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Extra Free Episode - The Interview: Campobasso Owners Matt Rizzetta & Mark Consuelos (Ep. 400)
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The Italian Football Podcast is delighted to once again welcome back Campobasso owner Matt Rizzetta as well as business partner and fellow Campobasso co-owner, actor and talk show host Mark Consuelos for the first time, for a deep dive on how the Serie D club is progressing as well as on all things Italian football.
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Transcript
Introduction & Guest Introduction
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian Football Podcast. Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Italian Football Podcast. I'm Carlo Garganese, joined as always by Nima Tavalli. And on today's show, we have two very special guests, Matt Rizzetta and Mark Consuelos, who are co-owners of Campo Basso FC. And they are going to tell us all about one of the most incredible Cinderella-like stories of Italian football in recent years.
00:00:32
Speaker
As a recap, some of you are regular listeners will have heard our previous podcasts with Matt. But just as a recap to those who haven't, in late summer 2022, Cumbabassal FC was bought by Matt Rosetta's New York-based holding company, North6 Group, and an investment group led or backed by American actors and talk show hosts Mark Consuelos and his wife, Kelly Reaper.
Campobasso FC's Journey
00:01:02
Speaker
Now, what makes this story incredible is that the club was bought eight days before the Italian fifth division football season started. And Campo Basso had, as Matt told us on the last time he came onto the show, they had no players, no CEO, no sporting director.
00:01:22
Speaker
and had mushrooms growing out of the pitch. So it's a pretty, pretty incredible start. And yet Campo Basso managed to construct a team to win the championship and promotion to Serie D because they started in the fifth division and then now have been promoted to the fourth tier of Italian football. And they actually did that with, I believe, the best goal difference in all of Italy.
00:01:49
Speaker
As we speak now and we're recording on February the 16th, Campo Basso are in their second season under the New Asian when they sit joint top of Sedia D and are positioned well for successive promotions into Sedia Chi.
00:02:06
Speaker
So to talk more about this story, as I said, we're delighted to welcome back onto the show, Matt Rosetta, and also to welcome for the first time onto the Italian football podcast, Campo Basso, co-owner Mark Consuelos, who everyone will also know as a very successful actor in the United States, starring in Riverdale, All My Children,
00:02:28
Speaker
Queen of the South, which I was just telling Mark before, is one of my favourite shows of recent years, I love it. And also, most recently, as a co-host of the brilliant American talk show Live with Kelly and Mark, which Mark co-hosts with his wife.
00:02:46
Speaker
Kelly Reaper. So Matt, thank you very much for coming back again. This is your third time on the pod. And Mark, this is your debut on the podcast. So welcome and thank you. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. It's an honor.
00:03:04
Speaker
Hey guys, Nima here, and thanks again both of you for joining us. Let's start with you, Mark.
Mark's Enthusiasm and Involvement
00:03:09
Speaker
It's your debut on the pod, so let's start there. I mean, just over 18 months, I should say, into the project with Campobasso. I mean, how has the journey been so far? Nima, I got to tell you, of all the things that I've done professionally, this by far
00:03:30
Speaker
is one of the most exciting, most meaningful projects I've ever been a part of, honestly. When Matt called me, I remember where I was. I was in a cab. It was hot. It was August. I was in New York.
00:03:48
Speaker
It was part of a ownership group for another team that I was really, really, you know, and they had made the playoffs the year before. And I was like, more interested in that. And they said it'd be, and Matt told me the story of Campbell Basso, how they were in Chi, and then they got relegated all the way down to the fifth tier. They feared extinction. We have no coach. We have no players. We have no sporting director. I said, well, how much time do we have? He goes, just eight, 10 days, something like that.
00:04:17
Speaker
I go, this sounds like a really crazy idea. He goes, it's pretty crazy, right? I go, yeah, I'll do it. I'm in. I'm in. And we really haven't looked back since. It's been, it's been, it's been, uh, it's been very Italian, very Italian, a lot, a lot of like really great highs, a lot of, a lot of like,
00:04:38
Speaker
things to navigate, but in the best possible way. I'm honored to be part of, to be on this boat that is led by our fearless leader, Matt Rosetta.
00:04:51
Speaker
You mentioned that you were also involved in another city. It would be a team ownership. Which team was that? Was that your first involvement in the world of city? Yeah, we can talk about this obviously. Ascoli, North6 owns a minority share of it with the hopes of obviously getting majority share and some control. But what made this more attractive was that we had complete control.
00:05:22
Speaker
And could, you know, we would live and die by our decisions and not just having to stand by and watch kind of on the sidelines. Yeah, I get that. And I mean, I guess getting involved in the world of soccer is something that you've always dreamed of doing. No.
00:05:38
Speaker
No, I love I mean, listen, I grew up in Italy. I spent the first five and a half years of my life in Italy. My mom's Italian. It's my first language. You know, in the late 70s, early 80s, said I was it. You know, I had the posters of those guys on my wall.
00:05:55
Speaker
I had the 82 world championship team on my wall, you know, all those guys. And so I had dreams and I played. And so that was my dreams of playing, like in Italy were like, you know, I was kidding. At that point, I'd moved back to the United States, you know, and I was growing up in the United States. So obviously that was just a pipe dream. But it was, you know, you dream. Those dreams seem really real when you're when you're a kid.
00:06:19
Speaker
But that was the closest thing I could ever, ownership of a team, never in my wildest dreams, I didn't think it was possible. I couldn't do it by myself. I wouldn't know where to start. So this felt like the just right amount of participation that I could have, that Matt would allow me to enjoy, you know, to be a part owner of
00:06:42
Speaker
of not only an amazing historical team in Italy, but part of, if we do everything that we're meant to do, part of a great story, a really great story. Absolutely. I mean, how did you and Matt get to know each other? And how did you get into business with one another?
00:06:58
Speaker
Matt and I had a mutual friend that my son was in some of the soccer leagues here in New York City. And one of his coaches was connected with Matt. And they just called me up and said, hey, would you like to be part of this group?
00:07:13
Speaker
And I thought about it for a minute. I did think about it for a minute before I got involved in the Ascoli project. But after meeting Matt and hearing his vision for Ascoli and what they wanted to do eventually, when Campobasso was not part of this at all, but when that became part of the deal, I was like, wow, this seems actually a little more interesting.
00:07:35
Speaker
Absolutely. Matt, I'm just going to turn to you. I mean, to talk a little bit more about the season, you're fighting it out at the top of the table with some benedictors. How confident are you of getting promoted this season?
Matt on Team Ambition
00:07:49
Speaker
We feel good. First off, it's great to see you, Nima. Thanks for the invite.
00:07:54
Speaker
You know, Mark nailed it. It's been, for me, the Compobaso project, you know, is one of the most meaningful projects that I've ever been a part of in my career. And just to be able to go through each step from, you know, from day one with great partners by my side, you know, Mark and I have made, you know, he's underselling, I think, a lot of the value and decisions he's brought to the table. I mean, we, I flew back from Italy. It was, when was it? It was late September, early October.
00:08:24
Speaker
And we didn't start out the season quite as we had hoped, you know, five games into the season. I think we had seven points. There were things that I was seeing firsthand in the locker room that I wasn't really in love with. Mark and I talked about it up until we were up together to like one in the morning on the phone on WhatsApp and all that. And three hours later, we had a new coach. And a sporting director.
00:08:51
Speaker
and a new sporting director. But look, these projects, you have to believe in yourself. You have to not be afraid to make courageous decisions. And you have to, like Mark said, you have to be prepared to live and die by the decisions you make. And I think that has been the coolest thing for us is that win, lose, or draw. We're writing our own check. It's our destiny. And that's cool. And it's great to go through those cycles. Because it gets lonely. It's lonely at the top.
00:09:21
Speaker
when you're doing this stuff. So to be able to do that with great partners like Mark and we have a bunch of others in the group who we're really grateful to be a part of. For me, it's the coolest thing in the world. Oh, absolutely. I'm sure that if you guys were to get promoted this season, is there an ultimate goal? Surely that has to be the Serie A, right?
00:09:41
Speaker
Absolutely. In fact, I danced around your question, Nima, but the absolute, the short answer is absolutely. We believe in the team. You know, right now we're 12 matches away. We're tied for first place when Mark and I made that decision we made a few months ago. I think we were seven or eight points or something like that, right out of first. Now we're tied for first and got to believe, you got to believe. So anything can happen. You know, they say la pala rotunda. So,
00:10:09
Speaker
The ball is round. Anything can happen. But we believe in the team. And the cool thing is that this is just very much still in its infancy. We just got this started. Carlo gave the background so eloquently. This project is less than two years old. We had to start all the way down from the fifth tier. And sometimes we lose sight of that perspective that this is still very much at the beginning stages. And everyone in this project, from Mark to me, to the rest of our partners, down to the coaching staff,
00:10:36
Speaker
to our fans. Everybody is dreaming very big and we're not going to give up on this thing until we accomplish those dreams or you have to kill us before we get a chance. We're going to keep fighting or we're going to die trying.
00:10:53
Speaker
Well, we're all hoping that you guys get promoted to Serie C, but one thing I wanted to talk to you and hear your pick your brain a little bit about is a number of Italian top teams are now creating these so-called next gen teams and they're getting access to Serie C, Juva, Talanta, now Milan. How do you feel about that? Do you think it's fair on people like yourselves who, you know, you work your way up and they just get instant access?
00:11:16
Speaker
Well, I think it started back with, I think Barcelona was probably one of the earlier ones to do that. If I'm not mistaken, I think Juve's U23 team almost made Cetia B a couple of years ago. I think they lost them at the semi-finals of the playoffs. For me, look, if it's good for Italian football, it's good for everybody. And I think there's only two or three teams, Nima, like that this year. But look, it keeps everybody on their game. Juventus and Atalanta, they can have a
00:11:40
Speaker
you know, they can have a youth development team that, you know, rivals other SETI ACHEE teams. It keeps us on our toes. So that's the cool thing, I think, about European football. You know, Mark and I talk about this all the time. It's a meritocracy, right? And, you know, you live and die with your decisions. And if you do a good job, you get promoted. If you do a bad job, you get relegated. It's a pretty easy, you know, pretty simple formula. And I think whether it's the U23 team of Juventus or whether it's Palermo who, you know, started from SETI AD or
00:12:10
Speaker
whomever it is, it's a meritocracy. So if you deserve to be promoted on the pitch, that's what's gonna happen.
00:12:19
Speaker
Absolutely. And coming back to Mark now, I mean, due to
Campobasso vs. Wrexham
00:12:22
Speaker
the kind of, let's say, the high profile ownership, Campo Basso have been called the Wrexham of Italy by some. That's in reference to the British club Wrexham, whose owners, of course, are Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. They took over Wrexham as well, actually, in the fifth division of English football. And they've got them promoted into the football league now. I think they're in the fourth division now.
00:12:48
Speaker
What do you think of that comparison, Mark?
00:12:52
Speaker
Oh, gosh, I mean, first of all, I think what those guys have done, not only with Rexxum, but for just the awareness of how European football works. Most Americans had no idea about relegation and promotion and what that meant. And now, I guess you could also give that Ted Lasso was also very fundamental on that.
00:13:20
Speaker
I think they've done a great job. I think we're different in a lot of ways. I think we're almost 100% Italian-American owned. That's right. So we all have roots. We have roots in Italy. I have family in Italy. Kelly, we don't want to publicize this too much, but who cares? Her parents are from San Benitez at Del Tronto. That's where they're from. Oh, wow. Oh, really?
00:13:45
Speaker
So, you know, it makes, you know, and and she's never been back. She's never been there to see where she's from. So I think that would be different. If we did do something like this, we would go and explore our roots, which are very, you know, much, you know, real and.
00:14:03
Speaker
You know, I don't know. I also think that Italy compared to Wales that we definitely know the cakes are better and that's that's not that's indisputable. It's indisputable. I think the people, you know, the people are similar. I guess it's a hard working, you know, blue collar region. But, you know, gosh, if that's if that's a comparison, I've heard a lot a lot worse comparisons.
00:14:27
Speaker
Yeah, the weathers, that's certainly better as well in Italy than it is in Wales. Yeah, I do want to delve into after more about kind of, you know, your upbringing in Italy. So we will get into that afterwards. And I guess, Kelly, as well, it's very interesting. But I mean, with the Rexxum, I mean, can we organise a pre-season friendly Rexxum against Campo Basso? I mean, Billie as Reynolds and McElhenney against
00:14:55
Speaker
against Ripa and Consuelos. I would do that in a second. I think I should reach out to those guys and just make the offer. Hopefully they get promoted and we get promoted. But it's also a question of like, Matt and I were talking about this. Let's say we're in CEDECI, right? How does the CEDECI team do against a
00:15:20
Speaker
the one
00:15:38
Speaker
there's definitely a lot more money in the English game. But unfortunately, that's just how things are at the moment, the money in the English game. So I guess it would be quite difficult. But I mean, you guys are building a great thing there. And who knows? I think it'd be a guaranteed commercial here. Anyway, that's for sure. I agree. I think it'd be amazing. Mark and I were talking about this exact topic yesterday.
00:16:01
Speaker
And he said, well, let's do it, but we got to win. So we got to rethink the whole construct of our architecture. We're in it to win it. What did you say, Matt? You said we would do what?
00:16:16
Speaker
Well, I said we would play a little catenaccio, I think. Of course. You said you said we would we would we wouldn't be we wouldn't be embarrassed. Oh, yeah, but Mark wasn't having that. I'm like, that's not what I'm not looking to go a game, go into a game and not be embarrassed. That's that's like. If it's a friendly, you want to do the friendly like in August, like during the hottest period of the year. And there's no way, no way the the ricks and players, the Welsh players going to be able to handle that.
00:16:43
Speaker
in Italy or in like in Florida or in Miami? Yeah, all that, yeah. Question to either of you
Documentary Potential
00:16:52
Speaker
here. I mean, I guess we were touching on this, but Rexxum made a sports documentary series called Welcome to Rexxum. I don't know if you guys have seen it, but it's won multiple awards. It's really good. It won five Emmys. Is this something that you guys have been like a documentary series on Campo Basso?
00:17:10
Speaker
It's definitely something we're exploring even two years ago, we started talking about or 18 months ago, we started talking about it.
00:17:19
Speaker
I think, again, I pointed out some of the differences where it would be different enough, and I think interesting enough. And let's face it, when people watch a program that they're streaming, I loved Rexxum. I absolutely loved it. I binged it. I consumed it. I cried. I was excited. And then when it was over, I was like, I wish there was something else I could watch along with this.
00:17:43
Speaker
So that's kind of like my attitude. I think there's space. I don't know. I think there's definitely been conversations. Matt, I just had a question for you. I mean, on our podcast, we often get asked by our listeners of teams to go and watch in Italy and stadiums and cities to visit. So for any football fan who wants to visit Campo Basso, what makes it so special and where do you recommend that people should visit?
00:18:12
Speaker
think the thing that makes it most special and Mark you know has seen it firsthand too with with me is the authenticity you know that's that to me that's the most important thing even you know in this day and age Nieman Carlo of you know social media Instagram you know even the most hidden places in Italy have kind of become mainstream you know but Malise and Campo Vaso in particular I think are still
00:18:35
Speaker
beautiful regions, virgin regions. I'm still very much undiscovered, even by Italians. And I think you really get an authentic glimpse of what Italian culture is all about when you get there. And then obviously for football fans,
00:18:51
Speaker
Our club is the hope and dreams of the entire region. I mean, this is the identity of this region. You know, Molise of the 20 regions in Italy is one of the poorest of all the 20 regions. Even in Italy, they say, you know, Molise known as Iste kind of as a patuta, you know, at times.
00:19:09
Speaker
You know, but when you get there, you feel connected to the region, you feel connected to the people. I think that's one thing, you know, I don't want to speak for Mark, but we talk about this all the time. I think we feel an incredible sense of responsibility, you know, to these people to bring them to places that they've never been. And in many cases, they don't even know that, you know, a lot of times when I do press conferences over there,
00:19:33
Speaker
I have to remind the region, we believe in the potential of these people, sometimes more than they believe in themselves. And I think the soccer team, the football club is really the representation of that. You know, to get this club all the way one day to Setiaha for me would be, you know, one of the greatest accomplishments of my career, not just because it's a sporting accomplishment, but I think because we would show an entire region and population that they're capable of achieving things that maybe they never
00:20:02
Speaker
I believe they could achieve. And if they went to the game like I did, and I went to a game last year, but it wasn't at home. It was at a neutral site. It was last game this season. But I went to a game this year, just a couple of weeks ago, and the Tifosi in the curve there,
00:20:22
Speaker
You know, I brought my daughter was in London, she flew in for the game and she's like, are they really going to sing and dance and chant the whole game? I said, yeah. Yeah. And then the then the smoke started and then some, you know, maybe a little fireworks started happening. But I think for a football fan, they would experience a fan base that's probably the equivalent of higher, definitely higher classifications.
00:20:46
Speaker
which made it really, really, really exciting for us. And we saw a snapshot of our fans from the first game last year in this stadium. There was like 30 fans there. And now we have close to, you know, 3,500, 4,000 people in that, you know, behind the goal, just going crazy in one year, in one year.
00:21:08
Speaker
I
Superstitions & Traditions
00:21:09
Speaker
don't know. So I think that if you want to experience something really, really authentic, someplace with a lot of history, someplace that has, that's something that you're going to say, you saw them when they were in the fourth division. I saw this team when they were in the fourth division, now they're in seriaha or something like that. I think that'd also be great for your fans.
00:21:28
Speaker
Absolutely. We spoke a little bit off air about superstitions and superstitions in Italy are crazy. I saw a clip on your show, Mark, live with Kelly and Mark, that campo-basa management all go to eat at the same restaurant every game as a form of superstition. First of all, I have to ask, is that still true? And also, are there any other superstitions that you guys have, either personally or as a team?
00:21:51
Speaker
No, absolutely. I was there two weeks ago. We sat in the same we sat in the same restaurant, albeit it was in a different room, which I was a little concerned about. It wasn't that. Yeah, I know. We've got to work on that. I don't want to say anything, but, you know, we won the championship.
00:22:12
Speaker
We were a bigger party. Maybe that's what it was. We were too big to be in that back room. So we definitely do that. That is true. And also, now we have a little tradition of watching these games at my townhouse here in New York. And Matt makes a trek from his town. And the first game we watched together was me, Matt, and Nicola, who's the vice president of the team. And we beat Samp, 1-0.
00:22:39
Speaker
What's that? Eighty-fourth minute. And so the next time we could all do it together was just a few weeks ago when we played Aquila. And Matt said, listen, Nicole is going to come. I'm like, great, the three of us upstairs. He goes, yeah, can my brother-in-law come? And I said, man, OK. I mean, I'm not going to say no, but if we lose, he can never come again.
00:23:08
Speaker
And so I said that to him when we walked in. I was laughing. I was like, you know, you can't come back here. He was a really nice guy. And we lost. So Matt, please don't ask. So when you go to that restaurant, do you have a special dish that you always have as well? Or like, how far do you take this stuff?
00:23:29
Speaker
I have, they have something called pizza minestra there, which is like a soup. It's like a, it's like a soup with vegetables in it, real hearty and wholesome. As Mark knows, I can't eat on game days. I can't eat. It's just like my stomach is like a knot. So I do drink a little bit though. I'm not going to lie.
00:23:47
Speaker
Our superstitions here on the pod are probably even more severe and Nima gets really wound up. I mean, my mum started the family from Naples, so you can imagine that's where I get it from. But yeah, like, I won't let Nima, because the team like it's me playing.
00:24:05
Speaker
I won't let Nimmer predict that Italy is going to win. I won't let him do it because that just jinxes it. I remember before the Euro 2020 final, he sort of said, I think England are going to win and I was so happy. I was just like, I was delighted that I thought, oh, Italy is going to win now. Is he going to kiss the dead? Yeah. Oh, God.
Mark's Soccer Heritage
00:24:30
Speaker
But anyway, moving on to, I wanted to, when Matt first came onto the pod the first time, we kind of went back and looked at Matt's childhood and his connection with Italy and Calico and kind of the teams he liked and who his favorite first players were. So I wanted to do something similar with you, Mark. And I mean, first of all, as you said, you're half Italian. Your mother is Italian, right? I believe you're Mexican. Your father's Mexican. But you were born in Spain.
00:24:59
Speaker
you said you you you were brought brought up part of your childhood in italy is that yeah yes my debt my mom my father met my mom at a party in italy he was working at one of the um u.s nato bases i think near naples or something like that and came down for
00:25:15
Speaker
uh for a party he met my mom and they then the rest is history so um and then they moved to spain as i was being born so we i was born in spain um and then he had to go back we went back to sardania after that for a couple years and then ended up in pulia the last few years before i before i came over so yeah my first my first memories my first like vivid memories are of living in italy you know those those uh
00:25:42
Speaker
you know, kids playing soccer, you know, in the in the, you know, in the street. But my mom is a huge, obviously my dad being Mexican, you know, huge soccer fans, football fans, you know, so that was I was I was raised with that with that whole mentality.
00:26:00
Speaker
So soccer was your first sport then? Was that your first? Yeah, I loved it. Yeah, absolutely that in baseball, but soccer would to me felt a little exotic, especially living in the Midwest back in like 1977. It felt a little slightly exotic, you know, albeit, you know, I guess Canalia and Pele came over and made it a little a little less exotic, but. But yeah, I remember having those. I remember I can always remember Shireya was on my wall with you that he played for Juventus, right?
00:26:27
Speaker
I always remember his name and obviously the, you know, the 1982, all those guys. But Juventus, and I was kind of a bandwagoner, to be honest. Whoever was doing really, really well, I would follow. And when we'd go back to Italy to visit in the summers, the month of August, I loved it because I would go to the little magazine shops, you know, where you get the Gernale and I would get my Italian like soccer magazines.
00:26:56
Speaker
And I was collecting those little stickers back, back, way back, you know, when I first started those stickers for the World Cup teams. Yeah. Yeah. But I just loved it. Cause I, you know, I would, the extent of my soccer, international soccer exposure would only be like, you know, some off obviously the World Cup, you know, some news, I don't remember exactly how much, how much live Italian I would see. But for there was a show on PBS called soccer made in Germany.
00:27:27
Speaker
It's it was Matt. Do you remember that show? I don't. I don't. Soccer made in Germany on PBS. And every now and then they'd show a euro. They'd show a euro. I'm sorry. Champions League game of like Byron Munich or one of the
00:27:44
Speaker
great German teams playing Real Madrid, and I got to know who Hugo Sanchez was. My dad was, he's Mexican. I wore number nine because of Hugo Sanchez. He's like, that guy, he's a guy to get behind. But it was slim pickings back in the mid-70s to the early 80s to watch your Italian teams. Every now and then, you catch some weird channel. I would go a Serie A game, but it was very difficult.
00:28:13
Speaker
Yeah. I think Ray had it. I remember watching Ray through like the grainy feed on my grandfather's lap. It's like espresso, smell of espresso. In fact, now it's endearing back then. It's like you can't, you can't follow. I actually remember, I think it was 1995. Nima, are you a Milan fan or enter? I can't remember.
00:28:35
Speaker
So I remember in 1995, ESPN picked up the Champions League final between Ajax and AC Milan. I think it was 1995 or 1994. And I remember one of my good friends, Victor van der Lot at the time, was from the Netherlands. And I cut school, and I cut religious class after school to go watch the game at his house. And I had the nuns call my parents.
00:29:02
Speaker
And my mother, my mother was like going to give it to me afterward. I'm like, I was like, you got an Italian team and the champions like final. What do you think? I'm going to go to religion. She actually, she actually let me off the hook. Guys, I remember, um, when I first got my job here in New York, I must've been 24 years old. Yeah. I was 20. I was 24 years old. Uh,
00:29:23
Speaker
And I'd been on the soap opera for a minute, like three or four months, five months. And we got Christmas vacation, two weeks. And I also, in my contract, I had two weeks additional. And I said, listen, can I put a week on each of these two weeks and take a month off? They're like, go ahead, do it. That's great. I was new, but I had rolled the dice and they said, do it. So I went to Italy. I went to Italy.
00:29:45
Speaker
And I remember I was in Bergamo for a while. I went to see a buddy in Bergamo. I was in Calabria to see some cousins. But I went back up to Bergamo and we went over to Milan and we saw Milan, I guess, I forgot who it was. But it was the year that George Wea was given the
00:30:05
Speaker
And we just happened to scout tickets, my buddy and I, that I grew up in the States with, we keep scout tickets. And we had to go see, I'm like, wow, what a lucky game to go see. That's George Way. And I knew who George Way was. Flash forward a year. The MLS just got started.
00:30:25
Speaker
And I'm living in New York. I'm married now. My buddy comes to visit me that I went and stayed with in Bergamo. And he met Kelly. And the MLS, their first all-star game was MLS against the World Stars. I don't know if you guys know this or that. So they, I mean, Luther Mateus, not Ricciard, but the other guy with the glasses for the Dutch team, I think he played. Oh, David. David's played.
00:30:55
Speaker
George Way up. And I'm like, dude, Mike, Mike, Mike, we saw this guy. It might have been less than it might have. It was within the year we're seeing him again.
00:31:04
Speaker
And so, and I got special passes cause it was an ABC production. So we went to the reception afterwards and we're like hanging out with all these soccer players. I'm like, oh my, this is the most amazing thing. But because of that, we missed the bus back to New York city. So we like, we went out, we went out, we're at giant stadium. Like, how are we getting home? There's no Uber, there's no Uber. We don't have cell phones. Like, you know, how are we getting home? And just then this car pulls up in front of us in the pike and the parking lot.
00:31:34
Speaker
And this lady who recognized me from All My Children says, hey, you're Mateo from All My Children. I said, yes, I am. She said, what are you doing here? I said, we're watching the game. She was like, all right, well, I'm going back in the city. I'm just waiting for my husband. You guys want to ride? And like, yeah, and it's a lady. She's a little bit older than us, so like, fine. And we sit in the back seat.
00:31:56
Speaker
of this kind of this beat up car. I don't remember being nice, right? So we're sitting in the back seat and George Wea gets in the front seat of the car. My buddy, my childhood friend that we played on soccer teams together, we're like,
00:32:20
Speaker
But we couldn't talk. I mean, it was the most amazing thing. We said 10 words on the way back into this. That's so cool. That is awesome. That's amazing. So my story is better than your story of getting beat by the nuns, Matt.
00:32:38
Speaker
That's an incredible story, amazing story. So we can see here, Mark, just how much of a big soccer fan you were since childhood. You did kind of mention before that you played the game a little bit as a kid. Was that in America? Was that in Italy? I mean, how good
Playing in Italy
00:32:57
Speaker
were you? Did you want to be a soccer player? I got a scholarship to go to Notre Dame.
00:33:03
Speaker
Um, I was there for a year and a half. I never saw the field. Um, I was the ball boy for most games. That's what they made freshmen do. I was not good. I was not good. I was good enough to get a look at university division one, but I wasn't that good. Um, and there was no pro league at that point.
00:33:23
Speaker
anymore in the United States. But every time I'd go back to Italy to visit family, they would organize a game. They would organize the game because they knew how much I wanted to play. And so I just remember the level. The level was just so much better in Italy. I mean, even the little kids were just so much just more sophisticated with their football. Yeah, they were. Matt, did you play? Did you play when you were younger? Were you any good? I played until I was about 14 or 15. I actually had the funny story. My my grandfather's that's that's right.
00:33:53
Speaker
That's where I learned soccer from and my passion for soccer was all came from him. He played professionally in Italy before he immigrated here. And, you know, he was like a soccer snob, like Italian, like, you know, a tactician, you know, in Italy. And Mark and I deal with this all the time. I mean, you got to play the game the right way to make it in Italy, you know. So my grandfather was
00:34:17
Speaker
watching me play once. And he used to never like to come watch me play. He just hated it. So one time my parents were away for the weekend. He's babysitting me. I must have been like nine or 10 years old. He came to watch me play. I scored a goal and I took my shirt off.
00:34:35
Speaker
And this little Italian guy, my grandfather, came, and he pulled me off the field. He embarrassed me in front of all my friends, and he made me walk home. I left the field, and he never came and watched me play ever again. Because you took your shirt off? Yeah, it was disrespectful. And this was in the late 80s, so it wasn't a big thing to celebrate that way. It was just a big thing. So he made me walk home, and that was the last thing. You were the first brandy chestache.
00:35:06
Speaker
That is amazing. Some of the stories I could tell you about when I was a kid. I can't even broadcast most of them. It's true. Like in Italy, it's a religion soccer. I mean, it's a, you know, it's a reflection of who you are as a human being. You know, they take it so personally.
00:35:31
Speaker
It's true. And it changes you as a person when you I mean, I guess this is for all sports, really. But there's a person off the pitch and there's a person on the pitch. I think for a lot for a lot of people, a lot of sportsmen, but definitely football. When I used to when I used to play and I played like a same professional level, I was a totally different person on the pitch completely.
Personas On and Off the Pitch
00:35:50
Speaker
There's people that hated me. And then when they saw me like in real life, if I actually already quite, quite a nice guy.
00:35:57
Speaker
Mark and I, we see this stuff all the time. Team captains and stuff, they're the nicest guys in the world off the pitch. And then you see them on the pitch and, you know, they know how to, they're a little dirty. They know what to, they know how to get, you know, how to get, you know, they know how to draw a foul, get to pick up the other guy, pick up a yellow card. They know all the little tricks.
00:36:16
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Just a couple of last quick questions on this, Mark. First of all, what was your first soccer memory? When I say soccer memory, I mean, for me personally, it was Italian 90. That was my first memory. That's the first time I can actually remember watching a tournament or a team that I was supporting.
00:36:39
Speaker
Um, yeah, I think, you know, I think the massive one would have been 82. Um, again, I probably had some other, uh,
00:36:49
Speaker
you know, I remember playing a bunch of games as a kid, and my dad was my coach, so I had a lot of memory about a lot of memories about that. And then I think the most like meaningful one, what would it would have been in 1982, when Italy won the World Cup. And I remember my I was I was hit like run around the yard. And I wasn't that I think I watched the first half of the game. And then, you know, I was 10 11 years old. So I really wasn't, you know, like
00:37:14
Speaker
super super super into it but because I've been watching a lot of games for that World Cup but was then when my mom came running outside I think she was I think she's probably crying that the Italians won because she's you know she was she was probably homesick as well in the States at that point but that really kind of cemented how cool it was to have this Italian background and
00:37:37
Speaker
how good they are historically, and what great athletes they are, and how cool they look, you know, with their kids, the kid they have there, their gelled hair, and they're all singing, you know, the Italian national anthem. And then after that, you know, 86, I think 86 was was Mexico City, right?
00:37:55
Speaker
That's right, yeah. And by that time, I was full on monitoring every team with every game. But I think the first massive memory must have been that when Italy won in Spain. Yeah, what a memory to have as well. And did you have a favorite player? You mentioned Chirer before, you had a poster of him up. But any others? I mean, I love Paulo Rossi through the years.
00:38:24
Speaker
obviously Maldini. I love Gattuso so much. Yeah. Because that was kind of like how I played. You know, I'm five eight. I'm not that tall. And I was the smallest guy in the pitch and I always had to make myself, you know, I always made it a point that everybody understood that I was going to be there all game.
00:38:43
Speaker
It was going to be fun and then not fun. And so I loved just the way he played. And again, at an early, early age, I took a lot of pride in Hugo. He's not a time player, but in Hugo Sanchez, because he was a Mexican playing for Real Madrid. And he was great, great, great striker.
00:39:04
Speaker
He was an amazing player. I think for me, he was probably the best ever at bicycle kicks. He was the master of that. OK, and just finally before I pass you back on to Nimr, so your wife, Kelly Reaper, who you co-host the talk show, as I said before, live with Kelly and Mark.
Kelly Ripa's Support
00:39:25
Speaker
And Kelly is also a co-owner or part of the ownership group at Campo Basso.
00:39:34
Speaker
Does Kelly get into the soccer? How much is she into it? Is she a passionate fan? She gets into it as much as she knows that I'm watching fourth division football at 8.30 in the morning. We're empty vesters now. And so she could be doing a lot of things at 8.30 in the morning. She knows that with unapologetic, before Matt started coming over,
00:39:57
Speaker
But that was on. And I was watching it. And she was just like, you know, she was throwing her news items. So she's supportive. She's a good, supportive partner. She honestly thought that we were buying a house in Italy. And I said, no, we're buying. I'm pretty sure I said buying a piece of a soccer team. And she goes, no, I think you said house.
00:40:26
Speaker
Well, a stadium is bigger than a house. Exactly. A nice yard. Yeah. No, she's supportive. Oh, that's awesome. She met with Matt. One more thing. With Matt, we're looking at uniforms and designs for the new uniforms. He asked Kelly if she'd like to look at the uniforms. And so Matt was coming over that day. And she's like, what time are we looking at the costumes?
00:40:56
Speaker
I love that. I love that. She had some good ideas, right, Matt? It's important. You've got to think of that side of things. Let me just say two things. Number one, Kelly, competitor. I mean, might be the most competitive of any of us in the group. Agreed. The second is that, going back to what Mark was saying about his favorite players, one thing I've learned, I've learned a few things about
00:41:23
Speaker
what not to say to Mark in our partnership and never, ever, ever, ever compare any player to Reno Gattuzo. It does not end well. No. It does not end well. Yeah, Matt's like, he's like our Gattuzo, Matt.
00:41:38
Speaker
No, he's not. That's brilliant. Well, a question to both of you guys. I mean, it hasn't happened much recently, thank God. But I'm sure it could happen, well, probably will more so in the future as you go up through the leagues and the level increases. But if Campo Basso, God forbid, were to lose a game or get a bad result,
00:42:03
Speaker
How do you both react to it?
Coping with Losses
00:42:05
Speaker
Does it ruin your whole weekend like it does for me when, for example, Iran or interludes, it just ruins the week?
00:42:12
Speaker
You've done that. Oh God. Yes. It's the whole, the whole, it kills the whole week. Whole mood. Whole mood. It's, and this is, this is why soccer ownership too is like, it's insanity because even in, even in the best of scenarios, what, what will a team win? Like Inter is going to win what, Nima? Maybe 60% of their matches this year. Right? So you're basically signing up for something, you know, 40% in the best of cases, 40% of your life is going to be complete business.
00:42:42
Speaker
I love it. I love that. For me, once it's done, it's done. It doesn't bother me too much. Kelly can tell if I'm coming down to get some food afterwards, she's like, oh, you guys lost, huh? Or I'm in a great mood. And then I'm over it. The ties bother me. Some ties,
00:43:08
Speaker
bother me longer than some of the losses because the ones that we've lost, we've like kind of like deserve, you know, we kind of like we lost, we lost. But a tie when you're up to nothing. No.
00:43:22
Speaker
That's days that I'm still not over it. Yeah. Yeah. Obviously, you know, we try to learn too, you know, so Mark and I will sit there with the rest of the group midweek. You know, he mentioned Nicole and Nicole is a big part of the group as well. You know, it's the first 24 hours is tough, you know, it's tough to digest, but then Tuesday, Wednesday, roll around and you know, you start thinking about, okay, what lessons can we take away? We talked to the coaches and the coaching staff and the
00:43:51
Speaker
The sporting director once a week. So for us, you know, the post mortems help us kind of move forward and make improvements. But it's hard. It's hard when you lose to sit down and say, you know, let us take some positives from this. But you need to know that you need to in order to improve. I wouldn't receive. That's why I think the main difficulty I would have
00:44:12
Speaker
with what you guys do is exactly that because I would sulk, I would sulk for a few days and I need to have that grieving process, you know what I mean? Like we just have to finish sulking and then I can look forward and start looking, but if you're doing it in a professional way, well, you got a meeting at Monday morning, you gotta let that go.
00:44:32
Speaker
I've got better with it. I mean, when I was a kid, I was the worst loser ever. I remember when France beat Italy in the Euro 2000 final, when they scored that in injury time to take it to the fourth minute of injury time and then they won it. After that game, I went around my house. Anything French in the house got torn up. I was still at school and I ripped my French Dixerie. I've had to go out and buy a new French Dixerie.
00:44:59
Speaker
Because I saw everything French in the house. The referee of that game, Anders Frisk, is from Gothenburg and every time I meet him...
00:45:09
Speaker
in Gothenburg, I tell him, where did you find those minutes? The game was over. Why didn't you find those minutes? And he says, honestly, I didn't add any more than it was there. He just, he's become a bit of a joke now. But yeah. That's got the best of us a few of those times, right? Did they beat us in 98 too? Yes. We beat them in the World Cup. Oh, six made it all worth it. Yeah, we got our revenge.
00:45:35
Speaker
Right, before we finish up with the game, I wanted to ask you, while I'm staying on the topic with the Azuri, what do you guys think about, at least, chances at Euro 2024?
Italy's Euro 2024 Prospects
00:45:44
Speaker
I'll start with you, Mark, and then go to you, Matt. Oh, gosh. You know, I guess the question would be, what did you think their chances were four years ago? I didn't know what their chances were four years ago before they started. What was the thought process?
00:46:01
Speaker
the the
00:46:22
Speaker
That's true. Yeah, because his work with talent after Ventura, there was nothing there. And I was so happy that they appointed Mancini because of how good he is with the talents. And I was looking down at the under twenty ones and I saw the kids as the barrellas. I saw all these fantastic players coming up and I was like, well, this is this is a golden generation and this is it. And I think with Mancini was the right man. So I was I was very happy about that.
00:46:45
Speaker
Yeah, they played such a beautiful style. It was so entertaining. They had a great imagination, that midfield. They played people. Amazing. Yeah, what do you think, Matt?
00:46:56
Speaker
I think I never think Italy is going to win. I thought that I was disappointed so many times as a kid. I remember 1990. Ninety was a year. Ninety was a year. It was in Italy, right? Yeah. And then 94, I thought, was our year, too. And then, you know, penalty kicks. And then 98 was a heartbreaker. 2006, I feel like, never even happened in many ways. But, you know, obviously I room for them. My hopes are not not not incredibly high. What about you guys?
00:47:28
Speaker
I think quarter final is possible. I'm not confident of going too much further. I think in terms of the players that we have available, we're definitely not one of the best teams. I think France and England, in terms of the quality of the players, they're on their own level.
00:47:48
Speaker
they're ahead of everyone. But after that, I think that if we're going to the tournament well, we don't have any more injuries, I think we can fight it out with anyone else on our day. But I think that we are lacking the top quality in attack.
00:48:05
Speaker
I think we don't have the top quality attackers. And also in midfield, which was like you said, Mark, was our strong point in we had the best midfield definitely at the Euro 2020. Now, you know, Virati is not there anymore. He's gone to the Middle East.
00:48:23
Speaker
you know he's passed his best. He's still good but he's passed his best. We've still got Barela from 2020 so we've lost kind of two of the three and then Tonali who was kind of like the new big midfielder we have has now got a betting ban he's going to miss the tournament so we've lost kind of our strong point of the team we've been weakened where
00:48:41
Speaker
where we were really strong but one thing I think we do have is we've got in my opinion we've got the best manager in the tournament we've got Luciano Spelletti and now in modern football the best managers in the world generally manage club teams now rather than international teams and we're lucky that we've actually got one of the best club managers in the world managing our national team so I think he can give us something extra which some of the other nations I'm
00:49:07
Speaker
putting my hopes in Spelletti, basically, to do something magical. Yeah, I just want to echo what Carlos said. I think that, look, I have been saying this since the World Cup in Russia, that I think something changed for England there. And I was after having watched that, I felt like they're going to win a tournament at some point. And I think now I look at England and I look at France and I think their head and shoulders above everyone else.
00:49:32
Speaker
I think England are going to win this tournament. Obviously, it's played in Germany and with their history and beating Germany, it's always a special thing for the English. And of course, they've got Jude Bellingham, who I think is probably the best footballer on earth. So I think England are going to win it. But I don't mind. For me, I want Italy to win the World Cup. Yeah, if Italy can play like Lazio did against Copenhagen two days ago and squeak out a win and then like in the last and get like 30 shots on goal against them all game,
00:50:07
Speaker
I'm just like your, your nono in the mat. I am catenacho all the way. I just park the bus, the boat, the plane. I'm too, I'm much more conservative. Carlo wants to play this.
00:50:17
Speaker
Tikitaka nonsense. I don't. Give me the old days. I love that. Hit them on the counter. Yes, yes, yes, yes. It hurts them so much more. They have all the possession. They can't create anything. You hit them on the counter and then you shove the shot down. Is how you guys play important to you? Is the style of the play important to you guys? How can Pabasa play or is it results first?
Playing Style vs. Winning
00:50:43
Speaker
Great question.
00:50:44
Speaker
I think, I mean, look, ultimately we're here to win the league and they say, you know, it doesn't matter how you win, just win. You know, sometimes you don't want pretty, but yeah, I mean, um, it was tough too, because the coach we hired, uh, I don't know if you know, Rosario, he played with Maradona, the Napoli Maradona era.
00:50:59
Speaker
And he actually, he coached Palermo both in Setia A and then in Setia D, they hired him to bring them back up to Setia Chi. And he's like a classic tactician, but he obviously inherited personnel that wasn't all his. So he's done, I think, a masterful job of just kind of figuring out how to work with the talent he was given. And he's really developed, I think, an identity and a culture that we were probably lacking, right, Mark, earlier in the season, I would think.
00:51:26
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. No, I agree. Instead of D, it's just win, baby. Just win and let's move on. It's so hard to get promoted. You know, just one team and seven Girodones gets, you know, out of each of those Girodones get promoted. So yeah, sometimes you're looking at like, wow, this is, you know, you want, you want to, I love to watch beautiful, beautiful football as well, but a win is a win for sure.
00:51:55
Speaker
For sure. Before you let you guys go, we play this rapid-fire game. We play with all our guests. Myself and Carlo will give you one or two options. You pick one. Matt, I'll start with you first, and then, Mark, you go straight after. So first question, everyone's been asked this. Leonardo Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo? Messi. Messi. Oh, we're doing this a lot. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think so, yeah. Diego Maradona or Pele? Pele.
00:52:26
Speaker
Wow. Pele. The Statue of Liberty or the Colosseo in Rome? Guys, we live in America, we can't. Statue of Liberty, man. I want to stay in the good graces of our friends at the Italian Federation, so I'll go with Colosseo. Nice. Good art. Godfather I or Godfather II? Two. Two. Yeah, I'm two as well.
00:52:54
Speaker
Um, De Niro spoke Italian, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Not the, not the best, but yeah. The Sopranos or Breaking Bad. Oh.
00:53:08
Speaker
I have to give respect to Sopranos because I think without the Sopranos, there'd be no Breaking Bad. Good answer. I have a new appreciation for the Sopranos recently.
Sopranos vs. Breaking Bad
00:53:16
Speaker
It's like I refound the Sopranos and I never appreciated it for the writing was incredible. Amazing. Genius. I'm Sopranos, but I think the ending of Breaking Bad was better. I mean, we're talking like this and this. I mean, Breaking Bad.
00:53:32
Speaker
Yeah, both amazing. Who is the most ruthless mob boss? Tony Soprano or Camila Vargas? Camila Vargas is from the Queen of the South. Camila Vargas, she had me killed. So pasta or pizza? I would be pizza.
00:54:00
Speaker
Oh, yeah, I would say, I would say pizza. I get a pizza every day for the rest of my life. I'd be fine with it. Rigatoni is, you know, you talk about if you, if you were on death row and you have one last meal, Rigatoni Bolognese would be mine. So I think I'm, I'm going to go pasta. I'm going to go pasta. Okay. Pasta for Mark. Right. This one's important. So
00:54:26
Speaker
These are from my family's cake shop, from La Rondina in Bedford, which I was telling you guys about before we started recording. So do you prefer a cannoli? I'm going to hold it up to the camera. Can you see this? Yep. Nice. There you go. That looks amazing. So you've got a cannoli with ricotta, or you've got a schwaliedella. You can hold this up. Oh, my god. There you go.
00:54:56
Speaker
That's difficult. For me, the solyatelle is the best pastry in the history of pastries. I actually would fly to Naples just to get a solyatelle, and I'm not kidding. I'm not kidding. Is it crazy that I think that's normal, that you do that? Sorry about you, Mark. Same, same. Solyatelle, who are you? Solyatelle, I think.
00:55:26
Speaker
I think. But the thing is, I love canoles as well. Like, that's the thing. I can't choose. Like, don't make me choose because I don't want to. Yeah. Yeah. So who will win the Champions League this season? What do you think?
Champions League Predictions
00:55:54
Speaker
Who's left? Give me the teams that are left. Inter, Arsenal, Porto, Real Madrid, PSG, Bayern Munich, Lazio, what else is it? City of course. Annapoli Barcelona. Not those teams. Not Annapoli Barcelona, I'm sorry. I'm a City fan, so I think they have a good shot.
00:56:24
Speaker
I don't see anybody beating City. Pep has some, he's got some dynasty going now. What about you guys? I would agree. I think it's hard to look past City, but I do think that Inter have got a chance. I really do. I think that they ran City so close last season. In fact,
00:56:48
Speaker
In my opinion they were the better team in the final and they were very unlucky and I think they've taken so much from getting to that final. Who did they draw for this round? Atletico Madrid, sorry if I forgot to mention them.
00:57:04
Speaker
I think Inter have got a chance, I do. And I think that they've basically got the Serie A title wrapped up already, really, 10 points if they went tonight. We're recording this before they play Saleni Tana. And, you know, so they're going to be able to maybe rotate a little bit before the Man City have got probably them in Liverpool kind of toe and toe until the end of the season. So maybe who knows? Hmm.
00:57:32
Speaker
Oh, I'm next on who wins who wins in a match? Campo Basso FC or Wrexham? Campo Basso Basso in in in the 94th minute. Oh, love it. Love that at the very death. Love that. OK, so Tonti del Piero or Roberto Bajo.
Baggio vs. Del Piero Debate
00:57:52
Speaker
Oh man, Matt.
00:57:54
Speaker
I don't think anyone can I think as amazing as to I'm a you know, I'm a Roma fan by by blood. But for me, Bajo is the greatest one of all time. Yeah, same. I agree. So final question, probably the most controversial question will be asked today.
Pineapple on Pizza Controversy
00:58:15
Speaker
Pineapple on pizza food heaven or food hell?
00:58:18
Speaker
No, we just did an article on this on my chat show in the morning about certain things you don't order in Italy. You do not do it. You don't order a cappuccino past a certain time at night. You offend them. You don't put Parmesan cheese on anything that has white, sauca, fettuccine, whatever. That's bad. It's low class.
00:58:42
Speaker
And there is a place, I believe it's in Naples, that has just started doing pineapple with some type of ham. And it's causing a big uproar. I like the combo, honestly. I'm sad to say. I know it's sacrilegious. I never order it. But if somebody has it, and it's the only thing to eat, or there's a few left, I'd rather have that than something else sometimes.
00:59:11
Speaker
I think that's the irony of it all. Pineapple on pizza, when you think about it, for me, it doesn't sound so bad, but I would never actually order it. If I'm faced with the choice on the menu, I just don't see myself ordering it. That's it. You've got all these options, all of them amazing. Why would you go for pineapple on pizza?
00:59:31
Speaker
Have you seen the video, Carlo, of them pranking the Neapolitans? It's so funny. It's a pizza delivery. Have you seen that? Have you seen that? No, what is it? Was this a recent one? A couple of years ago. Yeah, a couple of years ago. They have these people in Naples who order ordering a pizza delivery and they deliver them pineapple pizza instead of whatever they ordered. But some of them were borderline violent to these delivery guys. Got angry.
01:00:01
Speaker
It's so funny. The funniest thing I know about Italians and food is how Italians get personally offended. Like, it's so funny.
Italian Food Opinions
01:00:09
Speaker
Like, when you say that, it's like no one else gets personally offended if you mix things. It's so, so funny. Thank you so much, Matt and Mark, for joining us. We wish you all the best for the rest of the season. We're always cheering for you guys to get promoted. And hopefully we can have you on both again next season when you're in Sericei.
01:00:28
Speaker
Yeah, that's what it's always. It's always a pleasure speaking to you guys. Thanks for all the support. God love. Don't forget we're winning. Let's win this league this year. Now we're coming to Bedford for our celebration cake Nima. Guys, thank you so much. And Nima, will you do me a favor? Sure. Will you say Samp is going to win the league? OK, I'll do for you. I will some sample wins area.
01:00:56
Speaker
Nim is going to go mad at me after this. I hate when you do that because it doesn't exist. Thank you so much for listening. We'll be back on Monday for a new episode. Until next time, take care of yourselves and each other.