Arena Cherishing Chance to Play Italy
When his United States men's national soccer team was drawn against Italy, the team of his grandfathers, in December, coach Bruce Arena was emotional about the prospect of facing the Azzurri in the World Cup.
"Italy I always think about because I'm of Italian heritage and my grandparents were born in Italy, so that's always nice," said Arena, whose grandparents were Sicilian and Neopolitan. One of them, Salvatore Schembre, hung a poster of the Italian national team in his Brooklyn delicatessen. Arena remembers staring up at it as a 6-year-old.
Decades later, Italy is still hanging over Arena, this time as he tries to coach the Americans out of Group E and into the second round of the World Cup.
"It's coming back to haunt me now, isn't it?" said Arena on Thursday. "Being of Italian heritage, I think it's fun and all. In my eyes, I think everybody looks at Brazil as the class of this tournament and the class of football around the world, but I still kind of like Italy. "
June 17, 2006
Posted By Matt Manchester
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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