Alfonso Di Angelo

Alfonso Di Angelo
Statistics Nationality Starblaydi Hometown Jhanna Position Attacking/Defending Midfield Caps 100 Goals 26 U21 Caps 11 U21 Goals 9 Clubs played for Iskara Daii, CR Submiria, Pernetas EC and Petardos S/A (Cafundéu) Teams managed Metropolitano (Cafundéu)
Notes Scored Starblaydia Under-21s 350th goal. World Cup 41 Winner, TQCC 2 Winner, SBCC 11-winning Manager.

Alfonso Di Angleo was a versatile midfielder, equally at home tracking back to make a crucial tackle as he is surging forward and scoring goals. He first made his appearance for the Under-21s side as a fifteen year-old substitute at the inaugural Di Bradini Cup, before being promoted to the Number Eight shirt three years later at the U-21 International Justantina Cup, where he was Starblaydia's top scorer with five goals in six matches, scoring once in every round bar the first Matchday; Starblaydia finished in Third place. He then scored four goals in four matches in the second Di Bradini Cup, being edged-out of the top-scorer's spot by Stefan Hinkonnen's five.

Baptism of Fire

The senior side came a-calling when Betanii Marrones selected him for the 25th Baptism of Fire. However, with a plethora of Attacking Midfielders in the squad, it seemed likely that Alfonso's talents would be wasted sitting deep, and then only as a substitute for Lex Panarii. In fact, it was his offensive capabilities that came to the fore, as he provided two crucial goals in the latter stages, contributing to a 4-0 win over Hopeless SC in the Quarter-Final and scoring a controversial winner against Jey in the Semi. Breaking the offside trap, he was in five yards of space, brought the ball down, and fired past Jevian goalie Sert Bolorg to send Starblaydia to the Final.

Based on those performances, he replaced Kili Izretar for World Cup 38 itself, taking the number eight shirt, something that he would not hand back until World Cup 41. Alfonso's drive gave him three goals in the Qualifiers, adding two more in the resulting Cup of Harmony for non-qualifying teams. Four years later he would be part of the team that went to the Quarter-Finals of the World Cup itself, scoring six goals in the campaign including one in the Finals themselves during a 2-1 loss to Az-cz on Matchday Two.

At Home and World Champion

By World Cup 40, hosted on home soil, Alfonso was given the Captain's armband by Betanii Marrones. He led the team in nine friendly games, winning six and losing just one, before entering the World Cup proper. Though he scored in a win against Yafalonia and Bazor 2, Stablaydia did not make it to the Second Round. Four years later, as the team was coming off the back of a win in the 23rd AOCAF, a thirty-three year-old Alfonso was selected by Lex Panarii to wear the Number Sixteen shirt. Alfonso made nine appearances during the campaign, scoring one goal in the qualifiers, as Starblaydia made it all the way to the Final, defeating the two best sides in the world, Valanora and Capitalizt SLANI, in the final two matches to take their historic third world title, finishing Alfonso's international career on the ultimate high.

Metropolitano

After his playing career, Di Angelo, who was one of the most respected foreigners in the Cafundéu League, worked as an assistant coach at Petardos S/A for a few years. After feeling that he had adapted to an off-pitch role, he took control of Metropolitano in Cafundéu's Second Division. The Urbanos had just been relegated the previous year, but Di Angelo began with a great success by leading them to the Second Division championship in his first season. Metropolitano came top of the First Phase league and then won the Second Phase knockout competition on penalties. This entered his club into the 11th Samseong Series B Champions’ Cup, which they incredibly won. In the season break, he made some 'good signings' but despite having rebounded to the First Division at the first attempt, 5% of fans in a survey rated Metropolitano as the 'worst team' in the First Division.

Preceded by: Roque Bravo

Starblaydia World Cup Captains World Cup 40

Succeeded by: Leandro Perheira

	Starblaydia squad - Baptism of Fire for WC38 Runners Up
1 F. Rodriguez | 2 Conigglia | 3 Canildo | 4 Panarii | 5 Bravo | 6 Melciori | 7 Mora | 8 Izretar (c) | 9 Hinkonnen | 10 Fullbright | 11 Proviia | 12 Birgau | 13 Bazraltek | 14 Brunner | 15 Gomes | 16 Shakirii | 17 Domozis | 18 Chong-sun | 19 Nikolaidis | 20 L. Perheira | 21 Petyrsen | 22 Di Angelo | 23 Marbek | Coach: Marrones

	Starblaydia squad - World Cup 38 Non-Qualifiers
1 F. Rodriguez | 2 Bazraltek | 3 L. Perheira | 4 Panarii (c) | 5 Bravo | 6 Melciori | 7 Mora | 8 Di Angelo | 9 Hinkonnen | 10 Fullbright | 11 Canildo | 12 Birgau | 13 Rivolli | 14 Brunner | 15 Proviia | 16 Shakirii | 17 Domozis | 18 Chong-sun | 19 Nikolaidis | 20 Chang-hwa | 21 J. Oscar | 22 Gomes | 23 Marbek | Coach: Marrones

	Starblaydia squad - World Cup 39 Quarter-Finalists
1 F. Rodriguez | 2 Chang-hwa | 3 Rivolli | 4 Jabir | 5 Bravo (c) | 6 L. Perheira | 7 Mora | 8 Canildo | 9 Di Angelo | 10 Fullbright | 11 J. Oscar | 12 Nikolaidis | 13 Bazraltek | 14 Brunner | 15 Stafador | 16 Gomes | 17 Karinha | 18 Hinkonnen | 19 van Agmark | 20 Kaneda | 21 Nakamura | 22 F. Bentley | 23 Lubii | Coach: Marrones

	Starblaydia squad - World Cup 40 Host Nation
1 Nikolaidis | 2 Chang-hwa | 3 Rivolli | 4 J. Oscar | 5 Kaneda | 6 L. Perheira | 7 Gomes | 8 Di Angelo (c) | 9 Hinkonnen | 10 Lubii | 11 Nakamura | 12 F. Rodriguez | 13 V. Matranga | 14 Lima | 15 Stafador | 16 Karinha | 17 Chong-sun | 18 Rph. Torino | 19 Westwood | 20 C. Di Bradini | 21 Jabir | 22 Canildo | 23 F. Bentley | Coach: Marrones

	Starblaydia squad - World Cup 41 Champions
1 Nikolaidis | 2 Chang-hwa | 3 C. Di Bradini | 4 Stafador | 5 Kuu | 6 L. Perheira (c) | 7 Nakamura | 8 Kaneda | 9 Callind | 10 Lubii | 11 F. Bentley | 12 Westwood | 13 V. Matranga | 14 Drakkiborgo | 15 Djibroné | 16 Di Angelo | 17 Debrier | 18 Rph. Torino | 19 van Agmark | 20 DiCampo | 21 Tze-shu | 22 Il-Ajun | 23 D. Di Bradini | Coach: Panarii