All year round with a smile on your face. But always in tension. Even yesterday, after a championship he just won, Sante Alfonsi didn’t pull the plug. “No, but what a job. Today we just laughed and joked”, he swears. From his debut as coach of Civitanovese, the home defeat against Urbino, to his second outing of the season, the victory in Osimo, there is a world in between which is the synthesis of the entire season of the Riviera players, newly promoted and without the favourites. of the prediction in August, champions with merit in April. “I arrived on Wednesday and on Sunday we took to the pitch. I didn’t know the players”, says Alfonsi when he looks back on his first week as Riviera coach. “Then,” he adds, “I met them and we started doing what we knew how to do.”
From the first days to the present: what about the future ones?
“We are still celebrating.”
Alfonsi, who called you?
“First, the president Profili, then the then director Giorgio Crocetti: it was love at first sight. Then, Crocetti left and the new director Caludio Cicchi arrived, with whom an exceptional feeling was established. He is an exquisite person , as well as a football expert.”
What were the most complex phases?
“The defeats against Jesina, Maceratese and Castelfidardo. However, we always got back up with strings of victories. This only makes a great team.”
Last winter, there were those who asked for a weight striker, who didn’t arrive. Yet, you still won.
“We went through the entire first half of the season without Stefano Spagna. As soon as he returned, Paolucci left us: his injury damaged us, but from the locker room, Michele gave us a lot of strength.”
What was the key to such a rock-solid defense?
“We have really strong performers. Last Sunday, I had to make the most difficult decision: leaving out one of De Vito or Ballanti. Furthermore, we found a 2006 player, Cosignani, and a 2004 player, Franco, who achieved respectively a first round and important returns. Pasqualini is a fantastic player, where you played him he did well.”
Until the Easter break, you were brighter away: why?
“I don’t know if it was the pressure, the teams closing in, or the fact that we had to win at home at all costs. Mentally, we asked ourselves a few questions and then all the victories came.”
Let’s talk about the future: will it stay here?
“We haven’t broached the subject with the president yet, there’s time. We’re celebrating.”
Where will you need to strengthen yourself to face the D series?
“There is a hard core of players, then we will have to buy something.”
