Carl Valeri writes from Tuscany

Former Tuggeranong United junior and Socceroo Carl Valeri writes from his club Grosseto in Italy.

Hello from Tuscany.

It was great to be back in Australia for the recent Argentina game, even though it was a short time.
I got to see family and friends and my parents got to watch me play.



The game against Argentina was tough. We played very well I thought and
possibly a draw would have been a fair result but as we know football
can be strange.

I was hoping to start the game, but as things turned out I ended
up on the bench and I was very eager to get on.

I ended up playing most of the second half and I am happy with the way I went. I played together with Vince Grella and I thought we did ok. The pace of the game was
quick, especially when they had the ball.

They did allow us to play, I was expecting more pressing from Argentina and was surprised at the amount of space I had when I came on. It was not my normal role but it didn’t bother me as I really just wanted to get out there.

The crowd and stadium was awesome, it's just a shame that to play in an
atmosphere and stadium like that we have to travel 22000km. It is tough but
like I have always said it a pleasure.

Mu club, Grosseto were a bit unhappy that I travelled for the game. And we lost our third straight game whilst I was away, which resulted in the coach
being sacked!

Its unfortunate but that’s the way football is. Our new coach
is really good, very smart and well prepared. We played really well on the
weekend against Cesena and we were unlucky to get the win,we hit the post a
few time so we had to settle for a draw, so lets hope it’s a starting point
and that our performances don’t go below that.

Our team has a tough week ahead. On Sat we play Rimini and then on Tuesday
Ravenna then we play again on he following Saturday.

There are 9 points available which we desperately need! This is my 3rd year at Grosseto and each year we have started badly so lets hope things get better.

Our new team is becoming closer and more of a group, but we still have a long way to go. It would be fantastic to get the win on Saturday against Rimini.

Ciao

Carl