|
Christian "Bobo" Vieri (born July 12, 1973 in Bologna, Italy) is an Italian
football striker who plays for ACF Fiorentina.
Born in Bologna, Italy, his family moved to Australia for a period, in the suburb
of Wetherill Park. He attended Prairiewood High School in western Sydney. His
father Roberto Vieri played for Sydney-based club Marconi Stallions. His brother,
Massimiliano Vieri, is also a professional footballer, and was an Australian
international in 2004. Vieri played for Marconi Juniors when he was a child but his
family soon moved back to Italy. His mother Nathalie is French.
 Career
Vieri started his playing career at A.C. Prato, a small club in Serie C1 in 1989.
While there, he was spotted by Torino and played his first Serie A game the next
year for the Turin team. Vieri made six appearances in the league as well as in the
Coppa Italia. In November 1992, he was sold to Serie B club, Pisa Calcio, scoring
two goals. Another season went by, he then moved to Ravenna in Serie B, scoring 12
goals. He was subsequently sold to Venezia A.C. in Serie B, scoring 11 goals.
Another move followed for the youngster, this time to Atalanta where he scored
seven goals. A change of luck came when he was spotted by Juventus F.C. in the
1996-97 season. He made 23 appearances and scored eight goals in Serie A, and six
goals in ten matches in Europe.
Vieri was on the move once again, this time it was to Spain and Atlético Madrid.
This is where the Vieri name became a trademark for Italian football and he formed
a successful partnership in the 1998 FIFA World Cup with Roberto Baggio. Amazingly,
he scored a total of 24 goals in 24 appearances for Atlético, five goals from seven
appearances in Europe which led him to the become the Spanish top scorer.
After the World Cup, he moved to S.S. Lazio, where he was outstanding in his first
season, scoring 12 goals in Serie A and one in Europe, winning the Cup Winners'
Cup. But it all changed when Vieri was spotted by F.C. Internazionale Milano and
its chairman Massimo Moratti. Vieri move to Inter Milan was for a (then) world
record transfer fee.
Vieri played for Inter Milan from 1999 to 2005, leading the scoring in Serie A in
2003 with 24 goals.
As of the end of 2004, he has scored 22 goals in 43 matches for Italy and played
for his country at the 1998 World Cup, scoring five times, and the 2002 World Cup,
scoring four times, though he endured a less successful tournament at Euro 2004.
Vieri is generally considered one of Italy's greatest strikers of recent times
despite strong competition, and is one of Italy's most prolific World Cup
goalscorers. He was named by Pelé as one of the 125 greatest living footballers in
March 2004.
Italy played Vieri as a lone striker in the 2002 Fifa World Cup, scoring four goals
in four games. In the Round of 16 against South Korea he opened the scoring in the
18th minute, scoring a powerful header from a Francesco Totti corner. Italy led the
game until the Koreans equalised 3 minutes before the end. In extra time Vieri
played a through ball to Damiano Tommasi, thus putting him through on goal. The
midfielder scored from this position but the goal was disallowed due to offside,
even though camera reviews show Tommasi to be onside. Italy's misfortune continued
when golden boy Francesco Totti was given a second yellow card for diving and
dismissed. Italy was eventually eliminated by South Korea by a Golden Goal.
Italy has had more success without Vieri. In the period 1998 to 2006 Italy were
runners-up in Euro 2000 and won the world cup in 2006 without him. This, along with
his famous "I'm more a man than all of you" to the press at Euro 2004 and his later
spat with goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon for letting in an unstoppable Swedish goal
have led to questions about his ability to destabilise a squad.
In July 2005, Vieri and Inter Milan came to a mutual agreement to terminate his
contract with the club. He was then signed by cross-town rivals A.C. Milan, but
left the rossoneri - where he was not a regular starter - after just six months,
joining French side AS Monaco FC in order to play regularly and gain a place on
Italy's roster for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. However, he suffered a serious knee
injury while playing for Monaco in 2006, which required extensive surgery and ruled
out the possibility of playing in his third consecutive FIFA World Cup.
On July 6, 2006, Vieri agreed a one year deal with UC Sampdoria of Serie A.
However, on August 10, 2006, an agreement was to terminate his contract with the
club. He then offered his services to demoted Italian giants and former club
Juventus - they, however, rejected his offer on August 22nd.
On August 29, 2006, Vieri returned to Atalanta and signed a one-year minimum wage
contract worth 1500€ per month. Although he received a paltry salary, Vieri was to
earn another €100,000 for every goal he scores, leaving chairman Ivan Ruggeri to
comment, "If things go well, Vieri will cost me two million euros".
On June 2007, Atalanta announced they chose not to offer a contract extension to
Vieri. His contract therefore ended on June 30. On July 19, 2007, Vieri signed a
two-year contract with ACF Fiorentina worth about 2.75 million dollars and was
officially presented to the press on July 21, 2007.
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.
|
Christian
Vieri - Manifesting Generator - Biography
