I LOVE AZZURRI :: Giuseppe Meazza

Full Name :Giuseppe Meazza
Date Of Birth:August 23, 1910
Place of Birth:Rapallo, Italy
Date Of Death:August 21, 1979 (aged 68)
Height:1.69 m (5 ft 6+1⁄2 in)
Position:Striker
National Career:1963-1972(?)
Caps:53 (33)

Giuseppe Meazza (August 23, 1910–August 21, 1979) was an Italian footballer playing mainly for Inter in the 1930s, scoring 243 goals in 361 games for the club. He is still considered by many to be one of the greatest Italian players of all-time as well as the greatest Italian forward of all time. He was a great leader with superb shooting, unreal dribbling and an eye for the pass.
Meazza was the first Italian football player who became famous worldwide, and was the first player with personal sponsors. He was also famous for sleeping at a brothel the night before a match.
San Siro, the principal stadium in his native city of Milan, which is today shared by Internazionale and crosstown rivals AC Milan, is now officially called Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.

Club Career
Meazza still holds the record for the most goals scored in a debut season in Serie A, with 31 goals in his first season (1929-30). The year before, when Serie A didn't exist, and the Italian Championship was composed of 2 leagues (North and Central-South) with playoffs, Meazza played 29 matches, scoring 38 goals at the age of 18 years.
He won 3 national championships with Inter (re-christened Ambrosiana under

Fascist law) in 1930, 1938 and 1940, and was runner-up in 1933, 1934 and 1935; the Italian Cup in 1939; and was top-scorer of Serie A 3 times (1930, 1936, 1938). He was also top-scorer in the pre-Serie A year of 1929. Later in his career he played also with A.C. Milan, Juventus and Atalanta Bergamo.

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International Career
Meazza played for Italy in the 1934 and 1938 World Cups, both of which Italy won.
Among his memorable moments is a goal he scored in the 1938 tournament against Brazil in the semi-final. Italy were awarded a controversial penalty and as Meazza stepped up to take it, his shorts fell down. Meazza, without letting this stress him, held his shorts up and shot past the confused Brazilian keeper Walter, sending Italy through to the final.
Meazza won 2 Central European International Cup titles, in the 1930 and 1935. That cup was a 3 year international tournament between the strongest national teams of central and eastern Europe.
He played 53 times with Italy and lost just 6 matches.

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Honours
Club
Inter Nazionale
Serie A: 1930, 1938, 1940 (3 Titles)
Coppa Italia: 1939
Italy National Team
Central European Cup: 1930, 1935 (2 Titles)
FIFA World Cup: 1934, 1938 (2 Titles)
Individual
Serie A Top Scorer: 1930, 1936, 1938 (3 Times) Meazza is still today the third top-scorer ever in the Italian Championship. With 33 goals, Meazza is still the the Italian national team's second highest scorer, behind only Luigi Riva.

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