MILAN - It was 10 June 1934 when Italy beat Czechoslovakia 2-1 at Rome's
Stadio Nazionale to lift the second Jules Rimet trophy. Orsi and Schiavio
scored the goals for the Azzurri team coached by Vittorio Pozzo which had two
Ambrosiana-Inter representatives: full-back Luigi Allemandi (207 appearances
for Inter) and the legendary Giuseppe Meazza (408 appearances, 287 goals).
Also part of that Italy squad were Armando Castellazzi (261 appearances, 16
goals), and Attilio Demaria (295 appearances, 86 goals).
Pozzo's team retained the championship four years later on 19 June 1938, with
Colaussi and Piola both scoring twice in a 4-2 victory over Hungary in Paris.
Representing Inter on the pitch were Meazza, defender Ugo Locatelli (168
appearances, 1 goal), and striker Giovanni Ferrari (135 appearances, 33
goals). Pietro Ferraris, known as Ferraris II (162 appearances, 56 goals),
was on the bench.
Italy won their third World Cup 44 years later on 11 July 1982 with a 3-1
victory over West Germany at the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid, thanks to goals
from Rossi, Tardelli and Altobelli. Coached by Enzo Bearzot, who played 47
games for Inter between 1948 and 1957, the 1982 World Cup winning squad
contained six Inter players: Alessandro Altobelli (466 appearances, 209
goals), Giuseppe Bergomi (758 appearances, 28 goals), Ivano Bordon (382
appearances), Gabriele Oriali (392 appearances, 43 goals), Giampiero Marini
(375 appearances, 13 goals) and Fulvio Collovati (168 appearances, 7 goals),
who joined Inter from AC Milan just before the tournament.
Inter's World Cup winners at Italia '90 were the German trio of Andreas
Brehme (154 appearances, 12 goals), Jurgen Klinsmann (123 appearances, 40
goals) and Lothar Matthaeus (153 appearances, 53 goals). Brehme scored from
the penalty spot as Germany beat Argentina 1-0 in the final at the Stadio
Olimpico on 8 July 1990.
On 12 July 1998 it was the turn Youri Djorkaeff (127 appearances, 39 goals)
to taste World Cup glory as France beat Brazil 3-0 at the Stade Saint Denis
in Paris. Brazil made up for the 1998 defeat with a 2-0 win over Germany at
Korea/Japan 2002, Ronaldo (100 appearances, 59 goals) scoring both goals
before leaving Inter later that summer.
And last night, 9 July 2006. Italy-France: 6-4 after penalties. Marco
Materazzi (162 appearances, 8 goals), who scored in normal time and in the
penalty shoot-out against France in the final, and new signing Fabio Grosso,
who converted the decisive penalty to seal Italy's World Cup victory at the
Olympiastadion in Berlin.
Finally, a mention for fitness trainer Claudio Gaudino, a member of the Inter
coaching staff since 1999 and the Azzurri squad before and during the 2006
World Cup.
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