JUVENTUS-AMBROSIANA 4-2
— Vittorio Pozzo | 06/06/1932 —

Football matches follow the edge of a razor's blade in their progress; they go from one extreme to another, they fly here and there from the dangerous path that they should follow with spectacular ease. If there was a match that should have had a calm and peaceful development, it was yesterday's between Ambrosiana and Juventus. No interest in the standings, no ambition in their antagonism, no reason to make the match a fight. It happened that, after a first half with a regular tone and predominantly technical in the end, tempers suddenly heated up towards the middle of the second half and then some of the most unpleasant things were seen: players who had such a desire to fight that it escaped from every pore, others who decidedly lost their temper, and scenes and incidents that left people painfully stunned and disinterested.

The referee was the outlet for those — spectators and actors — who had lost their temper. The referee is a man and, as you can see from the way the person who held the reins of the match yesterday erred, he was interpreted as belonging to a type that authorized all sectors of those present to become upset. Some decisions relating to "offside" and one referring to a handball committed in the Turin penalty area, decisions certainly dictated, as they were, by belief in the referee, had the power to throw the environment into turmoil and to unnerve some of the Ambrosiana players.

The entire match was under the impression of these clumsy incidents in their ugliness; something can explain, but nothing justifies the use of violence in a positively framed and organized activity such as football.

The two teams punctually took to the field in the following formation:

Juventus: Combi; Rosetta, Caligaris; Varglien, Monti, Bertolini; Munerati, Cesarini, Vecchina, Ferrari, Orsi.

Ambrosiana: Smerzu; Bolzoni, Allemandi; Rivolta, Viani, Castellazzi; Visentin, Serantoni, Meazza, Demaría, Mariani.

Referee: Carraro of Padua.

The only part of the match that deserved the qualification of beautiful and interesting was the first half hour of the first half. Meazza was in the mood; he showed off his mastery of the ball, his sense of position, his speed and, what is most important in him, his resourcefulness and desire to do well. Three minutes into the match he had already put his team in the lead; taking advantage of the fact that Varglien was positioned forward. Mariani had moved almost to the height of the Turin penalty area and had served impeccably towards the center; Meazza with a flash had found himself alone in front of the goal and his shot had been able to be touched but not definitively stopped by Combi.

In the quarter of an hour Juventus equalized thanks to their centre-half Monti. The Juventino centre-half, who had moved close to the attackers, had, at a certain point, replaced them as a shooter and, with his left foot, had sent the ball, even though it was shot from a few meters outside the area, to end up in the top corner of the net, to the right of Smerzu, without the latter, surprised, making any move.

With the odds level, the match had vivid technical flashes. Ambrosiana found itself ahead for long minutes and Meazza found himself stopped, for a presumed offside, in a situation that had every appearance and possibility of leading to a new success.

Shortly after the half hour, a painful accident interrupted the game: Meazza, launched deep into the Turin penalty area, pounced on the ball at the very moment Combi, who had come out of the goal, took possession of it; in order not to hit his opponent and friend, the Milanese player made a great high jump. Unfortunately, at that very moment, Combi recovered from his dive; the two players collided violently and Meazza fell so badly that he had to be carried off the pitch and could not return, seriously disabled, until ten minutes later. The start of the second half.

The incident was, no more and no less than the unfortunate and painful consequence of a gesture of presence of mind and correctness by Meazza. Five consecutive and fruitless corner kicks for the black and whites closed the first half.

At the restart, when things were already starting to get messy, Ferrari, following a corner kick, took a shot from Monti and deflected it in such a way that Smerzu, when he touched the ball, could not prevent it from ending up in the net.

Meazza came back in and Ambrosiana quickly became aggressive again. But the game quickly degenerated. At one point, for no reason visible or audible from the stands, Meazza got pissed off and tried like a madman to rant about Monti; a row broke out because other Ambrosiana players began to hit. A terrible thing and at the same time stupid like the gesture of an annoyed child. Moral of the ugly story: Meazza, Bolzoni and even Monti were sent off, even though he had done nothing but took it.

In the 41st minute, Ferrari gulped through the trained Milanese defense and scored, all with finesse, a splendid point with a low shot. Two minutes later, Vecchina reached the Milanese penalty area and, in full run and dragging the opponents into the action, left the ball stationary behind him at the disposal of Orsi; the Turin left winger, who followed at speed, hit the net with an ultra-powerful shot. Just in the minute in which the match was coming to an end, Mariani, Milanese left winger, found himself alone in front of Combi, at the moment in which the entire Juventus defence seemed to be distracted and as if absent, and brought the score of Ambrosiana to two.

Ball in the center and the referee blew the whistle to end the contest.

Once the match was over, the nervousness was not over and some men from Ambrosiana tried thoughtlessly to attack the referee, while he was heading, under good guard, to the changing rooms. New pandemonium and new excitement on and off the field. It was definitely the referee's benefit, a benefit that was not even interrupted by the arrival of the Giro d'Italia riders. The incidents of this competition were the most out of place that one could think of. Let us grant all the mitigating circumstances that it is possible to grant, but, for goodness' sake, let us not use any other word to justify the gesture of the player, shouting or not, who wants to throw punches than the consideration that at that moment the player himself is a big child without any self-control.

This second half was so badly controlled and so paralyzed by some men that it erased any favorable impression made by the first half hour of play, the only one, we repeat, in which there was any technical activity in yesterday's match.

Juventus, despite playing below its normal level at this end of the championship and even setting up the match essentially on the defensive, behaved calmly and firmly throughout the match.