The news is no surprise, but I still believe that he hasn´t recieved the due that he deserves. Great Player and great Team Mate. Your thoughts on his retirement and as a player in general. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2003/soccer/12/29/bc.soc.italy.baggioreti.ap/index.html
It was going to happen eventually so I have already accepted his absense mentally. Fantastic player; definitely one of Italy's best if not "the" best. I hope he gets the proper farewell reception that he deserves. "raises glass"
My all time favorite player. I had the pleasure of seeing this guy live twice during WC94, and he will always stand out in regards to that summer for me. I lost a bit of respect for him when he went to Milan, but still, you can't deny what an icon the man is. He should've been at Japan/Korea.
Tribute http://www.clarence.com/multimedia/video/gol/baggio/Baggio10.mpa http://www.peoplesgame.com/VideoFiles/WorldCup/Baggio90.mpeg http://www.raisport.rai.it/mcalcio/2000_2001/a/e003984.mpg http://www.numeri10.it/risorse/filmati/baggio/baggio06.avi http://www.numeri10.it/risorse/filmati/baggio/baggio08.avi http://www.numeri10.it/risorse/filmati/baggio/baggio11.avi http://www.numeri10.it/risorse/filmati/baggio/baggio13.avi http://www.clarence.com/multimedia/video/gol/videogol(6)/baggio.mpa http://www.numeri10.it/risorse/filmati/baggio/baggio14.avi
Roberto Baggio's world http://www.pro-paul.net/baggio/english/ http://mm4.rai.it:8080/viewsource/t...4ngjup018vnu1yebu3dxdsu8EDem4a5E6x1vhm6e8cfng (long video) http://www.numeri10.it/risorse/filmati/baggio/baggio22.avi http://www.numeri10.it/risorse/filmati/baggio/baggio23.avi http://www.numeri10.it/risorse/filmati/baggio/baggio24.avi http://www.numeri10.it/risorse/filmati/baggio/baggio26.avi http://www.numeri10.it/risorse/filmati/baggio/baggio27.avi http://www.numeri10.it/risorse/filmati/baggio/baggio31.avi http://www.numeri10.it/risorse/filmati/baggio/baggio33.avi ------------------ http://members.xoom.virgilio.it/marcollino/tribute_to_baggio.ram (long video)
Roberto Baggio Roberto Baggio was the player who inspired my love for the beautiful game. First seen at WC1994, when the 'divine ponytail' took Italy to the finals with 5 goals in the tourney. Unfortunately what should have been the greatest moment in his career fell apart when an injured Baggio skied a penalty. He never truyl recovered from it and sadly will by many be remembered for it. I just wish that the career of the first great attacking player i have ever seen, will be remembered for his amazing accomplishments and I agree with him when his international career has been sinisterly crtailed by coaches such as Sacchi leaving him out in the gold. I've recently seen him put on clinics for Brescia and see he may have lost some of his athlietc brilliance but he still oozes a class only the truyl great can muster.
I list Brescia as one of my favorite teams. It would be better described as any team with Baggio. The Divine Pony Tail is one of the legends of the game and will long be remembered as one of its most popular players ever -- with everyone except a few coaches who don't believe in the concept of offense.
C'mon people. Are there no other ROBERTO BAGGIO fans out there? He was the BEST player in the world of the early nineties (And that includes Fat ass Maradona). WHERE IS THE LOVE FOR ARGUABLY ONE OF THE BEST THAT EVER LIVED? Your thoughts.
i feel in the long run most will remember him for that miss..... even though he was a great player, in like 5-10 years all that will be left is that miss...
I will admit to all of the most egregious sins that a soccer fan could. Yeah, I'm probably relatively ignorant about the sport. Yeah I'm probably a glory hunter (thank you ESPN2 and Real Madrid.) But as far as this thread is concerned, this once soccer-hating Yank first discovered his love of soccer with the name "Baggio." It is with Baggio that my interest was piqued and I am forever indebted. I wish him all the best.
Baggio absolutely rules. He makes even tiny Brescia dangerous and fun to watch when he's fit. Not only a great talent and a hard worker, but also a man with an abundance of class.
Baggio was my first favorite player. there was a piece in SI about him right before the 94 world cup that got me hooked. it's really too bad that he missed that pk and will be remembered more for that than for pulling a michael jordan and single-handedly willing italy to the wc final. and he really is one of those players that is just pure class, like the center back from real madrid last year (i blanked on his name for some reason. but you know who i'm talking about). maldini fits here too. just pure class. baggio is one of those players you wish could play forever and never grow old.
I saw him as a tragic hero.... he was the best offensive italian player in his generetion. However, he left Juventus because they did not have a place for him.... and then, he left AC Milan for the same reason. And for the NT, he was left out for a long time after WC 1994 and was only a last minute selection for WC 1998!!!! He deserved better treatments than this.
He was a great player, but I always got the feeling he needed to be the main man. He was at his best when the team relied heavily on him, at Milan, Juve and Inter he had other great players around him and struggled a little. At Fiorentina, Bologna and Brescia he was awesome. To sequeira16, I've never seen anyone that supports both Real and Barca.
You do have a point there. Totti is alot like Baggio-(in his early days). But I can't recall Baggio being such a winny little bitch...know what I mean?
Baggio & Maldini are my 2 favorite Italian players ever. To me, anybody that talks about the missed PK without mentioning that Italy wouldn't have been anywhere near the final w/o him and that he had played 120 minutes on a bad leg before missing it is a moron.
Baggio was a brilliant footballer. I remember watching him in the World Cup 94 and thought he was outstanding. I supported Italy in the tournament basically because of him. Dont know much about Italian football but Baggio was the best Italian footballer I ever saw play.
Hierro is who i was thinking of. like baggio and maldini, he's pure class. and comme, yeah, i know, how can someone like both real and barca. well, i figure it's allowable, since i'm not spanish. i love real madrid and live and die by them, but i started liking barcelona too back in the day when they had the dream team, they were just so stylishly classy and just damn good. how could anyone not like the way they played? now, of course, it's a different story. maybe they'll turn things around in a few years, if they keep davids, ronaldinho, and if they can land van der vaart. need another winger to match up with quaresma too (beasley anyone? i wish). plus, i can't help but admire the catalan character and underdog status. i like their catalan patriotism. but in head to head competition, i always pull for real madrid.
Baggio is one of my all-time favorites but I guess I'm going to need to dust off those old WC'94 tapes and rewatch a few. Aside from actually scoring those 5 goals and in particular that great one against Bulgaria, I don't remember Baggio being great for most of that tournament. In fact, much of the time he was on the field he seemed a nonfactor and practically invisible, though I guess it was due mostly to Sacchi's management (I'll never get how he played Signori as a gruntworking midfielder!?). I agree that Baggio is like a tragic hero for the reasons that comme already mentioned. After '94, I remember feeling sorry for him as frequently as I marvelled at his skill. It was like watching a sad play where a former king desperately tries to reclaim his throne.