The week of July 29-August 4 saw Lazio win the prestigious Amsterdam Tournament, win at Anfield as well as Brighton, and remember 1936 Olympic Gold winner Giuseppe Baldo.
Matches of the Week
Date: Wednesday, July 29, 2020
Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Fixture: Lazio Brescia 2-0
Lazio win the last home game with goals by Correa and European top scorer Immobile who edges nearer to the Golden Boot.
Date: Tuesday, July 30, 2002
Venue: Anfield Road, Liverpool
Fixture: Liverpool Lazio 0-1, Pre-Season Friendly
With a César goal Lazio win at Anfield.
Date: Sunday, July 31, 2016
Venue: Falmer Stadium, Brighton
Fixture: Brighton & Hove Albion Lazio 0-1, Pre-Season Friendly
A promising game by English midfielder Morrison gives Lazio win.
Date: Saturday, July 31, 1999
Venue: Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam
Fixture: Lazio Atletico Madrid 3-1, Amsterdam Tournament
Lazio win but struggle against Colchonero reserves.
Date: Sunday, August 1, 1999
Venue: Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam
Fixture: Ajax Lazio 2-3, Amsterdam Tournament
A Boksic show as Lazio win the prestigious Amsterdam tournament.
In Memory: Giuseppe Baldo
In 1934 Italy won the second edition of the World Cup, the first to be played in Europe.
So far in International football, the most important competition was the Olympic Games. The World Cup was a new thing and due to the difficulty of sending players backwards and forwards across the Atlantic on a ship, not easy to organise. But the Olympics were different. Federations were happy to send their players wherever it was held since the prestige was enormous.
A Uruguayan who had won the World Cup in 1930 but also won Olympic Gold in 1924 and 1928. They had refused to participate in the 1934 World Cup because a number of European nations had refused to play the first edition so in retaliation they did not participate. They were not present in the 1936 Olympics either, but Italy, fresh World Champions were, even if with a completely different team due to the fact that they were supposed to be amateurs. The solution was to call just those players who were university students, so they did not have to be paid.
Italy had reached the final beating the USA, Japan and Norway and had to face Austria. The Azzurri won 2-1 in extra time. In the team there were two Lazio players: Francesco Gabriotti and Giuseppe Baldo.
Baldo was born in Piombino Dese near Padua on July 27, 1914. He signed for Lazio in 1935 and stayed for seven seasons playing 187 games (170 in Serie A, 11 in Coppa Italia and 6 in the Mitropa Cup) scoring 8 goals in Serie A and 2 in Coppa Italia.
He was a great midfield player, tough, and had a good reading of the game. In the 1936-37 season Lazio reached second place, one of the rare times this has happened in their history (the others being 1994-95, 1998-99 and 2022-23) and he was the player with the most appearances.
He died on July 31, 2007, at Montecatini Terme, the last of the 1936 Olympians to pass away.
Birthdays This Week
- Attilio Giovannini, 30-7-1924, midfielder, Italy, 45 appearances (1954-56)
- Bruno Franzini, 31-7-1938, midfielder, Italy, 81 appearances, 7 goals (1958-61)
- Enzio Enrique Serafini, 1-8-1904, midfielder, Brazil, 97 appearances, 1 goal (1931-35)
- Gianpiero Vitali, 1-8-1940, defender, Italy, 49 appearances, 3 goals (1964-66)
- Claudio Ambu, 2-8-1958, forward, Italy, 31 appearances, 4 goals (1982-83)
- Fernando Couto, 2-8-1969, defender, Portugal, 217 appearances, 11 goals (1998-05)
- Loro Borici, 4-8-1922, forward, Albania, 20 appearances, 4 goals (1941-43)
- Simone Del Nero, 4-8-1981, midfielder, Italy, 35 appearances 1 goal (2007-12)
- Pierpaolo Manservisi, 4-8-1944, midfielder, Italy, 70 appearances, 5 goals (1970-74)
This Article Was Written by Dag Jenkins & Simon Basten from Lazio Stories. More Information on the Above Matches and Players can be found on LazioStories.com.
