High morale and healed knee. Filippo Baldi Rossi is eager and a place in the twelve that will be on the scoresheet against Cento on Sunday will be his. Cantù then finds its captain again, absent in the streak of five consecutive victories that characterized these first frenetic weeks of the championship.
Three weeks out, due to a hyperextension sprain trauma to the left knee, also affecting the medial compartment. Last year, it was his right knee, at the beginning of November, that took him out of the field for a good month.
Is autumn a season to eliminate from the calendar?
Maybe that’s the case… But now I’m happy, I’m back in the group for the first contact training sessions after the therapies. It ended up being a two-week injury, but it’s been five games.
Sensations?
The knee responded well, I followed a good rehabilitation process: everything was done perfectly, I was always calm. On Sunday I will be there, able and enlistable, to try to make my contribution.
As a joke, last week coach Brienza said he wanted to do without Baldi Rossi. The team wins anyway…
Ah, he also said it on the pitch for that matter: “let’s leave him out until we lose”…
As an involuntary non-paying spectator, what did you appreciate about this first version by Cantù?
I was pleased to see a team that defends well: it is clearly our strong point.
Other features to highlight?
It’s a team that doesn’t give up, that always plays with a knife between its teeth and that can rely on different guns not only from match to match, but also during the same match.
Is the example Livorno, with seven players in double figures?
Yes and it is an important fact. There are recognized reference points, such as McGee and Basile, but the others have many points on their hands. It’s a team that doesn’t need just one player, but can find resource points from anyone. In summary, I would say that we are an altruistic team: the high number of assists also says so.
Winning point-to-point finishes are becoming your trademark. How do you manage games like this?
The mix of experience and unpredictability helps in these cases. Everyone, each with their own peculiarities, is making an enormous contribution. And even when things don’t go well, the team rolls up its sleeves and knows how to come back or stay in the game. This is the imprint that Brienza is making.
By the way, what impact is the coach having on you?
He is very organized and the training sessions are always very focused on the detail he wants to try and this is fun. They are training sessions that look like matches, after an individual part, there is a part played every day: the team follows it.
How is your friend Moraschini seeing?
He is more serene, because he has understood that he is decisive in the project. He is showing off things that he has always had in his baggage: this leadership makes him responsible and makes him perform more on the pitch. We are also appreciating it from “4”: he is a very precious multitasking player.
And among the new ones, is there anyone who surprises you?
I’ll name two: Valentini and Piccoli, two players I have always respected for their past. They both put in great energy every day. Piccoli is a great example in this sense. I like how they know how to change games: Valentini with a shot at the right time, Piccoli perhaps with zero shots and two steals. They have rare “skills”: we keep them close.
First place in October means…
That we work for this, but it only gives the measure of our good start. After the last two years and the various disappointments I have experienced, I am no longer looking ahead to the match against Cento. Also because I’m coming back, but we lose McGee and therefore a new balance must be found.
L.Spo.
