The Italian National Team
Combi's first match for the Italian national team was in Budapest, at the age of 21, on 6 April 1924 in a 7-1 loss against Hungary. He returned in Azzurro a year and seven games later when the Technical Commission, made up of Rangone, Giuseppe Milano and Baccani selected him to play against France in Turin on 22 March 1925. This match was played in Corso Marsiglia Stadium and this time the large score was in favor of the Azzurri, a victory of 7-0. After this match Combi never looked back and for the next ten years it was extremely rare to see another goalkeeper defending the Italian posts.
The 1928 Olympic Games were held in Amsterdam and this time Combi formed part of the squad and defended the Italian squad for the rest of the tournament: Quarter Final against Spain 1-1 after extra time, Quarter Final Replay against Spain 7-1, Semi Final against Uruguay 2-3 and 3rd Place Final against Egypt 11-3. With this result on 10 June 1928 in the Olympisch Stadion of Amsterdam, the Azzurri won their first honour: the Bronze Medal of the 9th edition of the Olympic games.
Other triumphs followed, the next being the winning of the inaugural Central European International Cup, a predecessor cup of the European Nations Cup held between the National teams of Central Europe. In these matches Italy lost against Matěj Šindelář's Austria 0-3 in Vienna but won all the others, against Switzerland 3-2 in Zurich, against Czechoslovakia 4-2 in Bologna and the last match against Hungary on 11 May 1930.
Combi made his debut as the Italian captain in his 33rd game on 15 November 1931.
Read more about this topic: Gianpiero Combi
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