The Roman technician loved in every part of Italy for his authenticity has died. Linked to Ascoli, where he had moved from his home Rome, in Florence he valued Antognoni, in Cagliari he refined Francescoli’s talent
The football world is in mourning. Carlo Mazzone, one of the most iconic coaches of Italian football, has died. He was 86 years old and goes away taking with him the record of benches in Serie A: 792. It would take three hundred pages, and perhaps more, to tell who did it. He has lived a thousand existences, has gone through experiences dodging dangers and sniffing out traps, he let himself be led by the only guiding star that ever betrayed him: popular wisdom. Yes, because to say who Carletto Mazzone was, one must start from the roots, from the Rome of the people, the Rome of him, in which a bit of Alberto Sordi and a bit of Carlo Verdone were mixed. He was like this, when he coached and when he was on the bench. Do you remember the famous scene of 30 September 2001, when he ran under the Atalanta curve after his Brescia had scored the 3-3 goal? He was like watching a movie. Except that Mazzone was not an actor, but he played the part of himself: this is how he had been, this is how he was and this is how he would remain. True, here is the adjective that perhaps best defines it. “If we make three to three I’ll come under the curve” he shouted, after being insulted throughout the game, while Roberto Baggio scored the equalizer. And then, addressing the referee Collina, despite him still being overwhelmed by a fate he didn’t expect, with lucidity and honesty, he said: “Throw me out, I deserve it!”.
character
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It would be enough to review those images to trace the outlines of the character. And yet it would be unfair to reduce it to just this, because Sor Carletto was also something else. More. Above all, he was a champion of humanity, as evidenced by the majority of players to whom he taught the trade. He was an outspoken man who didn’t hide behind his words, but he yelled them in the interlocutor’s face: if something didn’t suit him, he said it plainly. Difficult to get from him an “I don’t know”, a “let me think about it”. If there was an idea, it immediately rose to his lips and there was no keeping it a secret. Like when the president of Roma Franco Sensi approached him and whispered: “Carlo, there is the possibility of buying Litmanen, what shall we do?”. And he: “Why take Litmanen and throw away the money? We have the little boy.”
little boy
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That little boy, whom he cuddled with his eyes, was Francesco Totti. For the talent he has always had particular. As Fiorentina coach he enhanced that of Giancarlo Antognoni, in Rome he discovered that of Totti, in Brescia he made Pirlo grow alongside that of Roberto Baggio, in Cagliari he refined that of Enzo Francescoli. He repeated: “Technique is the bread of the rich, tactics are the bread of the poor”. And when they told him that he was the Trapattoni of the poor, given that he often coached lower-ranked teams, he replied: “No, it is Trapattoni who is the Mazzone of the rich”.
tradition
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His tactical ideas were linked to tradition, the libero, the tough and gritty defense, the counter-attack as a lethal weapon. To this formula, which is still the formula of most Italian coaches today, he combined cunning. In the mid-nineties, he leads Roma who line up with the 5-3-2 formation launched by Nevio Scala at Parma and by Osvaldo Bagnoli at Genoa. As the Roman journalists massacred him for an excess of defensiveness, he reversed the numbers and suddenly the serene returned: “Mine is not 5-3-2, but 3-5-2. The two fullbacks are at the height of the midfielders”. True or not, from that moment on, all the reporters began to write that it was a 3-5-2, and this is still the case today. A joke was enough for him to put a potential opponent in his pocket. The challenge stimulated him, he needed it like air, and never mind if it sent his blood pressure skyrocketing. He loved to say that there are two Mazzones, one calm and serene who trained during the week and one who, suddenly, as if he were his twin brother, showed up at the field on Sundays and went all out.
tour of Italy
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Sor Carletto has made an authentic tour of Italy of the benches but, apart from that of Rome, he has never had that of a great team. Not because he didn’t possess the qualities to lead a group of champions, and what will it take? Rather, his too sanguine character and his tongue, at times, too long have betrayed him. Could you imagine him, strutting, in a suit and tie, sitting on the Inter, Milan or Juve bench? No, he was from more popular arenas, from provincial theaters where he arrives with a down-at-heel company and yet he manages to entertain the audience and then ends the evening in a trattoria to tell jokes. Here, probably, on balance, Sor Carletto was a victim of his own character.
pat on the back
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There are many players who owe him something. An advice, a reprimand, a simple pat on the back were enough for him to convey what he wanted to say. With Roberto Baggio it was love at first sight. He wanted him at all costs at Brescia in 2000, convinced him and gave him a splendid end to his career. “It’s a friend who makes me win on Sunday” said Sor Carletto, faithful to the maxim that the best coaches are the ones who do the least damage. Football belongs to the players, he repeated, never forget this. Maybe he wouldn’t have liked today’s matches, pressing here and pressing there, crazy speed, zero space for talent, dribbling, invention, and perhaps this is also why he chose to get up from the bench and go back to the locker room.
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