5 – Fabio Grosso
Some players are defined by a single tournament. Italian singer Fabrizio De André coined a couplet that is now famous all over the peninsula, “come tutte le piú belle cose, / vivesti solo un giorno, come le rose” (like all the most beautiful things, / you lived a single day, like the roses). Such is the story of Fabio Grosso, a powerful, speedy but technically rather ordinary fullback who nonetheless flanks Fabio Cannavaro as the best Italian player of the Germany 2006 World Cup.
Grosso started the 2006 tournament in a low key, but grew slowly to put in some fabulous performances. His contributions were enormous both defending and coming forwards, and he earned both the penalty that allowed Italy to pass the round-of-sixteen, and the goal that sanctioned the victory against Germany in the semi-final. He crowned it all by scoring the last penalty against France, putting his signature on Italy’s victorious campaign.
Grosso also played in Euro 2008, but he never attained his previous heights. Like Paolo Rossi in 1982, he is remembered almost exclusively for that one tournament, and rightly so, because he was superb. In terms of human interest, it is unlikely that anyone else on this list – whatever the department – had a fairy-tale as beautiful as his own, which starts from the lower leagues of Serie C2 and rises slowly to the summits of the world.
