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Italy is in search of the successor of Antonio Conte

Antonio Conte is the current coach of the Italian national football team but his time in charge of the national side will reach it’s end after the 2016 Euro’s finalizes on July 10. When this time arrives, Conte is going to leave his managerial position of Italy and take charge of Chelsea.

The Italian national football team is now searching around for someone that can replace Antonio Conte and someone who has recently been linked with this position is Claudio Ranieri.


Claudio Ranieri recently secured the Premier League title with Leicester City in what has been an outstanding season for the Greek coach and for Leicester City as well. The 64 year old manager is now attracting the eyes of big clubs and even national sides; one of the national teams that are believed to be interested in offering Ranieri with a managerial position in the team is Italy.

Unfortunately for Italy, Ranieri has declined this offer as he is not interested in taking charge of a national football team.

When Claudio Ranieri was asked about the possibility of coaching the Italian national football team, he replied by saying:”The Italian national team? It’s a closed chapter for me. I was already burned in Greece.”

For the majority of the managerial career of Claudio Ranieri, he has been in charge of clubs more than anything else but Ranieri tried to step away from his safe zone and he accepted the managerial position of Greek but it was a disastrous time for Ranieri as he led the national side to 3 defeats and 1 draw, not even 1 victory.

Ranieri is not interested in taking up another managerial position for any national side. Continue reading “Italy is in search of the successor of Antonio Conte”

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THE THREE DUTCHMEN WHO INFLUENCED ITALIAN FOOTBALL

In AC Milan, you would rarely get away in any debate about the club’s football history without hearing the names of three Dutchmen who changed the game for the club and subsequently Italian football. The orange invasion, as it is referred to, was during the end of the 1980’s to early 1990’s at the Italian club. The period was blessed with abundant top rated football talents such as the Argentine – Gabriel Batistuta, prolific striker – Marco Van Basten, Roberto Baggio and Gianfranco Zola.

Marco Van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and Ruud Gullit formed a three-man Dutch force that changed Italian football. Arrigo Sacchi was made coach at The Rossoneri at the time. He was instrumental to the fine tuning of AC Milan, after a few years of trouble for the club. Basten was blessed with the height, a lethal finish aside being swift. He was touted to be the next Johan Cruyff and he lived up to expectations with his impressive display. He made the switch to The Red and Blacks after a successful campaign with Dutch giants, Ajax.

On the other hand, Gullit signed with the club at almost the same as Basten. Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Costacurta had developed a strong partnership at the defense line leaving both Dutchmen with leading the striking force. This combination led to Milan’s clinching of the title with only two losses. Continue reading “THE THREE DUTCHMEN WHO INFLUENCED ITALIAN FOOTBALL”

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Antonio Conte’s long term future remains undecided

Antonio Conte is the current head coach of the Italian national football team and he has contract with them which extends until the end of the 2016 Euro’s but the Italian coach has received numerous offers from different clubs and now it seems uncertain as to what Conte will do after his time with the Italian team runs out.

Carlo Tavecchio is the President of the Italian Football Federation and the administrator is hoping that Antonio Conte will stay in charge of Italy beyond the conclusion of the 2016 Euro’s but it will ultimately depend on whether or not Conte accepts a contract extension deal.

“We’re willing to extend Conte’s contract by two years but obviously it will depend on what he wants and what conditions present themselves during Euro 2016 which we hope to win. I’m sure that he will renew, he is like a son to me. However, if he decides to look elsewhere, then we will find a capable replacement’’ This was the statement that was released by Carlo Tavecchio as he expressed his desire to see Antonio Conte remain in charge of Italy for a few more years.

Ac.Milan, Chelsea, Manchester United and Real Madrid are all of the top European clubs that have shown interest in adding Antonio Conte to their managerial staff departments. The majority of these clubs have had a recent change with their respective managers and are now looking around the transfer market for coaches who are capable of winning titles and Antonio Conte is an experienced manager who has lifted the Serie A silverware with Juventus on 3 occasions and he is doing a superb job with the Italian national team as well. Continue reading “Antonio Conte’s long term future remains undecided”

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Antonio Conte wants to maintain his managerial role with Italy

A few weeks ago, Rafael Benitez left his managerial role of the Italian side Napoli. Rafael Benitez decided to do this because Real Madrid offered him with the chance to turn into the coach of the Spanish team.

Rafael Benitez accepted the coaching job of Real Madrid as he replaced Carlo Ancelotti who was sacked on May 25.

When Rafael Benitez resigned from coaching Napoli, a string of rumors and reports began to emerge which linked Antonio Conte with taking up the coaching position at the Italian club but Conte has no intentions of doing that as he wants to remain being in charge of the Italian national football team.

Italy’s Antonio Conte said: “I would like to clarify that these rumors of me leaving the national team to join a club have never really bothered me, because I have a contract with the Italian federation until July 2016 and I want to stay here. I have seen my name linked with many clubs over the last year and not only have I never thought to leave the national team, but I’m pretty sure that the clubs never thought I would quit my job here.’’

Antonio Conte took charge of the Italian national football team on August 14 of 2014 as he replaced CesarePrandelli who decided to resign as the coach of Italy after going through a disastrous 2014 World Cup campaign where they lost against Costa Rica and Uruguay and failed on making it past the group stages. Continue reading “Antonio Conte wants to maintain his managerial role with Italy”

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Roberto Martinez can finally breathe easy

Roberto Martinez can finally breathe easy as his side has shrugged off the fear of relegation.

A win versus Newcastle could not have come at a better time for Everton as it enabled them to move northwards to the 14th position in the top division points table.

They have created quite a bit of gap between themselves and the bottom three teams now.

With 31 points, they are quite safe for the time being.

And, now that the monkey is off their back, they might well start to play with a bit of freedom and pull off a few more positive results.

The Toffees had looked a bit timid playing at home thus far this winter.

But, after beating Dynamo Kiev the other day in Europe, they sort of carried that winning spirit to the Newcastle game and put together a real clinical act.

Also, Newcastle being one man short because of the sending off of their skipper was a bit of a help for Everton.

But, even if that red card incident had not happened, the hosts were on their way having had the lead of 2-0 already.

Martinez was also of the view that the Kiev win really helped the team. Continue reading “Roberto Martinez can finally breathe easy”

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Juventus poor Form in League continues

Juventus have been suffering from poor form in the league over the last few weeks. This has allowed Roma to close the gap on the reigning champions, but Juventus are keen to get the second consecutive league victory after several weeks when they take on Hellas Verona in front of their own supporters.

Juventus thrashed their next league opponents 6-1 in the Coppa Italia only a few days ago, but manager Massimiliano Allegri reckons that the opposition will be much more stronger to beat in the league match. Juventus have a two-point advantage over second placed Roma, although they have a game in hand. Continue reading “Juventus poor Form in League continues”

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Juventus well trained to win Italian League Title

After the Italian manager was able to guide Juventus to their 3rd consecutive Italian League title, Conte was selected as the new coach of Italy despite Conte not having any coaching experience in managing a nation. CesarePrandelli was sacked after having gone through an abysmal 2014 World Cup campaign and now Antonio Conte is the man that was delegated with all the responsibilities of getting the Italian national football team back on track and so far things have been going well for Italy as they are at the top of Group H with 10 points having been secured, they are one of the favorites on advancing through the next stages of the 2016 Euro’s.

Netherlands could be going through a similar thing as GuusHiddink has not convinced anyone ever since he was appointed as the new coach of Netherlands after Louis van Gaal left his managerial position in the team.

Louis van Gaal pushed Netherlands to the semi-finals of the 2014 World Cup but Van Gaal decided to drop his managerial position at Netherlands and coach Manchester United, GuusHiddink was later appointed as the new coach of the Dutch nation but after losing against Czech Republic and Iceland, it has not been the best of times for Hiddink as he is under heavy pressure.

If GuusHiddink is not able to turn things around and push Netherlands to the next stages of the 2016 Euro’s, a replacement is already been seen.

Southampton’s Ronald Koeman is in the sights of Holland as a possible candidate of turning into the next coach of the country. Koeman is going through a superb season as the manager of Southampton as the Premier League club has managed to stay at the top of the English League and is currently located in 2nd place.