Getty Images SportGOAL sat down with the USMNT midfielder to talk setbacks, bouncebacks and the passion for soccer in Italy
Hours before Venezia's visit to Inter, Gianluca Busio's phone illuminated with a text message. It was from his father. The message was … supportive?
"I'm an Inter supporter and my father was an Inter tifoso, but, if you score two goals with two assists, I will not be mad. I will be very glad to forgive you."
Such is life growing up in a family of Serie A diehards: even your own family roots against you (well, a little bit at least) if you're wearing the wrong colors. From birth, Italian soccer has been in Busio's blood. Like thousands of kids who grow up far from Italy, the dream was to play in Serie A, the league his father and grandfather raised him on.
That dream came true. Busio made it. By signing with Venezia in 2021, he'd arrived in the league he'd always wanted to play in.
That would make a pretty nice ending to a story, wouldn't it? A kid living his family's dreams by playing against the teams he grew up watching? That implies that stories are straight lines, though. That's not the case for Busio's story. It's winding.
Busio is just 22, so in once sense, it's all just beginning. But even at that age, he's already been through relegation, promotion, World Cup dreams dashed and rekindled again. Busio has achieved everything he wanted to while watching Inter with his family as a kid in North Carolina, even if that same family has to root against him every now and then.
"The thing about Italian soccer is the passion they all have," Busio tells GOAL. "My dad is not a great soccer player. He's just not, but he loves the game. He's lived in Greensboro, North Carolina, for 30 years of his life now, and he's still watching Inter at 7 a.m."
Those are the feelings that soccer conjures in the Busio family, and they've kept the midfielder going on his circuitous journey to, out of and back to the top flight. Busio and Venezia are back now. He appreciates that more than ever.
Those same feelings are pushing him on with the U.S. men's national team, too, as he chases down another dream: a World Cup. Like his club career, his national team career has had ups and downs. He was introduced in 2021 and then left behind in 2022. Now, with another World Cup on the horizon, Busio is back in that mix, too, with another chance.
"It's not what I expected," Busio says of his journey, "but I think it's all helped me learn a lot about myself and what I wanted to do and the steps I wanted to take. I think this year has felt like the full circle moment for me. Obviously I have a lot more I want to accomplish and do, but I feel like this is just starting.
"Now, we're here. It's all the same battle, and it's kind of like a full-circle moment. I'm trying to cherish the moments because you never know how long they're going to last, but you also learn that you can always get another chance."
Busio is embracing that opportunity, largely because he knows how quickly it can all disappear.
