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Paolo Rossi (born September 23, 1956) is an Italian former football (soccer)
player. In 1982, he led Italy to the 1982 FIFA World Cup title, scoring six goals
to win the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball. Rossi was the only player to have won
all three honours at a single tournament until Sergio Aguero in the 2007 U-20 FIFA
World Cup staged in Canada.
 Career
Early
years
Rossi was born at Santa Lucia, in the province of Prato (Tuscany).
He made his debut in professional Italian soccer with Como, to which Juventus had
sent him to gain experience after three operations to his knees.
His career came to a turning point when Vicenza, then Lanerossi Vicenza, engaged
him: in the 1976-'77 season Rossi's qualities of implacable striker led his team to
the promotion to Serie A, Italy's soccer first division.
In the following season Rossi scored 24 goals, and was selected by Italian
national football team's manager Enzo Bearzot for the 1978 FIFA World Cup.Rossi
confirmed his growth in the tournament, gaining international fame as one of
world's best strikers.
Rossi up to this point had been jointly owned by Vicenza and Juventus. When the two
clubs were called to settle the property, Lanerossi offered the shocking sum of
2.612 millions lire for Rossi, who became Italy's most costly sportsman ever to
that date. In 1979 Vicenza was relegated to Serie B, and he was loaned to
Perugia.
Scandal
Whilst at Perugia he was involved in a famous betting scandal (Totonero), and as a
result of this Rossi was disqualified for three years though this was later reduced
to a two year ban.
However, Rossi always claimed to be innocent and be victim of an injustice. In
his book (Ho fatto piangere il Brasile) one of the person that accused him in 1980
admitted that the accusations to him at that time were invented.
1982 World
Cup
Rossi returned just in time for 1982 FIFA World Cup, but Italian journalists and
tifosi lamented he was in very poor shape. This view seemed to be confirmed by
Italy's first, appalling three matches, in which he was allegedly described as a
ghost wandering over the field aimlessly.
Bearzot, however, stauncely confirmed Rossi for the decisive round robin, in which
his team was to face Argentina, the reigning World Champions, and Brazil, the
biggest favourites to win the title with a team consisting of world-class players
such as Sócrates, Zico, and Falcão.
After defeating Argentina 2-1, Rossi scored three memorable goals to shock
Brazil 3-2 to qualify for the semi finals against Poland. Here his two goals again
won the match for Italy against Poland. He also scored the first of the three goals
with which Italy beat Germany in the final, giving his team their third World
Cup.
Italian fans hung banners proclaiming him "Man of the match". Rossi's
accomplishments in Spain gained him the title of European Footballer of the Year
and World Player of the Year in 1982.
Late
years
After 1982 Rossi played with Juventus, winning one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (1984) and
one European Winners Cup (1985) . After his stint with Juventus, he moved on to a
then struggling AC Milan. In Milan he was remembered for his two goal performance
against Internazionale F.C. in a derby; Rossi's abilities, however, were
declining.
He ended his career at Hellas Verona in 1987. He is currently a construction
entrepreneur, together with his former teammate Giancarlo Salvi.
Rossi scored a total of 20 goals in 48 caps for Italy.
Rossi was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March
2004.
Source : Some of the information on this page came
from a Wikipedia article and is licensed under the GNU Documentation
License. ©2008 www.geneticmatrix.com.
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Paris
Hilton - Manifesting Generator - Biography
