Survival of the luckiest

Simon Basten
Feb 26, 2023
2 min read

Season 1921-22

Game 11, First Division, Southern League, Lazio Group

Sunday, February 26, 1922

Campo della Rondinella, Rome

Lazio Alba 3-2

Lazio fall behind, score three, suffer a comeback from Alba which ends on a penalty hitting the woodwork

The season so far

The 1921-22 season was a rather complicated one due to the schism in the Italian Football Federation which led to the creation of the Confederazione Calcistica Italiana (CCI – Italian Football Confederation). The clubs had asked for a reduction in the number of football teams participating in the league and Vittorio Pozzo, who would be future Italian Coach and winner of two World Cups, had devised a plan but this had been rejected by the Federation. Therefore, the major clubs had formed their own federation (CCI) and had organised their own league. Lazio joined the major clubs.

The CCI championship was divided into two Leagues, a northern one and a southern one. The latter included the clubs of Lazio, Campania, Marche, Puglia and Sicily. After a semi-final group with the winners of all the regions, the winner would then meet the winner of the Northern League in the final.

There were nine teams in the Lazio group and the Biancocelesti were not doing well. They were far behind leaders Fortitudo (who were the only team to have completed all of the 11 fixtures so far) and were fourth together with Roman who had one game in hand. The main problem was that they were playing badly and hence not scoring as much as they used to.

The match: Sunday, February 26, 1922, Campo della Rondinella, Rome

The match remained uncertain until the very end. Alba immediately moved forward at a fast pace and the Lazio defence fell apart, conceding the first goal. Lazio reacted and imposed their style of play, managing to equalise in the 36th minute with Dante Filippi. Lazio kept pressing, and Luigi Saraceni scored again for his team. In the 44th minute, Ugo Dosio converted a penalty to bring Lazio’s tally to three goals.

In the second half, Alba showed a slight supremacy, and in the 23rd minute Matteo Salineri was caught off guard by a long-range shot which slipped from the goalkeeper’s hands and ended up in the net. In the 44th minute, Alba had a massive chance to equalise, but the penalty awarded to them was missed by De Giuli, who struck the crossbar.

Who played for Lazio

Salinieri, Saraceni I, Dosio, Faccani, Maneschi, Orazi I, Fraschetti, Filippi, Parboni, Saraceni II, Varini Manager: Baccani