An exaggeration to say that a new life begins for him. «For me it is the continuation of a life path». Alberto Cavasin should have become the coach of the Congo national team, but his coaching career starts again from Bari Sardo. Roberto Ibba, a seasoned manager of Sardinian football, has hired him, who has returned from Cagliari to Ogliastra to revitalize a club that has fallen below. «I got to know a special person - says the technician of its president - who took me to the community of Bari Sardo, where I appreciated the tranquility and serenity of the Sardinians. It is a people whose virtues I had known for some time, now I have the opportunity to touch them with my hand ».
From Serie A to the fields (no longer dusty because in the meantime they have invented the synthetic) of the first category. From the Stadio del Mare in Lecce, which earned him the Golden Bench (two consecutive saves at the helm of the Salento), to the Circillai, from the goals of Cristiano Lucarelli to those, conceivable, of young people today unknown who, with the Venetian leader on the bench, will have to bring back the blue and white in Sardinian football that counts.
Born in Treviso in 1956, with a strong and decisive character, Cavasin was a full-back of steel. And as a coach he has always exhibited the same temper, between the joys of the beginning and the pains of twilight. The miraculous salvation of the Apulians, the resurrection of Fiorentina from C2 upwards, the painful stage of Genoa, called into the race to save Sampdoria which instead ended up with him in the abyss. The wound is still open, but he jokes about it. «When I was training in Malta, some Italian boys stopped me. They wanted to take a selfie with me. They fill me with praise. Then they told me they were from Genoa, they simply wanted to thank me because I was the coach who brought the Sampdoria to Serie B ».
To tell the truth in that Sampdoria the faults were many, the distortions many, the coach called in the race only a scapegoat. "Holy now," the griffin fans wished on a banner.
Since then the descending parable has begun. Cavasin is different today than the hard-edged man of the past. He smoothed out the harshness of his character, left room for his joviality. He also had it as a boy, but he hid it behind the cortex of inflexibility. He landed in Ogliastra not for money but to question himself. "The decision - he says - was easy, in a moment of my life when I wanted to smell the field again." A restart in the restart. «Bari Sardo does not represent a new life but the continuity of my life. Ups and downs, that's my story. I am comfortable from this point of view. Today I rediscover myself in a wonderful place, together with what is my nature, my life on the football field ». It will have experienced players, some foreigners. The team is still a construction site, with many young people. «Football is born with young people, young people approach football because they have it in their soul. We have some, valuing young people has always been one of the best things for me, together with the results that society asks of me. As a professional and as a man I want to develop players who can do this wonderful sport ».
He brings with him a wealth of experience gained first as a player and then as a technician. On the field he has experienced crosses with authentic champions. Even with the greatest of all. «The strongest player I scored was Maradona, but I had to deal with the other great champions who played in Italy at that time. I am thinking of Van Basten, Zico, Baggio, Rossi ».
The strongest he has trained? «Del Piero, at a young age, when I led the youth sector of Padova for six months. The punishments he already beaten as he always beat them when he grew up. It was not difficult, since then, to foresee a bright future for him ».
Among today's Italian defenders, the prototype remains Chiellini. “Prove you're an old-fashioned defender. True, pure, always focused and determined. Despite the age ». If he thinks of an attacker who would take away his sleep today, he has no doubts. Quote Messi. "And then Mbappe and Neymar."
As a technician, his best successes were obtained with the 3-5-2 (two scorers and the free, when two of the three central defenders were still acting as a postage stamp), but he is not a fundamentalist. In Bari Sardo he hypothesizes to play with the back four, "the rest will depend on the players I have at my disposal". Certainly he is not lacking in prudence. «When I was coaching Fiorenzuola, at the beginning of my career, I had planned an unscrupulous, offensive football. Defeats had come in flurry. I started winning when I fielded two lines of five, guaranteeing me safety in recovering the ball ».
Everyone is curious now to know how his Bari Sardo will play. He has an obligation to win immediately, he was hired for this, and President Ibba is spared no effort to provide him with high quality players. Meanwhile, a first taste of how hard it is to face Cavasin's teams has already been given to Lanusei, a Serie D formation, which was blocked on par by Bari Sardo in a triangular and won the tournament only on penalties. Waiting for the verdict of the field, the Treviso coach returned to the center of attention. TV, radio and national newspapers are looking for him to interview him. To understand how he came back to life. "Ups and downs. This is my life".