Back up from down under

Christian Vieri moved quickly through the blue-wall mixed zone. The clicketty whirr of reporters' machines brought a smile dancing out of his eyes.

"Keep talking about Del Pierro and Baggio," he said passing quickly through the place, "and I'll keep to the shadows."

Appearances deceive. Vieri has the lean, tended features of all his team mates. Built big and brawny, he looks no more or less functional than the succession of bouncing strikers whom Cesare-Maldini has asked to accompany his more lithe frontmen on the road to France. Vieri has an unusual story though.

When Vieri was 15, a big young lad with the shoulders of a man, he made his debut for an under-15 team in Prato in Italy's Serie C. To encourage him in his endeavours his grandfather Enzo promised 5,000 lire for every goal Christian scored. Game one and Christian scored three. Game two and Christian scored four. Game three and Enzo changed the rules. Goals were devalued. One thousand lire a piece or the family goes broke.

Old Enzo has become something of a celebrity in Italy these past few weeks, telling Gazetto Dello Sport that if his grandson didn't score at least six or seven goals in this World Cup, he would "pull his head off." He has four so far and faces the ungallant Norwegians today. Christian Vieri will keep his head.

If Vieri came to France without any fanfare and with the noisy chatter of the Baggio-versus-Del Piero debate crowding out his ears, he will go home as a superstar. His goals so far have been a comprehensive demonstration of the range of his abilities. If Cesar Maldini and the Italian prime minister have swapped sharp words over the issue of Del Piero, then at least they will be united on Vieri. He holds the ball well whether Baggio or Del Piero are in harness with him. He is strong in the air. On the floor he has the touch of smaller man.

His goals against Cameroon in particular had the Italians talking. The first, 15 minutes before the end, locked the safe on the game and turned tactical theory on its head. Vieri took a penalty-area pass from Del Piero instead of the other way round and struck the ball past Songo'o before the defence had time to swallow him. Then, in the last minute of the game, he slipped twinkle-toed into the wake of some bad defending by Wome and spun the ball over Songo'o. Even Del Piero bowed.

The Italians should have known. Football was in the DNA for Vieri. Enzo was an old goalkeeper. Christian himself was born in Bologna to a father who was a talented midfielder with Torino, Juventus, Sampdoria, Rome and Bologna (and one cap with Italy). It looked as if any opportunities for following in paternal footsteps had passed Christian Vieri by when the family emigrated to Australia when he was an infant. Bobo Vieri took up an offer to spool out his career a little longer in the less demanding league's down under.

Vieri senior made less of an impact than his son, who was immediately tagged "The Monster" by their new antipodean neighbours - "never out of torn, ragged clothes from daytime adventures, breaking windows all the time in energetic ball games."

His father played out his career with an Italian immigrant team, Marconi, in Sydney and when the legs deserted him, he became the team's coach. Young Christian played a little himself.

"Oafishly," he says. He divided his time between swimming, cricket and athletics. Soccer never truly seized his imagination until he was 14 and got sent home to Italy for a holiday with an Australian friend, Paul Okon (who went on to play for Lazio).

They were kicking a ball around one day under the eye of Christian's grandfather when Enzo noticed something special in his grandson's gait. He had a word with the coach of local club Santa Lucia who saw the same thing. Vieri's parent's expected their son home later that summer. He refused to go, insisting on staying and playing with Santa Lucia.

Finally, that December Bobo Vieri had to board a plane to Italy and bring his son home by the scruff of the neck. Then another, more famous son of Santa Lucia intervened. Paolo Rossi, who had spotted young Vieri's talent, persuaded the president of Santa Lucia to spring for an air fare to bring Vieri back again. The club sent him a one-way ticket. No return portion necessary.

That small investment produced dividends quickly. He moved to Prato and when Torino came in for Vieri in 1988, splashing a small fortune on the big fella, his first club got 10 per cent of the fee. He didn't make it with Torino however, playing only seven times in three years for the club where his father had made his debut at the age of 18. A quick succession of moves followed - three Serie B clubs (Pisa, Ravenna and Venezia) in three years. Then Atalanta of Serie A bought him in 1995 as Christian Vieri was just about mastering the family trade.

He found himself back in Turin a year later, this time with Juventus who bought him as bench fodder. "I knew when I went there, I was back-up. But you never know what way things will fall."

Things fell with a blessed sweetness. An injury to Alan Boksic got him off the bench and onto the field. He won a league title, reached a European Cup final in his first season with Juve and surprisingly won over the affections of both the terraces and the front office.

The latter were particularly pleased when Juventus found an offer they couldn't refuse coming through the fax at the end of the season. Atletico Madrid were building a team on the basis of Jesus Gil's vast wealth. Vieri went for £12 million as the target man for Juninho to deliver to. He finished top scorer in Spain in his first season and when Juninho crocked himself, Vieri dedicated his next goal to the little Brazilian (lifting his shirt to reveal a T-shirt with Juninho's name and number 10 on it) and then he just went on scoring.

Vieri made his debut for Italy against Moldova in 1997 and with his flair for scene-stealing had the honour of scoring the 1,000th Italian international goal in his debut match. His first, but not his most important score. His other international goal before coming to the World Cup (he has six goals for 12 caps) was against Russia in Italy's key World Cup qualifying game.

Since then he has added four in three games at the World Cup finals, stealing the thunder from elsewhere. "I'm just as comfortable playing with Roberto as with Alessandro," he said diplomatically last week. "They are both great players."

In the stations and stadiums in France this week Nike were unveiling their latest poster campaign. Vieri's head on a stamp which has been franked with the word Explosif!. No sign of Alessandro or Roberto.

Christian Vieri will be 25 on the day of the World Cup final coming up from down under, out of the shadows at last with a golden boot in his hand.