Coach Steve's Corner

Earlier today Bayern Munich relieved coach Carlo Ancelotti of his duties after he coached the team for a little over a season. Ancelotti led Bayern to the Bundesliga title last season but after getting overrun in Paris yesterday against PSG, 3-0, his time was up in Bavaria. Ancelotti is regarded by many in Europe as one of the best managers in the game and it's likely that he will be on the market for long if he makes himself available. The rumor mill has already begun to churn with his former club, Milan, along with others being mentioned. However, I'd like to see Ancelotti go in a direction that he hasn't before and that is coaching a national team; in particular, Italy. With the World Cup just around the corner it's unlikely that Italy would make a change but I'd like to explore the possibility. To begin, as mentioned earlier, Ancelotti is regarded around Europe as one of the best managers around. Oftentimes, whatever team Ancelotti has gotten his hands on has ...

Many of you may be wondering why I am making a reference to fairy tales when writing a sports blog. After all, March is many months away and we won't be talking about Cinderellas in the NCAA tournament until then. However, the fairy tale that I'm referring to has nothing at all to do with college basketball. In fact, this fairy tale could never play out in the United States with the way American professional sports are structured. This fairy tale was written and continues to be written in the northern Italian city of Ferrara, Ferrara is home to a professional football (soccer) club SPAL 2013 which stands for Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor. SPAL are plying their trade in the Italian first division Serie A this season but it is the way that they arrived there that makes this a fairy tale story. What is the Promotion/Relegation System? For those unfamiliar with the promotion/relegation system in European countries, like Italy, which have multiple divisions of soccer, I...

After a very underwhelming match day 1 from the Italian contingent in the 2017-18 Champions League; Juventus, Roma, and Napoli must step up with wins in match day 2 or their chances of advancing will take a big hit. Below I will take a look back on match day 1 and look forward to this week’s match day 2 for each team. Juventus  Juventus were faced with their toughest task of the group stage in match day 1 when they traveled to the Camp Nou to face heavyweight Barcelona. In my Champions League preview I said that a loss at the Camp Nou wouldn’t be anything to fret over because it was the one game that I felt Juve could afford to lose. However, the way that Juventus lost was a bit of a concern to Bianconeri fans. Juve lost big to Barcelona 3-0 in a game which they conceded 61% possession and were unable to thwart a potent Barca attack. It’s a result like this that will make you wonder how much Juve will miss Leo Bonucci leading their back line against opponents like Barca who hav...

Ciro Immobile burst onto the scene as a 21 year old while playing for Italian second division side Pescara during the 2011-12 season. Immobile was there on loan from Juventus as he gained valuable playing time and experience under the tutelage of the ultra attack minded Czech Zednek Zeman. Immobile blossomed in Zeman's attacking system next to other budding Italian talents; Lorenzo Insigne and Marco Verratti. With the ultra talented trio leading the way, Pescara cruised to the Serie B title and Immobile became a household name in Italy after scoring 28 goals in 37 matches while winning the Serie B goal scoring title. You can check out all of his Pescara goals below. After his breakout season Immobile earned a move to Serie A side Genoa who owned half of his rights with Juventus as part of a co-ownership deal. The season on the Ligurian coast was not all that kind to Immobile as he only scored 5 goals in 33 matches for the Grifoni and was subsequently sold to Torino by Juventus...

The long awaited return of Alessandro Florenzi finally occurred at the Stadio Olimpico today against Hellas Verona. Florenzi started and played 90 minutes in his first game in almost a year after two knee surgeries. Florenzi tore a knee ligament last October before re-injuring the same knee in training in February which resulted in a second surgery and another long rehab. Florenzi looked like his old self today despite the long layoff from game action and provided plenty of energy down the right side of the pitch. He even provided a lovely cross that Edin Dzeko buried for Roma's second goal of the evening. It was an emotional night for the Roman born and bred Florenzi who always leaves it all on the field for his beloved Giallorossi. Now that his emotional night has come and gone without incident, I believe Florenzi will provide a big boost to both Roma and Italy. Florenzi is a talented player who is coming into his prime at 26 years of age and on top of that he has become one ...