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| Mario
Melchiot |
15 Nov 2000
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| The
tall 24-year-old defender was born in Amsterdam and brought up by his
mother. She came to Holland from the former Dutch colony of Surinam (at
the top right hand corner of South America) where many of Holland's top
footballers hail from. The streets of Amsterdam were his first footballing
school and was/remains an important factor in the quality of
football/footballers that Holland produces. Even when a player is training
with a club he still goes out to knock a ball about with neighbours and
friends. The street gave him the basics and graduation to Ajax's reknowned
youth training gave him the competitive edge needed to make it
professionally. Every year there was a test to pass, a report which had to
be good if you wanted to be noticed. His mother provided the security,
guidance and support to keep him focussed on his schooling alongside his
football. By the time he got a place in the first team at Ajax the club
were losing players fast to foreign clubs. After 3 seasons playing for
Ajax he started to feel that he wasn't progressing as quickly as expected
and started to look around for a new challenge. He knew he wanted to play
in a team where there plenty of internationals to stimulate his
advancement as a player. He'd been following Chelsea ever since Ruud
Gullitt approached him as his contract with Ajax drew to an end. Even when
Gullitt had left Chelsea the new man Vialli knew him as the 19 year-old
who'd been lucky enough to play against his old club Juventus in the
European Cup final in 1996. Vialli made sure that Mario knew how important
he was for Chelsea's future, made him feel welcome, so that the decision
to go to London was an easy one. The passion to be found in the English
Premier League is the one factor that sets it apart
from even his experiences at Ajax. The rough and tumble of life on
the pitch and in the boardroom have been part of the short time he has
spent at Chelsea. As soon as he was off the plane he was off the pitch
thanks to a leg injury serious enough to put him out of action for almost
12 of the last 18 months. Chelsea had to wait until last April to see what
they had missed - a tall, agile and athletic defender ready to move
forward. The way back has been long and hard - a test of discipline, both
mental and physical. Watching his new club do so well in Europe must have
been hard to watch but he was able to help them win in the FA Cup
final and was elated to score a goal in the Charity Shield match (enjoying
the atmosphere of Wembley's last days). Vialli's sacking came as a shock
but under Claudio Rainieri he is back to playing at the right of a back
three - a system he knows well from his years at Ajax. Last month he
got his first, much coveted cap for Holland and joins his Chelsea
colleagues Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Winston Bogarde against Spain
tonight.
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