serie C Cup
The squad players did one thing I asked them to do tonight and despite the scoreline I’m heading back home well satisfied.

We’ll have the home match in a week and if we beat them we move on. I like our chances in that regard. We also suffered no injuries, so I’ll have a full squad available for selection on Sunday.

Unfortunately, we ought to have scored but didn’t. The astute reader will know what I mean by now. Yep. You guessed it.

Referee Domenico Massena put us on the penalty spot with three minutes to go in the first half when DiNardo was upended in the area. However, with Muzzi, Baú and Caputo all being rested, that left Paz to take the penalty.

In the truest Padova tradition, Pablo’s effort was saved by keeper Emanuele Nordi. He read the shooter and dove to his left to make a good save.

I speak English, Swedish, German, Spanish and Italian, but the first phrase that popped into my head while watching Paz’s rebound cleared into touch was Scottish vernacular and a wonderful phrase I learned at Rangers.

“At’s pish,” I snarled, knowing no one on the bench would have any idea what I meant but making my point to myself.

I was pretty unhappy. Our conversion rate from the spot is just not acceptable but with as many first-team players missing as I had out of the eleven, I had to accept our fate this time as being of my own making.

Yet as the match wore on it became increasingly obvious that our squad players could hold them. With twenty minutes remaining in the match I brought on both Baú and Muzzi looking for a breakthrough while still leaving the players able to recover for Sunday.

I had no such luck this time, though, with the Teramo defense packed tightly to deny us the away goal I sought. The full time whistle was a blessing of sorts, since it allowed me to shift my thoughts to Sunday.

“We did what we came here to do,” I said to a bemused Emilani after the match. “I realize you’re expecting us to carry all before us in the Cup competition as well but with Sunday’s match meaning what it does, I wanted a clean sheet here more than anything.”

The reporter then surprised me.

“I agree with you,” he said. “And believe it or not, that’s what I am going to write.”


I haven’t told anyone about the letter I got yesterday and I think that’s for the best. I’m trying to obey Cipriani’s instructions first, and second, I don’t want to unnecessarily worry anyone around me who might fear for their safety.

The police will notify anyone they feel is in danger and really, if there’s someone out there who wants a piece of me that badly, they can take their shot and leave everyone else out of it. It’s sad, it’s disgusting, but it’s real life.

I called Patty on the way home to see how she had handled the day. “Another day in court,” she said. “I’m going to testify tomorrow.”

“I want to be there,” I said immediately. “When will it happen?”

“In the morning,” she said. “I’m first on the agenda. But didn’t they threaten you?”

“Yes, they did,” I said. “But they didn’t scare me. I’ll be there for you, doing what I should have been doing from the beginning.”

One phone call to my chairman later, and my place at Patty’s side was assured.
Teramo 0-0 Padova

Thursday, April 3
Today was a busy day for reasons that had nothing to do with football.

Masolini took training this morning as I headed to Venice to support Patty. On the way, I took Cipriani’s advice. I called a private security firm and made arrangements for Patty’s protection. In the afternoon, I met with the board.

It’s getting pretty complicated to be around me at the moment and that was one of the topics of conversation. But, first things first.

Patty and I walked hand in hand into court this morning for her testimony. The public prosecutor, a 50-something man named Agostino Orsini, was waiting for us.

“Signorina Myers, thank you for being here,” he said, like Patty would have been anyplace else. “I will call upon you as the first witness and you’ll relate the events of 19 February. The defense will then of course be allowed cross-examination.”

“Let’s get it over with,” Patty said, tightening her grip on my hand. “I’d like to be as far away from those monsters as soon as you can arrange it.”


The story was sad. Orsini’s direct examination drew out the events of the day in stark detail. She saw them, in the dock together, and Patty was having a very hard time.

Patty told of leaving Padua early that morning to go to the State Department office in Venice to clear out her desk. No, she hadn’t told anyone of her travel plans. No, she had no reason to believe she might be in danger.

Her ride was uneventful until she noticed an older red Alfa Romeo matching her speed to the left. She didn’t think much of it and thought the driver might be trying to gain her attention for other purposes. Then a second Alfa, also older but blue in color, slipped in behind her.

The red car allowed the blue car into the passing lane and pulled in front of Patty, slowing violently. Other cars behind Patty’s began to honk their horns and Patty realized that now she was in trouble. Knowing there was no way off the road for a few miles, they again matched her speed as Patty tried to alter her speed for an escape.

She was too busy looking at the other driver to notice an upcoming bridge. Suddenly the red car sped ahead and the blue car rammed into Patty’s, forcing her against the bridge abutment at what she thought was about 110 KPH. Obviously, she remembered nothing after that.

Finally, Orsini got to brass tacks. “Can you identify the people in the other cars?”

“Yes, I can,” she said. “Those two. Over there.” She looked at them just long enough to point at them, bravely holding back her tears.

“Let the record show that Signorina Myers has identified the defendants,” he said.


Her cross-examination was not a pleasant experience to watch and it had to be even worse for her to endure.

I had to remind myself more than once that the attorneys were doing their jobs just like anyone would do theirs, but it wasn’t fun to watch them try to twist Patty’s words into statements that would help their clients.

One tried to elicit Patty’s raw emotion, suggesting that she’d say anything for the sake of her own peace of mind. That brought objections both from the public prosecutor as well as her own victim’s attorney, who observed that she was being badgered as the victim of a crime.

It wasn’t hard for the judge to restore decency to the cross-examination under such circumstances, but the stress was starting to show on Patty’s beautiful face. She did the best she could.

Every so often she would sneak a glance in my direction and I gave her the most reassuring smiles I could. She needed to speak her piece and let the system do its work.

“You poor thing,” I sighed, watching the defense attorneys probing for weaknesses and conflicting statements. One asked how she could remember the faces of her attackers if she had been in hospital for concussion. Before she could answer, and after understandable objections, he withdrew his question. I frowned at the tactic but more than anything I wanted it to be over.

After half an hour of cross-examination she was allowed to step down. She walked straight out of the courtroom and I followed her into a group of media denied entrance to the courtroom.

“No questions,” I said, taking charge of the situation even as I took Patty’s hand. “We’re leaving now.”


I actually arrived for the end of morning training, and was on the ground before we broke for lunch. Masolini was working on a defensive drill when I walked up behind him.

“How’s it going?” I asked, and he wheeled in surprise.

“Rob, glad you’re back,” he said. “The players are going well today. How is Patty?”

“Angry, violated, you name it. She’s at my place taking a nap. She didn’t sleep all night and she needs time to rest.”

“At least it is done for her,” he observed. “I wish it were done for you too.”

“What do you mean?”

“Rob, I’m no fool. I saw the police go into the office at Teramo when you thought everyone else was on the ground on Tuesday. Something bad happened. What was it?”

I looked at him with new eyes. I had figured him for a keen observator on the pitch but not in matters pertaining to my office.

“I got a threatening letter,” I said. “I’d prefer to leave it at that if you don’t mind.”

“Someone who knew your schedule?”

“Evidently.” Then he realized what I was thinking.

“Rob, I had nothing to do with that letter, you know that, don’t you?”

“Of course,” I said. “Nothing to worry about, right?”


“The last month was good from a football standpoint, but I must say we are not used to the police questioning board members.”

That was perhaps the understatement of the season. I could only commisserate as my monthly meeting with the board began over lunch.

“Look, I really don’t know what to say about that…” I began, but Sestaro spoke next.

“The inspector was quite correct in his manner but we are not criminals,” he said.

“I never suggested you were. I wanted to call ahead and let you know what to expect. I was under police order not to.”

“I hope this will all be resolved quickly,” he said. “We need a return to normal around this club. The staff are nervous, the speculation is not appropriate and we have the biggest match of the season coming up on Sunday.”

“Believe me, none of those things are lost on me,” I said. “There’s no one who wants this resolved more than I do.”

“You have done a commendable job on the pitch but the distractions simply must cease,” he said. “We understand you have done a good job but for everyone’s sake you must do everything you can to avoid further controversy.”

“What about controversy I can’t control?” I asked. “What if the papers decide to start in again?”

“You cannot control what they write,” he said. “But again, for everyone’s sake, you must keep a correct profile.”

I frowned. “I’ve done that,” I said. “People stalk my girlfriend, they threaten me, and cause who knows how much discord in the community – and that’s supposed to be my fault?”

“We accuse you of nothing,” he said. “Yet you need to keep your focus on the reason we hired you in the first place.”

“Feel free to judge my focus,” I said, with an impertinence that in retrospect surprises me. “Eighteen wins, nine draws and two losses in twenty-nine matches. We’re one match away from reaching your goal of the semifinals of the Serie C Cup. We have done quite well here and it’s because of the focus we have kept.”

Then I shut up. There’s no sense in arguing with people who don’t, or won’t, understand.


Miserably, I sat in the living room this evening, with Patty nestled against me.

“I don’t get it,” I said. “They sounded like they were about to let me go today.”

She looked up from her position against my shoulder. “Babe, would you really be all that upset if they did?” she asked.

That was a thought I hadn’t had before. I thought it through.

“Compared to what you went through today, it would be nothing,” I said. “Honestly, nothing at all.”

“That isn’t what I asked,” she said. “If something happened, would that bother you?”

I thought it through. “From a professional standpoint, yes it would,” I said. “I’ve worked my tail off to get to this point and…”

“…but what about from a personal standpoint?” she asked. “From the standpoint of you and me?”

This was an important question. I looked down at her and she returned my gaze intently.

“Well, Rob?”

“I lost you once,” I said. “I won’t do that again as long as you’ll have me.”

“Today has been a horrible day,” she said. “I want you to hold me and not let go.”

I folded her into my arms and even though she had started the day badly the night went quite well indeed.

Seems like the board are cranking up the pressure. A couple of wins would certainly help to ease their discomfort.

A couple of BIG wins ...
___

Friday, April 4
I had a whole day to concentrate on the biggest match of the season and I won’t say I minded that.

Patty had been quite insistent that she wanted me to look after her last night. So the day began perfectly. I looked over at her lovely sleeping form at sunrise, finally getting the rest she needed, and simply looked at her for about half an hour.

Finally, though, I had to go. I got up, kissed her softly on the forehead, and prepared to face my own day.

I arrived at the ground determined to have a quiet and peaceful day, and for just this once, that’s exactly what I got. Patty’s situation made me much happier, knowing she was safe at my apartment and now under private security watch, and I set to my job.

Obviously, I’m going to change out most of the squad players for Sunday. Orlandoni got a chance to rest while Cano was hardly bothered at Teramo, so most of my first choice eleven will have reasonably fresh legs for the match.

The players know full well what’s at stake here, and it showed in their attitudes. You could almost forget that the manager was dragging the club’s good name through the mud. At least in the eyes of some of the board members.

I was led to take some extra time in my program notes for Sunday to remark about the events of the last week and how I wanted to forget about them.

“No one said the job I hold would be an easy one, but it’s safe to say that what has happened to me over the last two weeks helps no one associated with Calcio Padova.

A few weeks ago I used this space to tell fans that we had to dream to get to the place we wanted to be. We have done that and we are in position today to make some of those dreams reachable for ourselves and for you, our loyal supporters.

Along the way, I have been placed in a situation not of my making that has placed the name of this club in the news for all the wrong reasons. I wish to publicly state my thanks to my chairman and the members of the club board for their patience and willingness to sustain me during a period of immense difficulty.

This is not a soap opera. It is not ‘Dream Team’ or any of the television shows that purport to show life at a football club. Yet it is surely the greatest personal test I have ever faced. Today, as we play an excellent opponent in Novara, it is our responsibility to perform as you expect us to perform. Despite all that has gone on of late, I have not lost sight of this key responsibility.

I have been accused of many things this season. I have been accused of being intransigent, of not utilizing my resources, and of taking the wrong approach to the game we all love so well. I dispute all these things, but the one thing I have never been accused of is shirking my responsibility.

This task is not complete. Promotion is not yet won, even though we have earned at least a place in the playoffs. I will work as hard as I possibly can right up until the final whistle of the last match, to earn victories for this club and to bring honor to this organization.

This is my promise to you. The last public promise I made has already been kept. We will fight to the end. Forza Padova!

- Rob Ridgway

Saturday, April 5
The visitors arrived today and had a full training session on the Euganeo pitch. They too know what’s at stake and not surprisingly, the drama is already high for tomorrow’s match.

For their part, Novara’s official party has said all the right things about the situation surrounding their opponents, but the official line they’ve taken is that they sympathize with me but plan to take full advantage of me being so distracted. Rightfully so.

Therefore, I want tomorrow’s match to provide a rude awakening for them. Our focus is good, we think we know how to play them from study of hours of video, and we have the confidence gained from keeping a clean sheet against them on their pitch. We won’t be caught out.

For their part, I’ve never been more impressed with the professionalism of my squad than I have been over the last 72 hours. They have quietly gone about their business, they’ve prepared for the match and have been a credit to themselves.

Masolini has fallen all over himself to prove his loyalty after his comment of the other day – and when the police visited the first team to question people you’d have been amazed to see how cooperative everyone suddenly became.

Everyone, that is, with the exception of my indignant board, which still seems to believe it’s above the law.

I suppose in a way that this shouldn’t surprise me – with the interaction that sometimes happens between Italian clubs and the law, you’d expect chairmen and board members to do everything they could do to proclaim their innocence.

I have more than the usual media here today as well, and I had to resort to the unusual step of a pre-match news conference to get everyone the quotes they wanted. Despite what has gone on over the last week, most people still do want to talk about football and believe me, that couldn’t be more welcome on more than one front.

Today, though, Emiliani hinted that he knows what went on at the board meeting, which worries me for a couple of reasons.

If he has the ear of someone on the board, that could spell big trouble down the road. And second, it means he could throw everything into chaos – including the police investigation – by simply reporting what he knows.

I can’t stop that and really wouldn’t be in any position to try. So all I can do is sit back, manage my club tomorrow, and hope my life doesn’t become collateral damage in the process.

Still, though, I think we are in good shape. Paz approached me after a team meeting I held before dismissing the players to their rest and told me as much.

“We are prepared to play and we want you to know if we win, it will be dedicated to Señorita Patricia,” he said, speaking to me in Spanish and using Patty’s full Christian name. Crovari approached as well – since I need his experience in the eleven tomorrow he is going to get the start – and he reiterated the vice-captain’s sentiment.

“Had I reached you first I would have said the same,” he said. “Pablo was quicker. He’s a younger man, you know.”

He smiled at me and I appreciated the attempt at humor.

“Gentlemen, I’m grateful,” I said, shaking both their hands. “Let’s make this a good match tomorrow. We all need one.”

A huge game ahead, win it for the Patricia!

Sunday, April 6
Padova v Novara – Serie C1A


We have some breathing room. After thirty league matches, we control our own destiny in our league thanks to a moment of brilliance from Eder Baú and ninety good minutes of work against a good club.

Before 7,086 loud supporters at Euganeo, we won the match but suffered two significant blows in the process.

Antonazzo and Crovari were both stretchered off during the first half, both with knee ligament injuries. They will both miss up to a month of play and it puts huge strain on the defenders.

Yet even in spite of that added adversity, the players still found a way to get the job done. For that, I couldn’t be more proud.

I was also heartened by the reception I got when the teams took the pitch at the start of the match.

I was the last one to enter the pitch area, and the crowd gave a loud and long ovation, some of them standing as they applauded. I thought it was a wonderful gesture and it showed there are still plenty of decent people in the world.

Some of those decent people even like me. That in itself is balm for my soul, and as I stood in the technical area while the teams prepared to start the match, I heard shouts of encouragement from the stand behind the benches. Either I haven’t taken the time to listen or people are figuring out that supporting the team means actually supporting them from time to time.

Rubino and Sinigaglia, who saw spot duty in Novara’s 1-0 cup win at home to Venezia during the midweek, kicked off the match and the battle was joined. From the first, our fans were loud and supportive, in exactly the sort of display I was hoping they would show.

Both managers worked the match from the touchline and there was never a thought of the sort of more sedate behavior we’re used to seeing in the higher leagues around Europe. We were ‘in it to win it’ as the phrase goes and as the teams battled back and forth we set a strong tempo for what turned out to be a very good lower league football match.

Both teams made strong challenges for the opening goal within the first twenty-five minutes with Sinigaglia missing just wide to Orlandoni’s left in nineteen minutes and Caputo replying with a rising drive that just flashed over the bar five minutes later.

It was a much more open match than the first meeting between the clubs, a tactical goalless draw. In short it was their kind of match so I was hoping to slow it down a bit to avoid taxing our defense.

Then we were taxed in a different way, as Crovari crumpled under a strong but fair challenge from midfielder Sandro Ciuffeteli just before the half-hour. He rolled on the ground in real pain for a minute before the physios rushed to him.

After a cursory examination it was obvious he couldn’t continue at pace so the physios motioned to me that I needed to make a substitution. They carried him straight back to the changing room for an examination and that in itself was cause for concern as I brought on Paz in Crovari’s place. After playing the full ninety minutes at Teramo at midweek I figured I could call on Pablo if I needed him but I had hoped it wouldn’t be this early.

Six minutes later, I was making another substitution, this time for Antonazzo. He cut sharply trying to defend an entry ball to the box and twisted his knee, falling in much the same manner as Crovari had done.

There are times in this game where managers wonder if they are cursed. This was certainly one of those times, as I brought Cotroneo into the match at right back. Both my spare defenders were now into the match and I had burned through two of my substitutions in the first half. That was cause for real concern, especially if it became necessary to chase the game.

Before the half ended, though, we eliminated that reason for worry, since we gained the lead in first half injury time. As we’ve done so often in the second half of the season it came from a corner, this time with Baú providing for Varricchio’s free header from the six-yard box.

Euganeo erupted with the kind of noise I haven’t heard since I’ve been here. They had a lot to be happy about, both with the home side taking the lead and for Varricchio’s return to song.

We got to the break with the lead and I had a chance to congratulate my team on the solid first half they played. “Halfway home,” I smiled. “Excellent work by the defenders. We’ve got a bit of work on to keep the clean sheet with two new players in the mix but everyone’s done wonderfully to get us to this point. Forty-five more good minutes will make all the difference!”

The players reacted well. They’ve come a long way since the beginning of the season, to the point where the six-letter word ‘praise’ is not treated like a four-letter word instead.

In the driver’s seat, we could afford to play our kind of match in the second half – spreading out the field, making Novara defend the entire turf to take the possession they needed. I held no illusions – they were still a threat to score at any time – but holding the early lead changed the whole complexion of the match.

The second half started much like the first had. The ball moved freely up and down the pitch as two evenly matched teams probed for weakness. Again, Sacchetti and Faísca blanketed Rubino and Sinigaglia respectively, and the frustration of the visitors began to mount.

They shifted first to 4-3-3 and then finally to 4-2-4 with fifteen minutes to play. We handled the transitions smoothly, having seen how they played in each formation through our scouting reports. We appeared to have the situation well under control.

Then, eleven minutes from time, we made a mistake. It wasn’t made by the central defense – rather, it was made by the substitute Cotroneo, who was late in getting to Sandro Ciuffeteli’s late raid into his area of responsiblity. Just like that, the ball was at the defender’s feet, and seconds later it was behind Orlandoni for his fifth goal of the league season, tying the score.

The visitors’ bench erupted with joy and relief, while the Padova crowd showed its disappointment. Still, though, nothing had been lost – they needed to win much more than we did.

My defenders showed their disgust, especially Cotroneo, who has lobbied for more playing time. Our late-match trouble with defensive play was again showing itself and I could see the frustration in the eyes of my defenders.

While Novara’s Sinigaglia ran the ball back up to the center circle for our kickoff, I thought our entire season might have come to a crucial juncture. I gestured to Sacchetti, palms at waist height and pointed downward in a “take-it-easy” gesture. Novara’s confidence was up and now that they had finally dented our defense I suppose that was natural.

We reacted well, quite unlike we had against Pro Patria. We composed ourselves in short order and created a good chance on 81 minutes only to see Muzzi miss wide left.

To their credit Novara didn’t back down. They kept both Rubino and Sinigaglia forward looking for the break that would put them top of the table, but it was Baú getting tripped up twenty-five yards from goal that turned the tide five minutes from the end of normal time.

This time Baú asked for the referee’s assistance in backing up Novara’s players to take the free kick in a slower fashion. When he was done it turned out to be well worth the wait. A superbly taken free kick found the top right corner of the net to put us ahead again and send Euganeo into raptures.

Baú has come a long way from his bout with low morale after Christmas. Now he is perhaps our best all-around player and has scored some huge goals for us. None were any bigger than this one, though, and as he enjoyed the adulation of the fans it was the turn of our players to tear around in joy.

Again, I turned to Sacchetti, and again I made exactly the same motion – “take it easy”. Keeping a level head had helped us get off the floor from Novara’s goal and we needed to keep the same level head to usher the three points to safety on our ledger.

This time, though, there was no last-minute defensive breakdown and when the whistle went for full time the excitement on the part of my players was palpable. We had done a lot of good for ourselves with the win but now I had work of a different kind to do.

The coaching staffs exchanged congratulations, I exchanged a quiet word with manager Gian Cesare Discepoli, and we headed to our changing room with the crowd’s cheers still ringing in our ears. The first thing I did was wait for the cheering to subside before addressing the troops.

“Hell of a job,” I roared, and the players reacted with a rousing yell that I’m sure could be heard all over our half of the stadium’s lower level. “That’s the way to finish off a match!”

Then I waited for quiet, and when I got it I moved on.

“You are five points ahead but there are still twelve points to play for,” I reminded them. “Anyone who thinks this is won has another guess coming and if you train like you think it’s won I’m going to sit you down. This was a great effort today and you’ve all done extremely well, but we have to go right back out there on Wednesday for a Cup tie that isn’t won. Then we go right back out there next Sunday for a league match that isn’t won, either.”

They looked a bit surprised, but then I eased off.

“Enjoy tonight. You’ve done well,” I said. “But I am telling you, even as proud as I am of what you did today, to excel and to win this league you will need to be just as good over the last four weeks of the season. We want promotion to be automatic. It’s within you to do it.”
Padova 2-1 Novara

The closer we get, the more I’m enjoying meeting with media. Even Emiliani, who is having less and less to say.

The questions are now changing, with the most notable now being “Is it over?”

That was easier to answer. “No, it’s not.”

“You aren’t claiming victory after today?”

“It’s not over until the fixture list says it’s over. No fat ladies singing here. It’s over when the last match is done. I’ve just explained to the players that now is the time to lean for the winning post and if they don’t do it they can still get nipped at the finish line. It’s all up to them.”

“How much will the injuries affect you?” This was an important question.

“We’re going to have to make do,” I said. “Antonazzo and Crovari are players we need to have healthy but they aren’t and we can’t do anything about that. But I’m confident. Pablo Paz has been seeing lots of time in the midfield and Paolo Cotroneo is quite a capable right fullback.”

“Especially on Ciuffeteli’s goal,” Emiliani cracked. It’s always something.

I shot daggers at him. “Typical,” I said. “Hell, all we did was win the biggest match of the season against the highest scoring team in our league and all you can do is climb all over the substitute player who did a hell of a job.”

Stung, Emiliani shot back. “He was negligent,” he said.

I frowned, suddenly filled to the brim with his attitude. After all the pressure of the last week I was in no mood to argue so I bit back – and hard.

“You know, you are an inch away from getting thrown out of this room,” I said. “You know good and well you’re on a yellow card with me already and this conversation doesn’t help.”

“I’m supposed to be wine and roses all the time?” he asked.

“You can quit looking for negativity when we’re five points clear with four matches to go,” I said. “Honestly, when does it end with you? I understand your job and what you have to do but really, Stefano, when does it end? Is anything this club does ever good enough for you? Think about it.”

I ended the briefing and headed back into the manager’s office, closing the door behind me. The players were getting ready to go home for the night. I sat in my chair and flipped on the television to watch the EPL review show and to clear my head.

Underneath the television is a bulletin board where I tack reminders for the next day. A new piece of paper was there, tacked over my training plan for tomorrow. A note written in red was scrawled upon it:

“Ridgway, you didn’t listen!”

Monday, April 7
It was a pleasure to look at the table this morning after yesterday’s match:

	        Pl	W	D	L	Pts
Padova 	        30	19	9	2	66
Novara	        30	18	7	5	61
Cremonese	30	15	11	4	56

However, thinking ahead to Wednesday’s second leg against Teramo, I’m wondering about how we’ll play the match. Sacchetti needs to sit after playing both ends of the midweek – endweek doubleheader and Donadoni will slot into his place. Faísca will partner him in the middle and Cotroneo will play at right back. The ever-present Gotti will continue to soldier on at left back, where he has been amazingly steady all season.

At the moment, Cotroneo is both the short and long-term choice at right back. Paz must play the holding position since Anaclerio, who might otherwise get a callup from reserves to play, is not in match condition after taking longer than expected to recover from the collarbone break he suffered in January. With Sunday’s match at Foligno coming up, I’d prefer not to play so many regulars at midweek, but I have no option.

Yet, win we must. I suppose that’s why I get the “big” money, right?


Resigned to another day of talking with Cipriani, I forwarded yesterday’s note to him and got on with my day. While on the training ground, he called.

“I see you had a difficult day yesterday,” he said.

“Not so bad,” I answered. “But this is getting out of hand. Someone can walk right into my dressing room after a match, pin a threatening note to my bulletin board and walk out without anyone asking a question?”

“It is time to repeat one of my first questions to you on this subject,” he said. Do you have any suspicions within your organization and professional circles?” he said.

The smiling face of Stefano Emiliani flashed through my head, as did the angry expressions of half my board, and the know-too-much attitude of my assistant manager – among others.

“Yeah, I have a few suspicions,” I said. “I also know who I think it’s not.”

Today, though, I didn’t want to dwell on those things. I don’t think we had enough time to prepare for Teramo last week and I won’t make that mistake this time around. So this morning, I reported to the ground determined to carry on as normal.

Masolini was the first one to me as I stepped onto the training ground. “Rob, the police have been here again,” he said. “What can I do to convince you that I’ve nothing to do with this?”

I smiled at him. “No, Filippo, I don’t think you have anything to do with it,” I said. “You’ve been good to me and I appreciate it. What I want to know is how nobody in the changing room saw anything yesterday?”

“Obviously, it’s occurred to you that whoever left the note may have done it while the match was in progress,” he said. Suddenly, I felt quite foolish.

“No, it hasn’t,” I admitted, blushing furiously at my own stupidity.


Since there were precious few highlights from the first leg of our cup tie, the video work today was pretty short. The staff edited down a few key points but since they hadn’t scored on us either, I didn’t have the luxury of telling my players to be especially mindful of anything they did against us the first time we played.

This is leading to a sort of overconfidence I’d love to avoid, especially after the big victory yesterday. Right now squad morale is fiercely high and I’m walking a tightrope with these players. I can’t ratchet them down too far but at the same time if I allow them to stay as cocky as they are at the moment, we could get stung.

I think back to the first round tie against Igea Virtus, when we were dynamite in the road leg and dire at home. This time, we weren’t dynamite in the road leg and if we’re dire at home, we’re out and short of the board’s goal.

In a way, my priorities might change for the next week or so since we do have a cushion in the league. Our next opponent, Foligno, also has the unique distinction of being the only club in Serie C1A to be playing worse than Lecco, having slid into the 18th and last spot in the table by losing 4-1 to Cavese yesterday.

So that works in our favor, but the last time we played Foligno we finished the game with nine players and it was brutally physical. I’ve got a lot to think about due to Foligno’s death struggle of sorts with Lecco to avoid the automatic drop to Serie C2. They’ll be desperate.

I’ll be desperate to avoid injuries and keep the ground we’ve won. It’s a different kind of desperation, I guess.


Speaking of desperation, Citadella did something for the second time this season today that puts them ahead of every other club in our league.

They sacked manager Lorenzo Balestro two days shy of four months in charge. They’ll now be looking for their third boss of the season and are now in free fall. Balestro replaced the sacked Claudio Foscarini just before Christmas.

The last straw came yesterday when they lost 6-2 to Hellas Verona – at home, no less. Their visitors had scored only 21 goals in 29 league matches prior to yesterday.

That sort of drubbing at the hands of a side having so much trouble scoring goals is obviously not going to please most board members. So Balestro is gone and whoever succeeds him will have quite a tall task on his hands. He’s got Foscarini’s original players, Balestro’s January players and a 16th place side between them. There’s a tough ask.

Tuesday, April 8
There were more questions today, this time to the Euganeo staff regarding what they did and did not see during Sunday’s match.

Thankfully Inspector Cipriani has more brainpower than I do, and was tracking on Masolini’s question to me of yesterday before the day was out. It appears as though the person doing the notes may have made a fairly significant mistake.

The note wasn’t there when I arrived for work on Sunday, and it was there after the match. Checking a sign-in list of people who entered the stadium through the pass gates should therefore yield a list of people the police would wish to talk to. If the name of the person isn’t there, the keeper of the list will have some questions to answer.

So it appears as though there’s a break of sorts. Security for tomorrow night’s match will be plenty tight as a result.

No one wants uninvited guests underneath a stadium while a match is in progress – or at any other time, for that matter. The club is now showing appropriate concern for my safety and the safety of their employees and I’m glad to note it.

The atmosphere was thus relaxed this morning, with Teramo’s official party arriving at mid-afternoon to train on our pitch. They’re understandably confident, having held us in the first leg, so taking their measure might be a fairly difficult task tomorrow night.

Not impossible, mind you. They are still a league below us and still coming to play us on our pitch. I feel good about that but again, I am concerned about letdown after the Novara win on Sunday.

I guess the strain of the last few weeks has really showed on my face. When I got home from training Patty was waiting with a cool compress for my forehead and a ready smile for my eyes.

“You look awful,” she said, after brightening my afternoon with a happy kiss of greeting.

“Tell me something I don’t know,” I replied, sagging into my easy chair.

“Okay,” she said, crossing in front of the chair to sit in my lap. I loved her warmth, and most of all I loved her soft caress of my face as she locked eyes with me. “People do care about you, Rob. Starting with me.”

“You’re right,” I sighed, holding her close and feeling sorry for myself. “I didn’t know that.”

Wednesday, April 9
Padova v Teramo –Serie C Cup

Given the stretch of games we’re in, the last thing I wanted tonight was to have to play an extra half-hour. Or, I suppose, to lose.

We didn’t lose, though, and we have our veteran presence to thank for that. We pounded on Teramo’s door for the full ninety minutes of regular time but when the whistle blew we had the same amount of goals to show for it as we had when we played at their place.

They set their stall out to defend, in the 3-5-2 formation they obviously know has given us trouble this season. On the road, they were playing to absorb pressure and counter us, but since we haven’t been the greatest team in the world at keeping and maintaining possession ourselves, this led to quite a drab first half. Neither team seemed to really want the ball, so it wasn’t the greatest example of Joga Bonito I’ve ever seen.

My hope was that we could use our wing play to create chances even against a five-man midfield, but I had to give this strategy up as a bad job at halftime. We just weren’t moving the ball into good positions and that was partly due to their numerical advantage in the midfield.

DiNardo, try as he might, just couldn’t get that bounce he needed to make an impact on the game. I elected to stay positive as we gathered for the team talk – but I also shifted to 4-3-3 with DiNardo at the top of the formation.

Playing with two attacking midfielders, we had much better luck against their 3-5-2 in controlling the center of the park. Nearly from the second half kickoff our chances started to become both better and more frequent. Right on the hour we nearly scored as DiNardo’s goal-bound shot was hacked off the line and directly into touch. My supersub striker reacted in disbelief and the visitors could breathe easier.

As the match wore on, Teramo’s attempt to control the midfield basically evaporated. They were having no luck trying to lump the ball forward and before too much more time had passed it was increasingly obvious they were holding on for extra time. We couldn’t get in and they couldn’t get out, so the match degenerated into stalemate for the last twenty minutes.

This was too bad for a couple of reasons, the first of which was that we had our best attendance for a home cup match this season. We drew 6,864 for the match and it seems lately that the larger the crowd we draw, the less likely we are to put on a good performance.

Defensively, though, it was hard to argue with us. Through ninety minutes we didn’t allow the visitors a single shot on target, so Cano had nothing to do.

During the break after regular time I gathered my squad around me at the touchline and spoke briefly to them. “Be patient,” I told them. “Be persistent and push hard. They’re playing to hold you off, not to beat you. The goal will come and when it happens you’ll deserve it because you’ve been the better side. Stick to our tactic and it will come out right.”

As often as not I have tried to be optimistic with the team this season wherever possible, but this time I really felt good about our chances. This was a bit odd in terms of what the stat sheet said, showing a rather turgid ninety minutes. Yet I could sense something good was about to happen.

The players headed back out for extra time and promptly did nothing for the first few minutes. This brought Masolini out of his chair and to me for a word that put a frown on my face.

“You don’t think this might wind up going to penalties?” he asked.

“Please, no,” I moaned. “I might wind up having to hang myself and I’d rather not do that.”

He smiled at me and together we thought about potential substitutions in case of penalties. I still had one to use, and burned it the form of Muzzi for DiNardo.

My veteran striker jogged onto the pitch, and it seemed to give us all a lift. Within the first minute after his entry, we won a corner and Baú, who had been a substitute at the end of normal time, lifted a useful effort into the box.

Just like that, Varricchio’s head had put the ball into the back of the net and we led on 102 minutes. Our crowd rose as one, finally with something to cheer about, and the shift in momentum was palpable.

After holding us off for that long, you could see the shoulders of the Teramo players sagging in response. I noticed their body language and whistled quickly to get Baú’s attention as he moved back up the pitch for Teramo’s kickoff.

I rolled my hands together, and yelled for him. “Pressure, Eder,” I said. “Don’t hang back. Make them earn it!”

For the remaining three minutes of the first half of extra time, we did pressure them, to handle their expected counterattack. At half, my talk was much shorter.

“Okay, let’s counter them,” I said. “Give me a flat 4-4-2 and a deep line. We’ll take them right out of the match. Great work.”

They were still hardly bothering us by this time so I felt reasonably safe in going with two strikers. With five minutes to play, I finally went to 4-5-1, sliding Muzzi back to a right midfield position to play off Varricchio with Baú on the left. That too, paid dividends.

With Teramo now finally piling forward, Muzzi stole a backpass three minutes from time. This time, he didn’t miss, slotting past Emanuele Nordi to make it 2-nil on 117 minutes. That was finally enough and from there we simply played out the string.

The statistics told the story. We had nineteen attempts with nine on target to seven and none for Teramo. We were worthy winners, even if it did take us a full two hours to prove it.

I addressed a tired but happy group of players after the match. “The second goal is reached,” I said. “You’ve reached the last four and you should be proud of that. Now is the time of the season where matches hurt a little more, where you’re a little more tired and where you might even want to think about mailing in a match once in awhile.”

“I’m here to tell you that I’ll do everything I can to help you prepare for those matches and not overwork you,” I promised. “But now is not the time to slack. There’s a lot waiting for you over the next month if you’ll grab the ring and take it. Well done.”

They looked at me with contented expressions. “We’ll have video of Foligno tomorrow and then stretch our legs out a bit. Nice and easy, gentlemen. Enjoy your night.”
Padova 2-0 Teramo (aet)