Raphael Odogwu

Striker - Südtirol
29 Jan 2027
Friday
Process

Marked for Raphael Odogwu

24 Edition

The Südtirol Post

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

A brace, and Raphael Odogwu takes the afternoon — 9.09

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Raphael Odogwu provided it, and the 9.09 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Squad

48 days out for Carlo Sabatini after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Südtirol will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Match

Südtirol end the wait against Bari

It had gone 12 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.

Market

Südtirol turn down Campobasso for Gabriele Platto

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

A falling-out at Südtirol

Davide Veroli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Südtirol rebuffed over Gerónimo Rulli

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Manchester City have kept their man, and Südtirol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Match

Raphael Odogwu the difference as Südtirol beat Bari

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Raphael Odogwu. 2‑1 against Bari, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Rareş Burnete

At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

The dugout

Salvatore Molina dropped after a run of poor form

The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.

In brief

Back issues
21 Edition

The Südtirol Post

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Südtirol's wait for a win

10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Südtirol has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

70 days out for Carlo Sabatini after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Südtirol will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Raphael Odogwu yet — 8.11

At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.11 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Match

Modena take the points off Südtirol

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

Daniele Vignali answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

The dugout

Andrea Masiello gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Player ratings

Kevin Zeroli runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

When it matters, Fabio Rispoli plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Fabian Tait knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Südtirol, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

19 Edition

The Südtirol Post

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

No end in sight to Südtirol's wait for a win

8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Südtirol has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Simone Davi falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

Words exchanged at Südtirol

Davide Veroli and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

The dugout

No hiding place for Simone Tronchin

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Simone Tronchin, and the manager let it.

Squad

Gabriele Platto signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gabriele Platto and Südtirol agree another 4 years.

Squad

Andrea Masiello slips down the pecking order

The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Andrea Masiello is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.

Match

Südtirol share the spoils with Reggiana

A 1‑1 draw with Reggiana leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Daniele Vignali was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Südtirol dressing room was either.

Looking ahead

Aljoša Vasić goes back to face Padova

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Aljoša Vasić’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Südtirol needing him to play as if none of it matters.

In brief

17 Edition

The Südtirol Post

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Südtirol

6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

Alessio Cragno stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Squad

A row about effort at Südtirol

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Davi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Andrea Masiello in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Aljoša Vasić’s goal not enough for Südtirol

Aljoša Vasić scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Palermo, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Fabian Tait

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Daniele Vignali left the room before anybody could ask which.

Squad

Aljoša Vasić is off the mark for Südtirol

The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.

The dugout

Fabio Rispoli gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Fabio Rispoli is on it.

In brief

15 Edition

The Südtirol Post

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The cup run ends for Südtirol

1‑2 against Avellino, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

Squad

Alessio Cragno keeps Südtirol in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Market

Gabriele Platto is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Südtirol is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Match

4 matches without a win for Südtirol

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Südtirol are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Words exchanged at Südtirol

Andrea Masiello and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Match

A bad afternoon for Südtirol against Virtus Entella

1‑2 to Virtus Entella, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Player ratings

Domen Črnigoj runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

Daniele Vignali faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Daniele Vignali after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

Salvatore Molina knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Salvatore Molina trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

12 Edition

The Südtirol Post

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Alessio Cragno

There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Match

Rareş Burnete breaks Juve Stabia hearts

Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Rareş Burnete scored in the 86th minute, Juve Stabia had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Südtirol took the lot.

Player ratings

Fabio Rispoli, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.22

A mark of 8.22 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Player ratings

Raphael Odogwu, 35, rolls back the years — 8.65

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.65 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Match

Rareş Burnete sends Südtirol past Juve Stabia

It finished 3‑2, and it was Rareş Burnete’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Südtirol.

Squad

A falling-out at Südtirol

Davide Veroli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Rareş Burnete

At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

The dugout

No hiding place for Andrea Masiello

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrea Masiello, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Salvatore Molina dropped after a run of poor form

The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.

In brief

7 Edition

The Südtirol Post

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Domen Črnigoj scores twice — 8.08

Two goals and a mark of 8.08 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Only the photograph left for Gabriele Platto

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gabriele Platto will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Südtirol the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

A row about effort at Südtirol

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Davi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Napoli tell Südtirol: Leonai Souza is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Match

Südtirol rescue it on 91 minutes

Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Frosinone had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.

Match

Südtirol and Frosinone take a point apiece

It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

The dugout

Daniele Vignali: “We have to be better”

“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.

The dugout

No hiding place for Alessio Cragno

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessio Cragno, and the manager let it.

Squad

Player of the week: Raphael Odogwu

Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.

In brief

6 Edition

The Südtirol Post

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Raphael Odogwu scores twice — 8.91

Two goals and a mark of 8.91 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Gabriele Platto has said yes to Campobasso

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Südtirol have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 5 in, 2 out at Südtirol

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Squad

Simone Davi falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Oriol Romeu

Südtirol asked and Southampton said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

Tempers go at Südtirol

Davide Veroli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Match

Raphael Odogwu the difference as Südtirol beat Avellino

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Raphael Odogwu. 2‑1 against Avellino, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

The terraces

Südtirol supporters have found a favourite in Rareş Burnete

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Rareş Burnete has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Südtirol

6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.

In brief

5 Edition

The Südtirol Post

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Transfer targets

Torino tell Südtirol: Nathan Patterson is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

Davide Veroli in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

A bad afternoon for Südtirol against Bari

0‑1 to Bari, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Player ratings

Kevin Zeroli was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Daniele Vignali to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Salvatore Molina

The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.

The dugout

No hiding place for Filipe Bordon

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Filipe Bordon, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Bjarki Bjarkason knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bjarki Bjarkason trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Looking ahead

Salvatore Molina faces his old club

Avellino next, and one man in the Südtirol dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.

In brief