The Great Italian Player Thread [Post-1990]

[Duck Manson]

hmm how about one on giuseppe 'the price' giannini? or maybe the late great Andrea Fortunato :) or how about lentini, although his career turned out all kinds of disappointing, id like to know more about him. daniele massaro maybe? not that high profile, but i loved that guy. Toto Schillaci would be fun. hmmm just some suggestions :)

[Cassano]

thanks for the suggestions, I was actually thinking of doing Lentini...maybe he will be next...

[Cassano]

Here's Gianlugi Lentini:
http://www.federico.molinari.com/lentinitt2.jpg
Lentini was born in 1969 in a small town named Carmagnola outside of Torino. He was part of there Primavera squad. He made his debut on a cold November day in 1986. It was a 2-0 loss to Brescia. After that game, he made 10 more appearances that season and 11 more the season after.La He had talent. He had a good physique, great dribbling, and great crossing. Er nato un altro Claudio Sala? O assomigliava più a Gigi Meroni? Torino decided to loan him out to Serie B side Ancona in 1989. He became a great player, and Torino took him back. Torino went from Serie B to the Uefa Cup final in a year, with Lentini and veteran Bruno Giordano leading the way. He was an idol to teenage girls everywhere. He made his Azzurri debut in Feb. 1991 against Belgium. Torino ran into economic trouble and put Lentini on the transfer list. There was already a pre-contract signed with Juventus, but the fans would not let Torino sell Lentini to there arch-rivals. He was sold to Milan for a record breaking 16 million lire. That was a lot of money in those days to spend on a soccer player. Lentini started his career at Milan brilliantly. He had luxury cars, the national team, and beautiful girls all at his fingertips. He was the protagonist of Milan's 1993 Scudetto win. But then, that summer, drama came: His car crashed into a guard-rail on the expressway. After days in a comma, he finally woke up, but he was not the same player. After that he seemed depressed, he always looked unhappy, he was not playing well. He spent three years suffering at Milan, but was given new life at Atalanta under coach Mondonico, but he left soon. Torino was in Serie B and he wanted to return to wear the Granata jersey. Three diligent seasons, one promotion in Serie A, but the skills that Lentini once had were just not there. For the past 4 years he was playing at Cosenza, a Serie B team that last year played in C1. But, like Napoli, they went bankrupt, and were relegated to Serie D. They are now playing in Serie D with Gianluigi Lentini leading the way. Maybe Lentini would've been a superstar if he hadn't gotten into that car accident. We'll never know...

[robyweah]

this is good stuff...
my favorite one so far is the one about baggio, but maybe thats because hes my favorite player.
what about doing maldini? just to add a bit of class..
anyways, great job up to now!

oh and, by the way, i know this goes back a while, but anyhow about this:


That Brazilian team was better overall that Italys. And about WC98, yes he did good, but you seem to have discarded the fact that he (once again) missed a easy shot in overtime vs. France that would have sent them packing, and thus ended their WC hopes.

that shot in '98 was not easy! its amazing he even got that shot off, let alone got in so near to being a goal. also, maybe, just maybe if he would have played that whole game (let alone the other games) the outcome would have been different.

[Duck Manson]

another suggestion: Gianluca Vialli :)

[Cassano]

Ok, Looks Like I'll be doing these players next:

1)Giannini
2)Maldini
3)Vialli

[Cassano]

My curiosity about Schillaci's career led me to finding information on him. So here it is: It's probably the shortest one I've done bcause he had a relatively short career.

http://www.planetworldcup.com/CUPS/1990/WC90_047.jpg
Salvatore Schillaci seemingly came from nowhere. But the 1990 World Cup made Salvatore ‘Toto’ Schillaci a world star. His six goals in the tournament saw him net the Golden Boot and become Italy’s overnight scoring sensation, leaving the more acclaimed Gianluca Vialli in the shadows.
Born and bred in the streets of Palermo, Schillaci learned his trade on the roadsides of Sicily. "He was born to score goals," says Angelo Chianello, the scout who spotted him. "He was like Santa Rosalina to the people of Sicily. He was ours. But above all he was mine because I saw him grow up."
Schillaci used to play on one street corner in particular and had a reputation in the neighbourhood as a real talent. So much so that people would often look out of their windows and balconies to see the youngster play.
He was spotted by Chianello, a Messina scout. Messina picked up the young Sicilian and Toto grabbed the attention of many big clubs because of his performances in Serie B.
He arrived at Juventus in the season prior to the Finals from Serie B and earned a place in the squad with 15 goals in 30 games for I Bianconeri. The first game Italy played was against Austria. Italy coach Azeglio Vicini did not know his strike pair until 10 minutes before the game. He chose a Vialli-Carnevale tandem. Gianluca Vialli was being tipped to be Italy's star player in the tournament, but Toto took that away. Carnevale played with Napoli and Vicini decide to give him a go. The score was 0-0. Italy backup keeper Stefano Tacconi was sitting next to Toto on the bench and told him, "You're going to go in a score on a header." Surely enough, Schillaci was brought on for Carnevale and on a cross by Giuseppe Giannini, he rose up between two defenders and headed the ball in the net. Italy won 1-0. His six goals were key to Italy’s third place finish as his strikes and bulging eyes caught the public’s imagination. He emerged as Italy's tournament hero.
However, post World Cup Schillaci would struggle to be the same player. He was closely man-marked and eventually dropped from the national side. A move to Inter followed but regular goals were never to be his again until a move to Jubilo Iwata in Japan in the J-League. He had a pretty succesful career in Japan, scoring 56 goals in 78 games before retiring. He now lives in Palermo and runs a soccer academy for youth players.

[Cassano]

He's one of Roma's legends: Giuseppe "Il Principe" Giannini
http://www.romafans.dk/pics/Giannini.jpg
Giuseppe Giannini was born in Rome on August 28, 1964. He played in the streets of ROme when he was young and Lazio, Milan, and Roma were all in the race to get the promising youngster. He decided to go with Roma, his favorite team since he had been a little boy. He debuted in Serie A January 31, 1982 in Roma-Cesena(0-1). He was nicknamed the "Principe" (Prince) for his elegance with the ball, how he was so calm when he recieved the ball and put his head up and looked where to pass it. He was admired by many of Roma's stars, Falco especially. He soon became captain, and he had the bad luck of never getting to play in a championship Roma squad. As much of a good player he was, he never won the scudetto. The most he came close to winning anything was the UEFA Cup final which they lost to Inter, and the Coppa Italia final. In 1990 he played in the World Cup with the #10 jersey, he scored a goal against the USA, but then lost to Argentina in the semi's. He played 47 games with the Azzurri. With Roma he played from 1981 to 1996, playing 319 games, scoring 49 goals. In European play, he played 80 games and 19 goals.
He left ater the 1995/96 season along with coach Mazzone, Roma wanted to go with a foreign coach, Carlos Bianchi. That season, Giannini missed a Penalty in the derby with Lazio and Sensi criticized him heavily, and Giannini no longer felt wanted. After Roma he went to Sturm Graz in Austria, then returned to Italy to play a few games with Lecce on their return to Serie A. On May 17, 2000 they played his farewell game, Italia 1990 vs. Super Roma. The game was abandoned after the first half because fans invaded the pitch. In 2002 he became an analyst on RAI International's soccer show "La Grande Giostra dei Gol", but got his coaching license last year and was hired by Serie C1 side Foggia. He got the axe earlier this year.

[Cassano]

One of Italy's most loved players: Paolo Maldini
http://www.cs.wm.edu/~wm/pm_running.jpeg
Paolo was born in Milan June 26, 1968. His father Cesare was an AC Milan legend. Interestingly enough, Paolo was a Juventus fan as a little boy, but because of his father's Milan history, he joined Milan's youth academy. He started out as a striker! But the coach saw he could make a big impact at left-back with his strength, speed, and left foot. He became a fan of Milan as he played on their youth team. And, on the 20th of January, 1985, Maldini, age 16, made his debut for Milan as a second-half substitute against Udinese. Milan's roster was infested by injuries and Paolo was called up by coach Neils Leidhom. He has now over 530 appearances in Italy's top flight and 25 goals. That next season, at 17, he was a regular on the Milan backline alongside legend Franco Baresi. He made his Azzurri debut a year later in 1986, in a friendly versus Holland. His first major tournament was Euro '88, which the Dutch won, and Italy lost in the semi's. His azzurri record is 126 caps, and 7 goals. He has won a trophy for Milan in every season that he has played except a drought period from 1999-2000 to 2001-2002. He took over the captain's armband for Milan and Italy from Franco Baresi after he retired from each. Paolo has come close to winning a World Cup in 90 and 94, and was seconds away from a European Championship (2000), but even though he has had a superb club career, he has never won anything internationally. He was coached by his dad during WC 98, but Italy lost on penalties to France. He was only coached by his dad one other time in his career, and that was when he was Interim manager of Milan when Zaccheroni was sacked. He retired from the Azzurri after the upset against the Koreans in WC 2002. Many called for his Azzurri return for Euro 2004, but he declined for 'personal reasons'. He was and still is one the world's best defenders, and was probably the best at the peak of his career. He has never won a Golden Ball but has won the World Soccer Player of the Year award in 1994. Also in 1994, Giorgio Armani got Maldini to model his clothing. Maldini is not an arrogant or loud person. He's very quiet, and he always keeps his cool. He is an ambassador for UNICEF, and always wears a UNICEF captain's armband. He is married with two sons. He also likes rap music and Eros Ramazzotti. He has also been contracted to sportswear company Nike since 1992. Maldini is one of the most loved players in the game and when he retires, it's going to be a sad day...

[Cassano]

Here's Gianluca Vialli:
http://digilander.libero.it/yoghi1976/wpe191.jpg
Vialli wins the Champion's League with Juventus in '96


Gianluca Vialli was born on July 7, 1964 in Cremona. Unlike many players that grew up poor, Vialli's father was a multi-millionaire industrialist and Vialli grew up in 60-room castle. He later joined the youth team of his hometown club, Cremonese. He later makes it on the Cremonese roster and makes his debut in Serie A in the 193-84 season. In his Serie A career, he has scored 123 goals in over 300 appearances. He is transferred to Sampdoria, and there he makes a phenomenal attacking pair with Roberto Mancini. They are nicknamed "I Gemelli dei Gol" (the Goal Twins). They were both constantly scoring for Samp. Thanks to there goals, Samp becomes one of the strongest teams in Italy and Europe. In 1990 they win a Cup-Winner's Cup and in 1991 they help Samp win their first and only Scudetto. This was probably the best part of Sampdoria's history.
He debuts with the Azzurri in 1985, and played in Euro '88 and World Cup 1990. He gathered 59 caps with them. He was supposed to be a major player at the World Cup, but was overshadowed by the success of Salvatore Schillaci and young Roberto Baggio. After some run-in's with Azzurri coach Arrigo Sacchi, December 1992 is the last time Vialli would ever wear an Azzurri jersey. He is then sold to Juventus. With the bianconeri he wins a Scudetto (1995), a UEFA Cup (1993), and a Champion's League (1996). He forms a devastating attacking trio with Ravanelli and Baggio and later, Ravanelli and Del Piero.
At the start of the 1996-97 season he is one of the first Italian players to play outside of Italy. He is signed by Chelsea, coached at the time by Milan legend Ruud Guillit. They win an FA Cup.
In 1998, Giullit is sacked and Vialli becomes player-manager. Under his guidance, Chelsea wins an FA Cup and a Cup-Winner's Cup. He stayed on until 2000, then became manager of Watford. He was sacked and is now an analyst for SKY Italia. He has said that he will only accept another coaching job if the right offer comes along.

[Cassano]

Now that I have completed my list of suggestions, I need more! Feel free to suggest a player...

[SueB]

Did you give up on finding good info on Mancini? One of my favorite (and most overlooked) players from this era is Pietro Vierchowod. "Il Nonno" won two Scudettos (with Roma and then Sampdoria) and a European championship (with Juventus) and appeared 45 times for Italy.

[Cassano]

That's a good idea, I'll go back to doing Mancini. Then, I will proceed to do Vierchowod. Then, since Vierchowod is nicknamed "Il Nonno", I'll stick with the Italian relative names and do Giuseppe "Zio" Bergomi...

1)Roberto Mancini
2) Pietro Vierchowod
3) Guiseppe Bergomi

[gaijin]

I was just about to suggest Guiseppe Bergomi. One of my favourite Italian players. :)

Nice work Cassano, keep up the good work.

[Duck Manson]

I was just about to suggest Guiseppe Bergomi. One of my favourite Italian players. :)

Nice work Cassano, keep up the good work.im pretty sure this is a thread about players who were playing a majority of their careers in the 1990s.

anyways, i would love to hear more about massaro. im guessing theres not much info on him on the net though. Fortunato would be another. baiano and simone maybe. Del Piero. roberto mancini. inzaghi. vieri. corini. casiraghi. de agostini. evani. dino baggio. maybe rampulla, who is the only goalie to ever score a serie a goal. just some suggestions :)

[Cassano]

anyways, i would love to hear more about massaro. im guessing theres not much info on him on the net though. Fortunato would be another. baiano and simone maybe. Del Piero. roberto mancini. inzaghi. vieri. corini. casiraghi. de agostini. evani. dino baggio. maybe rampulla, who is the only goalie to ever score a serie a goal. just some suggestions :)

Wow. I think you just suggested a whole year's worth :) . Rampulla is not the only goalie to score a Serie A goal. Massimo Taibi scored one, and last year I remember Toldo put one in...

[Cassano]

Roberto "Mancio" Mancini:
http://norfox.net/guysin2.jpg
Roberto Mancini was born in Bologna on November 27, 1964. He was found by a scout and taken to Bologna's youth team. He got 700,000 lire, and would get 5 million more if he made his debut in Serie A before 18. At that time, he was only 13. He got his 5 million because the promising youngster made his debut at 16 on September 12, 1981 in Bologna-Cagliari. He is part of the first-team for the next season and scored 9 goals, gaining interest from big clubs. In 1982, Sampdoria buys Mancini for 2.5 Million Lire, plus the players Galdiolo, Roselli, and Logozzo. This period starts as the best in Samp's history, and before this winning period, they won nothing. His record at Samp is amazing: 424 appearances in Serie A and 133 goals scored. 98 appearances in Coppa Italia and 25 goals. He wins the Coppa Italia on 4 occasions (1985, 1988, 1989, 1994), a Cup-Winner's Cup (1990), the Italian Supercup (1991) and most importantly, gives the fans a gift: the Scudetto in 1990/91, Sampdoria's first, with his "goal twin" Gianluca Vialli. Many others contributed as well, like Cerezo, Attilio Lombardo, and Gianluca Pagliuca. He had coaches like Bersellini, Boskov, Ulivieri and of course Sven Goran Eriksson. Then, a new president took over Sampdoria, and Mancini did not like him very much. That's why in the summer of 1997, after 15 years at Samp, he was sold to Lazio. He also reunited with Sven Goran Eriksson. At Lazio for 3 seasons, Mancini collected 24 goals in 124 appearances, and his back-heel flick goal against Parma was voted the "Best Ever Scored by an Italian Player". Mancini wins his and Lazio's second Scudetto ('99/'00), 2 Coppe Italia ('97/'98 and '99/'00) the Cup-Winner's Cup, the Italian Supercup ('98/'99) and the European Supercup ('99/'00). Lazio have never won so much. His last day as a Serie A player was on the day Lazio won the Scudetto. Despite such a successful club career, the success never translated into the National team.
He made his debut in May 1984 in Canada for a friendly. Italy was still coached by Enzo Bearzot. He plays in Euro '88 and is called to World Cup 1990, but never played.
His last game for the Azzurri is in a friendly against Germany in March 1994.
He has a poor Azzurri record, 36 appearances and 4 goals. Although, he was Runner-up in the 1986 U-21 tournament. In early 2000, he missed the game. So, he got into form and in the January transfer window, he recieved many offers from Japan, Italy, and England. He went to Leceister City. He only played 4 games. His season was cut short because Fiorentina needed a new coach and wanted Macini. He accepted. Before I get to that, on May 7, 2001, his farewell game was held. "Mancio Day" was held at Sampdoria's stadium, the Luidi Ferraris, and was a game between Sampdoria Scudetto vs. Lazio Scudetto. The game was sold out and Mancini was given a stading ovation at the end. Back to Fiorentina...He is given the job in March 2001 and even wins a Coppa Italia. By the way, he has won the Coppa 7 times, a record. But that next season is Fiorentina's downfall. They hit financial troubles and the once great club finished dead last and were relegated to Serie C2 because of bankruptcy. In the 2002/2003 season, he is called to be head coach of Lazio. He is an inspiring manager and leads Lazio to a UEFA Cup semi-final, only to lose to eventual winners Porto, and gets them a Champion's League spot for 2003/2004. Last season, he led them to 5th place, and won the Coppa Italia versus Juventus. He was then lured to Inter by Massimo Morrati and at the moment doing a pretty good job...

He even has an official online store, if you want to buy a Mancini t-shirt or hat...http://www.robertomancini.com/temi/official_store/index.shtml

And, If you want to see Mancini's Back-heel Goal, follow these directions:
1- Go to www.numeri10.it
2- you can watch the intro if you want, or just press "Skip Intro"
3- Scroll down to the bottom of the page and press on the Arrow button
4- On the left side menu, click on the soccer ball that has the phrase "I MIGLIORI NUMERI 10" next to it.
5- on the right menu that comes up, scroll for Mancini Roberto
6- Click on "Filmati"
7-Go to "Video 9"
8-Enjoy

[Cassano]

Pietro "Il Nonno" Vierchowod
http://www.raisport.rai.it/pub/static/7400/1981PietroVierchowodFiorentina.jpg
Pietro Vierchowod was born on April 6, 1959 in a small town near Bergamo. He started out with Atalanta, but only in Serie B. He played 20 seasons of Serie A, and would've beat Dino Zoff's appearance record but after being released by Piacenza after the 99/2000 season he didn't receive any offers from a Serie A team. He recieved plenty from Serie B-Serie D but only wanted a Serie A team because he wanted to break the record. That was at age 40. He was nicknamed "Il Nonno" (The Grandfather) because he played in Serie A for such a long time. He was also nicknamed "Il Czar", because as you can tell from his last name, he had Russian origins.
He made his debut in 1980 with Como. Later he played with Fiorentina, Roma, Sampdoria (12 seasons), Juventus and Milan, and finally Piacenza. He won 2 Scudetti (with Roma and Sampdoria), 4 Coppe Italia, 1 Cup-Winner's Cup with Samp and 1 Champion's League. Playing in Serie A for 20 years, he faced some of Serie A's toughest forwards: from Pruzzo to Montella through Graziani, Platini, Zico, Careca, Van Basten, Signori, Oliveira, Bierhoff, Baggio, Totti, Zola and more. He was called to the National team for the 1982 World Cup and won it, but never played a game. He was an anchor of the Italian defense throughout the 80's and made his last appearance at the 1990 World Cup. After no one signed him for the 2000/2001 season, he went to receive his coaching license at Coverciano in Florence. He has since coached Catania while they were in Serie C1, Torino breifly, and Fiorentina after they were relegated to Serie C2. Although, he was sacked after 9 games coaching La Viola. He is now waiting for coaching offers to come along so he can coach again.

*Sorry about the short biography but there is very little information of Vierchowod on the net.

[Cassano]

Next Players Up:

1) Giuseppe Bergomi
2) Francesco "Ciccio" Baiano
3) Marco Simone

[Cassano]

I have done the incredible feat of doing three biographies in one day!
Here's Giuseppe "Zio" Bergomi:
http://www.planetworldcup.com/LEGENDS/bergomi.jpg
Giuseppe Bergomi was born in Milan on December 22, 1963 and devoted his entire career to his beloved Internazionale. This central defender or right-back blossomed early and broke into the first team already during the 1980/81 season as a 17 year-old. He was soon acknowledged by national team coach Enzo Bearzot and was included in the 1982 World Cup squad having barely played 30 senior matches in the Italian league.
Bergomi started the tournament on the bench, but came on as a substitute against Brazil in the memorable 3-2 second phase win. He did a great job and was included in the starting line-up against Poland in the semifinal because Gentile was suspended. Everyone was impressed with how mature he played and Bearzot could not drop him for the final against West Germany. Bergomi was given the job of marking Rummenigge and completely took him out of the game. The German star was substituted in the second half as Italy ran out 3-1 winners. Giuseppe was a World Cup winner just over a year after making his first appearance in a senior match!
At club level, Bergomi and Inter were in the shadow of AC Milan for much of the time. Having won an Coppa Italia in 1982, it took seven more years until another title was won. This time the Scudetto, Bergomi’s only league championship title in his nineteen seasons at Inter. He experienced more success in European competitions winning the UEFA Cup on three occasions.
Italy hosted the World Cup in 1990 and Bergomi captained his country and played in every game as the Azzurri captured bronze medals. A painful semifinal defeat on penalties to Argentina was all that stood betweem them and the final. Giuseppe didn’t figure frequently in the Italian line-up as the 1990's progressed. In a Euro '92 qualifying game against Norway, he came on from the bench only to be sent off seconds later for a bad foul! He wasn’t wearing the blue shirt of the Azzurri again until he, against all odds, was called up for the 1998 World Cup by Cesare Maldini. He made three appearences in his fourth World Cup, took one more domestic season with Inter, before retiring at the age of 36. He was supposed to come to MLS and play with the New York/New Jersey Metrostars, but it never happened and he now is a television analyst.