DJT Posted December 1, 2003 Share Posted December 1, 2003 Rocco Placentino made his US Avellino and Italian Serie B debut on Sunday, November 30. He was subbed into the match at Piacenza as a striker in the 69th minute, with his team trailing and eventually losing 2-0. Avellino is having a horrible time in Serie B, in last place with a 1-5-11 W-D-L record, the only win coming by default as a result of the cancelled local derby versus Napoli on September 20 (this was the match plagued by fan trouble before kickoff where a Napoli fan fell from the upper deck of the stadium and later died). I have been collecting information about Canadians playing in Italy this season. I was intending to post a summary of everything together, but with Placentino making his debut I figured I should post the stuff on him now (see below). I'll post the stuff on the other players when I get a chance to organize it all (quick summary: there isn't anything significant that hasn't already been posted). I believe that Placentino began the season with Avellino's senior team, but he did not play and was not on the (substitutes) bench for first three or four matches. Around September 26 it was announced that Placentino would join the Avellino Primavera (U21) team, which was just beginning its season at that time. There were five matches from the end of September to the end of October: September 27 - Napoli 3 Avellino 3 No info available October 4 - Avellino 0 Lazio 1 No info available October 11 - Roma 3 Avellino 0 Placentino started and subbed out at 60th minute (with score 2-0) October 18 - Avellino 0 Sora 2 Placentino subbed in at 50th minute (with score 0-1) October 25 - Bari 4 Avellino 2 Placentino did not play, don't know if he was on bench An October 31 league media release stated that Placentino was assigned a number on Avellino's senior team, so he was probably called up from the Primavera team (despite not playing much there) to the senior team around this time. He did not play in Avellino's match on November 2 but I don't know if he was on the bench, and he did not play in and was not on the bench for the match on November 9. Placentino then joined the Canadian Olympic team for the series against El Salvador and missed two Avellino matches on November 16 and 20. I would guess that he was back in time for Avellino's match on November 23, but he did not play and was not on the bench. Now things get particularly interesting. With Avellino struggling, on November 24 coach Zdenek Zeman surprisingly announced that until the transfer market opens in January he will stick to one squad of 19 players for every match. But the really surprising part is that Placentino was included in this squad of 19 players, despite not having played at all for Avellino's senior team (and little for the Primavera team) while several players left off the squad were regulars or semi-regulars. (Fans on the Web were baffled about the whole thing, some not even knowing who Placentino was. Most of them seem to feel that management is conceding relegation just over one-third of the way through the season.) We usually fear players being called to play for Canada and subsequently losing their place at their club, yet in Placentino's case he left Avellino just as he was promoted (not an ideal time to leave!), scored a crucial goal for Canada, then returned to Avellino and was given another promotion (once again, despite the little playing time he'd had). On the other hand, this probably just shows how bad things are going at Avellino. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamiltonfan Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 it is great new. wahts the attendances like for Serie B games? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJT Posted December 2, 2003 Author Share Posted December 2, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Massive Attack I find it funny that gazzetta.it (a pretty good source) has him listed as being from Argentina. Yes, I have seen that mentioned on a few other sites as well. I would expect them to have him listed as Italian, but I don't know where Argentina comes from. quote:Originally posted by hamiltonfan wahts the attendances like for Serie B games? The last couple of seasons it's been around 10,000. Before that it was a bit lower (6,000-9,000). Piacenza has had really poor attendance since dropping from Serie A last season. In this game that Placentino played they had only 4,500, which is right around their average this season. hamiltonfan, since you seem to always ask about attendances, just check out this site: http://european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettermirror Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 interesting to note that an a-league club like vancouver gets 4500 no problem, but also a serie b side in a soccer-loving nation such as italy also only gets 4500. yet, they can afford far more expensive players. too bad canada can't get the same type of sponsorship or merchandise sales, eh! travel costs are lower too, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamiltonfan Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 thanks for that site, always interested in attendances. So you the worlds best soccer nations 2nd level of soccer get poor in attendance. the caps and impact get higher then a lot of those teams. Like betterminor said if only we had the same sponsorship as them we could get way better players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 quote:Originally posted by hamiltonfan thanks for that site, always interested in attendances. So you the worlds best soccer nations 2nd level of soccer get poor in attendance. the caps and impact get higher then a lot of those teams. Like betterminor said if only we had the same sponsorship as them we could get way better players. The carrot of possibly being promoted to Serie A also helps. It isn't just about money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ref Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 I like Rocco and strongly believe that he may become the Messiah for Canada forward line. As I said before, it depends greatly on our coach giving him the opportunity he deserves. It seems obvious that the Italians can see his talent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
massimo Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 quote:Originally posted by The Ref I like Rocco and strongly believe that he may become the Messiah for Canada forward line. As I said before, it depends greatly on our coach giving him the opportunity he deserves. It seems obvious that the Italians can see his talent. Wuuuoooo....Easy there. I don't know if you've seen Rocco play. He ain't Canada's messiah. I think he will be a good player for Canada. But no Radzinski. The upside, is still young and this will give him time to develop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.