Vinnie Grella isn’t the name on most Socceroo fans’ lips when it comes to their favourite player. But as he told FourFourTwo, he’s not in it for the fame. A couple of trophies will do
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Of the 23-man World Cup squad, there were just three Italy-based players (Grella, Bresciano and Zeljko Kalac), with the bulk of the team having carved out their careers in England. Australia’s football diet has naturally been dominated by the English game – simply because it’s been more consistently available on TV.
But while Kewell and the gang chased the bright lights of the English Premier League, it was always Italy, and its technical demands, that was the pot at the end of the rainbow for the young Grella and Bresciano.
Grella is now captain at Parma, even if he plays his role down saying he is
a “Sunday fill-in”, but still has hopes of one day running out for a bigger side. And surprisingly, that may not necessarily be in Italy…
“Everyone would like to be at AC Milan at 20-years-old. But you need to be able to play at a team like that… you need a certain level of experience and you need a certain level of personality. And I don’t think I could have played at a bigger club than Parma and Empoli before now but I think these past two years have been crucial for me. I think I’ve taken a little step up. I may be out of my league at an AC Milan or an Inter Milan but the next notch under that, I reckon I’m up for.
“I’m probably staying at Parma this year – it’ll be another important season for me just to get just that little bit more experience. At your AC Milans and these types of clubs, it would not be easy to play regularly there. Whether you play is based on so many factors. It’s the coach, what players are available at the time… it could be so many things.”
Could we even possibly see him leaving the highly-regarded Serie A to join the England-based Australians?
“As the years are passing, I’m opening my eyes a little more to the English league. I’ve always been a bit biased towards Italy. What’s happened over a few years (here) has maybe suffocated the league a little bit, maybe taken away little bit of its prestige.
“The dream is always to play for the best. I never dreamed of playing for Empoli, even though I’m so grateful for the opportunity that they gave me and for what they taught me. It’s actually a place where I have a house and I spend a lot of my time there and I love the place. The people around the club are unbelievable, but I never dreamed of playing in a club like that. I always dreamed of playing at an AC Milan, a Juventus. But I’ll never say never,” he says.
Aside from making his living in Italy, Grella has obvious deeper connections there. His family background is Italian and his wife Barbara is Italian.
But amongst all the golden moments produced during the World Cup, it’s the most infamous one that overshadows them all: being knocked out by Italy. Australians’ reactions were suitably mixed with feelings of being stunned, angry and sad but little has been reported about what the word ‘on the street’ was in Italy following that match.
Grella is blunt in his assessment and as if he were a boxer, FourFourTwo reckons he’s itching for a re-match.
“Well, to be fair, I sort of closed my ears for a while,” Grella reveals. “But they don’t talk about our game much. They don’t talk about any game much. They really only talk about the fact they are world champions and that’s it. They don’t comment on the games. And they don’t comment on the penalty. Nothing.”
Bresciano and Grella’s careers have now splintered after previously being an inseparable double act. They first played together at Carlton, before turning out for Empoli and Parma. This season, Bresciano has made a high-profile move to Palermo and his form is at an all-time high. After his spectacular goal against Bahrain in Sydney, Bresciano has become a regular scorer for Palermo – scoring one and setting up the other in the recent 2-0 win over AC Milan.
Parma on the other hand, are in the bottom-half of the table and their financial outlook is still bleak.
“It’s a lot different without Mark, because we are missing him on Sunday. We’re not just missing him, we lost six important players from last year from the starting XI.
“Obviously, I’m not really authorised to say, but the financial problems are taking longer than what everyone thought and that’s not helping us. But we are missing him.”
But while Kewell and the gang chased the bright lights of the English Premier League, it was always Italy, and its technical demands, that was the pot at the end of the rainbow for the young Grella and Bresciano.
Grella is now captain at Parma, even if he plays his role down saying he is
a “Sunday fill-in”, but still has hopes of one day running out for a bigger side. And surprisingly, that may not necessarily be in Italy…
“Everyone would like to be at AC Milan at 20-years-old. But you need to be able to play at a team like that… you need a certain level of experience and you need a certain level of personality. And I don’t think I could have played at a bigger club than Parma and Empoli before now but I think these past two years have been crucial for me. I think I’ve taken a little step up. I may be out of my league at an AC Milan or an Inter Milan but the next notch under that, I reckon I’m up for.
“I’m probably staying at Parma this year – it’ll be another important season for me just to get just that little bit more experience. At your AC Milans and these types of clubs, it would not be easy to play regularly there. Whether you play is based on so many factors. It’s the coach, what players are available at the time… it could be so many things.”
Could we even possibly see him leaving the highly-regarded Serie A to join the England-based Australians?
“As the years are passing, I’m opening my eyes a little more to the English league. I’ve always been a bit biased towards Italy. What’s happened over a few years (here) has maybe suffocated the league a little bit, maybe taken away little bit of its prestige.
“The dream is always to play for the best. I never dreamed of playing for Empoli, even though I’m so grateful for the opportunity that they gave me and for what they taught me. It’s actually a place where I have a house and I spend a lot of my time there and I love the place. The people around the club are unbelievable, but I never dreamed of playing in a club like that. I always dreamed of playing at an AC Milan, a Juventus. But I’ll never say never,” he says.
Aside from making his living in Italy, Grella has obvious deeper connections there. His family background is Italian and his wife Barbara is Italian.
But amongst all the golden moments produced during the World Cup, it’s the most infamous one that overshadows them all: being knocked out by Italy. Australians’ reactions were suitably mixed with feelings of being stunned, angry and sad but little has been reported about what the word ‘on the street’ was in Italy following that match.
Grella is blunt in his assessment and as if he were a boxer, FourFourTwo reckons he’s itching for a re-match.
“Well, to be fair, I sort of closed my ears for a while,” Grella reveals. “But they don’t talk about our game much. They don’t talk about any game much. They really only talk about the fact they are world champions and that’s it. They don’t comment on the games. And they don’t comment on the penalty. Nothing.”
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| Luca Toni wants Grella's no. 13 jersey |
Bresciano and Grella’s careers have now splintered after previously being an inseparable double act. They first played together at Carlton, before turning out for Empoli and Parma. This season, Bresciano has made a high-profile move to Palermo and his form is at an all-time high. After his spectacular goal against Bahrain in Sydney, Bresciano has become a regular scorer for Palermo – scoring one and setting up the other in the recent 2-0 win over AC Milan.
Parma on the other hand, are in the bottom-half of the table and their financial outlook is still bleak.
“It’s a lot different without Mark, because we are missing him on Sunday. We’re not just missing him, we lost six important players from last year from the starting XI.
“Obviously, I’m not really authorised to say, but the financial problems are taking longer than what everyone thought and that’s not helping us. But we are missing him.”
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