COPPA ITALIA 2009 THE STORY.

First of all here is where to find all my videos from the final.There is 23 of them but they are short as i didnt have the patience to keep my camera going.

https://www.youtube.com/profile?user=william85b&view=videos

I arrived in Rome on tuesday night ticketless because an idiot called pete from romalazio.co.uk let me down on a ticket which I had already paid for.Anyway roll on wednesday morning 10.30am,outside stadio olimpico.Within twenty minutes I had a black market ticket,curva nord ticket @100 euro.many thanks to Ermetico & Conn for pointing me in the right direction,otherwise I would have travelled to Rome for nothing.

6.30pm outside the stadio I got asked for I.D. my ticket didnt have my name name on it!!!I told the man I had none and didnt know it was needed,then he asked me my name!Lucky I remembered what name was on the ticket.He knew right well it wasnt my name but smiled and waved me in anyway.

Curva Nord,my first time(previously been in distinti ovest and tribuna tevere)and certainly not the last!two hours before kick off and it was already busy.Got talking to a group of people who were amazed that i'd come from Belfast for this.Only a few of them could speak english but it didnt matter,anyway one of them asked me if I wanted to meet one of the IRRIDUCIBILI leaders?My heart started going nuts, this was unbelievable.He took me down to the front of the nord where I was introduced.The man in question looked at me,said something,shook my hand and put a scarf around my neck(a scarf which is now my most prized possesion).This was like a dream come true!!!I got so friendly with the group I was standing with that they even bought me some beer.

Where I had previously been everyone stands but in curva nord we stood on are seats.4 minutes in to the game and zarate scores,everyone goes mental,falling on each other,hugging each other,picking each other up.I was at the derby back in april and thoght it couldnt get much better,this exceeded that by far.

Dont know what else to say,extra time was very stessful,too much pressure from sampdoria and then the penaltys,hate them.Need I say anymore?COPPA ITALIA CHAMPIONS 09!!!Good things can only come from this!!!



FORZA LAZIO

GRAZIE LAZIO

Yours Truly

William



ALSO,i got myself one of the t-shirts our players were wearing after the match,can anyone tell me what it translates as?im not sure.hope you enjoy the vids

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE

10 minutes after the final whistel of the second semifinal against juve I called my laziale-friend Olle and we decided to go to Rome and see the final. We booked the flight 20 minutes later. We live in south Sweden but choose the strange way to go to Stockholm by bus for taking the plane.

We had bought some swedish brand vodka (Absolute) for Paolo and Alessio and I can say it was very close that the costums grabbed them because all the little bottles didn't fit in the plasticbag that is suppose to contain all liquid. So I put the remaning bottles on me and walked through the "beep thing" and thank God the thing stayed quiet.

On the plane I ended up sitting next to a nice laziale and his son who also were going to Rome to visit family and of course the game. The little kid thought Zarate and Pandev would score, wich wasn't far away from happening

We arrived to out hostel in Rome by 11 on the morning of the match day. This was the same hostel that many other from Laziofever and Svenskafans used. We instantly met with Wajid, a great guy from England who had travelled alone to Rome. Read his story above. The staff of the hostel were really nice. Especially Mario. But if I'm going to stay there again we will not include breakfast because the breakfast who was included was barely eatable.

Anyways, we dropped of our luggage and went to Lazio Point with Wajid and saw the legendary Enza! At two o'clock we went to Porta Pia to hook up the tickets and deliver the vodka to Paolo and Alessio. Paolo, i hope you didn't it all by yourself!

After the ticket collecting we went back to the hostel and took a nap. Rahman and Cash (the mobilephone-dropper-in-the-toilet ) showed up and we shared the 10 man room together. By 5 o'clock we started moving towards Olimpico but first we stopped by Lazio Style and hook up an "io ci sono" shirt. Real nice stuff! Just to see Olimpico for me, the first time in 1,5 year and Olle 8 years gave us goosebumps. We talked but the feeling walking up the stairs of olimpico to enter the pot wich we would do 5 minutes later. It's a unsurpassed feeling. The adrenaline was pumping up over the ears

We just grabbed some seats next to some SvenskaFans people and started to absorbe all the impressions. To see Olimpico slowly get full was terrific. Then happend the only bad thing except the Pazzini gol. A fat lady in a Tare shirt ( haha wtf?) with her daughter arrived 15 minutes before kick of and started arguing in a real unpleasent way that our seats were her's. There is nothing to do with the italian ladys so we moved gently and stayed in the stairs for rest of the evening. Nothing wrong with that.

The match was... i don't know how to say it... more than more than amazing... You have to be there by yourself to understand. As they say, a picture says more than thousand words. Then you could describe this 120 minutes + penalties game with infinite words. I didn't bring the camera to the game though I thought I would probably regret it. And damn yes I regret it now. I just managed those picture in the bottom by my mobilephone camera wich isn't good but better then nothing.

After the game we all were confused how to get to The Bandana Pub for the dinner. But Alessio did guide us and Paolo and others showed up in cars to drive us.

The dinner was around 2 in the night I think. Anyways we were really tired and scipped the primo piatto and went home to get some sleep because we would take the plane early next day.

This was my first game together with Laziofever. I hope it's the beginning of a new era!

P.S. If cash or rahman wonder we did manage to get home safely!


The feeling you get when entering the stadium here is priceless

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Till yesterday only few reports but now BOOM.

Glad that you all spent great time there. It was a great day indeed.

Namortsac how did you manage to copy paste the report three times.

Forza_Lazio4eva wrote:

My name is Wajid (nick Forza_Lazio4eva) I’m from England (Pakistan).

This is my Coppa Italia final story:
(Magnoem, I hope you don't mind. I copied your idea of putting it in sections :) )

Of course I don't mind, actually I'm glad that you did and wrote this great story. Too bad I think I haven't met you, or maybe only shortly (I probably got confused your name with someone else in my story first). When did you actually come to take the tickets, Tuesday or Wednesday?

All the other stories are also brilliant, it's been a pleasure reading watching.

Pictures are a bit lacking though as it would be interesting to see those faces who were there. And we probably should have done a picture together, but of course there's always the next time. I didn't do much pictures myself first time thanks to a broken camera.

Hopefully there are more stories, as Paolo said it sort of pays him back the wonderfull work he and others have done for us.

Here comes my story, as promised. It is a lot longer than I had planned, and still I feel I didnt get everything i wanted into it. Read if you want to, skip it if you are in a hurry. To me it is interesting to get some thoughts down on "paper", even though it doesnt even get close to the real experience.

Coppa Italia Final 13 May 2009 - Through the Eyes, Ears and the Heart of Cash (and friends):


Hope My Boss doesn’t Read This

Being a teacher, it is always hard to get off mid-week. But this time I had to come up with something, nothing in the world could make me miss this one!
I booked my tickets just after the second Juve game, and then I started to think about how I should pulled this through. What to tell my boss, and my students? The end of the semester means the final exams, and it is a tough time getting an ok from the boss to leave the place for a few days – and to do what? Watch Lazio? That sounds nothing but stupid in the ears of the anglophile Swedes that are brought up with English football.
I needed to lie. No doubt. And I figured the best way was to tell my students to not come to school Wednesday and Thursday, and to tell my boss that I was going to visit the City Centre and catch a few museums with my students. Luckily, I have a good relationship to my students and I told the most influential ones that I was leaving for Rome (they all totally understood my situation, plus they loved getting a mini-break!!!) and I promised them a treat (a bottle of limoncello for their graduation) if they managed to keep the other pupils in my classes away from school those two days.

How to Get There? Where to Stay?

Got a text from a fellow Lazio-supporters in Stockholm telling me he and his friend were going to the game. I hooked up with Nesta_Jr and all of a sudden there were four of us leaving together. Next question: How to get there? We need to leave very early since the departure was at 7. I decided to drive, despite being very tired during mornings and never wanting to drive at that hour. We gathered outside my place at 5 in the morning, and headed to the airport. No one really knew the other, but soon we realised that we had all met each other previously – back during a derby that we all watched in a pub downtown Stockholm.

This is Lazio. It brings people together.

While driving I realised I hadn’t slept very much during the night (I got an hour or so…) but I was very energetic despite this, so as soon as we came to the airport we hit the bar and had a few pints, all getting started for what was to come.

The flight went more than well, the two friends had booked Priority Tickets, meaning they boarded the Ryanair flight earlier then the rest of the passengers – only to secure some seats with extra leg space for me and Nesta (Grazie!). A couple of dodgy bag-spirits later we all fell asleep, and didn’t wake up until we heard that Olimpico could be seen outside the window.
(Here I need to correct myself. The three of us slept. Nesta is having a massive exam on Wednesday and he needed to study for this. The function of the skin, our eyes, our nervous system, our ear..etc etc was what was on his mind during parts of the trip. Hahaha, hilarious, he actually though he would get some studies done during our time in Rome…)

Once we landed, I was reminded of the fact that I hadn’t booked any hotel or hostel. The massive stress during the weeks leading up to the game had made me just push the booking forward, leading to never. When I aired my concern, Nesta was quick to assure that he had sorted a place out for us. A hostel with some 20 other Swedish Laziali. Grande.
We parted from our friends after reaching Termini, they had booked a hotel closer to Coliseum, and decided on a time to meet. Now we needed food. We were tired, but steaming because of the game. Soon we were to see our beloved Lazio again!

The Toilet…and More Lazio Friends

I had brought my friend’s mobile phone because he has such a great camera on it, which would mean that I didn’t need to bring a camera and a phone with me. Stupid. The very first thing that happened when we entered the hostel (with a fairly strange looking guy in charge of the bed-booking assuring that we were to share room with at least two other Laziali, turning out to be Namortsac and his friend) was that I needed to change clothes (coming down Rome meant some extra 15 degrees to enjoy compared to Stockholm). I thought I would use the toilet to make a quick change – but how I came to regret that. The only reason I have no video or picture to show you is because I heard something hit the bottom of the toilet – my (friend’s) mobile phone was drowning!!!

Usually, the phone incident would have made me angry, but I didn’t care this time. There were much larger thing coming up in about eight hours…

Me and Nesta took a short walk through the City Centre, before finally deciding on a lunch place. Some truly great pasta was accompanied by a nice stew and washed down with a nice glass of Peroni. The lunch was great, and both of us realised how much we needed the food to regain some energy. Now was the time to meet the other two friends again, and to walk to Porta Pia to get the golden tickets! Before leaving for Paolo and friends, we took a quick look inside the store at Via Farini,

Porta Pia went smoothly, we had a few bears, got the tickets and a few encouraging words from Paolo. Together with a massive bunch of other Laziali from mainly Sweden, but also elsewhere, we could feel the tension building up. We were all standing there watching our tickets, and dreaming about a final that would end with victory.

The four of us went to a restaurant where I had a drink, while the two other friends from Stockholm had their lunch. Discussions around the starting eleven, what Rossi should do if we won, or if we lost, Lotito (pezzo di merda), players and the upcoming game was mixed with funny conversations with non-English speaking waitresses and a hilarious African dude trying to sell us some watches. After this, a walk back to the hostel, and we planned to all meet again at 5.30 to catch the bus and first visit the shop at Via Calderini, and then enter Olimpico and feel the atmosphere well before kick-off.
A quick nap at the hostel, then encountering some 10-15 other Laziali from Sweden, a fast stop at a café for a doppio and off we went. Soon we would find ourselves in lo stadio!

The Game

I don’t really remember very much of the game, or, I do, but it all comes back to me bit by bit. I didn’t feel very good. I had had quite a few Boccheti (or whatever they are called) together with some Peroni, but the reason to my discontent was not the alcohol but rather the strange feeling I had that we would not win. Everything had been so nice and smooth so far, I felt something had to go wrong.
The most beautiful thing when visiting Olimpico is the Curva. How I love to stand amongst fellow supporters, singing, screaming, shouting and jumping. Or crying. Whatever is taking place, you know that you have people around you that feel the same. The mix of people is amazing. Men, women, young, old, Italian or from other places around the globe – we all share the same passion at that very moment. Beautiful.

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!!! (Cassano on the big screen).

Mauroooo Zarateeee, Maurooo Zarateeee, Mauro Zarateeee, Mauro Zarateeee…1-0! Great start!

Per Gabriele, Giustizia Per Gabriele! This was a game for the whole concept. Lazio, the players, the fans, Rossi, Gabbo, Laziofever…maybe even Lotito.

Merda. 1-1. Doria, Doria, Vaffancuolo!

Half Time. Suffer. We always have to suffer. It is never easy being a laziale. We never pull through a simple 3-0 victory. Oh no. Let us suffer together.

We did. We suffered through a second half that should have seen us win. We saw a disastrous Rosetti letting the Doria players do whatever they wanted with Maurito and Foggia all through the game, denying us penalties and even neglecting the fact that Rossi went berserk in the middle of the field. We saw a Lazio that owned the game, the ball, but as a supporter the only dangerous moments were of course when they had the ball. When they attacked.

Extra Time. At this moment I was dying. Couldn’t stand it. At least another 30 minutes of suffering. When Kolarov saved our ass off the goal line I was already dead. The whole arena was sharing this suffering. Did it have to go to penalties???

Of Course.

I only saw one of the penalties. I saw Muslera save the first one. The rest of the penalties I enjoyed through the expression and reaction of the people standing above me. I turned upwards, downwards, any direction which made me avoid the drama at the other end of the field. My nerves couldn’t take it.

I saw De Silvestri shake his head. He didn’t want to take a decisive penalty. I understand him.
I saw Forrest Gump running to shoot his penalty. Thought I was going to smelling as myself. He took it nicely, I have seen now afterwards.

When Dabo found the back of the net, the happiness had no limits. I found myself down in row 25, starting my celebration up on row 50. The young lad standing next to me was screaming something in Italian in my ear. I wasn’t even bothered to explain that I didn’t understand him. Because I did. Happiness has no language. Joy has no borders. We had won.

ZERO TITOLI!!!!!!!!!!

We sang. Song after song. The happiness never ended. We stayed in the Stadio for a long time, and I remember feeling a bit sorry for the Doria fans since they also had to wait in the stadium, only to see us celebrate. But Fuck it! Tonight was our night!

The strangest event of the game? When Lotito took the trophy and gathered just below the Curva. He is a strange man this Lotito. But now he can at least say that he has given us a trophy. At least, he has been a part of it.
I hate Lotito. But even this man was a friend of mine this night. I had no room for hate. Not now.

The End

We left the arena, only to find out that no busses nor taxis were to be found. The original four of us decided to take a walk, and we were so happy that we didn’t really care about the fact that we had a very long way to go before reaching our hostel/hotel. Attending the dinner seemed impossible; we wouldn’t reach the place until very late. We stopped for some “pizza”, and some drinks, and continued our walk. My feet were hurting badly, and so did the rest of the guys’, but we just didn’t care! Larger things had taken place that evening!

Eventually we caught a cab, with a crazy Napoletano as driver. After a few minutes I realised that this could be the last time I ever sat in a car; the driver did probably not have a license since he passed every red light as if he was the king of the road. And not only that, he was eating crisps straight from a Pringles “tube”, forgetting to keep his eyes on the road. Add to that his speed – over 100km/h – and you should understand my concern. But who cared? I was already in heaven, and I am not sure that I could feel better than I felt after the game, no matter what happens after the life on this planet.
Me and Nesta jumped out close to Termini, and I could nothing but hope to see the other two friends the next morning.

When we entered the hostel, I was sure that we were still sharing room with Namortsac and his friend, so I opened the door while singing Non Mollare Mai, only to find a Chinese girl looking at me wondering what I was up to. After all it was in the middle of the night and, believe it or not, there were people visiting Rome that were not interested in the game…
A few moments later I found myself accompanied by Mr Sandman, I passed out.

A few hours later, the Chinese girl woke me up by slapping herself in the face (and I wasn’t dreaming, Nesta heard the same sound…and don’t ask me why she was doing that). I decided to get up, had a quick chat with Namortsac and the other friends, changed and ran down to have some Espresso and Croissant before catching the bus (I am sure my breakfast was better than the one they served in the hostel…and cheaper too!).

The rest of the stay in Rome took place in the airport, where we all spent time reading the Italian newspapers (never mind the fact that I don’t know Italian very well, there were enough pictures to make me understand the evening before had not been a dream). I met Mad Dog and his son (lucky boy, having a father bringing him to such amazing games…) and spoke a bit about the game and about how we should find a spot to gather and watch games in the future (all Laziali in the Stockholm area, keep your eyes open for a thread on this issue). I saw Nesta loading himself with caffeine, and my other friends spending their last euros on different sandwiches. Once again we got extra leg space thanks to the friends’ priority tickets, and just before I fell asleep on the plane I could see Nesta struggling to keep his eyes open and get through the book on human Physiology. Two seconds later he had fallen asleep, and I assured myself that it had been worth the visit to Rome, despite me having to leave work, and despite Nesta not getting enough time to revise for his massive exam, and despite the two other friends having to leave their business behind for a couple of days.


On our way home, we were all happy and satisfied, and more than pleased that we had taken this 24 hour visit to our beloved Lazio. I wondered how Namortsac and his friend got home (they hadn’t booked any train or bus ticket, and it was all booked so they didn’t know how to get to Denmark…sorry…southern Sweden), at the same time as I once again stated to myself how much LAZIO means to me.

To all of us!

Cash wrote:

I wondered how Namortsac and his friend got home (they hadn’t booked any train or bus ticket, and it was all booked so they didn’t know how to get to Denmark…sorry…southern Sweden), at the same time as I once again stated to myself how much LAZIO means to me.

To all of us!

Denmark?!?!! Grrrr

or when I think about it. Todays weather report: Roma +21 sun, Skåne (southsweden) +18 sun, Stockholm +15 RAIN

..................

Forgot to post maybe the best picture in my previous posts:

Me And Raham hoolding the beautiful LazioLand flag.
FORZA!

Fantastic stories!! It all sounds very familiar ;-)

This topic is great. I really thanks all of you for time and dedication .
I invite all to save own story in your Pc .

I will also save it for the future.
Thanks again Campioni!

I LOVE these stories.

Here are some pictures I took,better late than never!!!




Nothing beats that feeling when you first arrive.

E bravo William!,,,
Nice pics and even if late..is never too late!