Coach Steve's Corner

The international break is fast approaching as next week the nations of Europe will play their final World Cup qualifying group games. Thus most national teams have released their list of call ups for their two fixtures. As usual there were some surprising decisions made by managers, including some questionable exclusions. I'd like to focus on two of those exclusions, Radja Nainggolan by Belgium and Jorginho by Italy, as they have been two of the best midfielders in the early stages of the Italian Serie A season. I think both should've been called up and I'll explain why below. Radja Nainggolan Since, his arrival at AS Roma from Cagliari in January 2014 Radja Nainggolan has been one of the best midfielders in Serie A and arguably one of the best in Europe. He plays an all-around game and is a true box-to-box midfielder. Nainggolan's work rate is second to none and he routinely wins the ball back for Roma with his clean, hard tackling. Nainggolan is also good at hold...

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...

I will admit that I haven't seen much of the Arizona Diamondbacks playing live this season. Living on the east coast I will occasionally catch a few innings on MLB Network before bed. However, often when I do I seem to come away a bit more impressed. The Diamondbacks have quietly amassed 88 wins this season while all along being overshadowed by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West. Coming into play on Thursday they trail Los Angeles in the standings by 8 1/2 games but lead the NL Wild Card race over another NL West rival, the Colorado Rockies, by 5 1/2 games. In fact, their 88-65 record is even better than the defending World Series champion and current NL Central leading Cubs, who are 84-67. Winning the one game wild card is never a guarantee for the team with the better record since baseball can at times be so unpredictable. However, if they D-Backs can get past either the Rockies or Milwaukee Brewers in that one game playoff, I believe they can upset a contend...

As we enter the last two weeks weeks of the Major League Baseball regular season four of the six division titles are but clinched. The Dodgers, Astros, Nationals, and Indians all ran away with their respective divisions, leaving only the American League East and National League Central in play. Entering play tonight, the Yankees trail the Red Sox by 3 games and the Brewers trail the Cubs by 3 1/2 games. Both of those races are far from over with 12 days left in the season. As fans of any trailing team would hope, the Brewers will get one more crack at the Cubs when they open a four game set in Milwaukee starting on Thursday. This is a four game series that for all intents and purposes will determine the winner of the NL Central. It allows the Brewers a chance to win the division without relying on the help of other teams to trip up the Cubs. The AL East however won't have a meaningful head-to-head match up between the Yankees and Red Sox for the rest of the season. In fact, whe...

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...