retired_xs2khizar

Sunday 16th January 2005

Injuries, injuries, injuries! A matter of days after enjoying a spectacular win in his first ever game as captain, Danilo Sabellini pulled a hamstring in training and will be sidelined for 4 weeks. Manolo Manoni returns from suspension, and starts wide in midfield with Alessandro Bonaffini dropping back to become a makeshift full back again. Veteran centre back Dario Italia adorns the arm band for this match, against fellow Sicilian club Acireale.

Serie C2/C
Ragusa v Acireale

Ragusa lineup - Cinalli; (Guerra), Italia(c), Alderuccio, Bonaffini; Manoni, Caramel, Gallicchio, Chiavarini; Lupo, Baggio.

Acireale are in 7th and I have never been on the winning side against them, so this will not be as easy as last week. Fortunately our chances of changing that are improved by our customary early attack, started by our ex-Acireale player Vladimiro Caramel. His ball forward was helped on by Lupo, and the sizzling hot Eddy Baggio was able to turn on a sixpence and stroke the ball past the goalkeeper. 1-0, 9 minutes gone.

Just before the half-hour mark a corner was cleared by Acireale, and we worked the ball wide left to young Guerra. He lofted the ball back into the mixer looking for Pietro Alderuccio, who had stayed up following the corner, and Pietro was sent sprawling across the grass of the penalty area following a collision with Acireale's Ventura. We applauded from the dugout as the referee blew his whistle and pointed the spot, but Ventura was not quite so appreciative and let the official know about it. The toys went out the pram and his screaming and aggressive arm waving in the face of the referee gave no option but an early bath. When all had finally calmed down, Eddy Baggio found the bottom left corner of the net with his penalty, but then he's so on fire at the moment he probably could have done that with his eyes closed.

Acireale finally threatened at the end of the half, Marino's header flashing inches wide of the post, but at the break we were still in the rather nice position of being two goals up at home with the extra man. The second period progressed with less drama, and when Chiavarini linked with Baggio down the right flank in the 57th minute, his simple low cross gave backup striker Lupo an easy finish to kill the game off.

Final score: Ragusa 3 - 0 Acireale


In the face of adversity we carved out another brilliant result, if I do say so myself. Another 2 goals and a man-of-the-match award for Eddy Baggio, another impressive stand-in performance by Lupo, and Caramel and Gallicchio just dominated the entire midfield. Clearly Marco Cirillo isn't the only one who can make the transition from striker to midfielder, because Claudio is certainly making a good go of it.

retired_xs2khizar

Monday 17th January 2005

Now that every team has played each other once, the Serie C2/C table looks like THIS.


Translation from an article in La Gazzetta Dello Sport:

Finally on to Serie C2/C, where, at the halfway stage, Varese, Paterno, Latina and Imolese occupy the promotion playoff spots from 2nd to 5th. However, they are all chasing the surprise package of the season, the free scoring team from the south Sicilian province of Ragusa.

Following their 3-0 win over Acireale, Ragusa's chairman Giuseppe Antoci declared himself extremely pleased with the result. "Beautiful, a fabulous game. The team are making myself, and the fans, very proud. Very proud. I am delighted with the progress that the club is making, and we will endeavour to make it continue".

Ragusa are exceeding expectations by being in pole position with much of the season gone, thanks to some excellent recent performances. This defies early season predictions, which had many media pundits suggesting that the club were little more than top-half makeweights.


Ever the pessimist, I'm not getting carried away. We do find ourselves top of the table but we're only halfway through the season, so there is a long way to go yet. If you will allow me to drag out that footballing cliche, it really is a marathon not a sprint. It has also not passed me by that our 4 losses this season have all come from amongst the 5 teams that are closest to us in the chase, so that will have to change if we come up against them down the stretch.

Having said all that, I'm thrilled to be where we are and could not have hoped for the first half of the season to have gone any better. Even with the extensive amount of injuries that we have suffered, we have still managed to fashion victories and not allowed our progress to falter. Each time we have lost a match we have shown the character needed to bounce back with a win in the very next game.

Although many factors have improved for us this season, the secret to our 'success' has undoubtedly been the partnership of Daniel Fonseca and Eddy Baggio in attack. Despite a combined age approaching 65 years, they have worked together to the tune of 37 league goals in just half a season. Add to that a regular defensive four (Tamburro, Attewell, Alderuccio and Sabellini) who have now had well over 12 months experience of playing together, and a hard working midfield, and I think we can safely say that we are worth our place in the top 5 so far. Whether we can go all the way and seriously challenge for the title and the automatic promotion that goes with it... we will have to wait and see.

retired_xs2khizar

Tuesday 18th January 2005

Valencia, 11th in the Spanish Primera Liga, have splashed out £9 million on highly rated Greek defender Sotiris Kyrgiakos to try and solve their defensive frailties.

Our attempts at bringing players in during this transfer window are going less successfully. The left midfield position is clearly the weak spot at our club, with neither Manolo Manoni or Alessandro Bonaffini being left footed, nor really my ideal choices for a starting spot anyway. Vladimiro Caramel can cross better than most players, but he's no left winger. As a result I have been chasing two promising 18 year olds: Andrea Esposito from Lecce, and Carlo Mignani from our Serie C2/C rivals Paterno.

The energetic Andrea Esposito has the added bonus that he can play left full back as comfortably as left midfield, if we need cover for Simone Tamburro, but Lecce are not budging on their valuation and are pricing the youngster out of our range. It is a similar story with Carlo Mignani, a hard working left midfielder who can also play in the centre, but Paterno clearly don't want to sell to a club in the same division.


Though it is starting to look like no new faces will be arriving, one is leaving. Coach Corrado Vaccaro has been approached this week by Sora and Altemura with vacancies in their assistant manager roles that they both want him to fill. Corrado has ambitions of progressing to become a manager, and after we talked it over we both have to agree that this will be a step in the right direction for him. It will be a shame to see him go, but Corrado decides on Altemura and we will recieve £5,000 in compensation.


Friday 21st January 2005

We have filled our coaching vacancy by inviting Marco Onorati to take on the role. Marco comes from Acireale on the east coast of Sicily, where he spent much of his goalkeeping career. Now 37, Marco has hung up his gloves and moved into the coaching profession, and the majority of his playing days were in the Serie C so he knows this level well.

Real Betis have signed French striker Nicolas Anelka from Manchester City for £8.5 million. The 25 year old scored 51 goals in 110 appearances for the Premiership club, and will now be looking to repeat the same kind of performance to help Betis challenge for what would be their third straight Primera Liga title.

Christian Panucci has returned to AC Milan from Barcelona for the price of £11.5 million. The 31 year old Italian international right-back last played for Milan in 1996-97, before moving between a whole host of top European clubs including Real Madrid, Inter and Roma.

retired_xs2khizar

Sunday 23rd January 2005

Back in September, Castelnuovo ensured that our season got off to an uncertain start by inflicting a 3-1 defeat on us in the comfort of their home stadium. This time they will need to come to the Aldo Campo Selvaggio to face a team on a 4 match winning streak, buoyed by the recovery of Daniel Fonseca from a groin injury earlier than expected.

Fonseca replaces the unlucky Lupo in attack, but that is the only change as Marco Cirillo is only deemed fit enough for the bench. Local lad Danilo Guerra gets a Ragusa shirt for the third game running thanks to our lack of any other option at left back.

Serie C2/C
Ragusa v Castelnuovo

Ragusa lineup - Cinalli; (Guerra), Italia(c), Alderuccio, Bonaffini; Manoni, Caramel, Gallicchio, Chiavarini; Fonseca, Baggio.

There is nothing during the early phase of the game to suggest that anything unusual is going to happen today. That all changes in the 21st minute, when out of the blue Franco Chiavarini takes a swing with his right foot from 30 yards, and is rewarded by the sight of the keeper sprawling and the net rippling.

At 1-0 the Daniel Fonseca show got back on the road. He started a move in the 30th minute by spraying a pass wide to Chiavarini, who scurried to the byline and swung a cross into the six yard box for Daniel to stab in our second. Barely a minute after kick-off he was at it again, collecting a headed pass from Manoni to dribble into the box and curl a shot around goalkeeper Marco Vaiani with the inside of his left foot. 3-0.

Shortly before the referee blew for half-time, Fonseca turned provider. Drifting out wide left to receive a pass from Caramel, the Uruguayan ran up the wing and crossed to find Eddy Baggio at the near post, and although Vaiani got a hand to it he could not keep Eddy's downward header out.

4-0 up at half-time, Marco Cirillo replaces Manoni on the left in an attempt to regain some match fitness. Castelnuovo have already crumbled, and in the 52nd minute Daniel Fonseca should have completed his hattrick but managed to put a penalty kick wide of the post. The away side shut up shop after that and look to make it a damage limitation exercise, so it takes until the 83rd minute to find the next break through. The most lethal strike partnership in the division combines again, Eddy Baggio bouncing a neat one-two off Daniel Fonseca to send home his 21st league goal of the season.

The final whistle can't come soon enough for Castelnuovo, but the home fans don't want the game to end and there's time for one more in the dying minutes. Guerra's ball forward found the chest of Eddy Baggio, he turned and laid the ball square deep in the box, and Daniel Fonseca dispatched it past a thoroughly demoralised Marco Vaiani from a tight angle to complete a well deserved hat-trick.

Final score: Ragusa 6 - 0 Castelnuovo


With a hat-trick and two assists it is obvious who picked up the man of the match award, as Fonseca sent an emphatic reminder to anyone who had forgotten about him over the last two or three weeks. The 6-0 scoreline is a new record win for the club, and it maintains our 2 point gap at the top after Varese and Paterno had both picked up victories as well.

retired_xs2khizar

Saturday 29th January 2005

Lazio have sealed the capture of Real Sociedad's Yugoslavian forward Darko Kovacevic for £11.5 million, beating off competition from Real Betis and Liverpool for the 31 year old's signature.

Meanwhile, Spanish club Deportivo have swooped twice to pick up players from English Premiership clubs. A press conference unveils both Rafael Marquez, a £7.75 million transfer from Arsenal, and Shay Given, who arrives from Newcastle United for £4.9 million. Mexican defender Marquez spent just 2 seasons with Arsenal but is highly rated throughout Europe. Republic of Ireland international goalkeeper Shay Given brings 7 years at St James's Park to an end, during which he won two Premiership titles and was named 2003 European Footballer of the Year.

Rounding off the week's major transfer activity, Celtic tempt Gonzalo De los Santos to Glasgow from Valencia for £10.5 million, a 28 year old defensive midfielder capped 53 times by Uruguay.

retired_xs2khizar

Sunday 30th January 2005

The first away trip of the calendar year takes us to Frosinone on the west coast of Italy, a short distance south down one of the many roads leading to Rome. We have won 4 of our last 5 meetings with Frosinone, but last time we were here they sent us packing with a 0-2 defeat.

Eddy Baggio twisted his knee in training this week, so as a precaution he will sit this one out. Claudio Gallicchio is pushed up front alongside Fonseca, and Marco Cirillo returns to the starting lineup for the first time since November to fill the gap in midfield.

Serie C2/C
Frosinone v Ragusa

Ragusa lineup - Cinalli; (Guerra), Italia(c), Alderuccio, Bonaffini; Manoni, Caramel, Cirillo, Chiavarini; Fonseca, Gallicchio.

The home side make the perfect start, finding an opener through Sergio di Corcia inside 9 minutes, as his 25 yard strike sails smoothly into the top corner. We attempt to get back on level terms before half-time, but on separate occasions Frosinone keeper Andrea Cano makes three unbelievable close range stops to deny Fonseca and Bonaffini.

The second half is an identical replica of the first, as Frosinone take just under ten minutes before Sabaccanti unleashes a thunderbolt from 35 yards with the same result as di Corcia's effort. I make some changes soon afterwards to try and shake things up, Gallicchio dropping to midfield as Lupo comes on at the expense of Caramel, but the two long range stunners remain the difference and we are unable to recover.

Final score: Frosinone 2 - 0 Ragusa


Paterno slumped to a loss in similar fashion and remain 3rd, but Varese's win means that they jump to the top and knock us down into 2nd place. Franco Chiavarini was complaining about his shin in the changing room after the game, but Salvatore says it doesn't look any more serious than bruising and he should be able to shake it off by next week.

retired_xs2khizar

Monday 31st January 2005

The Highbury clearout continues, as Arsenal sell midfielder Giovanni Van Bronckhorst to Real Madrid for £6.75 million. One player arriving in England is AC Milan's Martin Laursen, who costs Manchester United a whopping £20.5 million. The 27 year old Danish international will combine with £30 million Rio Ferdinand to form by far the most expensive centre back pairing in the world, but Laursen has insisted that he won't let the pressure of the price tag be a burden and is intent on proving to manager Steve Bruce that the right decision was made.


Thursday 3rd February 2005

Carlo Ancellotti has been sacked by Serie A club Lazio despite spending as little as 7 months in the job. Lazio currently languish in 10th place in the division, after failing to win the Intertoto cup and suffering an early exit from the Italian cup.


Pietro Alderuccio collapsed clutching his left ankle in training today, and becomes the latest in a line of Ragusa players to strain ankle ligaments. Salvatore passed on the bad news that this is likely to make Pietro unavailable for 4 weeks, giving us a headache in defence. After a quick glance over the few healthy defenders that we have, I immediately get Antonio to run right wingback Danilo Sabellini through some central defender's drills between now and Sunday.

retired_xs2khizar

Sunday 6th February 2005

Sassuolo are doing quite well in 7th position and we have only beaten them once in our last three meetings, when a Fonseca double gave us a 2-0 victory back in September.

Alderuccio, Attewell, Guastella, Tamburro and Pellegrino are all missing through injury, four of whom are defenders, so it is a makeshift back-line that takes to the field today. Young defender Danilo Guerra has his temporary contract extended and is required to start at left back yet again, winger Alessandro Bonaffini fills in at right back, and Danilo Sabellini returns to the starting lineup as captain to see if he can cope with partnering 35 year old Dario Italia in the middle.

Serie C2/C
Ragusa v Sassuolo

Ragusa lineup - Cinalli; (Guerra), Italia, Sabellini(c), Bonaffini; Caramel, Cirillo, Gallicchio, Chiavarini; Fonseca, Baggio.

The first half is very scrappy and not very easy on the eye, but we troop off the pitch at half time the slightly happier team. A couple of minutes before the whistle had blown, Eddy Baggio had sprinted onto Fonseca's through ball to crash a shot inside the near post. Admittedly it had been somewhat against the run of play at the time, but we had the lead.

The late goal did not have the implied demoralising effect on the away side, who came out fired up for the second half. They piled on the early pressure, and then when Cinalli's lapse in concentration caused him to fumble a shot, Sassuolo's Cecconi was on hand to nip in like a flash and sweep the ball into the net.

The second half became a struggle for us, and Cinalli had to make a couple of saves as Sassuolo began to stretch our patched up defence. The same goalscorer returned to haunt the Argentinian keeper when the winner came in the 83rd minute, in similar fashion to the goals witnessed at Frosinone, as Cecconi's late 30 yard effort screamed over Cinalli and dipped under the crossbar.

Final score: Ragusa 1 - 2 Sassuolo


The joys of January and the goal-fests of Tricase, Acireale and Castelnuovo have been ushered aside by two straight defeats, including denting our very good home record at Fortress Selvaggio. Alessandro Bonaffini picked up his fourth yellow card of the season and will face a one match suspension.


Thursday 10th February 2005

Manolo Manoni, who came on as a late substitute for Marco Cirillo on Sunday, has twisted his ankle and will be out for around 2 weeks.

A week after the sacking of Carlo Ancellotti, Lazio have announced that Frank Rijkaard will be installed as their new manager. Rijkaard spent a short time at Newcastle United before trying his hand at Manchester City, and has now been lured away from the Premiership by the prospect of taking the reins in Rome.

retired_xs2khizar

Sunday 13th February 2005

We are in Legnano, around the north-west outskirts of Milan, to face the team placed 13th in the division. The meeting in Sicily earlier in the season ended 5-1 in our favour, with Eddy Baggio netting four times.

Unfortunately injuries have decimated our squad, leaving us with an unstable team on a two game losing streak. 19 year old Danilo Guerra continues his jaunt at left back, and we are forced to bring another local Ragusa youngster on the trip to north Italy with us. 19 year old centre back Giuseppe Sannino obtained a temporary registration and will start, with stand-in captain Danilo Sabellini reverting to his usual position of right back. Our substitutes' bench consists of just one fully healthy outfield player, and I send the starting eleven out for kick off with the advice to keep it tight, don't leave yourself or the young kids exposed by forcing the attack too much.

Serie C2/C
Legnano v Ragusa

Ragusa lineup - Cinalli; (Guerra), Italia, (Sannino), Sabellini(c); Caramel, Cirillo, Gallicchio, Chiavarini; Fonseca, Baggio.

We managed to do just that in the early period of the game, despite Legnano's attempts to rile us and draw us out. In the 27th minute a fantastic ball was played down the right flank by Sabellini, Baggio raced after it to cross towards Fonseca at the near post, and the Uruguayan's deft flick past goalkeeper Enrico Malatesta gave us a 1-0 lead.

Legnano were not happy with the goal and tried to increase the physical pressure, but Mirko Del Proposto took it several steps too far when he raised his hands to Gallicchio after a tough but perfectly fair challenge. Claudio is not one to back down, that is until the Legnano player chooses to shove him in the chest to send him tumbling backwards, and the referee was quickly in to flash the red card.

It didn't quite douse the flames though, as the rest of the half remained a heated affair during which the official had to keep holding up play to distribute a few lectures. In an attempt to clamp down and bring things under control, he also showed yellow cards to Dario Italia and Franco Chiavarini.

With little coherant football being played, we maintain our lead through to the break. The second half starts off in much less dramatic fashion, until in the 72nd minute Eddy Baggio drifted wide right with the ball. He waited for the linkup with Franco Chiavarini and slipped the pass inside, and the Argentinian midfielder darted to the byline where he dug out a chip to the far post. Daniel Fonseca was waiting all alone at the back stick, and as the ball looped over he nodded a downward header towards the goal... somehow, Malatesta threw himself low across the goal and scooped fingertips behind the ball, stopping a certain goal by diverting it along the line, and then rapidly gathering it under his arms before Fonseca could get his toe to it.

Following the standing ovation for Malatesta by the Legnano fans, the home side seem encouraged by their narrow escape and start to push forward more aggressively for an equaliser. Conversely this turned out to work in our favour, as Guerra's long ball over the top enabled us to catch Legnano on the break in the 88th minute, and Eddy Baggio took his time before smoothly hitting a classy low strike in off the far post.

Final score: Legnano 0 - 2 Ragusa


Much to my relief, the losing 'streak' is brought to a timely end by that battling away victory. More good news comes in the form of Varese's 2-3 loss at Imolese, meaning that the 4 point lead Varese had opened above us is now back to just a single point. Catanzaro move up into 3rd place following a last gasp goal by 17 year old forward Stefano Corona, which gave them the 4-3 win in a seven goal thriller at home to Giugliano. Paterno's defeat at Castelnuovo sees them drop to 4th on goal difference.

After 21 matches: Varese 46pts, Ragusa 45pts, Catanzaro 38pts, Paterno 38pts

retired_xs2khizar

Sunday 20th February 2005

The build up to today's home fixture is made all the more interesting by the news that our opponents Brindisi have sacked their manager this very morning. Romeo Azzali was unable to stop his team from being relegated from Serie C1/B last season, and this season the slump has continued to the point that they lie deep amongst the Serie C2/C relegation places in 17th. His assistant, or rather former assistant, Amelio Puce, will be bringing their team down to Ragusa in his place.

We are not without problems of our own of course. Manoni, Guastella and Pellegrino are all several days away from fitness, and Alderuccio, Attewell and Tamburro still remain on the long-term injury list. Fortunately Nicolas Cinalli is passed fit to play despite a problem with his shoulder that had been giving him trouble for most of the week, and we can also welcome back Alessandro Bonaffini from suspension.

Marco Cirillo, the striker successfully turned midfielder, finds himself at centre back today! He is decent in the air and enjoys getting stuck into the tackle, so I'm hoping that he can fill that void half as well as he has settled in midfield. Strikers Vittorio Lupo and Claudio Gallicchio will start in midfield, and our bench consists of two goalkeepers and three outfield players all carrying minor injuries...

Serie C2/C
Ragusa v Brindisi

Ragusa lineup - Cinalli; Bonaffini, Italia, Cirillo, Sabellini(c); Lupo, Caramel, Gallicchio, Chiavarini; Fonseca, Baggio.

We do not know the full story of what went on in the Brindisi camp this morning, but it is clear that the players have not been left in the best of mind frames. We had not even reached the second minute when Caramel received the ball on the halfway line, and Brindisi's Orlandini came flying in with both feet raised in a tackle that could have sent Vladi into not-so-early retirement. Fortunately the experienced midfielder emerged unscathed after some treatment from Salvatore, but Orlandini was unable to continue due to the instant red card raised by the referee.

With the man advantage we start to gain control, and force good saves by Brindisi goalkeeper Massimo Cilimbriello from efforts by Caramel and Baggio. Bitter Brindisi carry on kicking and spitting their way through the half, with defender Roberto Taurini finally seeing yellow after a string of fouls.

In the 39th minute Franco Chiavarini, who had seen plenty of the ball so far, forced a corner on the right. Daniel Fonseca trotted across to take it and sent the ball swinging high into the middle of the area, where Alessandro Bonaffini leapt highest to head in the goal that we had deserved. 1-0.

The start of the second half was pedestrian in comparison to the first, and Brindisi seemed to have calmed down. In the 60th minute they had me worried when Santini forced the ball into our net, but our half-empty dugout breathed a collective sigh of relief when Santini was adjudged to have been offside at the time.

Minutes later Chiavarini linked with Sabellini down the right flank again, as they had been doing to good effect for most of the afternoon, and won another corner. Fonseca's cross was dangerous again, and in fact panicked Brindisi defender Vincenzo Commitante so much that he inexplicably raised his arm and was penalised for handball. Daniel Fonseca sent the penalty to the keeper's left to seal the match.

Final score: Ragusa 2 - 0 Brindisi


In truth Brindisi made it 'easy' for us with their disorganised and badly disciplined peformance, allowing our unorthodox lineup to take advantage in a game that could otherwise have been tricky. Brindisi are a shadow of the team that won the Serie C2/C title in my first season here; the demoralising campaign up in Serie C1 has really had a serious long term effect on the club. I hope that isn't an omen for the rest of us aspiring for promotion!

Young Stefano Corona emulated his late heroics of last week with another winner in the dying seconds, stealing a 2-1 away victory for 3rd placed Catanzaro. The good news for us is that their hosts were Varese, allowing us to bounce back to the top of the table with a 2 point lead.