WebIris | J°

🇱🇧 Fino Alla Fine ◾◽

[WebIris | J° @WebIris]

@mygoalarena My all time Favorite is Del Piero, but am going with Baggio.

[WebIris | J° @WebIris]

@ME_Observer_ Isn't he dead?

[Cult Ballers | World Cup @thecultballers]

He never won the World Cup or the Champions League.

When Fiorentina sold him to Juventus, fans rioted in the streets.

He missed the most famous penalty in football history.

He tried to reform Italian football, but was painfully ignored.

Still, Roberto Baggio has zero haters.

He became the best player of the nineties.

Born in Caldogno, a small town in Veneto, the sixth of eight siblings, his father was a factory worker who also played amateur football. At nine years old he was already being scouted by local coaches. At thirteen, Vicenza paid £300 for him. He scored 110 goals in 120 youth matches.

Then the knee.

At eighteen, before his career had properly started, he tore both his cruciate ligament and meniscus. Two years of surgery, recovery, relapse, depression, more surgery.

A friend named Fabrizio Boldrini saw him drowning and handed him Buddhist texts. Baggio read them and converted. He began each day with chanting, knowing the pain would never fully leave his leg.

"During massage my right leg makes unnatural sounds, as if it's about to break. The pain never leaves me. Any training session can be the last.

He made it back, first to Fiorentina. Then to the World Cup.

Italia '90. Coach Azeglio Vicini didn't start him consistently, which Baggio took as a personal insult. Then against Czechoslovakia he received the ball deep in his own half, dribbled past four defenders, and slotted the ball into the corner. Best goal of the tournament.

In the mixed zone afterward, a journalist noticed the grown-out curly ponytail tied loosely at the back of his head and wrote that this was Il Divin Codino. The Divine Ponytail. The name stuck for the rest of his life.

That same summer, Fiorentina sold him to Juventus for a world record fee. Fans rioted. Windows smashed, tear gas fired in the streets of Florence. Baggio cried at the press conference where the sale was announced. He was leaving a city that worshipped him for a club where he could compete for all major trophies.

1994. His tournament.

Italy were a team of injury doubts, squad politics and a coach who didn't always believe in him. They barely made it through the group stage. Then Baggio exploded. Equalised against Nigeria in the 88th minute with Italy on the verge of elimination, then netted the winning penalty in extra time. The winner against Spain. Two goals against Bulgaria. Five goals across the knockouts, he literally carried Italy to the final.

The final was goalless after 120 minutes. Penalties. Baresi and Massaro had already missed. Baggio stepped up last.

"That penalty cost me dearly. I haven't watched it again since. I never will."

He stood in the Pasadena heat with his hands on his hips and his head bowed. The camera stayed on his face. The whole world watched while he was alone.

Football fans around the world never stopped loving him. In Japan, where he was already a national obsession after appearing in the football manga Captain Tsubasa, children cried in the streets. In Italy the response was almost entirely sympathy. He had given them everything. The penalty was one moment in the final he had basically reached single-handedly.

He came back for 1998. Scored two goals in the group stage and netted the first penalty in the shootout against France in the quarter-finals. Albertini and Di Biagio missed. His third World Cup, again ended in a shootout.

He won far more individual prizes than club trophies. The Ballon d'Or in 1993. The FIFA World Player of the Year the same year. He was named in Pelé's FIFA 100. He scored in three separate World Cups and became Italy's joint top scorer in World Cup history, alongside Paolo Rossi and Christian Vieri.

He never won the World Cup. He never won the Champions League. Ironically, he was always the best player on the losing side.

Then, after retiring, he tried to fix Italian football.

In 2010, following their catastrophic group stage exit at the World Cup, the Italian federation appointed him head of their technical sector. He spent the next year analysing everything wrong with Italian football from the grassroots up, working with 50 experts, and in December 2011 presented the federation with a 900-page reform document titled "Renew the Future."

He called for 100 new training centres across Italy, a completely rebuilt youth development system, better-educated coaches, and an end to the tactical obsession that had replaced technique at every level of the game.
The document was not even read.

"I submitted my project in December 2011 and it remained a dead letter," he said later. In 2013 he resigned. "They do not allow me to work." In 2016 he summarised the whole experience in a few clear words: "All my enormous work has turned into waste paper."

Italy has since missed three consecutive World Cups. The worst run in their history. The president who dismissed his report, the coach who presided over the decline, the officials who chose comfort over reform, all of them are gone now, the federation is in crisis, the stadiums are crumbling, the young players are not coming through, or leaving for foreign leagues before doing so.

The 900 pages are still there.
Italy is not.

Il Divin Codino. 🇮🇹

[Richard Gage, AIA, Architect @RichardGage_911]

[RG911Team] This fact alone proves 9/11 was a false flag.

The Twin Towers were designed with the lightest, thinnest steel on the top floors, and each lower section used thicker, heavier and stronger steel than the one above it. This made a progressive collapse IMPOSSIBLE.

The idea that a thin, light steel beam would collapse and then crush thick, strong steel below it… and that would in turn crush the even thicker and stronger steel below it… all through the path of GREATEST resistance… all in less than 12 seconds… violates the laws of physics.

This is why FDNY sent hundreds of their best firefighters in those buildings. They knew the planes and fires could not completely collapse the towers because the extremely robust design would easily withstand it.

343 firefighters died on 9/11 because they were caught off guard by something no one expected - every single column being ripped apart and blown in every direction.

And the only force that can do that requires explosives.

[SİYAH SANCAK @siyahsancakx]

🟤 #ARŞİV | Srebrenitsa Katliamı sırasında 17 yaşında olan Nedžad Avdić, soykırım günü yaşadıklarını anlattı.

▪️"Erkekleri kamyonlara doldurup götürüyorlardı."

▪️"Kamyon durduktan sonra beşerli gruplar hâlinde inmemizi istediler."

▪️"İnen her grubun ardından silah sesleri duyuluyor, ardından tekrar beş kişilik başka bir grup çağrılıyordu."

▪️"Ellerimiz kelepçeliydi. Sıra bize geldiğinde asker bize yere yatmamızı emretti. Ancak yatamadan ateş etmeye başladılar."

▪️"O şok anında hiçbir şey anlayamadım, sadece büyük bir acı hissediyordum."

▪️"Koluma bir, göğsüme ise üç kurşun isabet etti. Buna rağmen mermiler hayati organlarıma zarar vermedi."

▪️"Sadece kan ve barut kokusu alıyordum."

▪️"Yere düştükten sonra bir kurşunun daha isabet edeceğinden korkuyordum."

▪️"Komutan askerlere, 'Kimin vücudu hâlâ sıcaksa kafasına sıkın.' talimatını verdi. Gözlerimi kapatıp ölü numarası yaptım. Yanımda inleyen yaralı bir adam vardı. Askerler başına birkaç el ateş etti."

▪️"Çok acı çekiyordum. 'Neden ölmüyorum?' diye düşünürken, caniler gülüp eğleniyordu. Bir an içimden, 'Beni öldürün!' diye bağırmak geçti. Daha sonra öldürecekleri diğer insanları getirmek için yeniden kamyona binip gittiler."

▪️"Ümidimi kaybetmişken cesetlerin arasında birinin hareket ettiğini gördüm. 'Yaşıyor musun?' diye sordum. 'Evet' diye cevap verdi. 'Beni çözmeye gel' dedi. Kımıldayamıyordum. Bana defalarca seslendi. Yuvarlana yuvarlana yanına kadar gittim."

▪️"Onunla birlikte yürüyerek bir Boşnak köyüne ulaşmayı başardık."

[Jahir Sheikh @jahirsheikh8]

Stack overflow 💔

[Halal Nation @HalalNation_]

Remembering Srebrenica 💔

[WebIris | J° @WebIris]

@uttdkola Juan Matta!

[TV Football 1968-92 @1968Tv]

It’s 44 years ago tomorrow, for the greatest World Cup Final goal celebration of all time.
Marco Tardelli
#WorldCup #FIFAWorldCup #Italy #Tardelli

[JuventusFC 🇬🇧🇺🇸 @juventusfcen]

A Bianconero goal for every letter of the alphabet! 🔠

Catch the full video on our YouTube channel ⚽️

📺 https://t.co/GzjOkdtFjv

[Juventus News Live @juvenewslive]

5 years ago today….

[Forza Juve | 𝑒𝑛. @TheFJEN]

🔙 Giorgio Chiellini completely nullified Harry Kane that night.

The England striker had 0 shots on target and just ONE touch inside the opposition box over the full 120 minutes.

King Kong Chiellini came out on top at the age of 36, despite having only recently recovered from an ACL injury. 🇮🇹👑

[WebIris | J° @WebIris]

@aviationbrk @Ryanair no smart joke?

[Nazionale Italiana ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ @Azzurri]

Vent’anni fa gli Azzurri trionfavano a Berlino 💙🤩

Su Vivo Azzurro TV 𝑵𝒐𝒊, 𝒊 𝑪𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒊 𝒅𝒆𝒍 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟔, il ricordo di alcuni dei grandi protagonisti del quarto titolo mondiale vinto dalla Nazionale 🌟🇮🇹

📲 https://t.co/Eyl2ohiZp9

#Nazionale #Azzurri #VivoAzzurro

[Italian Football TV @IFTVofficial]

20 years ago today, our lives changed. 🏆

Italy became four-time World Cup champions. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It’s crazy that this is STILL our last World Cup knockout win. 🥹

As painful as that is, never forget how rare it is to see your country lift a World Cup… and a EURO.

Most football fans never get to experience either. ❤️

[FIFA World Cup @FIFAWorldCup]

On this day in 2006... 🇮🇹🏆

#FIFAWorldCup

[Max Statman @emaxstatman]

Gianluigi Buffon at the 2006 World Cup:

◉ 5 clean sheets in 7 games
◉ 0 goals conceded from open play
◉ Only 2 goals conceded all tournament
◉ 453 mins unbeaten (no open-play goals)

The best World Cup goalkeeping display ever! 🐐✨

[Gianluigi Buffon @gianluigibuffon]

Ci sono giorni che non appartengono solo a chi li ha vissuti. Appartengono a un Paese intero.

Il 9 luglio 2006 è uno di quei giorni.

Vent'anni dopo, quel ricordo conserva la stessa forza: l'abbraccio di un gruppo straordinario, la gioia di milioni di italiani, l'orgoglio di aver indossato quella maglia e di aver scritto insieme una pagina di storia.

Oggi celebriamo quel traguardo con gratitudine, ma anche con un po’ di amaro in bocca. Perché sarebbe stato bello ricordare quell'impresa mentre l'Italia era ancora una volta protagonista sul palcoscenico più importante del calcio mondiale.
Ma l'amore per l'azzurro non cambia e non passa mai. È un legame che attraversa il tempo, le vittorie, le delusioni e le ripartenze.

Grazie ai miei compagni, allo staff, a tutti gli italiani che hanno sognato con noi. Quella notte resterà per sempre una delle pagine più belle della nostra storia. E continuerà a ricordarci cosa significa rappresentare l'Italia. Ieri, oggi e con ancora più passione e determinazione in futuro.

[JuventusFC 🇬🇧🇺🇸 @juventusfcen]

On this day, 20 years ago 🇮🇹🏆

[Max Statman @emaxstatman]

7 matches. 12 goals. 1 trophy. 🏆🇮🇹

From Pirlo’s magical strike to Del Piero’s iconic finish against Germany and Grosso’s winning penalty.

The goals that made Italy World Champions! 🍿🔥