ROME – Comments from Christian FILIPPELLA (USA) after losing 2-0 to Morgan CROCE (ITA) in the semifinals of the Traditional Cup at the FISTF World Cup in Rome on Friday.

On the match:
“I wasn’t very lucky, I have to say. In the first half, I had a lot of shots, he defended very well so he didn’t let me play faster like I usually do.
“And it’s hard when you go down on the counter-attack. I think that’s the only shot he had in the first half (when CROCE scored). I hit three bars, the last second of the first half, it was like, ‘I can’t believe that ball didn’t go in.'”
“In the second half he controlled the game with a lot of corner kicks and then eventually I had to let him shoot or I wasn’t going to get the ball back, and then at 2-0 it becomes very difficult.”

On his tournament overall:
“I’m happy but I wish the (semifinal) game turned around a little bit more for me in the first half. Had I scored, it would have been a completely different game in the second half.”

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ROME – Comments from Filippo FILIPPELLA (ITA) after the group phase of the Traditional Cup at the FISTF World Cup in Rome on Friday.

On playing at the World Cup:
“For me it’s a new thing because I have never participated in a world or European elite championship. I am very happy to be here even if I am not that well trained.”

On playing at a World Cup at home:
“The atmosphere here in this venue is exciting. It’s a beautiful venue despite being a bit outside Rome, but it’s pleasant. It’s good to have such an event in the capital.”

On losing to his brother Christian FILIPPELLA (USA) in training earlier in the week even though his brother doesn’t usually play traditional Subbuteo:
“Yes, he won even though he plays more table football (than traditional rules) but just because I am not so trained. I didn’t play much but maybe he is now more competitive than I am.”

On the popularity of Subbuteo compared with table football in Italy:
“Subbuteo is much more popular than table football in Italy because it has many players who have been playing it since it was introduced. And this movement managed to be carried on over the years.

FISTF News nl/gg/spd

ROME – Comments from Aaron SKINNER (ENG) after he defeated one of the pre-tournament favourites Filippo FILIPPELLA (ITA) 1-0 in the Barrage of the Traditional Cup at the FISTF World Cup in Rome on Friday.

On the match against FILIPPELLA:

“It was very intense. I knew there was a lot of people watching and he’s a very good player. I haven’t played this sort of Subbuteo for a very long time.

“I think he expected to win. (It was) one of my best wins.”

On his mindset for the rest of the tournament:

“Fully focused, concentration, I think that’s the key.”

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ROME – Comments from Emanuele FUNARO (ISR) after he defeated Bryan ARNOLD (USA) 1-0 in Group 6 of the Traditional Cup at the FISTF World Cup in Rome on Friday.

Emanuele FUNARO (ISR)

On his first three games:
“Tough games, (but) I enjoy very much being here with people from all over the world.”

On whether he practices with his sons:
“They prefer video games, they prefer the girls.

“I don’t practice. This is the problem, this is the real problem. The last five, six months I never played a game so I play very badly. But I enjoy it a lot.”

On creating a table football culture in Israel:
“Very difficult. Life is very intense in Israel. There is only one day of vacation (per week) and people, they want to rest.”

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ROME – Comments from Manuel SANTOS (POR) after he defeated Antonis KRYSILAS (GRE) 6-0 in Group 3 of the Traditional Cup at the FISTF World Cup in Rome on Friday.

Manuel SANTOS (POR)

On his performances so far:
“I had a difficult game in the first game because I played against a very good Italian player (Filippo FILIPPELLA), but the other games were quite easy for me.

“I have a problem because I have no tactics playing old Subbuteo and the other guys, and especially the Italians, have. I have the skills but I don’t have the tactics, so I hope that during the tournament I will get that.”

On being at the World Cup after a delay of two years:
“I’ve already been in other big tournaments but it’s absolutely amazing being with everybody and I feel very, very, very well with that.”

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ROME – Comments from Christian FILIPPELLA (USA) and Clinton GAHWILER (RSA) after FILIPPELLA won 9-1 in Group 5 of the Traditional Cup at the FISTF World Cup in Rome on Friday.

Christian FILIPPELLA (USA)

On playing with traditional rules:
“I think I played better than I thought. This is my first time playing with these rules and this material. I wasn’t sure if I had to play today because I didn’t want to get confused with the style and the bases for tomorrow.

“But I tried it during the week with my brother (Filippo FILIPPELLA), he’s No. 1 in Italy and I was beating him so I was like, ‘You know what? I’m going to play on Friday and have fun.'”

“I enjoy these rules much better. I think this shows better the beauty of the game. I think with the other rules and the other material we made it too flat and it’s not nice to enjoy watching it.”

On possibly playing against his brother later in the tournament:
“He has a lot of experience playing with this material. For me, I have no expectations and I don’t know how far I’m going to go into the tournament.

“I’m going to be happy either way because if I get eliminated at some point I’m going to just rest for tomorrow. But I think I’m playing pretty well. I’m getting compliments from everybody so we’ll see how it goes.”

Clinton GAHWILER (RSA)

On being at the World Cup:
“It’s absolutely fantastic to be here. I guess you could say it’s a childhood dream.”

On growing table football in South Africa:
“It’s been around in South Africa the same length of time it has in the rest of the world. We just haven’t been part of FISTF. It’s very small but we’re growing it slowly.”

On being the first South African at a FISTF event:
“It’s not about that, it’s really just about learning and having a good time and meeting all my Facebook friends. And learning so that I can go back and the plan is to have a team in England in 2024.”

On what he learned playing against FILIPPELLA:
“Don’t play against a guy like Christian!

“No, it’s great. Actually, the first time here, when you just want to learn, the better players you play against, almost the better. When you’re trying to be more competitive, you hope for an easy draw, but at this point it’s great to play against the good players.”

FISTF News nl/spd

Competition started on the first morning of the FISTF World Cup, with the Traditional Subbuteo event.

The FISTF News Team will publish quotes and score updates from around the tables.

Gary Moore (ROI) v Rudi PETERSCHINIGG (ENG)

Flash Quotes: PETERSCHINIGG (ENG), MOORE (IRE)

ROME – Comments from Rudi PETERSCHINIGG (ENG) and Gary MOORE (IRE) after PETERSCHINIGG won 4-2 in their first game in Group 1 of the Traditional Cup at the FISTF World Cup in Rome on Friday.

Rudi PETERSCHINIGG (ENG)
On being back at the World Cup after it was delayed for two years due to Covid-19:
“It’s absolutely amazing to be able to travel again and come to the tournaments and see all the guys who I missed. It’s an unbelievable feeling, it’s giving me goose bumps.
“I’m so honoured to represent England, honoured to play a guy like Gary and it’s just a great atmosphere. We missed it.”

On being a late replacement in the Traditional Cup:
“When they did the draw a couple of days ago I wasn’t in it, so I said, ‘Fine, I’m going to have a lovely day off just flicking about.’  And no, it wasn’t the case. The French unfortunately couldn’t make it because they lost the flight so I had to replace the French. As long as I have fun, it doesn’t matter.”

On playing traditional rules:
“First of all it’s difficult to switch your mind over about the rules. It’s a completely different game. But still, it’s such a great experience, as long as you remember the rules at the right time.
“I love it anyway, I could flick bottle tops and I’d be happy anyway, so it doesn’t make any difference really.”

Gary MOORE (ROI) 
On playing his first game:
“A little bit nerve-wracking, a lot of preparation goes into the World Cup in general. It was good to finally get here and get the first game out of the way.”

On playing traditional rules:
“It’s good back playing traditional rules as well. Sometimes you have to think before you do something, so sometimes you lose your flow and your rhythm. But it worked well, I played OK.
“Sometimes it can change the rhythm you can normally play with as well. The traditional bases, they tend to curl a lot easier and some tend to not be as stable as the new bases.
“So it’s a little bit different, when you go for a long ball and you think normally you would get that but you don’t .”

On playing against PETERSCHINIGG:
“Rudy’s a very good player so as soon as you make a mistake, you get punished. It’s good to come up against somebody as good as Rudy first.”

FISTF News nl/spd

One of the things about international sport are the interesting facts & figures that are thrown up.
Competing at an elite level creates even more interest, and here we list some curiosities since the first FISTF World Cup in 1994, looking at the most goals in a final, as well as the largest winning margin.

Open
Nine goals were scored in the 2015 final in San Benedetto when Flores (ESP) beat Nastasi (ITA) 7-2. There were eight goals in the 2012 final in Manchester when the same two players met, and Flores won 5-3. The 7-2 win was the largest winning margin, of five goals, the same as the 2018 final in Gibraltar when Matteo Ciccarelli (ITA) beat Justin Leroy (BEL) 5-0.

Women
Delphine Dieudonné (BEL) beat Françoise Guyot (FRA) 7-2 in 2009 in Rotterdam, the most goals and biggest winning margin. In 2015 in San Benedetto, Dieudonné beat Paola Forlani (ITA) 5-2, while in 2013 in Madrid, she beat Carmela Gerosa Cisneros (ESP) 4-2.

Veterans
The most goals in a veterans final was 9, when Horst Deimel (AUT) beat Massimo Conti (ITA) 5-4 after extra time in 2000 in Vienna. The biggest margin of victory was 4 goals when Gianfranco Calonico (ITA) beat Massimo Cremona (MLT) 6-2 in Frameries in 2016. Seven goals were scored when Renzo Frignani (ITA) beat Martijn Bom (NED) in 2004 in Bologa 4-3.

U20/19
The biggest winning margin was six goals in 2004 in Bologna when Daniele Bertelli (ITA) beat Arnaud Nullens (BEL) 7-1. The most goals was nine, also featuring Nullens when he lost 5-4 in extra time to Stefano Buono (ITA) in Les Herbiers, France in 2007. Eight goals featured in 2008 in Vienna when Juan Manuel Noguera (ESP) beat José Antonio Gomez Ros (ESP) 6-2.

U16/15
In 2017 in Paris , Claudio La Torre (ITA) and Corentin Bouchez (BEL) fought out a 12 goal thriller, with the 8-4 result still a record. In 2015 La Torre beat countryman Nicola Borgo (ITA) 6-5 after extra time. Bjorn Kegenbein’s (GER) 8-1 victory over Mitchell Timmers (NED) in 2008 in Vienna is still the largest winning margin (seven) in any category in a final.

U12
Three finals in the U12 featured seven goals: in 2009 in Rotterdam, when Diego Tagliaferri (ITA) beat Matteo Ciccarelli (ITA) 4-3, then in 2014 when Francesco Vezzuto (ITA) beat Leonardo Giudice (ITA) 4-3 after extra time, and in 2015 when Leonardo Giudice (ITA) beat Matteo Cammarata (ITA) also 4-3.

What is the most number of goals scored in any FISTF World Cup final match = across all categories.
Send your answer to:  board@fistf.com
Five prizes to be awarded: one FISTF pin.

FISTF decision is final in all cases.