Fabio Grosso

Fabio Grosso
	File:FabioGrosso.JPG
Personal information
Full name	Fabio Grosso
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position(s)	Left back, left wing
Team information
Current team	Inter
Number	11
	‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of October 15, 2006

Fabio Grosso (born November 28, 1977) is an Italian footballer who plays for Serie A team Internazionale and the Italian national football team, with whom he won the 2006 World Cup.

Club career

Grosso was born in Rome. After a number of seasons with Renato Curi (Pescara), an amateur team of the Abruzzo Eccellenza division, Grosso debuted at the professional level with Chieti of Serie C2. He then joined Perugia of Serie A in 2001, and was first capped for Italy in 2003. Grosso signed for Palermo in January 2004, when the Sicilian team was still playing in Serie B.

Grosso is a left back, who can play also in the role of left wing. He is also a free kick specialist.

Grosso joined Internazionale for a fee reported of € 5.5 million on 6 June 2006.

International career

Grosso is finally starting to establish himself in the Italy side having made his debut three years ago. The former Palermo defender has impressed at left-back and convinced coach Marcello Lippi to switch the experienced Gianluca Zambrotta to the opposite side of the backline. The 2006 World Cup was the 28-year-old's first major tournament.

Grosso's had two international goals - one came in a qualifying match for the 2006 World Cup, an equalizer in a 1-1 draw with Scotland at Hampden Park in Glasgow, and another one in the 2006 FIFA World Cup semifinal against Germany. He also scored the penalty kick that clinched Italy's fourth World Cup triumph, in the Final against France.

Grosso courted controversy in a match against Australia in the Round of 16 of the 2006 World Cup in Kaiserslautern, when he went down under a challenge from Lucas Neill inside the penalty area, winning a penalty in the final seconds of the match which was converted by Francesco Totti, giving Italy a 1-0 win. Australian coach Guus Hiddink said of the foul, "I don't think it was any doubt that it was not a penalty". Italian coach Marcello Lippi said Grosso had been fouled, while Grosso said, "I tried to avoid contact, I got past one defender but then my leg got stuck in between the other defender's legs and I had no option but to go down. My aim was to go all the way".

Grosso scored a goal in the 119th minute to put Italy through to the final over hosts Germany in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. This was the record breaking latest winning goal in the FIFA world cup finals history, only to be surpassed minutes later by Alessandro Del Piero. He has also become an Italian national sporting hero after scoring the fifth and final penalty shot against France in the shoot-out to win the final which gave the Italians their fourth World Cup title, making them the most successful European nation in FIFA World Cup history.

Trivia

His nickname is Grandioso, meaning "Great". This hints to the Italian meaning of "grosso" ("big").

External links