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MANGARATIBA, Brazil - A hard rain was falling when Gianluigi Buffon paused for a moment during an Italy training session Tuesday.nfljerseyschinacheap.us.com . Leaning forward with both hands on his knees, Buffon appeared to be resting or somehow trying to withstand the rain. Or perhaps the 36-year-old goalkeeper and Italy captain was reflecting on this: He is only the third player in history to be part of five World Cup squads, along with Germany great Lothar Matthaus and former Mexico goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal. Buffon first went to the World Cup back in 1998, although he didnt play a second-choice option behind Gianluca Pagliuca. He then took over the starting position from 2002 onward. "A fifth World Cup is a nice milestone but that doesnt mean Im satisfied," Buffon said before departing for Brazil. "Both individually and as a squad were preparing to surprise people." Buffon, of course, doesnt need to prove anything at this point in his career. He was one of the driving forces behind Italys run to the 2006 World Cup title, when he didnt concede a single goal to opponents during normal play over the course of seven matches — letting in only an own goal from Cristian Zaccardo and a penalty from Zinedine Zidane in the final won over France. He helped Parma to the UEFA Cup title way back in 1999 and has since won five Serie A titles with Juventus — including the last three. "As the years go by, Gigi still has the same amount of desire," said midfielder Claudio Marchisio, who plays with Buffon with both Italy and Juventus. "Hes a great professional, a great friend, and a top-level player. Hes a player who is able to give his all in every moment and always offer the right words of encouragement. "There are players here who are at their first big tournament and hes always there offering the right words of advice," Marchisio added Tuesday. Now that Buffon is setting records for longevity, its worth remembering what an early start he had. Born to members of Italys national teams in athletics (his mother) and weightlifting (father), Buffons distant relative Lorenzo Buffon was also Italys goalkeeper in the 1950s. Having played in midfield as a kid, Buffon decided he wanted to be a goalkeeper after seeing Thomas NKono defend Cameroons goal during the 1990 World Cup in Italy — when Buffon was 12 — and years later Buffon named his first son Louis Thomas after NKono. In 1991 when Buffon was just 13, Parma purchased his rights and put him in their youth system. At 17, Buffon made his Serie A debut with Parma, keeping a clean sheet in a 0-0 draw against AC Milan. At 19, Buffon made a memorable Italy debut on a snowy pitch in Moscow during a playoff with Russia for a spot in the 1998 World Cup. Coming off a frigid bench as an injury replacement for Pagliuca, Buffon first raised eyebrows by wearing shorts in the arctic-like conditions then made a series of impressive saves in a 1-1 draw. Fast forward to 2006, when Buffon was one of the few key players to stay with Juventus when the Turin club was relegated to Serie B due to a match-fixing scandal — meaning that a month after guiding Italy to the World Cup title, he was playing in small second-division stadiums. Then at the 2010 World Cup, Buffon struggled with back pain. He played only a portion of Italys opening match and the Azzurri were promptly eliminated after the first round. But he was back in place to help Italy reach the final of the 2012 European Championship. And last October, Buffon surpassed Fabio Cannavaro with an Italy-record 137th appearance. So how does Buffon keep going? "Motivation is the key," he said in a recent interview with Italian daily La Repubblica. "Reflexes diminish. At my age you dont improve anymore, so its better to reduce training and take better care of injury prevention, nutrition and gym work." Buffon has often recounted how he fell into depression about 10 years ago, then resuscitated himself by turning to literature. He has also been the subject of a couple betting scandals. In 2011, he married Czech model Alena Seredova but Buffon announced last month when Italy gathered to begin training that they had separated. In announcing their split, Buffon thanked Seredova publicly for not making things too difficult for him, and said that he hopes she will bring their two boys to watch him play in Brazil. Whether Seredova and the boys come is yet to be seen. Either way, Buffon has already inscribed his name in the World Cup record books. And who knows, maybe Buffon will continue playing and go back to Russia and the site of his Italy debut for the 2018 World Cup, when hell be 40 — the same age that one of his idols, Dino Zoff, was when he helped Italy to the 1982 World Cup title. "Ill keep playing as long as I dont become a reserve," Buffon said. "Once the day comes that I get benched, thats when Ill hang my boots up." ___ Follow Andrew Dampf at http://twitter.com/asdampf nfljerseyschinacheap . Exactly how many games Locker misses depends on how quickly he recovers. "If anyones going to get back quick, its him," Munchak said Tuesday night during his weekly radio show on 104. http://www.nfljerseyschinacheap.us.com/ . -- Having played six seasons with the Kings, Kevin Martin is very comfortable at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento. NASHVILLE -- The Colorado Avalanche and goalie Semyon Varlamov are playing so well this season that theyre even winning in Music City. Nick Holden scored two goals and had an assist and the Avalanche held off the Nashville Predators 5-4 Saturday night for their fourth straight victory. Jan Hejda, Gabriel Landeskog and Matt Duchene each scored a goal for Colorado, which is 8-1-1 over its past 10 games. The Avalanche earned their first win in Nashville since Jan. 6, 2009, ending a 0-6-1 skid. Colorado centre Paul Stastny said they did a good job surviving late, with the key jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first. "Getting it to 3-0 was important for us especially in the past not doing well here," Stastny said. "Knowing we have a new team, new coach and new mentality I think we forgot about playing here and a fresh start for us." Varlamov made 27 saves and improved to 11-0-5 in his past 16 games, tying the Avalanche record for consecutive games without a regulation loss. The Predators scored three straight goals after trailing 5-1 in the third, and Roman Josis goal at 17:03 gave them a chance to force overtime. But Varlamov stopped a flurry in the final minutes, including shots from Josi and Mike Fisher for the win. "Its not important how the game ends," Colorado coach Patrick Roy said. "Its the result at the end. We won the game." Patric Hornqvist, Craig Smith and Ryan Ellis also scored for Nashville, which snapped a two-game winning streak. Devan Dubnyk struggled in his Nashville debut after the Predators swapped forward Matt Hendricks to Edmonton for the goalie Wednesday. "He got nervous and was rusty," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "I know Dubnyk has been in the league a long time, and Ive seen a lot better games from him. But it was his first game. We gave him very little support early, and it just looked like he was nervous after that." Colorado took control from the start with three goals in the first 12:05 with Holden beating Dubnyk with a wrister from the left circle off a rebound at 6:21 in the first. Then the Avalanche sccored twice 38 seconds apart with Hejda beating Dubnyk with a slap shot through traffic at 11:27, then Landeskog scored on a one-timer from the right circle at 12:05. www.nfljerseyschinacheap.us.com. Trotz then took his timeout for Nashville. The Predators got on the board in the second after Landeskog elbowed Ellis high, drawing a penalty. Erik Johnson drew a roughing penalty when he fought with Paul Gaustad, giving Nashville a 5-on-3 advantage for 2 minutes. Hornqvist scored on a tip-in 35 seconds later in pulling Nashville within 3-1, but the Avalanche killed off the rest of the power play. The Predators thought they beat the buzzer with a slap shot from captain Shea Weber only to see officials waive it off because the clock expired before the puck crossed the line. Holden scored his fourth goal of the season and second of the game on a slap shot at 2:31 of the third with the puck going in off Dubnyks left skate. Holden then had the primary assist on Duchenes power-play goal at 6:31, which wound up as the game winner. The defenceman credited his Colorado teammates for his big night. "I think every game someone else is stepping up," Holden said. "Weve gone through a lot of injuries. Its showed the adversity of our team here to battle through it. Every night is a different guy, and tonight it was luckily me." The Predators tried to rally as Smith added a goal at 8:14 tapping in the puck behind Varlamov. Then Ellis scored on a slap shot from the point at 12:45, and Josis goal gave Nashville a chance. But even with Dubnyk pulled, they couldnt beat Varlamov again. "We just didnt win enough battles in the beginning," Josi said. Notes: Peter Budaj went 13-0-3 in a 16-game span between Feb. 24 and April 5, 2007, for Colorado. ... Stastny, Nathan MacKinnon and John Mitchell each had two assists. ... Stastny had missed the past two games with a leg injury. ... The Predators have allowed at least three goals in 28 games this season. ... Nashville has five goals on the man advantage in the past three games and came into the game sixth in the NHL on the power play. ... Smiths goal gave him a career-high 15 this season. cheap jerseys cheap jerseys from china ' ' ' |
