Forward Giovanni Savarese

The 36-year-old native of Caracas has scored 10 goals and has 30 caps for
the Venezuelan National Team.

After moving to the United States to play college soccer at Long Island University in Brooklyn, Savarese joined the Long Island Rough Riders of the United Soccer Leagues and combined with future MLS players Chris Armas, Kevin Anderson, Tony Meola and Jim Rooney to lead the team to the 1995 national championship. He scored the game-winning goal with seconds left in the 1995 title match, a 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Thunder. The Academy's head coach, Paul Riley, served as the captain of that Rough Rider squad.

Savarese was drafted by the MetroStars in the Inaugural MLS Player Draft and scored the team's lone goal in its first-ever game, a 2-1 loss to the Los Angeles Galaxy on April 13, 1996. Savarese would go on to score the first eight goals in team history (not counting an own goal by a Tampa Bay Mutiny player in the same game that he scored from a bicycle kick).

Savarese spent three seasons with the MetroStars and still is their all-time leading scorer with 44 goals and 101 points. He became a huge fan favorite, despite coming off the bench for long stretches of time. He was traded to the New England Revolution amid large fan outcry before the 1999 season and scored 10 goals for the Revs that year.

He left MLS in 2000 and played for Italian Serie C club Viterbese, then returned to MLS later that year with the San Jose Earthquakes, then departed for Europe once more with Welsh club Swansea City of England's Football League Second Division. He would go on to score 13 goals for the Swans in all competitions.

Savarese then played one game for English club Millwall and then went back to his native Venezuela to play for Deportivo Italchacao. He would play one game for Italian Serie C club Sassari Torres and then re-sign with the Rough Riders (then in the USL Pro Soccer League) in 2004, scoring five goals with the team that first put him on the US soccer map.

Savarese spent the past two years in charge of the MetroStars/Red Bull's Youth Player Development. Wearing the red-and-navy blue of the Long Island Academy, he is reunited with Riley once again.

"Gio is a special player and a magnificent goal poacher. He only needs a split second to change a game," commented Coach Riley. "Superb strength and a great shielder of the ball. One of the finest headers of the ball I have ever played with or coached. He is a class professional on and off the field."