Legionnaires
The leading clubs of the A series, as if by agreement, rely on foreign goalkeepers. Each of the three giants (Inter, Milan and Roma) gave preference to the Brazilians. Paradox, given that 10-15 years ago, South American goalkeepers in Italy were not quoted at all. And the example of Taffarel, who played in Parma, went smoothly into the concept of exclusion from the rule.
This rule was revised at the beginning of the century, when Dida came to Milan. He won the place at the gates of the Rossoneri at Abbyati for about two years. Other candidates for the move, hid, watched: will it be able to survive or not? At first, Dida faced obstruction from the side of tiffozi - they were indignant at the decision of Carlo Ancelotti to put Abbyati on the bench of them. But several matches were enough for the South American to make his audience.
When the Brazilian became an iconic figure for “Milan” (by the way, the team also has the Australian Kalach), the experience of “red-blacks” was taken by “Inter” and “Roma”. In January 2005, the “nerazzurri” was signed by Julio Cesar of the Flamengo, and he almost immediately replaced the highly experienced Toldo. “Roma” called Alexander Doni from “Juventude”. The 27-year-old legionary is diligent and does not give special reasons for criticism. A year after Doni, his compatriot Julio Sergio from Santos joined the ranks of Roma.
Entrust the gate to foreigners not only large clubs. In "Fiorentina" the Frenchman Frey entrenched. Until recently, his teammate was the Romanian Lobonts, but could not stand the competition and in January he moved to Dynamo Bucharest. Austrian Manninger and Finn Jakkola represent Siena. Greek Eleftheropoulos registered in Ascoli, and Serb Novakovich - in Regina.
Veterans
Note: 10 rounds before the finish of the championship, the most impenetrable defensive lines are for Roma (22 goals conceded), Lazio (22), Inter (23), Milan (24), Fiorentina (24) and Empoli (27).
Debugged defense of “Lazio”, which has already issued a six-match winning streak, has behind the back of 37-year-old Peruzzi and 43-year-old Ballotta. Veteran goalkeepers give odds to the young - and this is another sign of modern calcho. So, in “Palermo” trust Fontana (born in 1967), in “Empoli” - Bally (1967), in “Parma” - Bucci (1969), in “Ascoli” - Paliuc (1966), in “Sampdoria” - Berti (1967) and Castellazzi (1975), in Cagliari - Chimenti (1970) and Fortinu (1974), in Catania - Pantanelli (1971), in Chievo - Sicignano (1974) and Squizzi (1974), in “Inter” - Toldo (1971), always ready to replace Julio Cesar. In Udinese, Torino and Atalante, De Sanctis (1977), Abbyati (1977) and Calderoni (1976) are reliable - they are a little younger, but also representatives of, rather, the old wave.
The picture is similar in the leading clubs of series B. With the exception of the 29-year-old Buffon, the goalkeeper's ball is ruled by either veterans or legionnaires. Napoli hopes for Getzo (1973), Bologna for Antognoli (1969), Genoa for Brazilian Fernando Rubinho, Mantova for Brivio (1969), Rimini for Slovenian Handanovich, Cesena - on Turchi (1970).
Youth
Of the last relatively young “stars,” we can only mention the newsmakers of the Russian off-season, Marco Amelia from Livorno and Ivan Pelizzoli, who moved from Regina to Moscow Lokomotiv in the winter. Both, however, are unstable and do not justify the numerous advances received at the dawn of their careers.
Amelia also has an obvious penchant for publicity, flickering on newspaper pages. He intensively PR himself before the Spartak epic of this winter. So on the eve of the World Cup, at every opportunity, he insisted that he was ready to put on the national team shirt and was still included in it by the third goalkeeper. And even earlier, in 2004, after losing to the Belarusian youth team at the European Championship (the Italians lost 1: 2 then) Amelia actually launched a critical campaign against the Roteiro ball. It was picked up by the players of the adult Squadra, who was then preparing for Euro 2004.
There are several goalkeepers born in the 80s who, more likely, in the interests of pedagogy, rather than what they deserve, are sometimes attracted to the main teams: Kurchi from Roma, De Lucia from Parma, Aljardi from Palermo and Dzotti, owned by Roma, but rented by Sampdoria. However, much more often they remain among the spare ones. The Italian goalie is clearly not in a hurry for the legendary predecessors. A worthy replacement for Buffon is not visible. And the search circle, to all, is critically narrow ...
Denis ORLOV