Domenico Caso, better known as Mimmo, is one of the Lazio heroes of the -9 Serie B championship. Great midfield player, at the beginning of his career he was a right winger, but later on was made playmaker in front of the defence.
Caso was born in Eboli, near Salerno, on May 9, 1954. He started his career in the youth teams of Fiorentina and debuted in Serie A on October 29 1972. He stayed six years in Florence and won a Coppa Italia in 1975.
In 1978 he signed for Napoli but it was not a successful year for him and he only played 15 games. In 1979 he moved to Milan to play for Inter. He stayed two years, won a scudetto in his first and changed role, from right wing to playmaker.
In 1981 he signed for Perugia in Serie B and stayed two seasons. He then moved to Turin and played for Torino in Serie A for another couple of years. These would be his last in Serie A.
In 1985 he signed for Lazio in Serie B and saw it all, from hell to heaven. During his three years in Rome he saw it all. Mimmo Caso went from being favourites for promotion under Giorgio Chinaglia to financial collapse and almost Serie C. And this was only his first year. In his second, the club was financially recovering but was penalised 9 points for an alleged involvement in match fixing. The team managed to do well but then physically and mentally collapsed towards the end of the season. At seven minutes from the end of the last game against Vicenza, Lazio were virtually in Serie C. Then Giuliano Fiorini scored and the Biancocelesti managed to get to a playout with Campobasso and Taranto. After losing to the latter due to a goal in blatant offside, they beat Campobasso with a Fabio Poli goal and avoided relegation. In 1987-88 Lazio finally reached the agonised promotion to Serie A.
Interviewed in 2013, Caso remembers the eve of the game against Vicenza. “Fiorini and I shared the room and we could not sleep due to the tension. We chatted until 7 in the morning with the Doctor, Alfredo Carfagni ”.
Caso played 94 games in Serie B with 7 goals and 16 in Coppa Italia with 1 goal.
After Lazio, Caso signed for Latina in Serie C2 and played his last season in 1989-90 for Orceana again in the fourth tier.
Once Caso stopped playing he became a manager and was in charge of Fiorentina youth teams. In 1992 he became the manager of the Lazio primavera and was very successful. In 1995 he won a scudetto and launched the careers, amongst many others, of Alessandro Nesta, Marco Di Vaio and Flavio Roma. He had a serious health problem in the victorious year but managed to beat the cancer.
In 1997 he ventured to Foggia as head coach in Serie B but could not avoid relegation. His other experiences at Chievo and Pistoiese also did not go well. In 2002 he was called to be head coach of the Italian Under-18 Nazionale and a year later went back to Lazio as manager of the Primavera team.
Following the financial crisis of 2004, Claudio Lotito became president. He inherited a team with no manager and few players. The team was temporarily given to Mimmo Caso for the pre-season training in Japan. Lazio had to fulfil a contract so off they went. In Japan Caso got on well with the players (and he was also cheap), so Lotito confirmed him. The beginning of the season was problematic. Lazio were clearly in difficulty: badly organized, no game plan, problems between Caso and Paolo Di Canio and poor quality of some of the players. Lazio immediately lost the Super Coppa final against Milan, but they did manage to pass the UEFA Cup playoff against Metalurh Donetsk and reach the group stage, only to fail without winning a game. In Serie A things did not go well. In 16 games Lazio won four, drew five and lost seven. They had 17 points, just four clear of relegation zone. Caso was fired and replaced by Giuseppe Papadopulo.
In 2006 he was called as manager for Ternana but could not avoid their relegation to Serie C. He then managed youth teams of Cisco Roma, Voluntas Spoleto, Virtus Lanciano and Reggina.
Mimmo Caso was a great player and probably deserved more. He will forever be remembered at Lazio as one of the -9 heroes and for giving a great contribution to the return to Serie A.
Lazio Career
Season | Total appearances (goals) | Serie B | Serie B Playouts | Coppa Italia |
1985-86 | 34 (5) | 29 (4) | - | 5 (1) |
1986-87 | 47 (3) | 38 (3) | 2 | 7 |
1987-88 | 29 | 25 | - | 4 |
Total | 110 (8) | 92 (7) | 2 | 16 (1) |
Sources