Gareth Southgate’s England face Slovakia in the last 16 at this summer’s European Championships on Sunday – and will hope to inspire more confidence after grim group stage displays
England have been accused of lacking energy in Germany after trundling their way through the Euro 2024 group stages. So it’s appropriate that the Three Lions’ round of 16 clash against Slovakia concerns coffee and unorthodox journeys.
Francesco Calzona is the improbable mastermind behind Slovakia’s upset against world No 3 Belgium and the man plotting a similar result for England on Sunday. Calzona is improbable in the sense that Slovakia were, and still are, the obvious underdogs – they had only reached the knockout stages once before in their history and have a squad worth eight times less than England’s. And the Italian coach’s journey shares in the nation’s delightful underdog-tag this summer: from amateur football and coffee salesman to prospective Euro giant killer.
The 55-year-old’s tale begins in Tuscany, when he was still playing amateur football for Tegoleto at the age of 31 while working full-time as a coffee salesman.
“That period made me understand many things, it was a fantastic experience,” Calzona has said of the job. “Still some customers call me asking for coffee.”
The grind of coffee sales eventually faded upon being introduced to a mutual acquaintance and former banker willing to offer some financial guidance. The financial guru? Maurizio Sarri. But the eventual Chelsea manager’s passion for football meant discussions naturally traversed into the world of football.
In 1999, during one such meeting, Calzona hatched a plan: Tegoleto had asked the midfielder to take over as a player-manager following the head coach’s dismissal. Calzona only wished to play, so he suggested Sarri for the role.
“He had a great season and that’s where everything was born,” Calzona later explained.
For the next two decades, Calzona operated as Sarri’s right-hand as the pair climbed the Italian football ranks together from lower leagues to eventually Empoli in 2012-13, where the duo won promotion to Serie A and eventually earned a spot on the touchline with Napoli.
From here, the emergence of ‘Sarriball’ as universal football jargon and the Italian coach Napoli pushing for the Scudetto, losing out agonisingly to giants Juventus. The season proved to be the last of the Sarri-Calzona story, with Sarri heading to take a stab at Premier League football with Chelsea before managing Juventus and Lazio.
Calzona eventually returned to the touchline, again as an assistant to Eusebio Di Francesco at Cagliari. But a year later, he returned to Napoli to work under Luciani Spalletti. Calzona’s history as a perennial assistant manager made the summer of 2022 arrive with profound surprise, as the Italian opted to step out of the assistant manager shadows and agree to lead Slovakia for the upcoming Euro 2024 qualification campaign.
Calzona had backing, specifically the country’s all-time top scorer and former Napoli charge Marek Hamsik, who is alongside Calzona at Euro 2024. “If I had a son, I would want him to be someone like Marek Hamsik,” Calzona later said of the forward’s support.
Hamsik has duly been vindicated for his faith in Calzona. While a shock goalless draw against Luxembourg to begin Euro 2024 qualification threatened to be a haunting harbinger, Calzona guided Slovakia to Euro 2024 as group runners-up behind Portugal, losing only twice (both to Portugal, both by one goal). His record stands at 10 wins and four losses in 19 games in charge, while the country’s winning streak now stands at three games without conceding a goal.
Typical to character, Calzona found success with Slovakia while also spending the final four months before the Euros juggling his national team duties with his first managerial role at club level: restabilising the sinking ship that was defending Serie A champions Napoli. Calzona was not ultimately the team’s salvation – Antonio Conte was called in as the club’s fourth manager that season – but his dedication to the job did not go unnoticed.
Calzona has brought a stability and fluidity to Slovakia. The technical and creative acumen of midfielder Stanislav Lobotka has helped make the centre of the park one of Slovakia’s biggest strengths, an area that has become its own Bermuda Triangle for Gareth Southgate in recent matches.
But Calzona deserves plenty of credit for honing his own style and craft after all these years, and has encouraged his players to attack the competition this summer in this way.
“The only thing I told the team is that I would like them to play good football,” the Italian said. “Going onto the field against any opponent, we try to play. If the opponent proves to be superior to us, we hold up our hands, give them a round of applause and go home.”
“Our main goal was to get to the Euros,” he added. “One of the goals now will certainly be to play beautiful football and make these people proud, because we’ve had a great following at recent matches.”
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