Juventini Eye Quiz Answers

By: alessio | November 11th, 2008

Nice work, ladies and gentlemen. While no one got all of answers correct, the group as a whole did well, and only missed out on one. If you haven’t taken the quiz yet, don’t scroll down any farther, head back here and take a look. Below are your answers:

#1- Giampiero Boniperti, aka Mr Juventus until Alex Del Piero. Only ever played for Juventus, from 1946-1961, 444 games, 178 goals. Not a bad record. Top scorer until Alex, and most caps until Scirea.

#2- Didier Deschamps, or the watercarrier, the strong central midfielder who spent 5 years in the mid 90s at Juventus, and perhaps just as important, coached us out of purgatory. Captained France to the 1998 World Cup win and Euro 2000 win, before retiring at age 32. Before rejoining Juventus, coached Monaco to the Champion’s League final beating then-Chelski coach Claudio Ranieri along the way. I’d like for him to return as coach someday.

#3- John Elkann, grandson of Gianni Agnelli and his successor at FIAT. The grandson who doesn’t do coke and have sex with trannies…at least publicly.

#4- Ciro Ferrara, proof that nice guys don’t always finish last. Unlucky with the Nazionale, but crowned with plenty of silverware during his 11-year stint with the Old Lady. The earlier 9 years of his amazing career were with Napoli. One of the youth coaches who helped develop our current class, and assistant coach to Marcello Lippi with the Nazionale. (He’s followed Lippi everywhere, from Napoli, to Juve, to the Nazionale)

#5- Pavel Nedved, la furia ceca. If his baby blues didn’t give it away, his beautiful golden curls visible might have. Moggi’s replacement for Zinedine Zidane. Despised by many, intensely loved by the rest. Won the European Footballer of the Year in 2003, he’s still soldiering on ably at the ripe old age of 36.

#6- Toto Schillaci, a striker from Palermo who played for Messina, Juventus, Inter, and some Japanese club in his career. The only one no one figured out, maybe because he only spent 3 years with the Bianconeri…he’s more famous for his role with the Nazionale and for the way he pleaded for rigori. Whoever said Jafar from Aladdin, that was a good one.

#7- Gaetano Scirea, widely considered to be one of the greatest defenders of all time for the all-conquering defending duo he formed with Claudio Gentile. According to Wikipedia, he was never sent off his entire career, no idea if it’s true or not. All-time caps holder after Boniperti and until Del Piero last year in the game against Milan. Tragically died in a car accident in Poland a year after he retired while working as a scout for La Vecchia Signora.

#8- Alessio Tacchinardi, as any visitor to this site knows, my favorite player of all time and namesake of my nick here on the Offside. Like Scirea, joined Juve at a young age, coming from Atalanta’s youth team. Currently without contract, I’m not sure if he’s planning to retire or attempt to find another club. Has one of the hottest WAGs out there.

#9- Giovanni Trapattoni, current manager of Ireland. Kind of Capello’s mirror image, he played almost his entire career with AC Milan but made his coaching name with Juventus, which he coached from 1976-1986, and 1991-1994. Like Capello, not the most popular coach, particularly after his experience from 2000-2004 with Italy. Coached about a billion teams inbetween, his coaching career is over 3 decades long. Gave a famous press conference while at Bayern Munich. I don’t speak a word of German, but even I can tell he’s butchering the accent, much less any of the translation.

#10- Igor Tudor, with Juventus for 9 years, and recently retired at the age of 30 after a plaguing ankle injury that had troubled him for years. You’re right, his eyes do look like Trez and Zizou. Signed from Hadjuk Split in 1998, he returned there last summer but couldn’t shake the problem. A great shame, he was a very good defender when healthy. (key word when, of course)

#11- Dino Zoff, most famous for captaining Italy to the WC win at age 40. (Gigi to match, perhaps?) Played at Juventus for over 300 matches, eventually became the team’s coach and coached Italy to the Euro 2000 finals where we lost from a terrific Treze-gol. One of Italy’s greatest keepers of all time. One of my favorite calcio pictures of all time is after the 1982 WC win, Zoff and a couple of other players are sitting in the plane playing scopa with the Coppa in the middle. If anyone has it or can find it, post it please!