Calzona and Rossi, Italian coaches at the European Championship against Slovakia and Hungary

One was a coffee salesman, the other was about to dedicate himself to accounts: a full-time accountant. The fault of a series of doors slammed violently in front of the eyes of a disillusioned forty-year-old. In the end, time took care of it: Francesco Calzona and Marco Rossi qualified for the European Championship. They shook hands with Germany on the same night, an hour’s flight away. One in Bratislava, the other in Sofia. They join Domenico Tedesco and Vincenzo Montella, the other Italians already in Berlin with Belgium and Turkey.

Together

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The good thing is that they are also friends. Calzona chose to coach Slovakia thanks to Rossi, suddenly called one evening in August after twenty years behind the scenes, as assistant coach traveling around Italy. “Marco, they called me from Bratislava. They offered me the position as coach.” “Accept now.” And so it was. Today they celebrate together, one with the Slovaks and the other with Hungary, dragged to the second European Championship. Calzona gave Iceland four slaps, while Rossi needed an own goal in the last minute.

Calzone

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“Ciccio” has a history of hard work and sacrifices. Twenty years ago he coached Castiglionese in Promozione, in Tuscany. He worked as a coffee salesman and tried to sell beans throughout the region. One of his best friends worked in a bank, but between one sale and another he taught him some tactics. The two ended up talking about football in front of a beer and an ashtray. Ten cigarettes in an hour while they discussed schemes, tactics, dead balls and counterattacks. In 2000 the first experience together with Togoleto, in Eccellenza, but from 2007 to 2018 they were always together. That friend of his was Maurizio Sarri. Calzona was his shadow in Alessandria, Sorrento, Arezzo, Empoli and Naples. He experienced the trauma of losing the Scudetto with 91 points and promotion to Serie A with the Tuscans. He observed his opponents and then reported their strengths and weaknesses to the “boss”. A sort of match analyst. He told the Journal a year ago: “He was a financial promoter, I represented coffee, but they only talked about football.” In 2016 he obtained his coaching license at the top of his class. After being Spalletti’s deputy he chose Slovakia. And if today he celebrates qualifying for the European Championship he owes it to Marek Hamsik, whom he met in Naples: “he acted as an intermediary. Public opinion had doubts, but I am like an assistant to the head doctor in a hospital. I can do”. Here is the secret of an agreement. The rest was done by the “Italians” from Slovakia: Lobotka, Gyomber, Skriniar, Duda, but also the former Sassuolo player Haraslin, Juray Kucka and Denis Vavro, a meteor with Inzaghi’s Lazio.

red

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Rossi’s story is well known. In 2018 he chose to fly to Budapest after series of disappointments. “They asked me twice for money to coach. I was unemployed for a year and a half, I didn’t know how to support my family. I was one step away from depression.” Hungary saved his life, and he did everything to make it a nation to be feared even in football: in 2021, in a group of iron, he imposed a draw on France and Germany. A feat. Before finding his place in the world he went through difficult times: at Scafatese he never saw his salary, while at Cava de Tirreni he was even threatened: “They did something more abject and disgusting, that is, spitting in the stands on my wife and my daughter”. In Budapest he is so considered that he has a special relationship with Victor Orban, the prime minister in office since 2010. One who does not tolerate the European Union and especially immigration. “We only talk about football, never about politics,” said Rossi, who qualified for his second European Championship thanks to an own goal in the 97th minute. Thanks to a corner by Szoboszlai, the star of Liverpool and the national team, one of the best 2000 players in the world. Here too, a pinch of “Italy”. Nagy of Pisa and Balogh of Parma. But there is no trace of nostalgia.