For those who don't know, "Catenaccio" is a compound word, blending "catatonia" with the Italian name for soccer, "calcio." In other words, "Catatonic Football."
Actually, it's the Italian word for "bolt". I don't believe the word originates from soccer terminology. If you were making a joke, ha ha. Good one.
I didn't remember that it was "bolt" (as in "lock down," not as in "move real fast"), but the Winky Smiley-Face should've made an appearance in my post.
I think 3 italian teams are in semifinal. Milan match wasn't catenaccio and Juve was forced to play that way with davids out and 10 men (against barcelona in barcelona not against rapid wien). To say that Juve and Milan (even inter) play catenaccio is widely untrue. Italian calcio will never seek ball possession as a main tactic but the most shots on goal possible in the fewest passes possible and will always wait the opponent team in their midfield if they're winning in order to gain more spaces for manouvred counterattacks while protecting the result. If all goes well (ie if the italian team plays better than the opponent) the ball will often be conquered by midfielders and everyone will see a wonderful attacking match with lots of chances to score. When both teams play +- at the same level you will see the opponent team with more ball possession but most of the times with less chances to score (ex. Milan - Ajax). If all goes bad it all turn to be a really sad show, and you need plenty of luck (Inter and juve, but juve was forced to play that way vs barca). What i mean is that the attitude is always the same and no it isn't the classic catenaccio, it becomes catenaccio-like only if the team can't go out the penalty area with hurting breaks due to the skill of opponents or to the poor level of their play in that match.
excellent response, sums it up well.... having different styles is one of the things that makes soccer so compelling...
Catenaccio = middle finger to the fans That style of play is basically telling the fans to f ********* off. No one wants to watch a defensive minded team play. I dont care if you're Italian and say the commonly said excuse of, "you just don't understand the subtleties of the densive tactic to appreciate blah blah blah" It's just boring to watch. Sure, its exciting when a breakway occurs on the counter, but that happens a couple of times throughout the entire 90 minutes of a match. Peeople want to see good possession games, fighting it out on the midfield and the team constantly pushing forward and forward. F' catenaccio up the ass. Italian football will always be boring to watch. It's a shame there are 3 Serie A clubs in the semi-final of the CL when Juve and Inter are in it out of pure luck. Both teams were completely dominated by their Spanish counterparts but because of a little bit of luck, they are in the semis. As far as I'm concerned, AC Milan should be the only Serie A club in the semis. I also hear Buffon is talking out of his a-ss by saying Juve are confident they could beat the Royals. Yeah I cant wait for that match. I want Real to completely demoralise them and do some major psychological damage. I want to kick my own a-ss for sending support out for Real MAdrid, but if it means I'll witness Juventus get the beating of their lifetime, I will support them.
I'd rather celebrate a boring win, then an exciting loss. Winning is all that matters at the end of the day. You can hardly say winning is an "F you" to the fans.
Only the italian national team and Internazionale play "catenaccio". Milan and Juventus try to get the ball possession. In the last Serie A, Juventus got almost 65% of the possession in every game.
Yeah nice excuse for jumping on the Real bandwagon. Too bad Juventus sent them home to Madrid crying.