Giovanni Savarese

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Giovanni Savarese (born July 14, 1971 in Caracas) is a Venezuelan soccer player of Italian descent, the all-time leading goalscorer for the MetroStars of Major League Soccer.

After moving to the United States to play college soccer at Long Island University, Savarese joined the Long Island Rough Riders of the USISL and combined with future MLS stars Tony Meola and Chris Armas to lead the team to the 1995 USISL Championship. He was drafted by the MetroStars in the 9th round of the MLS Inaugural 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 Gio scored from a bicycle kick).

Savarese spent three seasons with the MetroStars, scoring a team record 41 goals and 94 points in league play (44 goals, also a record, and 101 points in all competitions) and 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 to sign with Italian club Perugia in 2000, but never played for the Serie A team as they loaned him out to Serie C1 club Viterbese.

Gio returned to MLS later in 2000, signing with the San Jose Earthquakes in mid-season but went scoreless with them the rest of the year. Savarese then departed for Europe once again, this time signing 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's vagabond career continued, as he played one game for English club Millwall and then went back to his native Venezuela to play for Deportivo Italchacao. After becoming an assistant coach at St. John's University, he tried out with the MetroStars in 2003, but failed to make the team. 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. In 2005, he returned to the MetroStars as the head of their youth development.

Savarese scored ten goals in 30 caps for the Venezuela national team.