Cecconi gives Lazio winning start to New Year
A bland affair decided by an inspired Cecconi winner despite some infuriating refereeing decisions.
Also on this day: January 1, 1948, Lazio Lucchese 1-0. An injured and limping Remondini scores the winner in an uneventful game. Player of the day: Cesare Brunetti
The season so far
The previous season Lazio had come 13th (two points above Roma). An excellent home record (15 wins out of 19) had been balanced by poor away form (3 wins out of 19). They had changed manager after ten matches; from Orlando Tognotti to Mario Sperone. Lazio had also changed Presidency three times: Renato Bornigia, Giuseppe Rivola, Giovanni Mazzitelli and finally Remo Zenobi (again after a pre-war stint- this time he would stay until 1953). Lazio’s top scorer was Romano Penzo with 13 goals.
This season manager Sperone had been kept on. Some interesting players had been added to the books. Goalkeeper Lucidio Sentimenti IV had been signed (Juventus) plus: defender Zeffiro Furiassi (Fiorentina), midfielders Sergio del Pinto (Avellino) and Vittorio Sentimenti III (Juventus) and Paraguayan forward Dionisio Arce (Sporting Luqueño).
Sadly, leaving Lazio was great goalkeeper Uber Gradella as well as other keeper Marco Brandolin (Udinese). Three midfielders were also saying goodbye; Salvador Gualtieri (Vicenza), Guido Tavellin (Verona) and Paolo Todeschini (Napoli). To make space for the new strikers, Costantino De Andreis was also leaving the capital (Napoli).
This season had not started particularly well with Lazio losing three out of the first five matches. Then, however, they won the derby 3-1 and the week before today's game had drawn 2-2 away at Torino. They were currently on 18 points (6 wins, 6 draws and 5 defeats).
Pro Patria (from Busto Arsizio, near Milan) had come 17th the previous season under manager Aldo Biffi, only avoiding relegation by one point. They had beaten Lazio 5-2 in Rome but lost in Lombardy 2-1. Their top scorer was Angelo Turconi with 12 goals (he would also earn 2 Italy caps).
This season they had a new manager; Italian legend Giuseppe Meazza. As a player he had scored 242 goals for Inter and won two world cups with Italy (1934 and 1938). The Milan "San Siro" stadium is now named after him. Pro Patria had lost the first three matches but were unbeaten in the last four. They were currently on 12 points (3 wins, 6 draws and 8 defeats).
The match: Sunday, January 1, 1950, Stadio Nazionale, Rome
A sunny New Year's Day welcomed Lazio back to action in front of a 15,000 crowd.
Lazio took a while to get going after the festivities and the early stages were bland attacks by the Biancocelesti, well controlled by the visitors' defence. The game soon became a question of attack against defence.
Lazio seemed to lack urgency and the match was not spectacular by any means. They continued on the attack however and after 22 minutes came the first controversial episode.
Cecconi pushed forward on the left wing when he was fouled dirtily from behind, however he managed to stay on his feet (another era) and get a shot in which beat Uboldi. The referee, obviously unaware of the advantage rule, inexplicably disallowed the goal and awarded Lazio a freekick. Flavio Cecconi took it and after hitting the wall the ball fell to Romanian Norberto Hofling who then hit the post. Here the referee Viginio Canavesio again made another bizarre decision awarding Pro Patria a freekick for no apparent reason; so, had the ball gone in it would have been in vain anyway. The Lombards though soon lost possession again and Lazio gained another free kick. This time there was no doubt or controversy as Cecconi slammed the ball past Ubaldi. At half time it was Lazio 1 Pro Patria 0.
The second half followed more or less the same pattern. Lazio attacked and had more chances especially with the outstanding Cecconi. The visitors' keeper denied him a brace at least four times. Pro Patria rarely got out of their own half and only had one real shot at goal; a long-range free kick by Jeno Vinyei easily saved by Sentimenti IV.
The game ended up 1-0 to Lazio. Not really a fair reflection of their superiority but the Pro Patria back line played well with keeper Angelo Uboldi and Antonio Azimonti, Alfonso Borra and Pietro Pozzi. For Lazio the star performer was by far Cecconi.
Who played for Lazio
Sentimenti IV, Antonazzi, Spurio, Furiassi, Alzani, Sentimenti III, Puccinelli, Magrini, Hofling, Cecconi, Nyers II
Manager: Sperone
Who played for Pro Patria
Uboldi, Azimonti, Fossati, Viney, Borra, Pozzi, Guarnieri, Turconi, Pernigo, Barsanti, Turbeky
Manager: Meazza
Referee: Canavesio
Goal: 23' Cecconi
What happened next
A week later Lazio would lose 1-0 away at Venezia. Despite not resolving the previous season's away form problems (9 defeats) Lazio had a good season. The Biancazzurri came 4th behind the big three (Juventus, Milan and Inter).
In fact, one of Lazio's few victories on the road came against Juventus (2-1 with a Enrique Flamini double). They also took three points out of four off Milan. Lazio ended up with 18 wins, 10 draws and 10 defeats.
Due to the big three players having to fly off to the world cup of 1950 Lazio also qualified for the Coppa Latina. This was a tournament between sides from France, Italy, Spain and Portugal which ran from 1949 to 1957. Lazio were well beaten by Benfica 3-0 and then narrowly lost to Atletico Madrid 2-1.
Back to Serie A and Lazio’s positive 4th place, their top scorer was Romanian striker Norberto Hofling with 13 goals. He would incidentally later play 119 matches for today's opposition between 1952 and 1955, scoring 31 goals.
As for Pro Patria, the Bustocchi came 11th. A week later they were thrashed 4-1 in Florence but then beat Roma 2-1. They had some highs such as beating Torino 6-1 and some lows losing 7-1 to Milan. They beat Lazio 1-0 in the return match but were involved in the relegation battle until the end. They managed to survive with 4 wins in the last 7 games. Their season ended with 11 wins, 12 draws and 15 defeats. Their top scorers were Borra and Guarnieri with 8 goals.
The scudetto was won by Juventus (8th title) and top scorer was Gunnar Nordahl with 35 goals. Bari and Venezia were relegated (Roma went close, coming third bottom).
Lazio 1949-50
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals scored |
Serie A | 38 | 18 | 10 | 10 | 67 |
Top five appearances
Player | Serie A |
Sentimenti IV | 37 |
Furiassi | 36 |
Sentimenti III | 36 |
Puccinelli | 34 |
Alzani | 33 |
Antonazzi | 33 |
Top five goal scorers
Player | Serie A |
Hofling | 13 |
Puccinelli | 10 |
Flamini | 10 |
Remondini | 7 |
Penzo | 7 |
Let's talk about Flavio Cecconi
Flavio Cecconi was born in Verona on February 27, 1923.
He grew up in the Verona youth sector and made his debut for his hometown club in 1939 at only 16. He played for the Scaligeri (Scaligers from the Latinised de scalis- Della scala family who ruled Verona for 125 years) for seven years making 62 Serie A appearances with 13 goals.
The following year he spent at Maceratese in Serie C. Not a lot is known of his time there but a year later he signed for Lazio.
He made his debut for Lazio on February 8 1948 in Sampdoria-Lazio. He played 16 league games that season with 5 goals. He scored away at San Siro against Milan, at home against Genoa, Fiorentina and Sampdoria. His greatest moment though came in the away derby triumph against Roma. On April 21 1948 Cecconi scored Lazio’s opener in a 2-0 victory.
In the summer of 1948 he went to play for Atalanta for a year, making 19 appearances and scoring 3 times.
In 1949 he was back in Rome for Lazio. He would stay two seasons until 1951. Over the two years he played 42 league games and scored 12 goals. In his first season he scored winners against Genoa and Pro Patria plus a goal in the home win versus Bari. In his second year he scored again in the derby win (2-1) and in an away draw to Juventus (1-1) plus goals against Pro Patria (again), Udinese(home), Lucchese (away), Padova, Udinese (away)and Lucchese (home).
In 1951 he went south to Napoli but only made 3 league appearances (1 goal). In 1952 he played in Sicily for Palermo, 12 league and 3 goals. In 1953 he returned to his hometown of Verona and finally played more regularly, 25 league games and 3 goals. A year later however he changed clubs again and made 24 appearances scoring 1 goal for Pro Patria. He retired in 1955 at 32. He died in 2001 at 78.
At International level he earned one cap for the Italy B side in a 0-0 draw in Turkey.
His main successes had been with his local Gialloblu of Verona and of course Lazio. Cecconi was an attacking midfielder, a mezzala as they say in Italy. He played wide in central midfield and especially with Lazio had a reasonably high scoring rate. He made a total of 58 Serie A appearances with 17 goals.
In only 3 years he gave a good contribution at Lazio and scoring in a winning derby means eternal gratitude on the Biancoceleste side of Rome. He did that not once but twice.
Lazio Career
Season | Total appearances (goals) | Serie A | Mitropa Cup |
1947-48 | 16 (5) | 16 (5) | - |
1949-50 | 18 (3) | 18 (3) | - |
1950-51 | 25 (9) | 24 (9) | 1 |
Total | 59 (17) | 58 (17) | 1 |
Sources
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