Domenico "Mimmo" Criscito (Italian pronunciation: ; born 30 December 1986) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Major League Soccer club Toronto FC. A versatile player, Criscito is effective both offensively and defensively and is also capable of playing as a wing-back or centre-back, a position which he often occupied in his early career.
Criscito played for Serie A clubs Genoa and Juventus, making over 200 appearances across four spells for the former. He also played for seven years in the Russian Premier League for Zenit Saint Petersburg, making 225 total appearances and winning two league titles for the team. A full international from 2009 to 2018, he represented the Italian national team at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
On 14 November 2006, Criscito made his debut for the Italy Under-21 squad in a match against the Czech Republic. He appeared in two European Under-21 Championships, in 2007 and 2009, reaching the semi-finals of the latter tournament. In 2008, he also represented Italy at the Summer Olympics.
On 12 August 2009, he made his senior national team debut in a friendly against Switzerland in Basel. After a promising season, he was named in Marcello Lippi's 23-man squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, where he was the starting left-back; Italy were eliminated in the first round of the tournament following a 3–2 loss to Slovakia in their final group match on 24 June.
Criscito was named to Italy's Euro 2012 squad by Cesare Prandelli, but withdrew from the team after he came under investigation due to the Scommessopoli match fixing scandal. Criscito went on to criticize the Italian FA for the decision to drop him despite the limited selection of left-backs. Several months later he was cleared of all charges.
Criscito was unused by Italy between March 2014 and May 2018, when he returned in a 2–1 friendly win over Saudi Arabia under Roberto Mancini. On 4 June, he was sent off for a foul on Ryan Babel in a 1–1 friendly draw with the Netherlands in Turin.
Russian Premier League 2014-2015 Zenit St Petersburg | Russian Premier League 2011-2012 Genoa |
MLS Goal Of The Week 2022-08-25 |
2003-2004 |
2004-2009 |
2009-2011 |
2011-2018 |
2018-2022 |
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