20 SportsUnion | AUGUST 17, 2018
college
Soccer
When Italy won the World Cup in 2006, the Italians had
Luca Toni who was a big forward that could hold up play,
while scoring goals. They had a nice compliment off him with
the like of Aleesadro Del Piero and Francesco Totti.
By Matt Ondesko Managing Editor
In the recent European
Championships, the Ital-
ians once again with a big
forward in Graziano Pelle.
Pelle was cut from the mold
of Toni a forward who could
hold up play and dish the
ball to the other attacking
players. Pelle could also
score when needed – just
Striking
a pose
ask Belgium and Spain.
That type of attacking play
is going be the wayside and
teams opt for more speed up
from to make life difficult
for the opposing team’s de-
fenders. Teams opt for more
playing making ability from
their forwards then is years
past.
While Canisius College
forward Filippo Tamburi-
ni will never remind you of
Toni or Pelle when it comes
to pure skill, he will remind
you of them when it comes
to how he’s built. You could
say that Tamburini is a bit
of old school player with his
size and how he plays the
game.
He is a gifted scorer as evi-
dent by the 11 tallies during
his freshman year for the
Griffs. He also can hold up
play and pick out the right
teammate – just like a cou-
ple of the boys in Italy.
“They are both amazing
striker, I wish I could be
compared with them but
they are too good for me. I
have my way to live and see
soccer even though during
the world cup in 2006 Luca
Toni made the difference as
well as Graziano Pellè in the
last European champion-
ship,” stated Tamburini. “I
loved the way they played,
we are talking about wor