ITALIA - UN PERICOLOSO IMBROGLIO?
Shane Edward Smeltz, who was born 29 September 1981 in Göppingen, Baden-Württemberg of American and English parents, is a very talented and heroic New Zealand soccer player.
Smeltz played for a variety of professional Australian clubs and then tryied his luck in England with five matches for Mansfield Town in 2005. Before signing briefly for English side Halifax Town, Shane Smeltz played in 61 competitive matches for AFC Wimbledon, including 11 as a substitute, and scored 26 goals.
Smeltz returned to New Zealand in 2007 signing a two-year deal with the Wellington Phoenix. In his first season he finished second in the Golden Boot race with nine goals from 19 appearances.
In the 2008–09 season, Smeltz scored a record 12 goals for the A-League season proper, resulting in the A-League Golden Boot 2008/09, and also goal of the season for his winning strike against Melbourne Victory at Westpac Stadium in round 13. The game finished 2-1.
Smeltz has played for the under 20, 23 and full New Zealand national team. In May 2007, he was the scorer of both New Zealand's goals in an impressive 2-2 draw against Wales.
He also became the first AFC Wimbledon player to win international honours, and the first to become an international goal-scorer (on 25 April 2006), when he netted in an away friendly against Chile.
Following his impressive goal scoring form with the Phoenix in the A-League as well as consistent performances for the All Whites, Smeltz was voted New Zealand footballer of the year on 19 November 2007, ahead of English Premier League star Ryan Nelsen and Celtic striker Chris Killen.
Smeltz was named in the 2009 Confederations Cup New Zealand squad to travel to South Africa and again this year for the World Cup.
Shane scored in New Zealand's second game of the tournament in South Africa on 20 June 2010 in the seventh minute to give them an initial 1-0 advantage against reigning champions Italy.
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