Lo Sport (Fiorentina)

This has been a good year to be a Fiorentina football fan. For the first time in six years they have a serious shot at making “Champions League” next year. In order to play in Champions League, they must finish in the top four in their division “This Year” and if they do, they will join the ranks of some of the worlds better known teams like Manchester United, Inter, Real Madrid and Roma. At the time of this writing they just slipped two points behind AC Milan for the number four spot with two games to play, so it will be a nail biter.

During the season, they have also participated in a very important and well know tournament called COPA EUEFA. The tourney is somewhat similar to the NCAA tourney in that teams are eliminated leading up to a championship game in England for the title. Prior to the finals, in the previous rounds each team plays their opponent twice, once on their home turf and once on the road. The winner of the two game match up advances and the loser goes home. In the event of a two game split, the difference is decided by goal differential. If the goals are the same, then it gets really complicated and I’ll save you the details.

Anyway…Fiorentina advanced to the semi finals against Glasgow Scotland with the winner facing Russia. The first match was played in Scotland and ended in a zero to zero tie, talk about a pitchers duel!

The second match was here in Florence and as Simone so directly articulated to me, “Tim, this is the biggest game in Florence in 20 years. If Fiorentina wins, the city will party for many days!” That’s all that Trey and I needed to hear. We bought tickets!

It just so happened that Steve Linke was in town for their family visit, so the three of us went to the “Stadio” for the big match. Steve has played soccer for nearly 30 years and to this day plays in an adult club league in San Diego, so for him it was quite a treat.

There’s really no way to describe the emotions and energy of an Italian soccer match. Its truly a unique spectacle. One thing to consider is that Florence is a city of only 300,000 people, so when you pack 50,000 into a stadium, you are truly assembling a large percentage of the city in one place! Beyond that it’s a cross between a college sporting event and a girls softball game in many ways! The fans are so animated and raucous. The rules for the attendees are far more lax, lending to the animated environment. People are allowed to bring banners and wave huge flags in the stands. Fire crackers go off in the stands during the game. Every person it seems is smoking at least one cigarette at all times (Trey would tell you that most are smoking two!). The fans sing songs throughout the game like I remember from the days that I umpired in my sisters softball league. The songs of course are all in Italian, but you can literally hear them on the other side of the city when the crowd gets going.

There is little doubt that the crowd makes more noise than any sporting event I have ever been to in the states. Its simply bedlam.

A moment that I will never forget was the ride to the game that night. The weather could not have been better. Trey and I were wearing jeans and long sleeve t-shirts. The sun was starting to set. Steve followed us on his rented motorino. As we drew within a mile or two of the stadium, you could feel the energy build. Suddenly the street was a sea of motorinos and the drivers were clad in “Viola” (Purple), the color of Fiorentina. Ducati motorcycles were flying by with huge purple flags erected from the back of the seat. Drivers were wearing scarves, bandanas and helmets all with he Fiorentina logo. It was like driving in the middle of one of those Harley “Group Rides” you see in the states, but there folks drove Ducati, Kawasaki and of course the standard Piaggio motorino like me! It was really cool.

The game itself was about as ugly as you could have drawn up for Firoentina fans. The entire match (Both the first and second half as well as BOTH overtimes) was thoroughly dominated by Firoentina. If I had to guess, I would say that the shots on goal were 20 to 3 for the match. With every missed shot or save by the goalie, you could feel the tension and concern increasing in the stands and when fans are nervous, they do one thing, they “Smoke”! “Cazzo di testa” yelled one fan, while another shouted at a Florentine player “Testa di merda”. You can translate these in google if you wish, but for now, know that Trey knew exactly what they meant and as any nine year old boy would, giggled his ass off!

Everything took place in front of the Scotland goal and nothing, not one shot went in for either team. Sooo we headed to a “Shoot out” for all the marbles!

The first of five shots by Glasgow was stopped by the Florence goalie. The crowd went crazy! Fiorentina followed with its first shot, which went in for the first goal of the game. 1-0 Florence. The next shot by Scotland was nothing but net and was followed by a Florence goal to make it 2-1. Scotland tied it at 2-2 on their third shot, and when the third shot by Florence was batted away by Glasgow’s goalie, the crowd became concerned.

In round four, Glasgow scored to make it 3-2. Florence countered with a shot that sailed way over the net and now Glasgow had the upper hand. All they needed to do was score on their final shot and they would advance to play Russia in the finals. Glasgow’s shot sailed into the upper left hand corner for the win…the crowd was stunned.

It was like the day that Kennedy was shot…

I finally realized just why I don’t like soccer compared to most American sports. Never have a witnessed a game that was more one sided and the team that so completely dominated walked away with a loss. To draw an equivalent, it would be like the Steelers out gaining their opponent five hundred yards to fifty for the game and losing 3-0! It would never happen..

Long ride home that night on the motorino.