On Wednesday evening, Italy recorded a fine 2-1 win over Switzerland. The previous evening, the U21's had lost by the same scoreline but were very unlucky. This match, with a new look Italy, many regulars absent thanks to the big clubs domination of the CL, looked as if it might go the same way. The Swiss started brightly and took a deserved lead. Italy fought back though, Miccoli, Di Vaio and Corradi creating many chances. The goals eventually came, Legrottaglie and Zanetti scoring in the second half. I'm happy to see the young players being given a chance but will never be convinced by Cristiano Zanetti. He is neither young nor gifted and have never seen him play a decent game. Looks like another one of Trapattoni's blind spots. Although this was a friendly, let's hope it sparks a resurgence in the national team's fortunes.
In Serie A, Juve could wrap up the title this weekend if Inter lose. There are the distractions of the CL semi-fianals though, and we'll preview them next week. For me, the biggest game of the weekend in Italy will be played in Palermo, as Napoli take on the Sicilians in a vital match.
"In Sicily it doesn't matter about doing things well or badly; the sin which we Sicilians never forgive is simply that of "doing" at all". So wrote Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa in "The Leopard". I hope this holds true for Palermo in La Favorita on Friday night as Napoli seek three crucial points in the battle for la salvezza. It will be tough, no question.
More of the game later though, first a little about Sicily. Where does one start? The smell of orange blossom on a warm day, Mascagni's Intermezzo playing in the background, Etna shimmering in the distance, the peace and solitude of the villages, It is a wondrous place, thanks partly to the various powers which have colonised it over the centuries. The Valley of the Temples is spectacular. Twentysix centuries old and a permanent reminder of the island's Greek heritage. More recently, giving lie to Lampedusa's assertion above, Sicilia has provided some of the world's greatest authors, poets and dramatists. to name a select few: Quasimodo, Sciascia, the great Lampedusa, Verga and Pirandello.
No mention of the island would be complete without Cosa Nostra. We're all familiar with Coppola's masterpiece but if you would like to read about the influence of the world's most powerful criminal organisation, I'd recommend "The Honoured Society" by Norman Lewis and "Excellent Cadavers" by Alexander Stille. The latter deals with Falcone and Borsellino, both prosecutors killed by Cosa Nostra in the early 1990's. Before his death, Falcone wrote "Men of Honour". An excellent book giving us an insight into how he took the battle to Cosa Nostra, resulting in the maxi-trials.
Sicily has long held a fascination for me and if I didn't have sangue azzurro, Palermo would be my team. At this time though, there is no room for sentiment, as the table shows, the botom six are:
Bari 37
Catania 37
Napoli 35
Genoa 35
Cosenza 30
Salernita 21
Palermo are on 45 points, still in with a realistic chance of gaining promotion to A. However, of more concern to us are the games being played by our nearest rivals. Genoa travel to Ascoli, Catania host Cosenza and Bari are at home against Ancona. Once again, we need results to go our way this weekend.
Colomba has said that he will play the attacking formation of Pasino-Dionigi-Stellone. I hope he does, after six months without an away win, we are due one. These players can get the goals we need. Colomba is notoriously cautious on his travels though and we will field a tough midfield, probably comprising Vidigal, back from suspension, Marcolin, Montervino and Martinez. The coach went on to say that "We respect Palermo but don't fear them" He hopes his team "..repeat the game against Lecce where against a good squad we controlled the game". I hope so too Franco.
This match also sees a number of people reunited with their former clubs. Napoli's sporting director, Giorgio Perinetti, who masterminded our January transfer activity, spent four years with Palermo, returning to Napoli last December. On the playing side, Antonio Asta played in our promotion team of 1999-00 and perhaps more famously, there is the gifted Milanese, Arturo di Napoli who played in the shadow of Vesuvius for two seasons in the Boskov era. You may also remember that Stellone almost moved to Palermo last summer and again in January. Fortunately he has stayed with gli azzurri. To add a final twist to this match, Palermo's coach is Nedo Sonetti, one of those rumoured to have been in the running to replace Colomba last year. That should provide an extra stimulus for Colomba. The last league meetings between the teams have ended thus:
29/11/2002 Napoli-Palermo 0-0
05/05/2002 Palermo-Napoli 1-1
03/12/2001 Napoli-Palermo 3-2
29/08/2001 Palermo-Napoli 3-0
25/03/1973 Napoli-Palermo 1-1
26/11/1972 Palermo-Napoli 1-0
19/04/1971 Napoli-Palermo 0-0
16/03/1969 Palermo-Napoli 0-2
17/11/1968 Napoli-Palermo 1-0
We started this preview with a quote from "The Leopard" and we'll finish with one. "If we want things to stay as they are,things will have to change." The meaning is clear, if we want another season in B, as opposed to C1, we'll need to start winning on our travels. Why not in La Favorita on Friday night?
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