Nereo Rocco

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Nereo Rocco
Personal information
Date of birth (1912-05-20)20 May 1912
Place of birth Trieste, Austria-Hungary
Date of death 20 February 1979(1979-02-20) (aged 66)
Place of death Trieste, Italy
Position(s) Midfielder, forward
Youth career
1927–1930
Triestina
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1930–1937
Triestina
 232 (66)
1937–1940
Napoli
 52 (7)
1940–1942 Padova 47 (14)
1942–1943 94° Reparto Distretto Trieste
1943–1944 Libertas Trieste 14 (1)
1944–1945 Padova
International career
1934 Italy 1 (0)
Managerial career
1947–1950
Triestina
1950–1953
Treviso
1953–1954
Triestina
1954–1961 Padova
1960 Italy Olympic
1961–1963
AC Milan
1963–1967
Torino
1967–1973
AC Milan
1974–1975 Fiorentina
1977
AC Milan
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Nereo Rocco (Italian pronunciation:

A.C. Milan. At Padova, he was one of the first proponents of catenaccio in the country.[2]

Playing career

Club

Rocco playing for Triestina in the 1930s

Rocco played as a

Napoli and Padova. He played 287 Serie A matches within 11 seasons, scoring 69 goals. Rocco was also capped one time for the Italy national team.[3][4]

International

Rocco made an appearance for the Italy national team on one occasion: in Vittorio Pozzo's selection in the 1934 FIFA World Cup qualification match, on 25 March 1934 against Greece, a 4–0 home victory.[5][6]

Coaching career

Triestina

Rocco made his coaching debut for Triestina in 1947. He obtained a surprising second place in

Treviso, then returning to Triestina.[4]

Padova

In 1953 Rocco signed as coach of

1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, alongside Giuseppe Viani, where they finished in fourth place.[4]

A.C. Milan

Pierino Prati and Rocco in training with A.C. Milan in the 1967–68 season

In 1961, Rocco was appointed as new

Cup Winners' Cup.[2][4]

He left Milan in 1973, after having won also another

Italian Cups and another Cup Winners' Cup. After one year in Fiorentina, Rocco decided to end his coaching career in 1975. In 1977, he was appointed by Milan as Technical Director and Assistant of coach Nils Liedholm. Rocco is Milan's longest-serving manager, managing the club for 459 matches (323 as head coach and 136 as technical director).[2][4]

Style of management

"Let's really hope not!"

— A famous response that Rocco was known for using during his spell at Padova whenever an opponent said to him: "May the best team win."[8]

Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time,

sweeper, who would sit behind the defensive line and clear the ball away, often using a 1–3–3–3 formation. His teams were known for their work-rate and physicality, as well as their simple but effective and pragmatic tactical strategies, namely their defensive strength, ability to counter–attack quickly with long balls, and score goals after winning back possession, rather than for being aesthetically pleasing to watch. During his time with Milan, he made use of Rivera as the team's playmaker in midfield, who took on the creative responsibilities of the team. He was known to be an excellent motivator, and developed strong personal relationships with his players in order to create a good team environment and foster a winning mentality, often discussing the team's tactics and the players man–marking roles over dinner rather than at a white–board during training sessions. In addition to his tactical intelligence, Rocco was also known for his charismatic personality, leadership, and sense of humour, despite his shy personality, and was known for being a very animated figures on the bench during matches. He also became popular for his quips, which he would often say to his players and journalists.[2][4][7][9][10][11][12] Rocco, popularly known as El Paròn (Triestin for The Master), was also popular for his strong use of his native Triestine dialect.[2]

Death and legacy

Rocco died on 20 February 1979, aged 66, in his hometown Trieste.[13]

On 18 October 1992, a new stadium in Trieste, named after Rocco, was inaugurated.[14]

Rocco's tactics heavily influenced manager

total football.[15]

Honours

Manager

A.C. Milan

Individual

References

  1. ^ a b Jamie Rainbow (4 July 2013). "The Greatest manager of all time". World Soccer. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e Andrea Schianchi (2 November 2014). "Nereo Rocco, l'inventore del catenaccio che diventò Paròn d'Europa" (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  3. ^ "Rocco, Nereo" (in Italian). enciclopediadelcalcio.it. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Nereo Rocco" (in Italian). Storie di Calcio. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  5. ^ Le vicende della partita "Italia-Grecia" nei quattro goals del trionfo "azzurro", Il Littoriale, 26 marzo 1934, pag.3
  6. ^ Italia-Grecia 4-0 Italia1910.com
  7. ^ a b "RIVERA Gianni: Golden Boy per sempre - 2" (in Italian). Storie di Calcio. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  8. ^ "No, speriamo non vinca il migliore..." La Repubblica (in Italian). 22 May 1999. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  9. ^ "What Nereo Rocco would say about AC Milan and the Azzurri". Calciomercato. 21 November 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  10. ^ "El Paròn Nereo Rocco, l'allenatore della prima Coppa Campioni" (in Italian). Pianeta Milan. 20 May 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  11. ^ Fontana, Mattia (12 August 2014). "La storia della tattica: dal Catenaccio al calcio totale" (in Italian). Eurosport. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  12. ^ "Il Padova di Nereo Rocco: La Leggenda del Santo Catenaccio" (in Italian). Storie di Calcio. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  13. ^ "Quanto ci manca Rocco" (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. 20 February 2004. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  14. ^ "Stadio Nereo Rocco" (in Italian). Sport, Comune di Trieste. 31 January 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  15. ^ Sannucci, Corrado (25 May 2002). "Trap, il santone intoccabile che si ispira a Rocco". La Repubblica (in Italian). Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  16. ^ "BARESI, CAPELLO AND RIVERA ACCEPTED IN HALL OF FAME". acmilan.com. 26 November 2013. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  17. FOX Sports
    . 19 March 2019. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  18. ^ "Los 50 mejores entrenadores de la historia del fútbol". ABC. 19 March 2019. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  19. ^ Jamie Rainbow (4 July 2013). "The Greatest Manager of all time". World Soccer.
  20. ^ Jamie Rainbow (2 July 2013). "The Greatest XI: how the panel voted". World Soccer.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nereo Rocco.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nereo_Rocco&oldid=1210359198"