Newz Forum: PFL:SOCCER: Paolo Rossi Sportznewz profile

Some players control games, some are capable of outstanding pieces of skill, while others impose themselves through sheer physical strength. Paolo Rossi didn't fit into any of these categories. He was quite simply a born goalscorer. But he will be remembered first and foremost as a very special striker, blessed with a tremendous goalscoring instinct and a degree of humility we may never see the like of again.

Italian striker Paulo Rossi was banned from football for two years in 1980 in a 'match-fixing' scandal. He only completed the ban in April 1982 and the Italy manager took a risk in selecting him for the World Cup Finals. In the first three games Rossi did not score and many Italian journalists called for him to be dropped. But something happened and the managers faith in playing him was suddenly to be rewarded. En route to the final his goals shot down Brazil and Poland. In the final against West Germany it was Rossi who scored the first of Italy's three goals. The striker from Tuscany finished as the 1982 World Cup's top scorer. Not bad for someone who never scored in the first three games.

Rossi learned his trade at Juventus but even before he celebrated his 18th birthday his football career was in jeopardy after he had cartilages from both knees removed. He was loaned to Como and it was with the Lombardy minnows that he made his Serie A debut in November 1975. Then Juventus sold a half-share in Rossi to Serie B club Vicenza and it was there he made his name. In his first season with the Biancorossi, in 1976-77, his 21 goals helped Vicenza win promotion to Serie A. The following season Rossi and Vicenza proved to be the revelations of Serie A. Rossi was capocannoniere with 24 goals. Newly-promoted Vicenza, coached by Gian Battista Fabri, finished second to Juventus.

That season Rossi won his first cap for Italy in a 1-0 victory over Belgium in Liege while Vicenza bought out Juve's share in Rossi for a then-staggering 1.75m, a deal that nearly ruined the club. After a slightly disappointing 1979-80 season, Rossi scored 15 goals. They were not enough to stop Vicenza falling into Serie B and he was loaned to Perugia. There, apart from finding himself embroiled in a match-rigging scandal, he netted 13 goals in 28 games. Before his two-year ban was announced Juventus bought Rossi for a cut-price 600,000 from Vicenza. It was a shrewd business move. Not only did they make 1.15m profit, but after the 1982 World Cup the Bianconeri owned one of the hottest properties in world football.

Back at "Juve" with Antonio Cabrini, Marco Tardelli, Gaetano Scirea and Claudio Gentile, not to mention Michel Platini and Zbigniew Boniek, two more stars of the FIFA World Cup in Spain, "Pablito"'s appetite for honours was insatiable. The Italian Cup in 1983, the Scudetto and the Cup Winners' Cup in 1984, the European Cup in 1985. After this flurry of silverware, he bade farewell to Turin to join arch-rivals AC Milan in the summer of 1985. Honours were harder to come by with the Rossoneri, but he was nonetheless selected in the squad for the 1986 FIFA World Cup Mexico. He didn't play, however, and, after a brief spell with Verona, finally hung up his boots the following year at the age of 31. Prone to injury on account of exhaustion, Rossi had opted to call it a day before playing one match too many. Something of a loner, he quickly vanished from the world of football to concentrate on his passion for deep-sea diving. There's no disputing that he left his mark in the shape of 20 goals in 48 international appearances and 82 in 215 Serie A games.

Playing career

Clubs:

1975 - 1976 Como
1976 - 1977 Vicenza
1978 - 1981 Perugia
1981 - 1985 Juventus
1985 - 1986 AC Milan
1986 - 1987 Verona

Club honours:

1982 Italian Title (Juventus)
1983 Italian Cup
1984 Cup Winners' Cup (Juventus)
1985 European Supercup
1985 European Cup (Juventus)

International honours:

1978 FIFA World Cup Argentina; third place (3 goals)
1982 FIFA World Cup Spain; winners (6 goals)
1986 FIFA World Cup Mexico; quarter-final

Individual honours:

215 appearances in Serie A, 82 goals

48 caps, 20 goals

European Footballer of the Year 1982

Sources

Planet World Cup

Fifa World Cup.com




[Edited on 31/1/05 by TRD]

Then Juventus sold a half-share in Rossi to Serie B club Vicenza and it was there he made his name.


good article TRD...how does a team sell a half share of a player?

I guess they wanted to sign him but couldn't afford the full fee so they bought half of him to start.

They might have come to an agreement that they would pay later or split the transfer fee if he was sold on. When they did finally buy the rest of him it nearly crippled the club finacially.

There is an incident like that in todays football. A Premiership team Portsmouth have a player called Yakubu and he is still half owned by his previous club. So when they go to sell him the get half the transfer fee each. But it's up to Portsmouth to sort out the deal if they was to sell him.

so it is all a financial deal and not that the player plays half his games with each team?

Yes financial..

You get alot of loan deals where the team that actually owns the player still pays his wages, although he is playing for someone else! Obviously the player is still contracted by the team and they could take him back when they want. Also nearly every players has clauses in their contracts now for one thing or another.

I remember watching the 82 World Cup, and it was amazing how easily he managed to find the ball in the right place.

While certainly not as prolific in the sports world as Gretzky, Rossi always had the same inate ability to know where the ball was going to be before it got there.

The best goal of the World Cup final was Tardelli's boot with the left foot, the goal that put Italy up 2-0. That's one of my favorite moments in sports history.