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Take Two! Naples Gears up Again for Huge Title Party

Football - Serie A - Napoli v Salernitana - Naples, Italy - April 30, 2023 General view of a Napoli banner hung from an apartment building before the match. (Reuters)
Football - Serie A - Napoli v Salernitana - Naples, Italy - April 30, 2023 General view of a Napoli banner hung from an apartment building before the match. (Reuters)
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Take Two! Naples Gears up Again for Huge Title Party

Football - Serie A - Napoli v Salernitana - Naples, Italy - April 30, 2023 General view of a Napoli banner hung from an apartment building before the match. (Reuters)
Football - Serie A - Napoli v Salernitana - Naples, Italy - April 30, 2023 General view of a Napoli banner hung from an apartment building before the match. (Reuters)

Napoli will open up the Diego Armando Maradona stadium on Thursday night for a live screening of their away game with Udinese when they hope to clinch the league title, local authorities said on Tuesday.

Napoli also expect as many as 10,000 fans to make the long trek to northeast Italy for a match when a point will be enough to claim their first league title since Maradona was in his pomp in 1990.

Extra police will be on duty in Udine for the game, with Napoli supporters taking up around half of the capacity of the Stadio Friuli.

The result may even be academic: Napoli could be crowned champions the previous night if Lazio fail to win their Wednesday home match with Sassuolo. Lazio, who are in second spot, trail Napoli by 18 points with six games to play.

Hundreds of thousands of Napoli fans had flooded into the center of the southern Italian port city on Sunday expecting their team to beat local rivals Salernitana and secure the Serie A championship for only the third time in their history.

But a late equalizer by the visitors put one of the largest street parties Italy has seen in years on hold for a few days.

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Belgium Coach Shows Faith in Shaky Defense

Football - European Qualifiers - Group J - North Macedonia v Belgium - National Arena Todor Proeski, Skopje, North Macedonia - June 6, 2025 Belgium coach Rudi Garcia reacts during the match. (Reuters)
Football - European Qualifiers - Group J - North Macedonia v Belgium - National Arena Todor Proeski, Skopje, North Macedonia - June 6, 2025 Belgium coach Rudi Garcia reacts during the match. (Reuters)
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Belgium Coach Shows Faith in Shaky Defense

Football - European Qualifiers - Group J - North Macedonia v Belgium - National Arena Todor Proeski, Skopje, North Macedonia - June 6, 2025 Belgium coach Rudi Garcia reacts during the match. (Reuters)
Football - European Qualifiers - Group J - North Macedonia v Belgium - National Arena Todor Proeski, Skopje, North Macedonia - June 6, 2025 Belgium coach Rudi Garcia reacts during the match. (Reuters)

Belgium’s defense came in for criticism after giving away a late equalizer to North Macedonia in their World Cup qualifier on Friday but coach Rudi Garcia said he had to show faith in them ahead of their next clash against Wales on Monday.

Belgian media and commentators said the team were fortunate to come away with a point from their opening Group J fixture, even though they led for most of the game in Skopje.

Hosts North Macedonia twice struck the woodwork and had a strike ruled out by VAR before grabbing an 86th-minute goal to draw 1-1.

Garcia, in only his third match in charge, said he wanted to show trust in his defenders for the clash against Wales in Brussels.

“It's a matter of trust. Our defenders need that. I don't want to point fingers at them because we also have to be able to bring more offensively. We have the qualities for that,” he told reporters.

Garcia said he did not feel he needed to adjust his defense, which in March conceded three goals to Ukraine in the Nations League promotion-relegation playoff.

“That's not necessary. Like I said it's a matter of trust for our defense. You can't solve that by adjusting the system.”

Belgium are heavily fancied to take the automatic qualification berth for the group winners but Wales have taken the early lead in the group with seven points from their opening three matches.

Garcia said there were several reasons for Belgium’s mediocre showing in Skopje.

“The heat was one of them. But when you’re 1-0 up, you can’t give it up. It didn’t go well. We made the wrong decision far too often with the last pass.”

There were also questions about Garcia’s changes, after he took out captain Thomas Meunier and talisman Kevin De Bruyne early in the second half.

“It’s also a physical issue. And there’s also quality on the bench. I substituted Meunier because he already had a yellow card and I need him on Monday against Wales because I only have one right back.

“As for De Bruyne, I also thought about Monday’s match. Playing 90 minutes twice in three days is a lot at this stage of the competition. Incidentally, I thought that we regained control after the substitutions due to our physical superiority,” Garcia added.