struggled with the language
and understanding how the
game is played here in the
States.
It Italy it’s about technique
and being more clinical. In
the States it’s completely
opposite. Soccer in Amer-
ica is based more on being
an athlete – that’s probably
one of the main reasons why
schools play so many games
in a week.
In Europe you aren’t go-
ing to see a team play three
games a week. There is no
recovery time after playing
a grueling 90 minutes. But,
in the states, it’s the more
games the better.
“I have no doubt about
it, the language for sure
(when asked what was the
most difficult transition).
It’s very hard to create a
group of brothers when you
are struggling with the lan-
guage, but school and team-
mates had a big impact on
this and helped me so much
in order to learn it as quick
as I could,” stated Tamburi-
ni. “What I did most of the
time was to give the exam-
ple, instead of talking which
was hard for me. I’d rather
show my skill and effort and
hoping the team would fol-
low it.”
Tamburini sure did show
off his skill but it took a
while for him to launch.
While he did feature in all
the game during his fresh-
man year, the first couple of
games saw him come off the
bench.
Coming off the bench was
something that he was not
used to, and that he didn’t
like. Like most strikers, Tam-
burini felt he could make a
difference by starting from
the outset. Coming off the
bench was a new experience
and he had to fight his way
through the disappointment
of the early season.
“Honestly I was mad, I love
playing soccer and I want to
play every minute of every
game. The problem was that
I basically missed the whole
preseason due to an annoy-
ing issue to my knee, and we
thought It was a good idea
to start playing gradually to
avoid other problems,” stat-
ed Tamburini. “Probably
watching the game from the
bench gave me also a 360 de-
grees overview of the Amer-
ican soccer, which is very
different from the Italian
soccer.”
The transition was made
a little easier for Tamburini
as he was one of a handful of
Italians on the soccer team.
Being able to have that bond
with others from the same
country was important to
him getting acclimated to
his surroundings a little
faster.
Having players go through
the same thing that he was
going through made the
bonds that much greater.
Like Tamburini said you
forget that they come from
a different country. It’s not
easy for friends and family
to come support the player
and the team.
“It is very nice. You become
a brother with boys who are
living your same dream but
also difficulties because liv-
ing so far from home is not
always easy. Having some-
one who has lived in your
country can help especially
if they are like Marco, Man-
uele and Alessio who are
friendly, funny and good
friends to spend time with,
AUGUST 17, 2018 | SportsUnion
beyond very good soccer
players,” explained Tambu-
rini. “The upcoming year
we’ll become probably even
closer as we’ll live in Delevan
Townhouse (where I already
lived the past year), even if I
think we’ll all miss our bud-
dy Marco, as you know well
, the first American-Italian.
For the new Italians coming
to Buffalo, I am even more
excited because I’ll never
forget my feelings one year
ago, how beautiful and sur-
prising I found out so many
new things living in a new
world - and I am sure they
will have an amazing time
with us, because we are an
amazing group of friends.
We help each other as an ac-
tual team does.”
As Tamburini embarks
on his second season with
the Griffs, he can now look
back fondly on all the ups
and downs of his first year
in the United States. Sure
there were some bumps in
the road – and probably will
be more this year – but you
can’t away the experience
of scoring that first goal for
21
your college.
You can’t take away the
first time he went to Niagara
Falls, or tried food that was
“different” then what he was
used to having back home.
“I think that my first year
in the US went very well. I
could not expect any better,
individually speaking con-
sidering the awards I earned
and also as a team, a family.
We hosted the playoffs and
I am sorry how it ended be-
cause we were close to actu-
ally making history,” stated
Tamburini. “It will be the
goal for this season and we’ll
take the semifinal match
against Rider as an import-
ant experience that will give
us more awareness on how
to play and manage if you
are winning a big game. I
am sure that we will play
important games during the
upcoming season too, so it
was not a big deal. Some-
times you also need a good
amount of luck to win in
the long term. We had luck
that probably left us alone in
the semifinal at Rider Uni-
versity.