Faced with the biggest stages, Andrea Pirlo always felt undaunted and utterly at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t feel pressure. I don\u2019t give a toss about it,\u201d the Italian maestro wrote in his autobiography, \u2018I think therefore I play\u2019. \u201cI spent the afternoon of Sunday, 9 July, 2006 in Berlin sleeping and playing the PlayStation. In the evening, I went out and won the World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given the enjoyment, and success, he found when the spotlight was at its brightest, Pirlo acknowledges he would have relished the new-look FIFA Club World Cup\u2122.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, I can\u2019t play in it [because] it would have been great [to experience] this format,\u201d said the former midfielder, who conquered the world with AC Milan in 2007. \u201cIt\u2019s really interesting and it\u2019s something new. I am sure it will be very exciting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best clubs in the world are competing, so I am sure FIFA has done an excellent job and it will be a great experience for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
As well as giving a thumbs-up to the FIFA Club World Cup\u2019s 32-team format, Pirlo is delighted that its inaugural edition will take place in a country he knows and admires.<\/p>\n
Pushed on what makes the United States a perfect host for this star-studded event, he explained: \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of enthusiasm. People want to watch football because MLS (Major League Soccer) is growing a lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cWatching so many top teams is a true spectacle for all the fans, for the whole world and especially for the United States, where people watch games with such passion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having won world titles with both club and country \u2013 \u201cthat feeling is always fantastic\u201d, he reflects \u2013 Pirlo will be a keen spectator as the beautiful game\u2019s elite clubs do battle in 12 spectacular US venues. Among those hopefuls will be two of his former teams, with Juventus and Inter Milan set to fly the flag for Italy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re currently focusing on other things, like Serie A and the Champions League,\u201d said Pirlo. \u201cBut when the time [for the Club World Cup] comes, they will manage the situation with the right motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those clubs, like all those bidding for global glory, can only hope for players with Pirlo\u2019s quality and coolness when the world stage beckons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Faced with the biggest stages, Andrea Pirlo always felt undaunted and utterly at home. \u201cI don\u2019t feel pressure. I don\u2019t give a toss about it,\u201d the Italian maestro wrote in his autobiography, \u2018I think therefore I play\u2019. \u201cI spent the afternoon of Sunday, 9 July, 2006 in Berlin sleeping and playing the PlayStation. In the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1040196,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20966],"tags":[9648,27192],"class_list":["post-1040195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fifa-news","tag-fifa","tag-fifa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1040195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1040196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1040195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1040195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1040195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}