FIFA World Cup Star 1934: Guiseppe Meazza
| Probably every football enthusiast knows the “Guiseppe Meazza Stadium” in Milan. This fantastic arena got its name from Guiseppe “Peppino” Meazza, one of the greatest personalities of Italian football. | 
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| Born on August 23, 1910, Meazza was a through and through,
true-blue Milaner, and the great idol of the Tifosi in the successful
1930s of the last century. The fans of the “Squadra Azzurra” even
forgave Guiseppe Meazza his moves from elite club Inter Milan to the
workers’ club AC Milan, and back to Inter. At the age of 13, Meazza admired AC Milan, but because of his slight knock-knees he was rejected by them. But he was received with open arms by Inter, although at first he was used to fill a gap in defence instead of being allowed to follow his attacking inclinations. It was to the great fortune of Italian football that Inter’s junior coach later corrected that mistake. Meazza became a genial and very successful football player. The man with the black, sternly combed-back hair was an elegant, but also very effective forward with a marked sense for goals. |
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| He became a FIFA World Cup™ champion with Italy in 1934 and
1938, was the best goal scorer in the Seria A (1930, 1936, 1938), twice
won both the World Club Cup (1930, 1935) and the Italian title (1930,
1938), and the Italian Cup once (1939) with Inter Milan. Meazza also
played with Juventus Turin, Varese and Bergamo. He scored a legendary
308 goals (287 for Inter) in a total of 476 first division matches (408
of them with Inter). “Goals à la Meazza” has become a popular saying
with Italian football fans. Guiseppe Meazza began his senior career at the age of 17 with Inter Milan and the Hungarian coach Weisz. Then the pink sports newspaper “Gazzetta dello Sport” wrote enthusiastically: “We remember the fresh, intelligent and skilful play of the young, small Meazza, a young reserve of high quality”. Two years later the attacker had become the top goal scorer. Goalkeeper Gaviorno from Novara once proclaimed after an 8-0 thrashing by Inter: “This Meazza is no centre forward, this Meazza is a demon”. The “goal demon” earned 53 caps for Italy in which he scored 33 goals. “Peppino” made his international debut against Austria in Vienna (2-1 defeat) on March 20, 1932, and played his last international match against Finland (3-2) in Helsinki on July 20, 1939. As an inside and centre forward the Italian kicked his team to the 1934 FIFA World Cup™ title at home and was elected into the All-Star Team. In the team of the legendary football coach and sports journalist Vittorio Pozzo, Meazza was the most important player besides Schiavio and Orsi. He scored two goals in five matches, and assisted Schiavio’s score for 2-1 in the 96th minute, extra time, against Czechoslovakia in the final in Rome. But he should have been sent off in the 58th minute for a punch to the liver of his opponent Krcil. Due to additional successes with his club, 1938 proved an even more successful year for Meazza. He won the national championship with Inter Milan, became best goal scorer for the third time and retained Italy’s FIFA World Cup™ title in France. Graceful Meazza, who was just 1.69m tall and weighed 73kg, was once again among the most outstanding FIFA World Cup™ players. “Peppino” not only proved his scoring qualities (3 FIFA World Cup™ goals) but had developed into the “team head”, performing as a “hanging” forward to direct the Italian strategies. After the FIFA World Cup™ tournament, Silvio Piola, the team’s new centre forward, paid his colleague the compliment of being responsible for his own good performance: “At the FIFA World Cup™, I mainly lived off Meazza and Ferrari”. |
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It was a bitter blow for Meazza when he suffered an accident shortly after his second FIFA World Cup victory which forced him to rest for almost a year. After that, the blood circulation in his left foot was dysfunctional. Only an operation alleviated the problems. But the attacker never got back to his old self. After his retirement, Meazza was a recognised sports journalist and a successful youth coach with Inter Milan.
Meazza was one of the first professionals to earn a lot of money from football. But he spent it as fast as it came in. He was a man who lived for the day. There was not much left of his fortune for his old age. Meazza died on August 21, 1979, at the age of 69. The Italian nation mourned him. Shortly after his death the Milan Stadium, until then called “San Siro” after its city district, was re-named “Guiseppe Meazza Stadium”. “Meazza” also has a special meaning for many German football fans. It was at this stadium where the German national team gained four victories and a draw in the group matches and quarter-finals on the road to their 1990 FIFA World Cup victory.
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