Abby Wambach
Full name: Mary Abigail Wambach
Born: 2 June 1980 in Rochester, New York (USA)
Position: Forward
Nationality: USA
Height: 1,80m
Weight: 73kg
Clubs: 2002-2003: Washington Freedom.
Since 2003: USA women’s national team.
Honours: 2004: 4th place in the voting for the FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year.
2007: adidas Silver Shoe at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2007. 122 international matches for the USA, 98 goals. Miscellaneous: At the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2007, Wambach scored six goals in six matches, despite needing 11 stitches in her head after a collision with Korea DPR’s Ri Kum-Suk in the USA’s first match of the tournament. In the quarter-final against England, Wambach became the twentieth US woman and thirtieth US footballer overall to reach the 100-cap mark.

20 Questions 20 Answers
1. What does football mean to you?
It has allowed me to continue to play in a child-like manner at a professional level. It has allowed me to effect positive changes in the world.
2. Which club did you support as a child?
I was a fan of the NFL, the National Football League (American football). In soccer, I was a fan of the USA’s men’s national team. I loved watching those guys play. I watched the Switzerland v. USA match at the 1994 FIFA World Cup™ in my home country.
3. Did you ever have an idol?
I idolised a lot of the women’s national team players: April Heinrichs, Michelle Akers, Mia Hamm. Not only my idols, but my team-mates.
4. What is your fondest footballing memory?
I would say getting a gold medal wrapped around my neck in Athens alongside the pioneering women who paved the way for me.
5. What has been your biggest disappointment in football?
To date, probably the 2007 Women’s World Cup. It felt this was my first real chance as a leader of this team to make an impact. Unfortunately, it was a third-place medal, not what I was hoping for.
6. If you had not become a footballer, what would you have become?
When I retire, I will hopefully do a lot of things. I want to walk the Appalachian Trail and get to the summit of Mount Everest. I would like to help people and be a role model.
7. What is your favourite type of music?
I like to listen to more mellow music. Stuff that’s more reflective.
8. And your favourite book?
“A New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle
9. Your favourite film?
“Braveheart”
10. Which is your favourite city?
Probably San Francisco.
11. What is your favourite food?
Steak – medium rate.
12. What is your favourite hobby?
Right now, reading books and playing the guitar.
13. What do you spend most of your money on?
My mortgage.
14. What was your first job?
Women’s professional soccer player.
15. Who has been the most influential figure in world history?
Each individual.
16. What are you scared of?
Snakes.
17. What was the worst moment in your life?
My first heartbreak.
18. How do you see the future of the world?
At times I feel scared for the future, but mostly happy about the moment right now.
19. Where would you like to go on holiday?
Somewhere warm and tropical.
20. Whom would you most like to meet?
The Dalai Lama.
YES OR NO?
Are you superstitious? Yes
taly defend their title at the 2010 FIFA World Cup™? No
Have you ever cried in the dressing room? Yes
Is Marta currently the best female player in the world? Yes
Do you wantto become a coach one day? Yes

Gabriel Batistuta
Nickname: “Bati”, “Batigol”
Date of birth; 1 February 1969 in Reconquista, Argentina
Nationality: Argentinian and Italian
Clubs: 1988-1989: Newell’s Old Boys (28 matches, 8 goals). 1989-1990: River Plate (24 matches, 4 goals). 1990-1991: Boca Juniors (47 matches, 19 goals). 1991-2000: Fiorentina (332 matches, 207 goals). 2000-2002: Roma (86 matches, 33 goals). 2003: Inter Milan (12 matches, 2 goals). 2003-2005: Al-Arabi (Qatar; 26 matches, 26 goals).
Honours: 1990: Argentinian league champion. 1991: Copa America winner, player of the year in South America. 1993: Copa America winner. 1994: played in the FIFA World Cup™ in the USA (4 matches, 4 goals). 1996: Italian cup winner. 1998: played in the FIFA World Cup™ in France (5 matches, 5 goals). 2001: Italian league champion. 2002: played in the FIFA World Cup™ in Korea/Japan (3 matches, 1 goal). 78 caps and 56 goals for Argentina.

“Batigol” does not miss football
As handsome as ever, now with a goatee, and always well dressed, like a model. This is former football star Gabriel Batistuta at 39, who now says he does not miss the sport.
No, no, I’m in Argentina now, I’m here,” Batistuta replies when asked where he has hung his hat, where he calls home. Indeed, a few months ago the former Argentina striker decided to leave behind the good life in Perth, Australia, to return to Argentina, to the small town of Reconquista in the province of Santa Fe, after a long absence. It has taken 17 years for this international superstar to return to his roots.
This quiet town is where Batistuta now spends all of his time. Unlike in Buenos Aires, Florence or Rome, a few of the cities where he has lived at one time or another, he can walk around here without being bothered or asked for autographs. He is the most famous person in town, but he is Gabriel, just another neighbour, who as a child played basketball and dreamed of becoming the next Michael Jordan, because he did not like football that much … until he changed his mind, starting out with Platense Porvenir football club.
He went back to Argentina for various reasons, even though he enjoyed life in Perth, where he spent his time with his family – his boys – and playing golf, and he had always had doubts about returning because of safety concerns. “Australia was great for a lot of reasons, because the people are respectful and they respect your privacy and let you get on with your life. There’s also the question of safety. I went to live there because it’s an organised country.” So why has he returned to Argentina, where “you come, it’s chaos, and you wonder why we can’t be like them”?
It was in large part because he wanted to be closer to his family, who had health problems, and to take on other responsibilities, such as taking care of the livestock and thousands of hectares he has invested in, and the many people he employs, together with his dad, Osmar. The situation has become complicated in the last few months, with the confrontation between farmers and the government in
Argentina. On this subject, Gabriel says “there was a massive dispute, and I was on the side of the farmers”. He now lives with his wife Irina and their four sons -Thiago, Lucas, Joaquin and Shamel — in a new house that he built in his hometown. “I go about my business here and nobody takes any notice of me,” he laughs.
WALKING ON CRUTCHES
Two of his sons are football-mad and have shown talent for the sport in the village, but Gabriel is frustrated because he cannot even have a kick-about with them. His long and vigorous career left “Batigol” with ankle problems, making even walking difficult, so he recently had to have surgery and was on crutches. But he never gives up, and hopes to be able to continue playing golf, his favourite sport, and polo. In fact, it is in Reconquista that he has taken the innovative step of establishing a centre for those two sports, to be called “La Gloria”, in honour of his mother, a housewife and volunteer at the local hospital.
Since he cannot play, and he is not seen at matches, what is his relationship with football now? He is completing the coaching course offered by the Argentinian association of coaches via the internet: “I’ve been taking it quite seriously because there are two subjects I’m particularly interested in: psychology and group management. I’ve already said that the secret to being a good coach is picking the right time to say things. That is 80 per cent of a coach’s job.”
Batistuta dreams of becoming a coach, although at the moment he is preoccupied by other things and acknowledges that he needs to be better prepared before taking on such a challenge: “I don’t want to coach yet. I don’t miss football at all, I only watch the occasional game, like the recent EURO tournament in Austria and Switzerland. It would be stupid to get involved in all that now, I still have to mentally prepare myself. I don’t need it today, but if the Argentina national team calls, I’ll say yes, because there are other motivations involved there.”
“IT WAS A BIT OF A PAIN”
Beyond everyday concerns, this extraordinary former player, who speaks four languages (Spanish, Italian, English and Arabic), takes the time to recall a few anecdotes from his successful past, when he could not walk the streets of Florence in peace. He tells this story with a smile: “I lived on top of the hill, away from the centre. And when I wanted to go to eat at a restaurant, I called to say I was going, I got dropped at the door of the restaurant and I went in. It was uncomfortable, and everyone always agreed with everything I said. ‘Bati said so …” That can go to your head if you don’t have your feet firmly on the ground. It was a bit of a pain, and I was always pretty calm, I never understood what it is that a player inspires in people just by scoring a goal; I’ve never understood it. I can understand that they value you as an example of hard work, but for them to agree with you when you say ‘good morning’ at 8.00 p.m. is another thing.
He is still the top scorer in the history of the Argentinian national team, a major achievement, even though “records are there to be broken”. He recalls a memorable moment that went beyond winning titles: “I remember the good things. Like the 1994 World Cup, when we were in Boston, lining up to go onto the pitch, behind Diego Maradona: we all had goose bumps. I’ll also never forget watching the 1990 World Cup in Italy on television and thinking that I would play at the next one.” He never won a FIFA World Cup77″, not in 1994, 1998 or 2002. And, without him, Argentina did not succeed in winning in 2006 and have yet to win any other major titles: “There are some very good players, but we need to grow a little more. Luckily, 2010 is still way off. Some things need to be changed fot the team to become winners. We cannot think we are better than we are, we have to be realistic. In South America, we are the best together with Brazil, but there are very good teams in Europe, and we are not above them. We are at the same level and, in some cases, worse.”
We will not see “Batigol” playing football again, but perhaps on a horse, playing polo, a truly Argentinian sport, with the top players. Or playing golf, where he is always on target, just like when he played football.

The Stadium
Name: Stadio Olimpico
Address: Foro Italico, 00194 Rome, Italy
Opened: 1937
Last renovation: 1990
Capacity: 72698
Covered: 100%
Home teams: AS Roma, Lazio, Italy
Internet: www.asroma.it, www.sslazio.it

Olimpico – roast pork and goosebumps
You immediately know when something is going on in the Stadio Olimpico from the smell of the porchetta, the roast pork offered by street sellers before events. Usually, of course, it is Calcio that sees the crowds make their way across the Tiber bridge in their thousands each week to watch Lazio or AS Roma, joint residents of the Olimpico.
The Giallorossi (yellow-reds) of AS Roma, admittedly, like to see themselves as being more than simply joint residents. As a long-standing club from the working-class district of Testaccio, they consider themselves the capital’s true representatives, regarding the light-blue Laziali as no more than little upstarts from the outskirts whom they have kindly allowed in at their discretion.
Regardless of this fan rivalry, both clubs have been allowed to use the venue since May 1953, when the rebuilt stadium was opened with a match between Italy and Hungary. “Stadio dei Centomila” was the name given to the rather pompous edifice at that time because of its 100,000 capacity. Indeed, the arena should have been even bigger, but lack of money eventually scuppered the original plans.
MISUSE
The stadium was constructed during the fascist era. The “Stadium of the Cypresses”, as it was initially known, was to be the centre of the Foro Mussolini sports complex, which was renamed Foro Italico after the Second World War.
However, the arena that was completed in 1932 could hardly have been called a stadium. The stands consisted of grass-covered slopes, which were replaced by paved terraces over a four-year period from 1933 onwards. The stadium held just over 90,000 people at that time. As well as hosting sporting events, it was also misused as a venue for fascist rallies. The next stage of construction began after Adolf Hitler announced his visit of 7 May 1938. However, the construction of a second tier was suspended when the war broke out.
The stadium was given its current name, Stadio Olimpico, during the 17th Olympic Games in Rome in 1960. The existing standing terraces were replaced for the opening and closing ceremonies and for athletics competitions, thus reducing the capacity to 65,000 spectators.
The stadium took on its current form for the 1990 FIFA World Cup™. It was completely renovated in 1989, which meant Lazio and Roma had to move to the smaller Stadio Flaminio for a season. The entire stadium but for the Tevere stand was demolished, rebuilt and completely roofed over, and the curves were brought nine metres inwards. With a capacity of more than 80,000, the Olimpico became Italy’s second-largest stadium after the Giuseppe Meazza in Milan.
GERMAN JOY
“A magnificent construction. When the stadium is sold out and the Roma anthem rings out from the terraces, I always get goosebumps,” says Roma icon Francesco Totti. The Curva Sud is home to the Roma supporters and the Curva Nord to Lazio supporters.
Nevertheless, the arena has been anything but a lucky venue for the Giallorossi in finals. They lost the European Cup final on penalties to Liverpool in the stadium in 1984 — seven years after the “Reds” had won the trophy at the same venue against Borussia Monchengladbach.
The Italian national team has a better record. At the 1968 and 1980 European Championships and at the 1990 FIFA World Cup™, the Azzurri did not lose once in eight matches, even managing to claim the European Championship title against Yugoslavia in 1968, the one and only time in the tournament’s history that the final has gone to a replay.
However, it is the Germans who have the fondest memories of the Olimpico. They have been crowned both European (in 1980, 2-1 against Belgium) and world champions (1990, 1-0 against Argentina) at the stadium.
What is more, the Stadio Olimpico is a showcase not only for footballers but also music stars. Miles Davis, U2, the Rolling Stones, Madonna, Tina Turner and David Bowie have all delivered fantastic concerts here. The stadium is now being spruced up and its capacity reduced to 72,698 for the next major event, which is due to take place in just under a year when the five-star arena hosts the 2009 UEFA Champions League final. What better occasion for residents AS Roma to improve their finals record?