Toronto FC II announced earlier this month that the club will host a friendly match against Campionato Nazionale Primavera club AS Roma Primavera on Tuesday, July 28 at the Ontario Soccer Centre in Vaughan.
AS Roma Primavera is the youth set-up of Italian Serie A club AS Roma. First team players such as Daniele De Rossi, Alessandro Florenzi and club captain, Francesco Totti have all graduated from the AS Roma Primavera squad.
TFC II Captain Chris Mannella was extremely excited when news that the team would be playing AS Roma’s youth side was announced.
“I’m a big Roma fan, they’re my favourite team, outside of Toronto FC of course,” said an ecstatic Mannella.
For many, favourite teams are passed down from generation to generation, spending weekend mornings with parents or grandparents watching their favourite club in action. Mannella took a different path in becoming a Roma fan.
“My family isn’t from Rome, my grandparents are actually from the south in Calabria so I don’t know where it originates. I think it’s all just from [Francesco] Totti.”
They’ve been my favourite team for as long as I can remember. I’ve loved Totti for a long time so I think that’s kind of the main reason,” he added.
I asked Mannella if he had a favourite Roma memory.
“It would have to be when I was at the stadium, the Stadio Olimpico, watching Roma versus Juventus and [Daniele] De Rossi had scored a quick free kick. They touched it to him and he scored about a 35-yard bomb that went top corner on [Gianluigi] Buffon. I think that was the best Roma moment for me, to see the fans go nuts and celebrate over a big goal like that.”
Here’s the goal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vofdPXZkj4E
Mannella believes the match against AS Roma Primavera is a great opportunity for the young Reds to experience playing against elite European talent that will aid in their development as professionals.
“Coming over here it’s huge for our club because now we have ties with them. It’s up and coming Roma stars and it’s going to be great to play against them,” he said.
“The teams we play against here are very competitive but over in Europe it’s a different level. Guys are different caliber there and we see it on TV, we see it in the Serie A and we see it all over Europe,” he added.
TFC II takes on AS Roma Primavera in a friendly match this Tuesday, July 28th at the Ontario Soccer Centre at 8:00PM ET. Follow along on Twitter @TorontoFCII using the hashtag #TFCLive and watch the action via livestream at torontofc.ca/live. Tickets are available on www.tfc2.ca or by calling (416)-360-GOAL (4625).
