Friday, February 23, 2007

Francesco Totti



Francesco Totti, Cavaliere Ufficiale OMRI (born September 27, 1976 in Rome), is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer who plays for Italian Serie A club A.S. Roma. His position is that of a striker or an attacking midfielder, though he is best known for playing as a second striker. Totti, who has spent his entire career at Roma, is the number-one goalscorer and the most capped player in the club's history.

Biography

Totti was born and raised in Rome's Porta Metronia neighborhood. He idolized ex-Roma captain Giuseppe Giannini, and regularly played football with older boys. His mother refused a lucrative offer from Milan, and he joined the Roma youth squad in 1989. Totti is known for his dazzling footwork and improvisation.

Roma

First years

After three years on the youth team, Totti made his first appearance for Roma's senior side at the age of sixteen, when coach Vujadin Boškov let him play in the 2-0 away victory against Brescia on March 28, 1993. In the following seasons, he began to play more games, and thus he succeeded in scoring his first goal on September 24, 1994 in a 1-1 draw against Foggia Calcio. By 1995, Totti had become a regular in the starting eleven and scored 16 goals in the next three seasons. When he assumed the team captaincy in 1997, he began to gain recognition as a club symbol. Manager Zdeněk Zeman played with an offensive 4-3-3 formation, in which Totti was the left winger. Totti scored 30 goals during Zeman's two-year managerial stint.

Though Totti was not called up for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, he was named the Serie A Young Footballer of the Year in the 1998-99 season.

Scudetto 2001

By the 2000-01 campaign, Roma, then helmed by Fabio Capello, was building a competitive team around Totti, who had started to play as trequartista to take advantage of his passing skills, in addition to scoring thirteen goals. On June 17, 2001, he won his first Scudetto, and scored one goal in a 3-0 Supercoppa Italiana victory against Fiorentina.

Totti was named the Italian Footballer of the Year for 2000 and 2001, and received his first Ballon d'Or nomination, finishing fifth in the voting. He had also become a widely recognized idol of the supporters, who were able to identify with him due to his being a lifelong Roma supporter and a Rome native, in addition to his prowess on the pitch.

In the following years, Totti played as second striker as part of a 3-5-2 formation, and scored a career-high twenty goals in the 2003-04 season as Roma finished runners-up to Milan in the Scudetto race, in addition to picking up his second consecutive Italian Footballer of the Year award. Despite a disappointing 2004-05 season that saw Capello leave for Juventus and Roma slip to eighth place while making four coaching changes during the course of the season, Totti maintained his consistent offensive output by scoring fifteen goals, among them his hundredth Serie A goal against Internazionale on October 3, 2004. Two months later, on December 19, he became Roma's all-time leading scorer after netting his 107th career goal against Parma, breaking the record previously held by Roberto Pruzzo.

As a striker with Spalletti

Roma's new coach for the 2005-06 season, Luciano Spalletti, went with a 4-2-3-1 formation, during which Totti would not remain forward waiting for crosses or passes, instead going back to take the ball, and thus creating spaces for the attacking midfielders. In this new position Totti began to score more frequently than the past, and he scored fifteen goals in 24 matches, during which the team won eleven consecutive games.

On February 19, 2006, Totti suffered a fracture of his left fibula and ligament damage during a match against Empoli after being fouled by Richard Vanigli. Totti risked missing the 2006 World Cup, but returned to the side on May 11, 2006 as a substitute in Roma's 3-1 Coppa Italia final defeat to Inter. A metal plate had been attached to his ankle during surgery, but doctors decided not to operate again and remove it following Totti's return, after concurring that it would not affect his gameplay.

The 2006-07 season was a personal high for Totti, as he finished as Serie A's top scorer with 26 goals as Roma finished runners-up to Inter but exacted revenge on the Nerazzurri as they took home the 2007 Coppa Italia. Totti also was the recipient of the ESM European Golden Shoe award as the top European goalscorer. Despite being the highest active goalscorer in Serie A, he was not among the finalists for the 2007 FIFA World Player of the Year due to his national team absence, though he was nominated for the 2007 Ballon d'Or, finishing tenth in the voting.

Totti scored his 200th goal with Roma in a 4-0 Coppa Italia win over Torino on January 16, 2008. He was named the Italian Footballer of the Year for the fifth time in his career on January 28. He suffered a season-ending injury to his right knee during a 1-1 draw with Livorno on April 19. Tests revealed a tear of his ACL that required surgery, and he is expected to miss up to four months.

Roma won their ninth Coppa Italia with a 2-1 victory over Internazionale on May 24. Though Totti did not play, he was still allowed to lift the cup as the team's captain. He said, "Winning the Coppa at home gives us immense satisfaction, because our fans deserve this. This victory shows that now we're really competitive." With this win, Totti also became the most successful captain in team history.

National team

Totti first came into international prominence while playing in the UEFA youth tournaments and won the UEFA under-21 championships in 1996. After starring with the Azzurrini in Italy's Under-19 and Under-21 sides, he earned his first cap for Italy during a Euro 2000 qualifying victory against Switzerland on October 10, 1998. Though Italy lost to France in the final, Totti was named the man of the match.

Disappointment followed at the 2002 World Cup, with Totti failing to make a significant impact and then being sent off during Italy's second-round loss to South Korea after being handed a second yellow card by Byron Moreno.

Totti acquired a measure of infamy at Euro 2004 after he spat at Danish midfielder Christian Poulsen in a goalless draw on June 14, 2004. He was subsequently banned until the semifinals, but never made it back to action and finished the competition scoreless due to Italy's elimination in the first round.

2006 World Cup

Though Totti recovered in time to join the national team for the 2006 World Cup, he was not completely in game shape after three months on the sidelines following his injury against Empoli, and played with metal plates in his ankle that had yet to be removed. He nonetheless was a regular fixture in the side, notably scoring the lone goal via a penalty in Italy's 1-0 win over Australia on June 26, and starting in the final against France until being substituted in the 61st minute. Italy went on to win the World Cup, and Totti was selected for the 23-man All-Star Team. He usually played behind the lone striker Luca Toni, supplying him with passes.

Totti intended to retire from the Azzurri after the end of the World Cup, but reneged on his decision and remained undecided on his future for over a year, and was never called up in the meantime. He made his retirement official on July 20, 2007, at the beginning of the new Serie A season in order to focus solely on club play with Roma. Italy coach Roberto Donadoni's attempts to get Totti to change his mind for the remaining Euro 2008 qualifiers proved futile.

Goal celebrations

Totti is known for celebrating his goals as well as scoring them. His most famous celebration was in the second Derby della Capitale of the 1998-99 season, in which he scored during the final minutes of the game and celebrated by flashing a T-shirt under his jersey, which read Vi ho purgato ancora ("I've purged you guys again"), in reference to his scoring against Lazio in the previous derby on November 29, 1998. Another derby goal against Lazio saw him take over a sideline camera and aim it at the Roma fans.

As a tribute to his then-pregnant wife, Totti imitated a childbirth scene by stuffing the ball under his shirt and laying on his back while his teammates extracted the ball. His current ritual of sucking his thumb after a goal began after his son was born and subsequently after the birth of his daughter. Ilary Blasi has revealed that Totti actually sucks his thumb in honor of her, as she has a habit of sucking on her thumb.

Personal life

Totti's wife, Ilary Blasi, is a former showgirl who currently works as commentator and host on several Mediaset TV programs. The couple had their first baby, named Cristian, on November 6, 2005. Their second child, a daughter, Chanel, was born on May 13, 2007. His brother, Riccardo, serves as his agent. Totti also runs a football school, Number Ten, and owns a motorcycle racing team called Totti Top Sport.

A goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, Totti published two bestselling, self-effacing joke books in order to raise money for a children's charity. Some of the jokes were filmed as shorts starring Totti himself, along with some of his Italy teammates such as Alessandro Del Piero, Gianluigi Buffon, and Antonio Cassano.

Totti is famous for his cucchiaio goalscoring technique, which inspired the title of his 2006 autobiography, Tutto Totti: Mo je faccio er cucchiaio (Romanesco for "I'll Chip Him").

Totti also collects jerseys from teams around the world. In 2003, after a Six Nations rugby match between Italy and Ireland, Irish players Brian O'Driscoll and Denis Hickie each received a Totti jersey in exchange for their own shirts.

Honours

Roma

National team

Individual

Source : www.answers.com

at 10:39 PM
Strikers, midfielders, defenders, goalkeepers ,

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