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Antonio Cabrini

Antonio Cabrini (born October 8, 1957) is a football (soccer) coach and former successful player from Italy. He played left-back, mainly with Juventus. He won the Football World Cup 1982 with the Italian national team. Cabrini was arguably one of the greatest Italian left-backs in the history of football.

He is currently in charge with the Syrian national football team, after having been appointed on late September 2007.

Biography

Club player

Cabrini was born in Cremona, Lombardy. He made his debut in professional football with U.S. Cremonese in the 1973-1974 Serie C season, totaling 3 presences and gaining a starter place for the following 1974-1975 season. In the 1975-1976 season he played in Serie B for Atalanta, and in the summer of 1976 he was acquired by Juventus, the team for which he was to spend most of his career.

With Juventus, he won six times the Italian Serie A, two times the Coppa Italia (Italian Cup), one Italian Super Cup, one UEFA Champions League, one UEFA Cup and one European/South American Cup. He played a total of 352 Serie A matches, scoring 35 goals. In 1989, after 13 successful seasons with Juve, he moved to play for Bologna for two more years before retiring as a player.

Cabrini was nicknamed Bell'Antonio ("beautiful Antonio"), because of his popularity as a fascinating and good-looking football player. On the field, his technical and physical qualities made of him one of the best defenders of the history of Italian football.

National team

When he was called in Italy's list of 20 players to participate in the FIFA World Cup 1978, Cabrini had not played a single game for his country yet (he had 23 caps for junior teams). He earned his first cap in Italy's opening game against France and became an international regular for the next 9 years. He participated in all of Italy's games in 3 consecutive World Cups, in 1978, 1982 and 1986. Overall, Cabrini played 18 games during World Cup final stages, winning the 1982 edition in spite his missing of a penalty in the final against West Germany.

He earned 73 caps for his country and scored 9 goals (a record for a defender), ending his career with the Azzurri team in October 1987. He was captain for 10 times.

Manager

Cabrini started a coaching career in 2000 with Serie C1 club Arezzo, replacing Serse Cosmi and losing promotion on playoffs. He then coached Serie B's Crotone with little fortune, and later served as head coach for Serie C1 clubs Pisa and Novara Calcio, although with dismal results.

He was appointed head coach of Syria national football team on September 2007. but he soon left it on February of 2008.