Liberato Cacace (Wrexham | Wales)

Belgian league resumes, with Club Brugge (2nd) hosting S-T (13th).
Cacace starting.

coochiee

Belgian league resumes, with Club Brugge (2nd) hosting S-T (13th).
Cacace starting.

2-0 loss. Their defence is terrible. Libby was playing LWB in a back 5.

RR

coochiee

Belgian league resumes, with Club Brugge (2nd) hosting S-T (13th).
Cacace starting.

2-0 loss. Their defence is terrible. Libby was playing LWB in a back 5.

FYI - Club Brugge debut game for rising young Canadian star Tajon Buchanan. He just finished his MLS career with New England. Someone to watch if Canada finish 4th in CONCACAF.

Also playing for CB were Simon Mignolet & Scotsman Jack Hendy who had a short 2 game stint at Melb City few seasons ago.

Subbed off at 67 mins (score 1-1) as S-T (up to 11th) beat RFC Seraing (17th), 3-1.

RFC Seraing without their midfielder Abdoulie Jallow from The Gambia, who has scored 2 of his team's 3 goals at the ACON.
 

Starting as S-T (11th) travel to Antwerp (3rd).

Libby matched up against 33 yr old Ritchie De Laet (ex Melb City, and ex team mate of Chris Wood at Leicester). De Laet with the assist as Antwerp lead 1-0 in the first half.

Finishes 1-1. Full game and yellow for Cacace 

S-T stay 11th

Hauled off at HT in a 0-1 home loss to Sporting Charleroi (5th).

S-T (11th) down the goal at HT, and Libby one of 3 changes made at the interval!

Should have gone to the UAE!

https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2022/01/28/belgium/pro-league/sint-truidense-vv/royal-charleroi-sporting-club/3512277/

Cacace's just signed for Empoli. Fantastic

Loan until the end of the season, with an obligation to buy for €3mil (contract until 2025) given Empoli survive in Serie A this season. Empoli are 12th, and 12 points off relegation.

Is great news. Look's like in Empoli's last game (a 2-4 loss to Roma) their starting LB Riccardo Marchizza, came off injured in the first half.
https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2022/01/23/italy/serie-a/empoli-fc/as-roma/3558459/

So maybe that's why they have gone to the loan market for a new LB??

Anyway great opportunity for Libby. It ain't Napoli, but child hood dream almost fulfilled of playing in the Serie A.

Definitely worth missing out on this international window if it allowed something like this to come into fruition. Good on him. Absolutely chuffed for the lad! 

coochiee

Is great news. Look's like in Empoli's last game (a 2-4 loss to Roma) their starting LB Riccardo Marchizza, came off injured in the first half.
https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2022/01/23/italy/serie-a/empoli-fc/as-roma/3558459/

So maybe that's why they have gone to the loan market for a new LB??

Anyway great opportunity for Libby. It ain't Napoli, but child hood dream almost fulfilled of playing in the Serie A.

Could be a bit of competition for the left back spot while Marchizza is injured as its reported that their other LB/LWB is being eyed up by Inter.

https://sempreinter.com/2022/01/31/empolis-parisi-genoas-cambiaso-inters-main-targets-for-left-wing-back-for-the-future-italian-media-report/

Empoli Fc Official

@EmpoliCalcio

 · 5h

 𝐋𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐞̀ 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐥'𝐄𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢

Difensore neozelandese classe 2000, @Libby2709 arriva a titolo temporaneo con obbligo di riscatto al verificarsi di determinate condizioni dal @stvv

Absolutely huge. A kiwi in SERIE A!!!
Marchizza has done his knee sadly (Roman boy, was in our youth set up for years) so Libby has a golden chance to make the starting spot his own. My opinion is that Libby couldn't have chosen any better if he tried: Empoli is a small enough city that the pressure on the players isn't huge. They have a track record of developing youth and their coach, Aurelio Andreazzoli, was an Assistant Coach for many years before getting the top job (at Roma, IIRC) and taking the plunge to become a head coach. He knows a lot about tactics, training and how to get the best out of his players. Also Empoli, whilst certainly not playing for Europe or anything, are not really struggling this season compared to many other teams and should fairly easily stay up. If Libby can crack the match day squad, and perform well for the rest of the season, the Sky really could be the limit! 
Competent LBs are a commodity in Italian football of late so he could be in high demand. 
So happy to have another kiwi (and one close to my heart as I've known his dad for many years and even coaches against Libby while he was a wee lad in the Federation Talent Center) to follow in Italy! 

Excellent news indeed.
Does he speak Italian? I imagine he would given his father is Italian.
It would obviously be of great benefit.
Also, he has the wonderful city of Florence on his doorstep. I'm envious.

harrymc55

Excellent news indeed.
Does he speak Italian? I imagine he would given his father is Italian.
It would obviously be of great benefit.
Also, he has the wonderful city of Florence on his doorstep. I'm envious.

I don't think he does overly well. I remember reading an interview where he said he could say My name is and a few other stock phrases. Surely though he will find it easier to pick up than the average English speaker as he would have been exposed to the language since a young age. The problem with Italy of course being that we have plethora of dialects so he's likely more familiar with Neapolitan than Italian. But again, it's a smaller leap to make than going from 0 to fluent in Italian

Sadly NZP, that 2-4 Empoli loss to Roma last time out, was 2nd time they had met this season. So they won't play again during Libby's loan spell in 2022.

coochiee

Sadly NZP, that 2-4 Empoli loss to Roma last time out, was 2nd time they had met this season. So they won't play again during Libby's loan spell in 2022.

Yes that's true but I have Sky so I  be able to watch him play when Empoli come up against one of the bigger teams. Besides, I do watch a tonne of Italian football and highlights so I'll get a good idea of how he's doing 

Some nice words about Libby on the official Empoli website. 
Here's a quote from their Sporting Director:
Buying Cacace? Initially we weren't looking for a full-back but we have always been vigilant because during the transfer market you need flexibility and be ready for something unexpected. We knew that Marchizza (another LB) was being talked about by other teams but we did not want to intervene in that department until the injury that forced us to do so arrived: within the squad we know we have flexible players who could still fill that role, but in the end we decided to take a pure full-back like Cacace. The name is perhaps unknown to you but in football circles it is a well-known name: we have been following him for some time, we have seen that he has grown a lot in recent years and today there was the opportunity of signing him. I can say that he respects the canons of the player from Empoli, he is young, he has talent, these are characteristics that go very well with Andreazzoli's football creed and when I talked to the lad, I found him ready to get going, with the dream of playing in Italy and happy to do so in Empoli because he knew the history of this town and of this club. 

I never thought the day would come that I could turn on the TV and watch a Kiwi playing in Serie A (especially after Wynton's move to Lazio fell through in the 90s) - just next level cool :)

Libby's still parent club, S-T (11th) with a 3-1 win at Kortrijk (9th). Cacace's LB replacement Koita with a goal for S-T. Interestingly Koita's 2nd goal for the season from LB, whilst Cacace in 50 games at S-T, didn't score once. Definitely a work on.

Ex Socceroos captain Trent Sainsbury (ex Dutch club mate of Ryan Thomas x2) full game for Kortrijk.

Empoli travel to Bologna tomorrow. Will Libby be in the match day squad?

coochiee

Libby's still parent club, S-T (11th) with a 3-1 win at Kortrijk (9th). Cacace's LB replacement Koita with a goal for S-T. Interestingly Koita's 2nd goal for the season from LB, whilst Cacace in 50 games at S-T, didn't score once. Definitely a work on.

Ex Socceroos captain Trent Sainsbury (ex Dutch club mate of Ryan Thomas x2) full game for Kortrijk.

Empoli travel to Bologna tomorrow. Will Libby be in the match day squad?

Sounds like he's very much in the mix:
https://www.empolichannel.it/2022/02/04/empoli-formazione-bologna/ 

Might try and stream this tomorrow 

Subbed on in the 70th at Bologna. Proud moment in the Cacace household!!

Managed to pick up a late 90th min yellow in 0-0 draw.
https://twitter.com/EmpoliCalcio/status/1490346271076454400

To show that the football world can be small. Libby was subbed on at the same moment as Musa Barrow was for Bologna. Barrow played against Cacace & the AWs for The Gambia last year.

Unsurprisingly doesn't feature in the highlights (though I think it might be him kicking the ball upfield just as the final whistle goes), but he makes the thumbnail for the official Serie A highlights package as he comes up against Austrian international Arnautovic! Not bad!! 
Despite the 0-0 scoreline, it looks like the game was very entertaining, with a few missed chances including the woodwork being hit by both teams after some remarkable shots. 
Highlights here:
https://youtu.be/VnAgxuJlUI4

Is this one of the Freedom convoy's slogans?!

https://www.corrieredellosport.it/news/calcio/serie-a/empoli/2022/02/10-89745924/empoli_cacace_giocare_in_italia_e_un_sogno_che_si_realizza_

Makes the national sports news in Italy. Google translate is your friend. 
I will seek out the full interview and see if I can add anything of note. 

Unused sub in a 1-1 draw with Cagliari (17th).
Empoli (11th).

Empoli were up 1-0 until the 84th min (had only made 2 subs at that stage). Then made a couple more late on chasing a winner.

From Flying Kiwis.

https://youtu.be/nc0E-OhRhTM

Is he able to understand many of those questions without translation? I’d read somewhere that he talked down about his Italian skills, but perhaps he is able to understand a fair bit?
Also not sure if reminding them about the result against NZ at the WC is diplomatic! But hey…

martinb

Is he able to understand many of those questions without translation? I’d read somewhere that he talked down about his Italian skills, but perhaps he is able to understand a fair bit?
Also not sure if reminding them about the result against NZ at the WC is diplomatic! But hey…

 I've read somewhere that he understands Italian acceptably, but doesn't speak it overly well. I expect he'll pick it up fairly quickly as he'll have been exposed to it in bits and pieces his entire life but he's now fully immersed in it.

It looks like he understands a bit but is still struggling to form long sentences in his head. This is all normal and as I've said before I'm sure he'll find it a lot easier to attain fluency in the language as he's been exposed to it since he was little. 
These press conferences are hard. The journalists each have their own accent and speak quite fast and to the point. Not surprised he needed a translator. He'll get there. 

Subbed on at 78th min (score 2-0) in a 2-0 loss at Sampdoria (14th).

Empoli 11th. 

Hopefully he gets a start soon. But fantastic really he's in Serie A, and getting some playing time. Big learning curve no doubt.

Juve (who will becoming off Villarreal mid week in UCL) at home next.

Wasn’t at all overawed, though it seemed as if the game was well and truly gone at the point he came on and the intensity was down a bit.
He made two noticeable runs forward. The first with a nice one two going from his box deep into their half. The second right at the end of the game he skinned a player and got a good ball in, but no one was able to get on it. He also tried a nutmeg. 
Didn’t have to really do anything significant on defense.
Won’t have done his chances any harm for sure. 
What does the whistling from the crowd mean?

martinb

Wasn’t at all overawed, though it seemed as if the game was well and truly gone at the point he came on and the intensity was down a bit.
He made two noticeable runs forward. The first with a nice one two going from his box deep into their half. The second right at the end of the game he skinned a player and got a good ball in, but no one was able to get on it. He also tried a nutmeg. 
Didn’t have to really do anything significant on defense.
Won’t have done his chances any harm for sure. 
What does the whistling from the crowd mean?

Usually it means they are not happy about something. Either they dislike the opposition team or their own team if they are not playing well enough 

Yeh, felt fairly derisive. I had the feeling it might have been because there was a feeling of giving up a bit and everyone was seeing the game out somewhat.