Another Juve in the making in our midst?

Almeyda, who played for Lazio, Parma, Brescia and Inter Milan during an eight-year stay in the country, insists the game in Italy is plagued by corruption, doping and match fixing.

 

In a review published by The Telegraph in the UK, the midfielder also suggests some clubs have fostered worryingly close ties to organised crime syndicates, fuelling a climate of fear among players.

One of the most alarming stories in the book is that he was hooked up to an intravenous drip before matches during his time at Parma. He is convinced the drips were used to give the players performance-enhancing drugs which have done serious long term health damage.

“At Parma we were given an IV (intravenous) drip before games. They said it was a mixture of vitamins but before entering the field I was able to jump up as high as the ceiling. Players do not ask questions, but then in the following years there are cases of former players dying from heart problems, suffering from muscular issues and more. I think it is the consequence of the things that have been given to them.”

Almeyda, who gives a brutally honest appraisal of his own battle with alcoholism as he reached the end of his career at Inter in the book, goes on to paint a picture of a game where mafia influence stretches wide.

Writing about his time at Parma, Almeyda believes a disagreement with the club’s former president and owner, Stefano Tanzi, led to his house being broken into as a form of intimidation.

He insists he was not the only player worried about his safety at that time, naming former Aston Villa striker Savo Milosevic as another who had a similar break-in following an argument with Tanzi.

Almeyda denies he ever took part in any match-fixing, but he suspects several of his teammates did during a match between Parma and Roma in 2001, a result which meant the latter pipped Juventus to the title.

The match-fixing scandal dominated Italian football at the turn of the millennium leading to the demotion of teams from the top league in 2006. Last season, when everybody thought their football had passed the test, a new scandal was unearthed and this week, it was announced that champions Juventus’ coach, Antonio Conte will serve a 10-month suspension for failing to report match-fixing to authorities.

In his defence, he claimed he was being made a scapegoat. Conte, who led Juventus to the Serie A title last season, lost his appeal this week against a 10-month suspension for failing to report a match-fixing case.

Italian police in May arrested Stefano Mauri, the team captain of SS Lazio SA, and prosecutors probed Conte as part of an international investigation into the nation’s soccer leagues.

Italy’s soccer federation acquitted Conte (43), of wrong-doing in the game between Novara and Siena on 1 May 2011, but suspended him for failing to report a match-fixing incident in the game between Albinoleffe and Siena four weeks later, according to a statement published on its website. Conte was Siena’s coach at the time.

Conte will still be allowed to train Juventus during his suspension, but won’t be able to coach on match days. He will now appeal to the National Sport Arbitration Court of the Italian Olympic Committee, Luigi Chiappero, one of his lawyers, told journalists.   Assistant coach Massimo Carrera will be in charge when Juventus begins its title defence at home against Parma in two days.

Despite the dark cloud of match-fixing, Italy has remained a powerhouse in European football and no wonder they reached the final of the Euro 2012. They have managed to produce quality players who have competed for first team jerseys at top leagues in the world.

Zimbabwe is different from Italy in many ways but there are a few things that can make us in the same radar in terms of football. Just like Italy, we are a country at crossroads in as far as football is concerned. We are still battling to clean the game of match-fixing and there seems no end in sight for the investigations by the independent committee appointed by Zifa.

While the Italians never took the blanket ban route, so as to safeguard their football, Zifa dared the difficult route and banned about 100 players. Of course, not all the players implicated in match-fixing could be of value to the national team today, but there are some players who could be of use and make life easy for Rahman  Gumbo and his technical team.

The longer the Independent Committee delays to bring finality to the whole drama, the more the selection headache for national team coaches as they are now forced to fish from a pond in the lounge, instead of a dam of Zimbabwe talent.
Gumbo and his Warriors have done tremendously well to reach the last round of the qualifiers of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations. Zifa have done well to come up with a sub-committee, named Mzansi 90, to spearhead the mobilising of resources as we seek to finish off Angola in their own back yard next month and book a ticket to the finals in South Africa in January.

We are just 90 minutes away from the tournament, thus the code, Mzansi 90, but it can become much longer than 90 minutes for the Warriors to qualify for the tournament if the coaches do not have the best players at their disposal and if the national association is fighting too many fires at the same time.

Football is a complex game and it would be futile for Cuthbert Dube and his board to think that they can solve all the problems in our game, no. They can only do their best but they have to prioritise what they want to do and always remember that whatever happens, they will be judged on the performance of the Warriors.

We want corruption out of the game, yes, but the performance of the senior national team will always define the national association when judgment day comes. Lest we forget, the sooner we are done with Asiagate, the better for everyone. The sooner the committee takes action against perpetrators of the dark chapter in our football called Asia- gate, the better for everyone.

Match-fixing aside, one of the biggest brands of football in Italy is a club called Juventus, also known as Juve. The club is one of the oldest teams in Italy, third oldest to be precise, formed in 1897 and is the most followed and most successful team in that country. It has also produced top players who have represented the country well, having performed a decisive role in the World Cup triumphs of 1934, 1982 and 2006 and most recently, the Euro 2012 where Italy reached the final.

Over time, Juve have become a symbol of the nation’s culture and italianità (“Italianness”), due to their tradition of success, some of which have had a significant impact in Italian society, especially in the 1930s and the first post war decade and the ideological politics and socio-economic origin of the club’s sympathisers.

Most importantly, the club colours are black and white, and those colours are easily recognisable in Zimbabwean football.

The country’s oldest team and one of the most followed teams, with a second high fan base after Dynamos, Highlanders, are dressed in black and white.

The Bulawayo giants have been playing second fiddle to Dynamos, who are the country’s big boys by virtue of having won the highest number of titles, 19, including six from the pre-independence era. Highlanders just have seven titles under their belt, with just one won before independence but their influence in Zimbabwean football and way of life cannot be underestimated.

They have set the 2012 season alight with breath-taking football under new coach Kelvin Kaindu, a former club player and Zambian national and their new found form has certainly breathed life to Zimbabwean football.

It has been long since the Big Two, Highlanders and Dynamos contested head on for the title, with other teams coming into the picture in recent years to contest for the title—barring Caps United, names like AmaZulu, Motor Action, Monomotapa, Gunners and FC Platinum coming into the picture at a time when Highlanders were largely on a lull.

But they have roared for 23 matches undisrupted and if their recent fighting spirit is anything to go by, they are likely to go all the way to the finish line unbeaten. It might sound overzealous but who thought they will go for 23 matches unbeaten when the season started? Who thought with their shoe-string budget, they can smash record after record? Who thought with their relatively small squad, they can stand the heat against teams with bigger squads and names like FC Platinum and Dynamos?

Anything can happen in football and they will certainly falter at some stage, but what they have done so far has redefined the Premiership and it’s something that sponsors and fans look at and marvel. I have heard predictions from other quarters that they might go all the way unbeaten but still lose the title to Dynamos because they have too many draws. It’s just one other argument, but the problem with this Highlanders is that the boys keep on going against what we have been accustomed to as the norm in football—win some and lose some.

Just like Juventus went all the way undefeated, who were in a two-horse race with AC Milan last season, who had tasted defeat more than twice, but with a few draws, Highlanders are fighting for honours with Dynamos who have tasted defeat this season, but they have few draws which compensate for the points dropped in the losses. And that is what gives their fans hope that they will retain the title even if Bosso don’t lose a game, hoping they will “lose by drawing.”

Seven games are left before the champions are crowned and crucially, Dynamos and Highlanders are yet to lock horns in the reverse fixture in Harare, so there is still much to look forward to in this year’s championship race. But the debate out there is “Are we seeing another Juventus in the making in our midst?” Forget the scandals associated with Juve because Bosso seem clean. For comments and contributions email [email protected]. You can also follow this writer on Twitter and Facebook.