Top 10 Italy Strikers: 1998 – 2012 – Number 4

Date: 21st August 2012 at 8:55am
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4 – Stefano Fiore

We are going to take a great leap against canon and nominate a midfielder for the fourth position in our list of the decade’s best strikers. It is the boldest decision we choose to make over this series, but one we stand by: if Daniele De Rossi had played his entire Azzurri career as a central defender, as he did for some games in 2012, we would have placed him on the defenders’ list, regardless of the fact that he always played as a midfielder for his club.

Likewise Stefano Fiore, despite being a midfielder by pedigree, played his only significant tournament for the national team (discounting those pointless 132 minutes in Euro 2004) in a role that can only be described as that of a seconda punta.

The exegesis of the player is worth dwelling upon. Yes, nominally Fiore was playing as an offensive midfielder, next to the more defensive Angelo Di Livio and Luigi Di Biagio. But one of the things that made Dino Zoff’s 3-5-2 so unpredictable (and entertaining) was the way one of the two strikers, Francesco Totti, kept dropping back to play as trequartista, taking up Fiore’s midfield duties. Fiore, suddenly free, would then dive forward to widen space and support the prima punta, making the most of his excellent technical qualities. If you add this to the fact that he had almost no defensive duties whatsoever (the wingers doubled up as fullbacks, most memorably Paolo Maldini, to support the mediani and keep them from stretching too wide), it becomes unreasonable to see Fiore as anything but a striker, however wonderfully camouflaged.

And for a footballer asked to play in such an unusual manner, Fiore gave a superb interpretation, scoring a goal, dazzling defenders with his creativity and runs, taking part in every offensive manoeuvre Italy started, and sometimes outshining even Totti for the quality of his play. He is the one and only player of this decade who not only met but widely exceeded expectations in the role of the striker. Though almost nobody remembers him, he was a crucial cog in one of the most tactically fascinating Italian teams in modern football history, and for his originality, creativity and all-round outstanding performance in the tournament, we reward him with the fourth place.

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