On the Strait it will be Giacomo Modica’s turn against Vincenzo Cangelosi. Two historic protégés of Boemo, both of whom grew up on his staff
The teacher and his favorite students, all together on the bench. Between Pescara and Messina, in a night of Serie C recoveries with a high Zemanian concentration. The Bohemian’s Pescara faces Pineto “away”, a new and fascinating challenge because it is played at the Adriatico, a stadium which temporarily hosts the freshman team from the province of Teramo.
On the Strait, at Franco Scoglio, Casertana arrives and the crossroads are between two coaches – both Sicilian and almost 60 years old – about whose beliefs there are few doubts: Giacomo Modica on the home bench, Vincenzo Cangelosi on that of the guests. They have seen a lot, side by side within Zdenek Zeman’s staff. And they have remained faithful practitioners of his ideas, despite the evolution of their respective careers. If Zeman didn’t have a match this evening too, he would certainly sit on the sofa at home at Fleming: cigarette in hand and an attentive and affectionate eye on Vincenzo and Giacomo. But it won’t happen, because at 76 he has no desire for retired evenings.
shadow Man
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Cangelosi – a former goalkeeper who stopped playing early – sat at his side for 33 years: from Foggia 1989 to Foggia 2022, an iconic destination for comebacks. He became first coach only last season, immediately with profit: in January Casertana called him, in Serie D, brought to the showdown in C through the playoffs and then the summer repechage. Obviously the reference formation is the beloved 4-3-3, but Cangelosi’s Casertana – at this start of the season, above all to adapt to contingencies – has also been able to reinvent itself. The spare outfit is in fact a 3-5-2 far from orthodoxy, which has already surprised the opponents. That, evidently, they had prepared the match in another way. At full capacity we will return to the score memorized, but the tactical unpredictability of the theoretically most Zemanian team (among those not coached by Zeman) is already making the news.
winning tips
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Modica (who played as a midfielder) instead worked on the staff for eight seasons, as technical collaborator and then assistant (right together with Cangelosi). Continuously from 1999 to 2004, following the Prague coach in his brief three-month experience in Turkey (at Fenerbahce), in the equally unfortunate parenthesis at Napoli and then between Salernitana and Avellino. In 2004 he set up his own business (Cosenza, Melfi, Celano and Lecco), but was unable to say no when Zeman called him back to his side for his return to Roma (2012-’13) and the subsequent adventure in Cagliari . Then he resumed his path, without ever untying the thread of ideas, formation (basic 4-3-3), passion and gratitude that binds him to the Prague coach. Last summer, fresh from his season in Serie D with Vibonese, he promoted the 19-year-old midfielder Antonio De Marco and then suggested to Zeman to take him (as a free agent) to Pescara. The circle has obviously closed, on total trust, giving the blue and white midfielder a midfielder already capable of scoring a decisive brace against Sestri Levante (his first goals among professionals). Modica recounted, a couple of months ago, what is the essence of a relationship: “When Messina called me, I could have inserted myself to keep the player with me in my new club. But I didn’t want to do it, the negotiations with Pescara had already started and affection and friendship have value. It wouldn’t have been right to first recommend it to Zeman and then take it away from him.”
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