International Career
Inzaghi earned his first cap for Italy against Brazil on 8 June 1997, and provided an assist to Del Piero. Italy went on to tie 3–3. He has since scored 25 goals in 57 appearances. He was called up for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Euro 2000, the 2002 FIFA World Cup and the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Inzaghi was Italy's top goalscorer during the qualifying rounds of the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004, but missed the latter due to injury.
His persistent knee and ankle injuries put a halt to his international play for almost two years before his resurgence at the club level, which resulted in his being called up by Italy coach Marcello Lippi for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals. Due to the abundance of other top strikers such as Alessandro Del Piero, Francesco Totti and Luca Toni, Inzaghi made his only appearance (subbing on for Alberto Gilardino) in a group stage match against the Czech Republic on 22 June 2006, scoring his only goal in the tournament, rounding Petr Čech in a one-on-one encounter to net in Italy's second goal, which made him the oldest player to have scored for Italy in a World Cup.
He is currently the sixth-highest goalscorer in team history with 25 goals, which ties him with Adolfo Baloncieri and Alessandro Altobelli.
Inzaghi is noted for his ability to play off the shoulders of the last defender, leading Sir Alex Ferguson to quip, "That lad must have been born offside."
Read more about this topic: Filippo Inzaghi
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