Bernardo Corradi might have left the field, but he hasn‘t left the game.
Five days after the Montreal Impact confirmed that the 36-year-old forward would not be back with the club next season, Corradi caught up with the CittaCeleste website and confirmed that he has been training to become a sports agent back in Rome, effectively ending his playing career.
Corradi had already hinted at the possibility of retiring in September, minutes after Montreal held their team photo shoot. The Impact front office had insisted that the Italian forward be in the picture despite his season being cut short by an ACL tear suffered in June.
Despite the injury, Corradi looked back fondly on his brief, but eventful, MLS career.
“It was a good experience,” Corradi told CittaCeleste. “I learned new things and I found a place where the sport is really developing. Their soccer is much different from ours. There is a definite Anglo-Saxon influence, from training, to the approach, to the game itself. I think there are huge tactical gaps over there, but that’s just normal when a sport is growing.”
The former Italian international did express some regret, however, at having already been convalescing in Italy when Marco Di Vaio and Alessandro Nesta started playing for Montreal. Both men were brought up in the Lazio youth system, while Corradi defended the white-and-blue colors from 2002 to 2004.
Although he did score four goals and provide one assist in 11 MLS games with the Impact, Corradi wondered whether he was even ready to undertake such a fortuitous experience abroad. But in retrospect, he feels the choice was rather easy.
“Honestly, between playing with a Serie B team – or a weak one in Serie A – and having an experience overseas that my whole family could be involved with, I chose the latter,” Corradi remarked.
