With the final whistle of Varese-Como (3/4th place final of the Primavera Cup – Cesare Bonazzi Memorial) Matteo Ponti’s red and white season has come to an end. A season that to define as intense would be an understatement, but which well reflects the long one love story of the class of ’90 with Varese.
Familiar face (well known) of amateur football in the province, it was Ponti himself offensive pivot on which the new red and white course invested starting from Third Category. That Group Bnever finished due to Covid, he saw it dominate the scoring charts with 25 goals in 17 gameseffectively contributing to the championship victory (and the consequent jump to Serie D, once the Busto81 sporting title was acquired).
Ponti, however, had the opportunity to write his very personal story in the first year of Serie Dthen returning to wear the red and white last season in the role of trainer: his Under17 Provincialhaving acquired the Regional title, fought on equal terms (despite being under age) In the Group A of the Under18s finishing in fourth place and, in recent weeks, has contributed decisively to the salvation of the Regional Under17.
“It was a tiring two years but definitely full of satisfactions – Ponti himself comments at the end of the Bonazzi Memorial – starting with what was shown in this tournament, an occasion in which this team, considerably under age, fought on equal terms against opponents from professional academies. Looking back and seeing where we have reached today I can only be proud of this group.”
After the Third Category, although not as a footballer, you continued to orbit around the Varese world. Can you tell us how?
“Amirante and Scandola, at the time, asked me to take charge of the National Juniors. However, I had to refuse because I had already signed a contract with Team Ticino which guaranteed me a certain economic stability, even more so considering that that was the year of Covid, as well as the possibility of continuing to make a living from football; in Switzerland, despite the necessary restrictions, we have never stopped. Even though I had declined the proposal, relations have always been excellent, to the point that Andrea Menon asked me to give a “technical contribution” during the commentary of the first year. I admit that it was a fantastic year: the trips with Andrea, Stefano Pertile and Paolo Limido were unforgettable!”.
Having archived that year, you concentrated on Switzerland, and then?
“Then I completed the Swiss contract, in the meantime I continued to study, obtaining the UEFA B licence, and Roberto Verdelli called me proposing to coach the Provincial Under-17 team which, let’s remember, by specific company wishes, was under age like all the other years. Do I agree with this idea? If you want to train players, it is certainly an effective method because both the kids and the coaches are urged to find solutions to make up for the structural gap, given that physicality is the prerogative of modern football. When you’re younger you have to build your game and that’s exactly what I tried to do with a group completely built at home: from the provincial fields we moved on to play with confidence and personality on the regional ones, arriving at obtaining the results as a consequence of the improvements made”.
Efforts and satisfactions: is this the summary of your two-year period?
“These are two words that describe the path well. Last season we finished in third position behind Ispra and Bosto, but having won the Discipline Cup we secured a good score to move up in the rankings and access the Regional. This year my 2007 group was entered in the Under18 Regional, a championship that is often seen as “useless” but which boasts a very respectable level: we finished fourth with 72 points, -8 from the top, but the podium was largely within reach, except that, rightly, priorities have changed during the current season and we have accepted the task of saving the Under17s”.
During the season in progress, with the microphones turned off, you assured yourself that you had accepted the assignment only because you were sure that it was a “possible” mission. Prophetic?
“I would not say (laughs, ed.), but I was really sure that there was all the potential to achieve it: I don’t think anyone expected direct salvation, but the fact of having learned our skills in U18 led us to compare ourselves with the same age group in U17 with greater awareness and the 13 points in six games prove it. Personally, I believed in direct salvation from the beginning and I managed to convey this confidence to the whole group, overcoming an enormously difficult obstacle together: after an entire season in the top positions it is not easy to change mentality and find yourself having to bring home points salvation. Furthermore, I arrived after Varese had lost the direct match against Gavirate 3-0, Ispra was in a good moment and Valle Olona behind us continued to win. In that moment, however, the qualities of this extraordinary group emerged, made up of people who truly love Varese, who thoroughly enjoyed the emotions of those six matches and who showed an unprecedented sense of belonging and identity to these colours. . This is how an unthinkable salvation became reality.”
Goal reached on the last day: can you tell us about it from your point of view?
“In the morning I was in Switzerland and, upon returning to Italy, I saw the results of Ispra and Gavirate: in light of that defeat it was too good an opportunity not to take advantage of. We took to the pitch against Lainatese feeling the weight of responsibility and the result was a nervous and tense first half. At half-time I simply told the boys to give everything they had because those 45 minutes that awaited us were supposed to be the last of our season: once we scored 1-0 everything was easier and, in front of all the management, It was an incredible emotion to celebrate that salvation which is worth more than a championship won.”
We talked about the past and the present. What will be Matteo Ponti’s future at Varese?
“I’ll be honest: I haven’t talked about the future yet. I had a two-year agreement with Verdelli and I respected it by working on a group with future projection, to bring it to express his qualities and deal with superior realities. I know that there will be some changes at youth level and, although I don’t know him directly, except during a very quick presentation, I know that Massimo Foghinazzi is a guarantee from this point of view. If there is the opportunity to continue here in Varese I will be very happy to take it: I have always worked on two- and three-year periods because I believe that the single year is not “stimulating”. Ideas and organization must be the basis of everything and, to date, it seems to me that they are there: we will sit at the table and discuss every possibility, always remembering that the founding prerogative must be to have the education of the young person at heart”.
Matteo Carraro
