Sandro Mazzola - Italy National Football Team

Italy National Football Team

Mazzola also played 70 times for Italy, scoring 22 goals. His debut for the national side was against Brazil on 12 May 1963, when he was aged only 20 and scored from a penalty. Mazzola played for his country at the 1966, 1970, and 1974 FIFA World Cups. His biggest achievement came in 1968 when Italy won the 1968 European Championship. Two years later, Italy arrived at the World Cup in Mexico as favorite. The Italian coach Ferruccio Valcareggi believed that Sandro Mazzola could not play together on the pitch at the same time with other Italian star player Gianni Rivera. By second round, he devised a solution he called "staffetta" (relay) to play both players. Mazzola would start in the first half while Rivera would come in at half time. With this strategy, Italy reached the Final against Pelé's Brazil for the first time in 32 years. The match was billed as the battle between offensive and defensive football, but on game day, Ferruccio Valcareggi abandoned his "staffetta" policy and only used Mazzola until the very end. Gianni Rivera finally went into the game with 8 minutes to go. Two of Italy's biggest stars finally united together on the pitch where many people believed they should have been all along, but it was too late. Brazil won 4-1.

Four years later, Ferruccio Valcareggi finally used the two together, but Italy was an aging side losing in the first round (group stage).