When I was listening to the RAI (Italian) TV today, I couldn't believe my ears. I had the pleasure of meeting him at Spartan Stadium in San Jose when I was a kid and my uncles would all speak Italian with him. You can say whatever you want about the guy but there was no denying he was truly the best strikers ever to step foot this side of the pond. The NASL possessed the top goal scorers of the modern soccer ear of the 70' & early 80's soccer in Best, Muller, Topmuller, Francis , Cubillas and Pele and a host of others but Giorgio compared to them made goal scoring look simple. I'm more than sure he could have easily played and scored a lot of goals as well in today's MLS without any problems! RIP & Addio Giorgio!
R.I.P. Giorgio Chinaglia [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJvRMAwFs7c"]All 50 Giorgio Chinaglia goals to break the record 1980 - YouTube[/ame] .
Nobody could score goals like Giorgio Chinaglia. A true giant in the history of the game. I was lucky to see him play and he'll always be my favorite player because he made me love the game.
He was before my time, but I have great respect for someone who not only led Lazio to their first Scudetto in 1974 but also took his game to the US in his prime to promote soccer in America.
I'm going to miss listening to his stories and commentary every morning. He was a mans man, and a bigger then life character. I'm very sad today.
Chinaglia was my favorite player growing up. If it weren't for him, I doln't think I would have ever been interested in the Italian leagues or any type of football, for that matter. Addio Giorgio!