While many local sportsmen struggle to construct a worthwhile sentence, here’s a guy that has a limited grasp of English yet had the press eating out of his hand.
Anyone looking for a glimpse of Italian superstar Alessandro Del Piero in the next week or so, start by camping outside Taronga Zoo.
Because while the marquee Sydney FC recruit had little doubt his move to Australia was the right one, he still had to convince his son.
“(For) my family the first priority is (to see) the kangaroos,” the World Cup-winning star said at his first media conference on Monday since arriving Down Under.
“I said to my (oldest) son Tobias, who’s only four so he doesn’t understand anything, I said we go to a special zoo where there’s kangaroos.
“And he said OK, I’m happy’. So we come. “
And the media came in their droves to see the 37-year-old as he begins his $4 million, two-year deal with the Sky Blues.
Del Piero charmed the media with his sense of humour and quick wit.
He spoke openly and honestly about his fans reaction to coming to play in Australia, what he hopes to achieve and that penalty in the 2006 World Cup.
While many rugby league players struggle to construct a worthwhile sentence, here’s a guy that has a limited grasp of English yet had the press eating out of his hand.
On the reaction from friends and Juve fans when he revealed he was moving to Australia, Del Piero said: “Most of my friends said to me OK Ale, you want a change but there’s a lot of places closer than Australia’.
“I said ‘yes, but I chose the best place I can for this moment’.”
What about his ambitions while he is here and his goal of making football a more popular code in Australia?
“First of all I’m here for Sydney FC and I’m completely focused for Sydney FC, then we will hope about the A-League blowing up day by day,” he said.
“This is hard work but one of the objectives all the people working in soccer, in the sport of the round ball.
“I really am fascinated by sports; I follow everything in the world and every sport. I saw the World Cup in 2011, the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, it’s very close to here, I know for the Wallabies it is not great result, but it was a great moment for the sport.
“I hope it will be the same for the soccer here and for Australia.”
Del Piero then showed his ability to dodge the heavy stuff is as good off the field as it is on it when questions veered towards Italy’s win over Australia at the 2006 World Cup.
The infamous game saw Italian defender Fabio Grosso hit the deck after a challenge by Qantas Socceroos defender Lucas Neill, earning a penalty and a 1-0 win for the Azzuri.
“I talk about it with Fabio a lot of times. He said to me ‘Ale it’s the last minute of the game, in injury time and I’m really tired,” Del Piero joked.
“I am probably thinking that’s why, the wind and something else put Fabio (Grosso) downstairs.”
“But I think, after jokes, sometimes there is a moment when you have everything and for us 2006 was a perfect World Cup.
“Everything goes in the right place.”
Much like the marriage between Del Piero and Sydney FC promises to turn out.
