Giuseppe Rossi

Personal information
Full name	Giuseppe Rossi
Date of birth	February 1, 1987 (1987-02-01) (age 22)
Place of birth	Teaneck, New Jersey, United States
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing position	Second striker
Club information
Current club	Villarreal
Number	22
Youth career
2000–2004	Parma
2004–2006	Manchester United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2005–2007	Manchester United	5	(1)
2006	→ Newcastle United (loan)	11	(0)
2007	→ Parma (loan)	19	(9)
2007–	Villarreal	68	(26)
Total		103	(36)
National team‡
2003	Italy U-16	5	(3)
2003–2004	Italy U-17	14	(6)
2004–2005	Italy U-18	3	(0)
2006–2008	Italy U-21	22	(11)
2008–	Italy	14	(3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:55, 22 November 2009 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 19:04, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Giuseppe Rossi (born February 1, 1987) is an association football player who plays for the Spanish club Villarreal as a second striker. He was born in Teaneck, New Jersey, in the United States, and has dual American and Italian citizenship; he made his debut for Italy in October 2008, scoring his first international goal in June 2009.

Early life

Rossi was born to Italian immigrant parents in Teaneck, New Jersey in the United States; his father, Fernando Rossi, coached soccer and taught Italian and Spanish at Clifton High School. His mother, Cleonilde Rossi, was also a language teacher at Clifton.^[1]

Club career

Early career

When offered a spot on the youth team of Parma, Rossi and his father moved to Italy until Manchester United bought his contract when he was 17.^[2] He scored a long range effort for Manchester United in a 3–1 win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.^[3]

At the start of the 2006–07 season, Rossi moved to Newcastle United on loan until January 1, 2007, where he was expected to gain some first team experience. He made his home debut on September 24, 2006.^[4] Rossi scored his only Newcastle goal in his first start on October 25, 2006, against Portsmouth in a Carling Cup Third Round tie at St James' Park.^[5]

For the second half of the season, he was again loaned out, this time to his former club, Parma.^[6] Scoring nine goals in 19 league appearances,^[7] he helped the club escape the threat of relegation.

Villarreal

On July 31, 2007, Manchester United confirmed Rossi had been sold to Spanish club Villarreal for an undisclosed fee, reportedly around £6.6 million (€10 million).^[8][9] However, a clause was added to Rossi's Villarreal contract that allows Manchester United to re-purchase him at a later date.^[10] He scored his first goal for Villarreal on his debut against Valencia on August 26, 2007.^[11] In his second season with Villarreal, Rossi had scored 12 goals in 30 league appearances, along with three goals in eight Champions League appearances.^[12]

International career

Rossi has represented Italy at almost every youth level from U-16 to U-21. In 2006, he was invited to a pre-World Cup training camp with the United States national team by then-coach Bruce Arena but declined, stating his desire to play for Italy. He was called up for the 2007 Euro U-21 by head coach Pierluigi Casiraghi. He scored four goals at the 2008 Summer Olympics, making him the top scorer for the tournament, despite only reaching the quarter final.

Italian national football team manager Marcello Lippi has stated that should Rossi have been fit, he would have received a call-up for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers in September 2008.^[13] Rossi was called up to the Italy squad in October 2008, making his debut for the national team as a second half substitute against Bulgaria on October 11. Rossi scored his first goal for the Italian national team on June 6, 2009, in a friendly against Northern Ireland, at Pisa's Arena Garibaldi.^[14] He also scored 2 goals against the USA in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup on June 15th 2009, in South Africa.^[15]

International goals

Scores and results list. Italy's goal tally is listed first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	6 June 2009	Arena Garibaldi, Pisa, Italy	Northern Ireland	1–0	3–0	Friendly
2	15 June 2009	Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Praetoria, South Africa	United States	1–1	3–1	2009 FIFA Confederations Cup
3				3–1

Honours

Manchester United

• Football League Cup: 2005–06

References

External links

• Giuseppe Rossi - Official Website
• Villareal Official squad profile
• Giuseppe Rossi career stats at Soccerbase
• BBC profile
• Goal.com profile

v • d • e Italy squad – 2008 Summer Olympics 1 Viviano • 2 Motta • 3 De Ceglie • 4 Nocerino • 5 Cigarini • 6 Criscito • 7 Montolivo • 8 Marchisio • 9 Rocchi • 10 Giovinco • 11 Rossi • 12 Dessena • 13 Coda • 14 Acquafresca • 15 Bocchetti • 16 De Silvestri • 17 Abate • 18 Consigli • 20 Candreva • 21 Russotto • Coach: Casiraghi

v • d • e Italy squad – 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup 1 Buffon • 2 Santon • 3 Grosso • 4 Chiellini • 5 Cannavaro • 6 Legrottaglie • 7 Pepe • 8 Gattuso • 9 Toni • 10 De Rossi • 11 Gilardino • 12 De Sanctis • 13 Gamberini • 14 Amelia • 15 Iaquinta • 16 Camoranesi • 17 Rossi • 18 Palombo • 19 Zambrotta • 20 Montolivo • 21 Pirlo • 22 Dossena • 23 Quagliarella • Coach: Lippi