After a year on the sidelines at Cagliari, Italy’s 2010 World Cup ‘keeper Federico Marchetti is getting back to his best at Lazio. Antonio Labbate writes on his extraordinary career.
It was chucking it down in Cassola, the small northern Italian town in the province of Vicenza. If ever there was cats and dogs weather then this was it. The impending game wasn't called off, but the Coach had some last minute selection problems.
The regular goalkeeper was one of a number of teenagers who hadn't been allowed out into the wet, windy and muddy conditions by their over protective Italian mothers. “Who wants to go in goal?” desperately asked the tactician. “I'll give it a go,” responded the side's 13-year-old striker.
“That's when I fell in love with the position,” says Lazio custodian Federico Marchetti. “The role of the goalkeeper is a fascinating one. You're the side's last man, you are all alone and you can't afford to make any mistakes.”
Today Marchetti is one of Serie A's most in-form net-minders, but his career, indeed his life, has been far from simple. In March 2005, while travelling with two Pro Vercelli teammates, their car was involved in an accident that saw it burst into flames. Miraculously they all survived and he remembered the incident by having the Hail Mary prayer tattooed to his arm.
“When you stare death in the face, it leaves something inside of you forever,” he states. “It was a terrible experience which I will always remember. I lost two friends in a previous road accident and I thought I would end up the same way. Someone up there is looking after me.”
Having nearly lost his life, Marchetti almost threw away his career soon after. Torino's financial collapse temporarily left him without a club and the youngster was ready to quit altogether. He hung in there though and everything changed following his €500 move – that's not a typo – to Albinoleffe.
Marchetti admits that it was his time with the Bergamo minnows where he started his dramatic rise to the very top. Two seasons in Serie B with Albinoleffe were enough to attract the attention of First Division outfit Cagliari. Then in 2010, five years after asking Gianluigi Buffon for an autograph in a Turin restaurant, he replaced the Juventus custodian during Italy's opening World Cup game.
In all honesty, Marchetti struggled to perform under the pressure of filling in for Gigi. The fact that he was also playing behind one of the worst Italian sides to ever take part in a World Cup didn’t help either. Yet the goalkeeper was still a wanted man on the transfer market once he returned to the peninsula and he thought it was time to better himself.
“I had high hopes of joining Sampdoria, but in the end I cost too much,” he told the Gazzetta dello Sport. “It’s normal to be ambitious. I wanted to improve, a new challenge, the chance to grow in the Champions League. But I have strong feelings for Cagliari.”
It was an interview which didn’t go down too well with Cagliari chief Massimo Cellino or some of the fans, who subsequently heckled him during his first pre-season outing. “It would have been better if he had told me his wishes first,” stated the Rossoblu patron. “I didn’t like reading such things in the newspapers.”
What followed was somewhat bizarre. The club took the extraordinary decision of freezing the player out of the first team squad and then refusing to sell him. Although later being publically re-integrated into the set-up, he was then omitted from the first team for tactical reasons which whiffed of a cover up in order to safeguard the club from punishment.
In the space of a matter of weeks, Marchetti had gone from Italy’s first choice goalkeeper at the World Cup to a reserve for Michael Agazzi. “My client was punished for not being a hypocrite,” stated agent Beppe Bozzo.
Marchetti, though, is not one to hold grudges. He may have lost a year of his career through no real fault of his own, but he knew that life would eventually offer him new opportunities. He was well aware that he would get his chance to move on in the summer of 2011.
“I paid a high price for having a dream of playing in the Champions League with Sampdoria,” he adds. “There was a misunderstanding, but I owe Cagliari and President Cellino a lot. They believed in me and I’ll never forget that.”
Marchetti was paired with a number of clubs over the summer. Milan and Juve made contact with his representative, but swapping one bench role for another made no sense. He needed first team football and Lazio duly obliged by selling Fernando Muslera to Galatasaray and paying the €5.2m release clause in Federico’s Cagliari contract.
It was the end of a nightmare, but it would take some time for the goalkeeper to familiarize himself with his own ability. You can’t just get rid of nine months’ rustiness with a magic wand – you need help. Step forward Adalberto Grigioni, Lazio’s goalkeeping Coach who was transformed into Marchetti’s shadow during pre-season.
It has taken a fair few weeks for the 28-year-old to rediscover the assuredness that a Serie A ‘keeper needs, but there is no doubt he’s now found that. His performance in the 0-0 draw at Napoli was of the highest quality – he himself said it was amongst the top three of his career – the Biancocelesti faithful are, albeit prematurely, hailing him as the heir to Angelo Peruzzi and he’s dreaming of an Azzurri recall.
“I’m working hard to get back into the international set-up as I really miss it,” he admits. “I want to give boss Cesare Prandelli some selection problems. I’ve never been to Poland or the Ukraine, perhaps I’ll go at the right time…”
On current form Marchetti is certainly in with a great chance of being one of the three goalkeepers that eventually go to Euro 2012. But, even if he doesn’t make it, you get the feeling that the custodian won’t throw in the towel. He’ll just set himself a new target.
“I left home at the age of 14 and a lot has happened to me since then,” he adds. “The important thing is to never give up. With professionalism and sacrifices, your values and the truth will always rise to the top.” Rain or shine, Marchetti will be ready for anything.
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