After just eight games, it’s fair to ask if the former Columbia University math major is having the best-ever season for a US coach in Europe
P
ellegrino Matarazzo stood there, still and composed. Brown pants. Black sweater. Arms crossed, one hand to his chin and grey beard. The New Jerseyan looked less like the manager of Real Sociedad, a club that placed in La Liga’s top six for five straight seasons before last year, than a math professor. That’s what he well might have been, had his life taken only a slightly different turn; he graduated from Columbia University with a degree in applied mathematics, after all.
Instead, he was there on Saturday, at the Anoeta Stadium, calmly coaxing his side past Elche, 3-1, pumping a single fist when La Real scored, occasionally waving those arms to push his side further upfield. As if Matarazzo’s being there, as if his team taking yet another lead, was all just a matter of course. Just a big-time manager at a big-time club, doing big-time things.
Since Matarazzo’s appointment on 20 December, La Real have won four of six in La Liga, surging from 16th place to eighth. During that unbeaten run, they have tied Atlético Madrid and regional rivals Athletic Club, and beaten Barcelona, which had won 11 in a row going into that match – and totally dominated Sociedad, it should be said. Matarazzo’s men also advanced through two rounds of the Copa del Rey, and defeated Athletic Club again on Wednesday in the first leg of their semi-final. On Saturday, they travel to Real Madrid.
