Enzo Bearzot was born on September 26, 1927 at Joannis near Udine.
He had a decent playing career as a defender, mainly with Torino, and won 1 Italian cap.
It was as a manager however that he would become an Italian national legend as the coach who led Italy to the 1982 World Cup triumph. Despite only having coached Prato, Bearzot moved into the Football Federation ranks and, after being in charge of the Under 23's, he became head coach of the national team in 1975.
He remained for 11 long years taking Italy to 4th Place in the 1978 World Cup in Argentina and winning the top prize in Spain in 1982. His last was a disappointing and tired campaign in Mexico 1986. He led Italy from the bench a total of 88 times with 40 wins, 26 draws and 22 losses.
Bearzot, known as “Il Vecio” (Vecchio - old man), was highly regarded for his tactical prowess and versatility. To the greater public he was famous for his pipe smoking, a habit he shared with the then President of the Republic, Sandro Pertini. So assiduous was Bearzot's habit that his mouth movements appeared to be puffing even when his beloved pipe was nowhere to be seen. It is in fact a photograph of Bearzot, alongside Pertini, Dino Zoff (legendary captain) and the “Baron” Franco Causio, playing cards on the plane returning from Spain with the World Cup trophy on the table, which has become one of the most iconic images in Italian popular culture.
In connection with Lazio he will be remembered for his stubbornness in not calling up Lionello Manfredonia and especially Bruno Giordano, easily the best striker of his generation. Bearzot tended to favour players from the northern teams (there was the famous Juventus base) and in fact Vincenzo D'Amico was only capped in the year he spent playing for Torino. Another black spot on his career was not qualifying for the 1984 European Championships, as World Cup holders.
To be fair to Bearzot however, he did pull off one of Italy's greatest feats winning the biggest prize of all, the 1982 World Cup.
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