Chivu’s Kick In The Grass interview: transcript
(Chivu is talking over the phone on a very bad line, so I sometimes can’t work out what he’s saying. The interviewer calls him “Cheevu” and asks questions that go on forever. I will summarise. Frankly, he doesn’t seem to have said a single one of the things Inter.it reported; I assume they were going from an Italian translation.)
Interviewer: This is the first time we’ve had a guest who plays in Serie A. *Calls Christi prominent and distinguished, which may be pushing it a bit* Welcome.
Christi: Thank you for inviting me.
Interviewer: You’ve played against Chelsea and Valencia. What’s it been like to play here? How are the crowd?
Christi: It’s always great to be here. So/too many left. [? - That’s what it sounds like. I think he means that they had several more games left to play in the USA?] Thing is, we’ve been here so many times that it feels like home. It’s a great place to be for preparation period and we have so many great games against great clubs, great teams. The supporters are always in the stadium cheering for favourite team and it’s always nice to be here.
Bloke called Joe: A lot of people want the Italian teams to do well in tournaments like this. So far Juventus and Inter haven’t done too well. Is that because we’re not ready yet or because the other teams are better prepared?
Christi: *Exhales dubiously* Definitely we’re not ready, just the beginning of August; we start the preparation the middle of July. And you know the Italian clubs, they work very hard in preseason, especially *laughs* when we go, in the first two weeks, we go up in the mountains and we run a lot. [I’ll hazard a guess Chivu doesn’t enjoy this.] Our legs are very heavy, full of... hard working and it’s difficult to find the shape to play a game of this level at this moment, but it’s always a good training and it’s always good to measure your strength against teams that they are equal or better than you. And it’s always good to play games to those teams, but yeah, it’s difficult for us because we work hard, we train twice a day, even when we have to play the next day, we train as well. The main goal is to be ready for the end of August, when the season will start.
Interviewer: Inter’s first match, against Genoa, is coming up on August 24th. You’ll be playing Juve on September 14th and you play them tomorrow in Miami. What’s it going to be like playing Juve in preseason?
Christi: Normally, we always do it before the season. In Italy we play the TIM Cup, it’s called, and we play 45 minutes against Juve, Milan, they are both three teams all, er... before every season. We’re ready to play against each other but we never show up, really. *Laughs* How it is... and how the season’s going to be. And especially now, it’s kind of strange to play against Juventus knowing that in one month we’re going to play an official game in the season, so... We take it as an important game to know/see how things went for us [that’s what it sounds like], and for them as well, in this competition here in America. I think we’re all eager to win, because we don’t want to finish last in this tournament and we’re gonna do our best.
Interviewer: We’re with Christian Cheevu from inter Milan. Tomorrow Inter play Juve for the seventh-place match in the Guinness International Cup. Joe?
Joe: You’ve got a new coach, Mazzarri, who was very successful in Naples. How will he do with you guys?
Christi: [Indecipherable] Lately we’ve been changing so many coaches after Mourinho. We had plenty of them coming and going. We come after a difficult season - like it was last one - we finished ninth, we didn’t get all our goals and it’s a tough period for us. This new coach is trying to do his best, he’s trying to get us to learn, as quick as possible, his new ideas. What it means for him, [indecipherable - sounds like “tackle”] so we’re trying to be very focussed on what he’s asking and what he wants from us. This one, we work hard for it, that’s why we’re with him already one month. He’s very prepared, he’s known about suffer a lot [I think] and I hope together we’re gonna do a good season.
Interviewer: I don’t remember the last time Inter didn’t qualify for Europe. What does the team have to do to get back into Europe for next season?
Christi: Playing better? *Laughs* It’s easy.
Interviewers: *Laugh*
Christi: Last season was difficult from all kind of view. We started well... I can remember we were second, three points behind Juventus, and then something happened, something went wrong. We had a lot of injuries, it went on a negative wave... and yeah, that’s the history of the last season. It’s hard to explain how come, what happened, we just take it as it was and we look forward to play a better season and to have a better result than the last one.
Joe: Serie A’s going to be very competitive this year. *Mentions Juve, Milan and Fiorentina* I think it’s going to be a very interesting season.
Christi: It is. There are six clubs who are competing for winning the trophy, the championship. It’s Napoli... Roma is also doing a great job this season and also [something] a lot of good players. There’s Inter Juve, there’s Lazio as well, also Fiorentina, and it’s gonna be a tough season. It’s gonna be a nice season, I think, to play, to watch, for everybody. Pretty and Italian. [That’s what it sounds like!] Good Serie A. And good players.
Joe: There’s a lot of new foreign players arriving in Serie A and there’s a lot of Italian players moving overseas (to England, for example). How do you view that?
Christi: This is soccer. Today, it’s like this. It’s all about coming and going. It’s an open market, I think, for everybody, and of course everybody is thinking of who’s better for him and what is best for him. There are a lot of players also who are coming in Serie A, in a new, like [phone explodes] If you are in a mid-table... I mean, er.. [phone explodes again] In Inter there are players who maybe in the past they knew they would come to the Italian club. So things are going on, life is changing, soccer is changing, it’s place for everybody, everywhere, I think.
Interviewer: I think you’re an exception, Christian; you’ve been at Inter for many years, and Roma before that. - Well, Serie A is very important, but so are World Cup qualifiers. Romania has an important match against Hungary on the 6th of September. If you win you have a good chance to get into second place and qualify for the World Cup. What do you make of Romania’s chances?
Christi: Er... *Sigh* Yeah, big chances. We have good chances, because we’re playing our Hungary and Turkey. I think with four points we are sure for the second place and we can play the playoff game for the World Cup. I’m looking forward for that, because it’s been a lot since Romania’s been to the World Cup. We’ve played some European Cups but the World Cup would make it. Everybody’s excited for that, everybody’s looking forward and we wait for those games to improve our chance to be at the World Cup.
Joe: Just one more question. In the future, would you ever play in the US?
Christi: *Laughs for ages* If I say yes, maybe tomorrow an Italian newspaper will say that I will come to play here [interviewers laugh], but for me... I like America, I like the south city [?], I like everything, so you never know. We’ll leave and see. [That’s what it sounds like.]
Interviewer: Well, Christian, we really appreciate your being on our show and we wish you the best of luck. We’ll be watching all the matches. Safe trip.
Christi: It’s a pleasure to be with you guys. Thank you very much.
Joe: Molto grazie.
Christi: Grazie.
Interviewer: This is the first time we’ve had a guest who plays in Serie A. *Calls Christi prominent and distinguished, which may be pushing it a bit* Welcome.
Christi: Thank you for inviting me.
Interviewer: You’ve played against Chelsea and Valencia. What’s it been like to play here? How are the crowd?
Christi: It’s always great to be here. So/too many left. [? - That’s what it sounds like. I think he means that they had several more games left to play in the USA?] Thing is, we’ve been here so many times that it feels like home. It’s a great place to be for preparation period and we have so many great games against great clubs, great teams. The supporters are always in the stadium cheering for favourite team and it’s always nice to be here.
Bloke called Joe: A lot of people want the Italian teams to do well in tournaments like this. So far Juventus and Inter haven’t done too well. Is that because we’re not ready yet or because the other teams are better prepared?
Christi: *Exhales dubiously* Definitely we’re not ready, just the beginning of August; we start the preparation the middle of July. And you know the Italian clubs, they work very hard in preseason, especially *laughs* when we go, in the first two weeks, we go up in the mountains and we run a lot. [I’ll hazard a guess Chivu doesn’t enjoy this.] Our legs are very heavy, full of... hard working and it’s difficult to find the shape to play a game of this level at this moment, but it’s always a good training and it’s always good to measure your strength against teams that they are equal or better than you. And it’s always good to play games to those teams, but yeah, it’s difficult for us because we work hard, we train twice a day, even when we have to play the next day, we train as well. The main goal is to be ready for the end of August, when the season will start.
Interviewer: Inter’s first match, against Genoa, is coming up on August 24th. You’ll be playing Juve on September 14th and you play them tomorrow in Miami. What’s it going to be like playing Juve in preseason?
Christi: Normally, we always do it before the season. In Italy we play the TIM Cup, it’s called, and we play 45 minutes against Juve, Milan, they are both three teams all, er... before every season. We’re ready to play against each other but we never show up, really. *Laughs* How it is... and how the season’s going to be. And especially now, it’s kind of strange to play against Juventus knowing that in one month we’re going to play an official game in the season, so... We take it as an important game to know/see how things went for us [that’s what it sounds like], and for them as well, in this competition here in America. I think we’re all eager to win, because we don’t want to finish last in this tournament and we’re gonna do our best.
Interviewer: We’re with Christian Cheevu from inter Milan. Tomorrow Inter play Juve for the seventh-place match in the Guinness International Cup. Joe?
Joe: You’ve got a new coach, Mazzarri, who was very successful in Naples. How will he do with you guys?
Christi: [Indecipherable] Lately we’ve been changing so many coaches after Mourinho. We had plenty of them coming and going. We come after a difficult season - like it was last one - we finished ninth, we didn’t get all our goals and it’s a tough period for us. This new coach is trying to do his best, he’s trying to get us to learn, as quick as possible, his new ideas. What it means for him, [indecipherable - sounds like “tackle”] so we’re trying to be very focussed on what he’s asking and what he wants from us. This one, we work hard for it, that’s why we’re with him already one month. He’s very prepared, he’s known about suffer a lot [I think] and I hope together we’re gonna do a good season.
Interviewer: I don’t remember the last time Inter didn’t qualify for Europe. What does the team have to do to get back into Europe for next season?
Christi: Playing better? *Laughs* It’s easy.
Interviewers: *Laugh*
Christi: Last season was difficult from all kind of view. We started well... I can remember we were second, three points behind Juventus, and then something happened, something went wrong. We had a lot of injuries, it went on a negative wave... and yeah, that’s the history of the last season. It’s hard to explain how come, what happened, we just take it as it was and we look forward to play a better season and to have a better result than the last one.
Joe: Serie A’s going to be very competitive this year. *Mentions Juve, Milan and Fiorentina* I think it’s going to be a very interesting season.
Christi: It is. There are six clubs who are competing for winning the trophy, the championship. It’s Napoli... Roma is also doing a great job this season and also [something] a lot of good players. There’s Inter Juve, there’s Lazio as well, also Fiorentina, and it’s gonna be a tough season. It’s gonna be a nice season, I think, to play, to watch, for everybody. Pretty and Italian. [That’s what it sounds like!] Good Serie A. And good players.
Joe: There’s a lot of new foreign players arriving in Serie A and there’s a lot of Italian players moving overseas (to England, for example). How do you view that?
Christi: This is soccer. Today, it’s like this. It’s all about coming and going. It’s an open market, I think, for everybody, and of course everybody is thinking of who’s better for him and what is best for him. There are a lot of players also who are coming in Serie A, in a new, like [phone explodes] If you are in a mid-table... I mean, er.. [phone explodes again] In Inter there are players who maybe in the past they knew they would come to the Italian club. So things are going on, life is changing, soccer is changing, it’s place for everybody, everywhere, I think.
Interviewer: I think you’re an exception, Christian; you’ve been at Inter for many years, and Roma before that. - Well, Serie A is very important, but so are World Cup qualifiers. Romania has an important match against Hungary on the 6th of September. If you win you have a good chance to get into second place and qualify for the World Cup. What do you make of Romania’s chances?
Christi: Er... *Sigh* Yeah, big chances. We have good chances, because we’re playing our Hungary and Turkey. I think with four points we are sure for the second place and we can play the playoff game for the World Cup. I’m looking forward for that, because it’s been a lot since Romania’s been to the World Cup. We’ve played some European Cups but the World Cup would make it. Everybody’s excited for that, everybody’s looking forward and we wait for those games to improve our chance to be at the World Cup.
Joe: Just one more question. In the future, would you ever play in the US?
Christi: *Laughs for ages* If I say yes, maybe tomorrow an Italian newspaper will say that I will come to play here [interviewers laugh], but for me... I like America, I like the south city [?], I like everything, so you never know. We’ll leave and see. [That’s what it sounds like.]
Interviewer: Well, Christian, we really appreciate your being on our show and we wish you the best of luck. We’ll be watching all the matches. Safe trip.
Christi: It’s a pleasure to be with you guys. Thank you very much.
Joe: Molto grazie.
Christi: Grazie.