Marked for Denis Portanova
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 May 2028
A fracture rules Leonardo Capezzi out for 26 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sorrento will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom8 May 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Romano Milani has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad8 May 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Federico Ricci and Sorrento agree another 2 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Leonardo Capezzi 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Denis Portanova named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Denis Portanova is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 May 2028
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Leonardo Capezzi was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces24 Apr 2028
The mood at Sorrento has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match24 Apr 2028
Sorrento are in real trouble now
Position 16, 21 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Stefano Paglino 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.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Francesco Fusco, and the manager let it.
Squad24 Apr 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohamed Kalakeche and Sorrento agree another 3 years.
Squad24 Apr 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Sorrento are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Market24 Apr 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Marco Cuccurullo may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Loan watch24 Apr 2028
The goals keep arriving from Mario Vilardi’s exile
3 goals in 30 games at Alcione Milano — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Sorrento updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Apr 2028
A fracture rules Leonardo Capezzi out for 61 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sorrento will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
Pressure builds in the Sorrento boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Up for the corner, and Denis Portanova delivers — 7.62
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Denis Portanova scored, was marked 7.62, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Match1 Apr 2028
4 matches without a win for Sorrento
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Sorrento are no longer polite ones.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sorrento can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Market3 Apr 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Match1 Apr 2028
It needed Denis Portanova to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Monopoli, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
Federico Ricci without the man who signed him
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Federico Ricci was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces28 Feb 2028
Supporters organise against the Sorrento board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match28 Feb 2028
Every point is an argument now for Sorrento
Position 15 and 19 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Luca Crecco ran the middle of the pitch — 7.14
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 17 combined actions and a mark of 7.14, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Sorrento
Stefano Paglino 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.
Match26 Feb 2028
Three points for Sorrento, 1‑0 the final word against Salernitana in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
“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.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Marked 7.99. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Looking ahead
A reunion for Luca Crecco
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The dugout
The plan did not have a place for Saer Diop
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Feb 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 104 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match19 Feb 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Federico Ricci, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Looking ahead21 Feb 2028
A test against the best for Sorrento
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Salernitana.
Looking ahead21 Feb 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Leonardo Capezzi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Sorrento needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market21 Feb 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Simone Cangianiello’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Market21 Feb 2028
Sorrento have let the market know Marco Cuccurullo can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Squad7 Feb 2028
118 days out for Leonardo Capezzi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sorrento will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Sorrento close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sorrento have done the hard part with Cremonese, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market7 Feb 2028
Sorrento say no — this time
The offer from Ekenäs IF for Ukko Happonen was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad7 Feb 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Denis Portanova and Sorrento agree another 4 years.
Market7 Feb 2028
Add another name to the list: TPS have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Alex Amadio. The answer from Sorrento has not changed — yet.
Looking ahead7 Feb 2028
Everything rides on Cavese
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Sorrento know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces31 Jan 2028
Anger at Sorrento spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 125 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom31 Jan 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Sorrento
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match31 Jan 2028
Every point is an argument now for Sorrento
Position 16 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market31 Jan 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Sorrento, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Sorrento
Leonardo Capezzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Padova have kept their man, and Sorrento go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Denis Portanova
“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.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
Sorrento have made the call to Lazio. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Dec 2027
A fracture rules Denis Portanova out for 15 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sorrento will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
A brace, and Federico Ricci takes the afternoon — 8.60
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Federico Ricci provided it, and the 8.60 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match18 Dec 2027
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Stefano Paglino 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.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Norbert Kuziemski and Sorrento agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
Marco Cuccurullo is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Dec 2027
A fracture rules Denis Portanova out for 22 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sorrento will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match11 Dec 2027
It had gone 13 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
No sign of nerves from Bassidy Sanogo at 19 — 7.96
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Bassidy Sanogo did not need any: 7.96, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Sorrento — 7.77
1 for Leonardo Capezzi, marked 7.77, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad13 Dec 2027
A falling-out at Sorrento
Leonardo Capezzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match11 Dec 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Leonardo Capezzi. 2‑1 against Monopoli, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces13 Dec 2027
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
“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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Norbert Kuziemski and Sorrento agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces6 Dec 2027
Supporters organise against the Sorrento board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match4 Dec 2027
13 matches without a win for Sorrento
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Sorrento are no longer polite ones.
Squad6 Dec 2027
A fracture rules Denis Portanova out for 30 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sorrento will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match6 Dec 2027
Sorrento are in real trouble now
Position 16, 4 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
Pressure builds in the Sorrento boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words exchanged at Sorrento
Leonardo Capezzi 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.
Match4 Dec 2027
Gustavo Pereira scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Picerno, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad6 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Sorrento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefano Paglino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match27 Nov 2027
The wait goes on for Sorrento
12 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
A fracture rules Denis Portanova out for 37 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sorrento will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match27 Nov 2027
Sorrento cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad29 Nov 2027
A falling-out at Sorrento
Francesco Fusco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Nov 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sorrento can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Leonardo Capezzi's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
7.29, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Sorrento had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Denis Ştefan 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.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Nov 2027
The wait goes on for Sorrento
11 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
A fracture rules Denis Portanova out for 45 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sorrento will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Stefano Paglino 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.
Match20 Nov 2027
3 matches without a goal for Sorrento
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match20 Nov 2027
0‑2 to Cosenza, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sorrento can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mario Romano after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
A promise honoured at Sorrento
Something was said to Francesco Fusco and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Nov 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lorenzo Colombini, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead15 Nov 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Luca Crecco’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Sorrento needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sorrento, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Alex Amadio has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sorrento will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market15 Nov 2027
Sorrento have let the market know Simone Cangianiello can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Sorrento would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Market15 Nov 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces8 Nov 2027
Supporters organise against the Sorrento board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match6 Nov 2027
No end in sight to Sorrento's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sorrento has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A fracture rules Denis Portanova out for 59 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sorrento will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match8 Nov 2027
Every point is an argument now for Sorrento
Position 16 and 3 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marco Cuccurullo, and the manager let it.
Match6 Nov 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Denis Ştefan and Sorrento agree another 3 years.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
A club that lets a breach of discipline pass invites the next one, so a week's wages have gone. The matter is closed, officially at least.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Nov 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match30 Oct 2027
9 matches without a win for Sorrento
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Sorrento are no longer polite ones.
Loan watch1 Nov 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sorrento, and 3 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“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.
Match30 Oct 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sorrento told Stefano Paglino something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Squad1 Nov 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Manuel Esposito has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Oct 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match23 Oct 2027
8 matches without a win for Sorrento
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Sorrento are no longer polite ones.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Marco Cuccurullo: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sorrento have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.80 for the rest of it.
Squad25 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sorrento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match23 Oct 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Cavese leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
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 dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mario Romano was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Sorrento dressing room was either.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Oct 2027
80 days out for Denis Portanova after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sorrento will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match16 Oct 2027
7 matches without a win for Sorrento
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Sorrento are no longer polite ones.
Squad18 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Sorrento
Leonardo Capezzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match16 Oct 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Sorrento are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“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.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
Stefano Paglino asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Looking ahead18 Oct 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Marco Cuccurullo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Sorrento needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces11 Oct 2027
The mood at Sorrento has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 87 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sorrento have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Sorrento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefano Paglino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sorrento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Sorrento know it.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Matteo Farronato asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sorrento told Gustavo Pereira something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Looking ahead11 Oct 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Leonardo Capezzi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Sorrento needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Oct 2027
A fracture rules Denis Portanova out for 94 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sorrento will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Matteo Farronato: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sorrento have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match2 Oct 2027
6 matches without a win for Sorrento
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Sorrento are no longer polite ones.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Federico Ricci and Sorrento agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Sorrento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefano Paglino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Sorrento
Francesco Fusco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Marked 7.26. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Half-satisfied: Mario Romano on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Denis Portanova out for 101 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sorrento will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match22 Sep 2027
The cup run ends for Sorrento
1‑2 against Arezzo, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Match25 Sep 2027
5 matches without a win for Sorrento
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Sorrento are no longer polite ones.
Transfer targets27 Sep 2027
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.
Match25 Sep 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Both jobs done by Luca Crecco — 6.95
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 6.95, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Market27 Sep 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sorrento, another week without a signature from Stefano Paglino.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“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 dugout27 Sep 2027
A promise honoured at Sorrento
Something was said to Federico Marchesi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Denis Portanova out for 108 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sorrento will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Match18 Sep 2027
3 matches without a goal for Sorrento
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Sorrento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefano Paglino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets20 Sep 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Roma have kept their man, and Sorrento go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stefano Paglino, and the manager let it.
Match18 Sep 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad20 Sep 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sorrento can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces13 Sep 2027
Supporters organise against the Sorrento board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad13 Sep 2027
115 days out for Denis Portanova after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sorrento will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Stefano Paglino 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 targets13 Sep 2027
Sorrento asked and Napoli said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match11 Sep 2027
A bad afternoon for Sorrento against Foggia
0‑1 to Foggia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Francesco Fusco
“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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Sorrento are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Loan watch13 Sep 2027
“I did not go to Alcione Milano to sit and watch. I want to come back to Sorrento and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
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 0‑1 Mario Romano left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Sep 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 122 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market6 Sep 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Window shuts: 16 in, 16 out at Sorrento
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 16 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Leonardo Capezzi 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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Too much change too quickly at Sorrento
10 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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
A loan enquiry to Juventus: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad6 Sep 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Gustavo Pereira has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
Marco Cuccurullo asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Apr 2027
The season ends: position 16 for Sorrento
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 22 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Gustavo Pereira 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.
The terraces19 Apr 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Simone Cangianiello 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.
Match17 Apr 2027
Giugliano made Sorrento work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.83 on the card, and the Sorrento support went home talking about one name.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Pierpaolo Benedetti could afford to be generous.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Ciro Loreto 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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Vitão asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Nov 2026
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sorrento lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Sorrento
4 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Sorrento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Pereira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match21 Nov 2026
Sorrento leaking at the back
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Denis Portanova
“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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Domenico Vignali to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match24 Oct 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Sean Parker’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sorrento.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
At 23 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gustavo Pereira, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Sorrento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ciro Loreto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad26 Oct 2026
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sorrento told Federico Ricci something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Domenico Vignali, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Sean Parker finally opens his account
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Sorrento have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Sorrento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ciro Loreto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Claudio Santini
“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.
Loan watch19 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Forli to sit and watch. I want to come back to Sorrento and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The plan did not have a place for Vitão
Nobody at Sorrento is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Cavese in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Denis Portanova unhappy with how he is being used
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Denis Portanova has let it be known that he does not like the way Sorrento are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.