Here we go; the almost impossible task of picking an AS Roma five-a-side team and keeping most people happy! Roma, like many Italian sides, are a club with a rich history of top-class players, who have each brought their own unique skills and styles of play to an adoring public.
I would argue, reasonably confidently, that three of my five selections won’t spark much debate. I have only chosen one midfielder, which means Roma legends Agostino Di Bartolomei, Giuseppe Giannini and Daniele De Rossi miss out. However, my midfield choice brings energy, dynamism, and a creative spark that I feel would flourish on a five-a-side pitch. I’m confident that if my attacking duo rediscover their old spark, this five-a-side team would be competitive against any ‘best of’ side put in front of them.
I hope you enjoy, and please get in touch with your own selections.
Franco Tancredi
An attack-minded five-a-side team needs to be complemented by a solid base, and goalkeeper Franco Tancredi has that task for my Roma side. Tancredi made a remarkable 258 consecutive Serie A appearances for the Giallorossi between 1980 and 1989, so reliability isn’t going to be an issue here.
Arriving in the Eternal City from Rimini in 1970, Tancredi spent 13 seasons with Roma, and was a key member of the club’s 1983 Scudetto winning side. Tancredi was blessed with great agility and was an excellent shot-stopper. Known for his speed, he would often race out of his goal to thwart opposition strikers, though I may need him to stick to his line a bit more in these small-sided matches.
Standing at five feet nine inches, Tancredi wasn’t a particularly tall goalkeeper, though that won’t be an issue on the five-a-side circuit. He also gained a reputation as a penalty saving specialist, which could come in very handy.
Such was Tancredi’s dependability, former Roma manger Nils Liedholm said: ‘I could trust him blindfolded’. That’ll do for me.
Aldair
Keeping things tight at the back alongside Tancredi is one of Roma’s all-time greats – Brazilian defender Aldair.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders of his generation, Aldair was a rock at the centre of Roma’s defence between 1990 and 2003. Alongside his undoubted defensive qualities, Aldair emanated calmness and composure at the heart of Roma’s backline – qualities that will be needed to balance out my explosive attack.
With 436 matches for the Giallorossi, the popular Brazilian is fifth on the list of Roma’s all-time appearance holders. Heartbreakingly, Aldair suffered a bad injury midway through Roma’s 2000/01 Scudetto season, but he is, of course, recognised as a key member of Fabio Capello’s title-winning side.
At a club that usually reserves a special place for its local heroes, it’s a measure of Aldair’s ability, loyalty, and personality that he enjoyed a loving relationship with the Roma fans. So popular was Aldair that his number six jersey was retired by the club at the supporters’ request when he left in 2003. It was a measure of Aldair’s humility that he requested the number six be reintroduced to Roma’s squad following the arrival of Kevin Strootman ten years later.
I don’t envisage the inclusion of Aldair in my five-a-side team causing much debate.
Bruno Conti
My midfield dynamism comes from a man who lives and breathes Giallorossi and the Eternal City. He may not always be the first name that springs to mind in the ‘Roma legends’ category, however, Bruno Conti is, undoubtedly, one of the club’s greatest-ever players.
What Conti lacked in height and physique he more than made up for in speed, skill and determination. Save for two loan seasons at Genoa, Conti spent his entire playing career – from 1973 to 1991 – at Roma, making 402 appearances for the Giallorossi. Although left-footed, (and what a left foot it was) Conti was normally deployed as a right winger, and he could also play centrally as an attacking midfielder.
Conti was a key player in Roma’s 1983 Scudetto triumph, which came a year after he played every match in Italy’s World Cup victory in Spain.
Nicknamed ‘The Mayor of Rome’, Conti was a buzz of excitement on the park and somebody teammates loved to play with. Although weighing in with a healthy 47 club goals, Conti was chiefly an assist maker – a quality the next two additions to my five-a-side team will lap up.
Francesco Totti
Who predicted this one? Joking aside, Francesco Totti is AS Roma. For almost a quarter century, Totti was the beating heart of his hometown club. From sensational goals, outrageous assists, ludicrously good passes and the odd (well, maybe a bit more) moment of madness, Totti did it all in Giallorossi.
His talismanic role in the 2001 Scudetto, Roma’s third league title triumph, must be the career highlight, but the exquisite goals – the delicate chips against Lazio and Inter and the outrageous volley at Sampdoria – are arguably his most memorable moments.
In a career that spanned 24 years, Totti played 786 matches for Roma, scoring 307 times; unsurprisingly, he is the club’s record appearance holder and top goal scorer of all time. Considering his misfortune with injuries, Totti’s longevity and endurance as a player were remarkable; he was continually able to adapt his game to suit his body and, indeed, he played some of his finest football during the latter stages of his career. In season 2006/07, following Italy’s World Cup triumph, a 30-year-old Totti scored 32 goals in all competitions and won the European Golden Shoe.
As Roma’s greatest player of all time, I think it’s safe to say that Totti will captain my five-a-side team.
Antonio Cassano
Anyone fortunate enough to have witnessed Francesco Totti and Antonio Cassano share a football pitch will know why the Bari-born maverick takes the final spot in my five-a-side team. To this day, I’ve never seen two players more ‘in sync’ than the King of Rome and his one-time apprentice.
“We spoke the same language with our feet,” Totti said on his partnership with Cassano. “We could play with our eyes closed. We were in symbiosis on everything. We had become one. It was like there were no other players on the field.” These are incredible words from Roma’s greatest player of all time.
Roma paid Bari €30 million in 2001 – a world-record fee for a teenager at the time – to secure Cassano’s services. For large spells of the five years Cassano spent in the Eternal City, he was in scintillating form. Cassano could control a football like a magician, and his flicks and tricks cast many a Serie A defender under a spell. In a match against Reggina in 2005, one Cassano and Totti combination almost produced one of the all-time great goals.
Sadly, following his departure from Roma, Cassano did not go on to fulfil his enormous potential. However, for those magical years at the turn of the century, he more than merits the fifth and final spot in my Roma five-a-side dream team.
Words by Martin Dunlop – @Dunlop85