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ON VIERI'S TRACKS . From the other end of the world. Indeed, the history of Christian Vieri, at present the most famous and also the most paid centre forward in Italy, begins in Australia. Few people will certainly know that his adventure that led him to reach the top started in Australia, where his father Roberto moved at the end of his career to exploit his talent in a country where football was still not very popular. Vieri was born in Bologna, but at 3 his family moves to Melbourne, where his father, who in Italy was called "Bobo", begins to play with Zebra's Thomastown, a small football club at the outskirts of the city. Yet, the little Christian does not seem to love soccer too much and, following his playmates, he mainly plays cricket, a national sport in Australia. He starts to play football when his father moves to Sydney to play with Marconi, the football team that represents the wide Italian community in the first league. Tony La Bozzetta, the boss of the team, decides to keep Bobo with him at the end of his career, as the new team trainer. Bobo takes his son with him onto the playground, but he is not too good at playing football, being not too talented. Christian loves enjoying himself, riding the bike with his friends but mainly playing tricks on older boys with Attilio, the son of Marconi's president, who is still one of his best friends. Then there is the school, which the Bolognese boy certainly does not love too much. At the Priory High School, he always sits in the front row, so his teachers can tick him off when his natural restlessness takes him to exaggerate. And his reports, which I personally saw, have also some noughts in those subjects where there is a lot of theory but no practice. School life is too static for a boy who already thinks of discos and also to the first affairs. Indeed, little Vieri starts his Australian career in making advances to the opposite sex rather than as an athlete. At Marconi, very few people think that this boy from Italy will manage to make a name for himself with football. At this point his parents, who are mainly concerned about their son's discipline and education, decide to send him back to his country of origin. In Italy there are still his grandparents, who live in Leghorn, and it is right here where the football history of the centre forward playing with Inter will start. Yet, like many other immigrants, Vieri leaves his heart in Australia and obviously he makes a lot of phonecalls in tears to his parents. He also frequently calls his friend Attilio, who keeps him informed about his old playmates.  This strong bond keeps growing hand in hand with Vieri's career as a football player. And it still lasts today, now that Vieri is among the best scorers in the history of the Italian football team, while Attilio owns a restaurant in Sydney, in Darling Point, the bay of the city that will host the Olympic Games of the new millennium. The name of the restaurant? It is easy to guess: "Vieri's". Paolo Ghisoni

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