Gio, PhD

Keep it two Virgils | MSV ⚽️ ‘23 | Elmira ‘22 | SCC ‘18

[Gio, PhD @giogarufi]

Excited to announce that I will be continuing my academics and soccer career at Elmira College!

[herculez gomez @herculezg]

The USMNT has just scored 3 goals against a team that only allowed 6 in WCQ under Alfaro.

Their movement is causing all kinds of problems, making Paraguay look pedestrian. I can't stress enough how impressive they are 45 minutes in. #USMNT

[TREQUARTISTA @TatticaPassata]

I genuinely love Del Piero more than most Roma fans do both inside and outside the pitch.

He genuinely seems like the nicest guy ever and was also an unreal player. However, saying he was "miles better" than Totti is such a surface-level way of looking at football.

People bring up Del Piero's ACL injury and rightly so, because he was up there with Zidane and R9 as the very best in the world. They never mention Totti's ACL injuries or the fibula fracture that derailed his career.

Internationally? Totti was consistently preferred to Del Piero by Zoff, Trapattoni and Lippi, 3 managers with deep Juventus ties.

He was Italy's best player at EURO 2000, Italy's best player at the 2002 World Cup, should have been the focal point of EURO 2004 (had he not stupidly gotten himself suspended) and then there's 2006.

Totti breaks his fibula in February 2006.

Lippi publicly backs him to make the World Cup even if he plays on one leg. 4 months later after a miraculous recovery, Totti arrives at the World Cup with screws still in his leg, starts every game ahead of Del Piero and finishes as the tournament's top assister.

The following season, Totti modernizes the false 9 role in a way football hadn't really seen for decades, wins the European Golden Boot and records a Serie A goal tally (26) Del Piero never reached, all while remaining the creative hub of his team rather than playing as a traditional number 9.

From 1998 until Del Piero left Serie A in 2012, Totti consistently matched or surpassed him statistically despite playing much deeper and for a significantly weaker side.

Totti also aged much better with the 2012/13 season being the perfect example. At 36, he produced double figures in both goals and assists while orchestrating entire games and enjoying one of the finest seasons of his career.

A year later, at 37, he still finished as Roma's top scorer for a side that amassed 85 points and came within touching distance of the scudetto.

A type longevity that wasn't the product of adapting into a reduced role but instead came from him remaining as the focal point.

Del Piero wasn't producing anywhere near that level at those later stages and that's despite Totti having accumulated significantly more serious injuries throughout his career.

And then you have the actual profiling of the players.

Del Piero combined elite goalscoring with world class ball striking and set-piece ability from multiple angles, while also being one of the best dribblers of his generation especially pre ACL injury.

But people often reduce football to dribbling and then use the "eye test" as if that's the entire sport (Totti wasn't a poor dribbler by any stretch either btw).

The difference is that Del Piero's superiority in that area is obvious, while Totti's superiority in other areas tends to be overlooked because they're less flashy.

Unlike Del Piero, whose profile was built around scoring, Totti combined elite scoring with elite creation on top of that. He functioned as both the primary scorer and the primary playmaker for his team.

If you prefer Del Piero, fair enough, I don't mind that at all. But do not come here and tell me there's no comparison between the two.

For me, the answer is simple. Totti was the more complete footballer. Del Piero had the higher peak, Totti had the superior longevity, output and profile.

Therefore, if your argument begins and ends with 1997 and trophy counts, then you're not really comparing the players but making casual points.

Juventus and Roma were operating on completely different levels.

Trophies can be debated, completeness as a footballer, cannot.

[TREQUARTISTA @TatticaPassata]

Francesco Totti - Greatest Italian Ever

[Ian Mills @IanMillsTV]

"Tre White is back."

"Game over"

"Phenomenal, phenomenal play."

The Bills reacting to Tre'Davious White's deflection, leading to a Cole Bishop interception, and ultimately a playoff win. #BillsMafia

[Gio, PhD @giogarufi]

Whoever created phineas and ferb is a genius

[The Footy Section @FTBLsection]

In the 2016 season, Roma was losing 1-2 against Sampdoria. The match was suspended due to a torrential rain at the Olimpico in Rome. Both teams and the referees went to the locker room as the game was about to be called off. However, Francesco Totti continued warming up on the field, just in case he was called to play.

The match resumed, Totti came on, provided the assist for the equaliser at 2-2, and then scored the winning goal for a final 3-2 victory.

[Lega Serie A @SerieA]

Dybala e Mancini con Daniele De Rossi 🥹
#RomaGenoa

[Rob Perez @WorldWideWob]

Cup Banner going to look beautiful up here

[Raheem Mostert @RMos_8Ball]

Last day to vote me into the #ProBowl2026 — a repost counts as 2 votes today! Thank you!! 🙏🏾 #ProBowlVote + Raheem Mostert @RMos_8Ball

[Thor Fauci @thorntonfauci]

Someone threw up in the urinal

[TREQUARTISTA @TatticaPassata]

Stop what you are doing and watch this.

[Nick Watts 🇺🇸 @NickWatts]

Why is the reaction always “this is bad leadership” “this is why he fell in the draft”

and not “wow, this is really impressive mime work” and “his miming technique is flawless”

[TREQUARTISTA @TatticaPassata]

Francesco Totti - Freekicks

[TREQUARTISTA @TatticaPassata]

Francesco Totti - Shot Technique

[Football Italia @footballitalia]

Radja Nainggolan insists he is not a fan of comparisons with Napoli’s Scott McTominay and Rasmus Hojlund, or Roma’s Manu Koné. ‘I was something else in my prime, come on!’

#Napoli #MUFC #ASRoma #Fiorentina #Juventus #SerieA #Calcio

[Gio, PhD @giogarufi]

TYLER BASS. WE’RE GOOD. MATT PRATER IS HERE.

[TREQUARTISTA @TatticaPassata]

A Passing Masterclass by Francesco Totti against the MLS All-Stars in July 2013.

[DiscussingFilm @DiscussingFilm]

A new ‘CARS’ series is in the works for Disney Jr.

Owen Wilson and Larry the Cable Guy will reprise their roles as Lightning McQueen and Mater.

[TREQUARTISTA @TatticaPassata]

Francesco Totti - EURO 2000

[TREQUARTISTA @TatticaPassata]

In those 4 seasons Totti was 33-37.