Since the mid-sixties of the last century Alberto Pizzi has rhymed with Latina Calcio. Although he still retains his Emilian accent, Alberto has lived and breathed the Pontine air all his life and, since his arrival in 1967, he has played in practically all positions in the defense but always proudly claiming to have been one of the first full-backs to come forward , thus proposing an offensive and modern alternative to the so-called blocked thirds, what Instagram football today calls the fifth.
Pizzi was born in Parma in 1945, but lived in Gramignazzo, in the area where his family had the kiln where, at the dawn of the last century, the bricks were prepared to rebuild the bell tower of San Marco in Venice after the collapse of July 1902. «I still follow Latina today and always with interest even if, unfortunately, in the last championship I was only able to see the first matches then I had to stop due to the loss of my dear wife Anna De Bonis, a loss that has turned upside down and something I will never get used to – he says in a faint voice, he who was also coach of the Nerazzurri in his career – I will definitely return to the stadium next season. What do I expect? I would like to see more and more people at the stadium. If I remember our matches it was a spectacle to have so many people in the stands. At the time the curve had not yet been built so there were only the two stands but the fans also stood behind the hedge for those who came. Well, if I could choose one thing it would be this, seeing the stadium full regardless of the results, I would like to still feel that passion that brought the people of the Borghi to see the match, it was a pleasure to meet so many people while today you always see too many of them few”.
Then Albero Pizzi analyzes some current affairs. «The new stadium? Well, a modern structure could be one more reason to grow but I wouldn’t want this to end up like the famous spa: when I arrived here there was a lot of talk about these spas but in the end they haven’t been built yet and I hope that for the stadium the story can end a little better, perhaps with less biblical times – Pizzi smiles as he scrolls through the album of memories of a life dedicated to family and football – I don’t allow myself to give advice to the club because they certainly have very attentive and specialized people in all the fields, but if I could decide something I would say to invest even more in the youth sector. I would like, for example, for more to be spent on the youth coach than on the first team coach because the boys need to be trained well and they need to be able to make their debut in the first team. In Latina there are many kids and I believe that we need to work on them, invest in them and plan a future that also takes into account what they do at school and how much they work. The objective of the youth sector should not even be to win a championship but rather to bring at least two boys to make their debut with the greats each season: if I were to have an interview with a youth sector coach who puts one of my objectives as win the championship, I would send him away before starting. The real victory is to get them into the first team squad, perhaps avoiding having the young people from Latina go to the other teams because this then also becomes a big burden for the families, often doing 200 or more kilometers a day for training they end up neglecting school and if they don’t succeed we risk losing them as men too. For this reason I would like Latina’s youth sector to become of the highest level, a real flagship that should be talked about even outside the region, this would be a real success for me.”
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