The Long Awaited World Cup Post
Jul. 14th, 2007 09:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redfiona99My thank you to the Italian team
This has taken a long time, mostly because I wanted to make it perfect. I still don’t think it is, but … then again I don’t think anything could be because I never thought I’d see Italy win the World Cup. Which sounds stupid when written down, given how fervently I believed, but I’ve always done that. I hope for the teams I cheer for to do well, but I don’t expect it.
Only they did it.
And I really don’t have the words to describe how fantastic that is.
I can see the reasoning behind why various people say that the best football team didn’t win the competition, because, let’s be honest, the Italian team had more grit that flair. However, the best team did win. Given that the French were at each other’s throats in the group stages, it took a penalty shoot out to stop the German goalkeepers arguing and that the Portuguese, while definitely working well as a team, had a coach who didn’t and doesn’t get on with his senior players, I think that the Italians did remarkably well keeping almost cool heads and playing well together despite the controversy going on at home.
Of course, one of the real reasons I’m so chuffed is that Italy winning is also a victory for my favoured style of football, one with a biting defence, a quick, clever midfield and strikers who can cope with balls being played to their feet as well as to their heads. But in that style of football, the most important thing is the defence; it is the foundation that the rest of the team are based on. Compare that to the attitude of several other countries where it is the attack or the midfield that get all the praise lavished on it (see Portugal, France, England, Germany et al.)
It’s also a totally different style of midfield play to some of the other defensive teams, while there was the occasional long ball and midfield shots in the dark from long range, most of the attacks came from crosses after wing-play or balls through the middle. Which, for me at least, makes for a much more interesting game.
It’s the same with Chelsea, who, though writing blank cheques may have made them, play a style of football I can appreciate. I get very annoyed when pundits complain about their domination but say how good Arsenal and their unbeaten season was for the game. Because either total domination is bad or its good, you can’t say it is good in one case and bad in another.
I’m quite confused as to where to put my words on Marcello Lippi in this, because, as the manager, he’s not part of the team, but he was an integral part of this team, which I think is part of the reason they won. There’s one thing that even his most hardened critics have to say, it’s that he knows how to manage a squad. I mean, look at the way his team gelled, and didn’t complain when they were taken off (or at least had the decency to do it in private if they did do– dear Wayne, please take the hint). In particular I have to admire the way he managed to make a team, which consisted of players from so many different teams gel into one national side. While the problem for the Italian coach has never been quite as bad as it is for the Dutch coach who has to try and keep both the Ajax and PSV halves of his squad happy, as with most teams, there’s always been the problem of balancing the number of people you take from each club. He managed it, taking a team of people, several of whom, including him, were over their heads in trouble because of the match-fixing scandal, and made a team whose joy in playing with each other made their achievement a joy to watch.
One of the pundits made an interesting statement, saying that it appeared to take 12 years to build a good Italian team (won in 1982, lost in the final in 1994, won in 2006), which, if it’s true rather than just a quirk of the statistics, suggests that Lippi is even more of an architect of this than simply just as a coach, because you can’t tell me that his assertion that there should always be 6 Italian players on each club side put out had no effect on the Italian FAs ruling to the same or similar effect. I think it must help the national side to play if there’s a good chance that a number of any 11 you put out have played with each other at some point, because it must make them feel more comfortable with each other. It’s all very well saying that that is the purpose behind friendlies but there’s a difference between playing 7 matches a year with someone and playing say 40 with them. It meant that, for the first match v Ghana, Lippi could surround Totti with Roma players who normally played with him, so they could get on to the end of his passes, and he knew that they could. While it didn’t mean that Totti played well in that match, it probably stopped him from being as abysmal as he was in 2002.
And also, which was the huge shocker, given that he’s an Italian manager, he made attacking substitutions. Okay, they did still sit on one – nil leads, but that’s to be expected, but when the going got tough, Lippi put forwards on. In the build-up to the World Cup there was a lot of talk about how good Argentina could be, and they could, yet in their match against Germany, their coach took off attacking players and replaced them with midfielders, which not only cost them attacking opportunities against a German team whose weakness was its defence, but also meant that they had very few ‘natural’ penalty takers on the pitch when it came down to a shoot out. Whether or not a good manager can win a match for his team might never be proven but a bad one can definitely lose his team the match and Lippi avoided making too many crazy substitutions and a lot of the substitutions he made worked in the team’s favour. Well done, sir, well done.
One more word about the Italian coaching staff before I start talking about the players – how cool was it to see Ciro Ferrara involved with them. This is where I shall make my statement of interests – I am a Juventus fan. Please just indulge me when I start rambling on about Juventus players. Thank you.
Why, I hear you ask, is it so lovely to see Ciro involved? Because he never really got a go at national level, since he played in the same position(s) as Costacurta and Maldini, and by the time they’d moved on, there were Nesta and Cannavaro that he wasn’t as good as. But he always played well for Juventus, and I never saw him give less than 100%, even when he was called back early from an injury due to one of those injury/flu problems that Juve have an unnerving tendency to have. I’m always pleased when players I like do well.
Which is another reason why I was so happy for Italy to win. No other team at the championships contained so many players I like and love and in a fair few cases adore.
For instance, Gigi Buffon, who is one of the best goalkeepers in the world in open play, but has one tiny weakness, but a weakness that is nonetheless somewhat crucial in international football – he is lousy at saving penalties. Truly, spectacularly, ridiculously so. So you can imagine my fear when it came down to penalties because it would have been painful indeed to see a goalkeeper so good that he only let two goals in out of many, many shots; one of those was an audacious Zindane penalty and the other was a freak own goal, lose because of the one failing in his game, one which should have been avoided by the rest of his team actually scoring. Because, with the help of Cannavaro, he marshalled an already strong defence into something nigh on unbreakable. And for once, I didn’t have to watch him scream himself hoarse in frustration at the attack, and in fact, for him, he was remarkably restrained, even when that own goal went in.
This is even more remarkable given that on the eve of the World Cup, he was being questioned about the police in an offshoot of the great match-fixing scandal, 2006 edition. He was released without charge, but for him, more so than the rest of squad, the investigation was hanging over his head. But he kept his head together, saying that it all went away when he was on the pitch.
I always feel that I don’t give Cannavaro his due, despite him being Juventus captain and Italy captain and one of the best defenders going, because I don’t often come out and say all of that. I fear I take him for granted, therefore, at this point, I’d like to come out and say it – Fabio Cannavaro, I think you’re a fantastic football player, and I’d like to say thank you for all that you’ve done for Juventus and Italy. Neither team would have done half as well as it has done without you. I’ll miss you when you go to Real Madrid.
Having said that, I shall now move on to the other boy wonder – well, they’re not boy wonders anymore, but I remember them as such. And I’d like to again point out the reason why I love Italian football, defenders and goalies get to be the boy wonders. (Remembers 18 year old Buffon, Nesta and Cannavaro with an entirely expected fondness.)
But yes, poor unfortunate Alessandro Nesta, who had to miss out on playing most of the matches because he got a groin strain. I feel so sorry for him, because well, him and Cannavaro come as a pair, and one without the other is a bit … strange to me still.
And, of course when I first heard who his replacement was going to be, I feared the worst because, well, I knew Materazzi was with Inter Milan now but I remembered his spell in England and, while he wasn’t as bad as people say, he definitely wasn’t as good as Nesta.
I don’t think I’ve ever been gladder to have my expectations exceeded. While he might have been a little shaky at the back, he managed to get on to the end of Pirlo’s corners and generally cause havoc in other people’s defences. And that was before the final.
I feel it behoves me to say something here about the Zidane incident, except I’m not sure what to say other than Materazzi was a very clever boy in remembering that Zizou has a mad temper and is easily set off by remarks about his family. I’m not going to say that he did something wrong, mostly because I’m of the faction that would so do something like that if it meant my team would win something. I’m also not going to yell at Zidane for reacting, because, well, I’ve enjoyed watching him far too much over the years to start criticising him now. In many ways I find the way a lot of the people I’ve spoken to about this don’t criticise Zidane to be quite interesting, I don’t know whether that’s out of respect for him, and understanding of why he did it or a respect for his attitude of ‘I know it was wrong and stupid, but given what he said, I’d do it again tomorrow’. I also find it quite interesting how quickly Zidane tried to stamp out the rumour that what Materazzi had said had anything to do with his race. Zidane has somehow managed to come out of all of this without losing too much face.
There’s also something comforting in a player who was deemed not good enough for Everton and Spurs scoring a goal in a World Cup final. The photo of Materazzi’s celebration after that goal, is kind of beautiful, because that’s what ecstasy looks like, pure joy and jubilation.
A few words here about Christian Zaccardo – listen, no one blames you, sugar, it was just too much too soon. You’ll be back, try not to be too disheartened. Just a general hint in future, something I was told as an 8 year old – try not to put the ball in the back of your own net. It makes you look silly. And also, be grateful that Italy got past the group stages, ‘cause otherwise, you might well have been in trouble.
I think that encapsulates the problem with Italy, they won the damn thing, but I’m still amazed they got past the group stages. And they’re always like that. There wasn’t a single point in the tournament where I actually felt like they could win a match, they had the group from hell, with the Czechs, who are very good, the US, who are the kind of team that’s hard to beat, and Ghana, whose performance was always going to be difficult to predict. Then the Australians, who are the kind of team that always give Italy problems, quick and physical and just not ready to lose to anyone. This was followed by the Ukraine, who have Shevchenko and some of the best young players to feature at this World Cup, then the Germans, who had an entire nation behind them and then, in the final, the French, who seemed to have some unbreakable hold over the Italians. Although, I have to like the French because they knocked out the Brazilians and the Spanish and I wouldn’t have liked Italy’s chances if they’d had to play either of them.
Now onto Grosso, saviour against Australia, because he had the sense to fall over when tackled from behind in the Australian penalty box. Because, and even the Aussies should have figured this out by now, you aren’t allowed to tackle from behind. And any team are going to exploit that, not just Italy. Although Italy are the masters of what are comically dubbed “the dark arts of football”. I say comically because Italy are no worse than the Dutch or the English and are a whole lot less diabolical than the Portuguese when it comes to diving, evil tackles and general behaviour outside the spirit of the law of the game. Yet they’re the only ones who are ever called on it and, mysteriously, it takes Portugal doing that to England to cause an uproar about the Portuguese. Not that the British press is biased or anything.
I’d also like at this point to quote a Chinese commentator’s response to Grosso being awarded the penalty – “Penalty! Penalty! Penalty! Grosso's done it, Grosso's done it!
The great Italian left back! He succeeded in the glorious traditions of Italy! Facchetti, Cabrini and Maldini, their souls are infused in him at this moment! Grosso represents the long history and traditions of Italian soccer, he's not fighting alone at this moment! He's not alone!
And then when Totti scored the given penalty - "Goooooal! Game over! Italy win! Beat the Australians! They do not fall in front of Hiddink again! Italy the great! Left back the great! Happy birthday to Maldini! Forza Italia! The victory belongs to Italy, to Grosso, to Cannavaro, to Zambrotta, to Buffon, to Maldini, to everyone who loves Italian soccer!".
See, it’s not just me that has no sense of proportion.
The other cool thing about Grosso, scorer of the winning penalty in the World Cup final, is that he plays for Palermo. That’s like someone from Tottenham or Charlton playing for England. People who play for Palermo don’t even usually get picked for Italy. And this unheralded player from an unfashionable team scored the goal that won the World Cup. How cool is that!
That’s the thing about Lippi, he wasn’t scared to make difficult choices like picking Iaquinta and Grosso, but more than that, he didn’t just make squad choices for the hell of it, he made choices that were logical and based on actual performance, not just on the promise of performances. For instance, had Totti not held up after his leg injury, Lippi had a suitable replacement in Del Piero. He even managed to come up with a more than half-way decent replacement for Nesta when he was injured, and that’s the kind of loss of an important player that might have derailed another team.
But yes, to Fabio Grosso, the only properly functioning wing back in the competition, and a man who kept it together when many wouldn’t have done. Thank you.
Now we move onto one of those parts where my Juve-fan disclaimer has to apply –
Gianluca Zambrotta, or as I once described him, someone who would not only kick a man when he’s down, but would take great pleasure in it. With Gattuso, he forms the only real bruisers that the Italians have. However, and I do wish both Juve and Italy would take note of this, he’s not a right back, he never will be a right back, and all that you get if you play him there is several yellow cards, a pressured defence and a very annoyed goalkeeper. And dude, I’ve seen the goalie yell, I wouldn’t want to cause that. I know Calcio Italia insist that he was the best fullback at the championships but that’s only because it was a dreadful showing by fullbacks in general, and Zambrotta does at least know how to defend unlike some of the others.
At least at Juve they don’t put him behind Camoranesi, a man prone to giving the ball away. But Zambrotta did his best, even if he did give me kittens every time he got a yellow because he’s not the type of player to hold back and given who he was playing behind, he really couldn’t afford to.
Since I’ve already mentioned the first half of the gruesome twosome, I feel I should talk about Gattuso next. Before the Juventus v AC Milan Champions League final in 2003, there was a little piece on Eurosport about him, saying that the fans loved him because he gave everything he could when he played, he played with joy and enthusiasm, and that people forgave him his more egregious fouls because of this, because he played with ‘granatia’, grit and determination (spelling possibly slightly out). And it’s true, he’s the kind of player that people like to watch because he’s one of us, but with skill and ability on the football pitch. He was injured and couldn’t play in Italy’s first match, and when asked about it by a journalist, he came out with this “Even if Lippi decided to send me home then I would have chained myself to the team bus. You would have had to call the police to take me away.” And the time that he celebrated one of his team mate’s goals and nearly karate chopped the coach got this out of him, “Seeing as we’ve been working towards this adventure for two years, we were charged up to the hilt. Even if I exaggerated a little, it was how I express my joy. I can’t tell you how nervous I was – I’ve been to the bathroom 12 times this morning”. Oh, he’s a silly idiot, but a loveable one.
If Pirlo was the brains of the team, and Buffon and Cannavaro it’s bedrock, then Gattuso was its spirit, never say die, and never be dismayed. When the German tabloids attacked the other teams, they reacted with annoyance and anger, when they did it to Italy Gattuso’s response was “I don’t know if the Editor of Der Spiegel has some sort of problem because he got beaten up by an Italian as a child or his wife has been cheating on him with an Italian stallion.”
That’s our boy. That’s our man.
I’ve already mentioned the grand puppet master, so here’s my thanks to Andrea Pirlo, who pulled the strings and set up the goals (and scored one too) that won Italy this World Cup. I remember the first time I saw him play, and his pinpoint crosses and sharp free kicks worried me as a Juventus fan, because I realised that AC Milan now had a special weapon in their midfield someone with both the talent to cross the ball to where he wanted to send it and the footballing intelligence to know where it was needed and who was available. He’d just broken onto the Milan team, but he still worried me because Milan would notice that he was good and play him a lot and win.
He also showcases one of the strengths of the Italian team – I was going to say he was their best player of the tournament, but then I thought, how could I say that given the defence and the goalie? How could I say that when the attack got onto those crosses? This was a team effort. But I think he definitely was the best attacking player Italy had.
To the man who pulled the strings on the pitch as Lippi did off, I say thanks.
To Daniele de Rossi, I say, I wish you were Paolo Maldini. Because I don’t think I’m the only one that’s saddened that Paolo never won anything with Italy. And you, Daniele, didn’t really help matters with that elbow that kicked everything off in the match v the US.
The only time I came close to crying, and okay, may have shed a few tears, was when I realised that I’d never now have to say that Del Piero and Totti, and Inzaghi and Buffon and Cannavaro and so on and so on never won anything for Italy. It hurts enough that I have to say it about Maldini, and I’m so happy and relieved and joyous that I won’t have to say it about them, because I love Maldini but I grew up with these players. I really don’t have the words, and even now some time later I’m still dizzy with joy about this.
Now onto a man upholding a fine tradition of being born Argentinean and winning a World Cup for Italy, Mauro Cammorenesi. I’m never sure where to start with him, a man who’ll change nationality but won’t sing his new nation’s anthem (not that there’s anything wrong with that), a man who’s o’erweaning arrogance has caused the Sunday Post (cute and cuddly Scottish newspaper) to go apoplectic with rage, a man who casually loses the ball in the World Cup final when the defender behind him already has a yellow card and things are evenly poised at a nail-biting 1-1 and really, Italy need to score and not to concede another goal… a footballer who’s so talented that he’s worth all that and more because he comes up with moments of invention that are spellbinding and produce goals.
I’m also starting to think that he may have sworn an oath not to cut his hair until Italy went out, and must have started two years ago because, goodness, his hair was a mess and it was a relief to see it cut in the celebration. Dear Mauro, don’t do that again. And stop giving away the ball. But you definitely added a certain amount of “interest” to the final, if interest is understood to mean ‘screaming panic and terror’.
I feel bad that I have nothing like the same amount to write about Simone Perrotta, who was far more competent in his role than Cammorenesi was in his. But Perrotta typified the team, in that when he was on the pitch he did his job and when he wasn’t, he didn’t cause a fuss or a ruckus.
Now onto the attack, who, as is usual for Italian attacks, didn’t produce enough goals. Seriously, the net is not just there to look at. But at the same time, you felt for them, because they were a curious combination of people who failed to live up to their reputations on the international scene, Totti, Inzaghi and Del Piero, and a person who everyone thought was going to go the same way, Luca Toni.
Toni first, because a man who can score more than 30 goals in one season in Serie A deserves to go first. Can I just boggle about the sheer number of goals involved for a bit longer … I’m good. Because wow! Whatever other insults get thrown at Serie A, most people agree that it’s the best league in the world defensively, and from his performances at the World Cup, you can see how he got so many goals. He never gave up, even when the passing was lousy, or when the support was non-existent, if a ball came near enough to him to play, he tried to do something with it. Sure it might not have come off all the time, but he never stopped trying.
He was also an example of Lippi picking form players, not name players. Because Toni, even with his 30 goals was not a name. Most people were wondering if he was a flash in the pan, or if he just got lucky, or what, but Lippi went with present form, not past experience, and it worked.
Iaquinta, when he got to play, did try to support Toni, and acted as a decent link up between the midfield and the attack. I hesitate to call him a winger, but, like Grosso and Perrota, that’s what he basically did.
Gilardino is another player who got on with what he was told to do, which appeared to be run at the opposition defence and panic them. Even when the panic wasn’t enough to let other players score goals he didn’t start yelling or screaming, he just carried on. I can kind of see why so many people seem to love him. There are an unnerving number of people who are wearing Italy shirts with his name emblazoned on the back, and I think he repaid his followers.
It was so nice to be able to see Francesco Totti play semi-well in a major competition after the disasters of 1998, 2002 and 2004 (which collectively lead to the jokes about who to give the ball to when it’s a free kick – anyone but Totti). I’ll never get it, why he can’t play as well for Italy as he does for Roma but when he plays, when he’s really on, like he was in spells in this, oh it’s a sight to see. It wasn’t the biggest contribution but he made it count and oh, he was there when they won the big one.
Okay, so Pippo also barely got to play, but when he did he was effective, and in one piece, and I’m always happy to say that.
Other people who didn’t make a huge contribution but made my heart sing nonetheless – Alessandro Del Piero. I’d still have loved him as much even if he hadn’t scored against Germany, but if you’re finally going to make a contribution, it might as well be to get your team into the World Cup final.
As kindoftrouble, whose eardrums were unfortunate enough to have to be there while me and Lossi went mental, will attest, we didn’t actually watch the penalty shoot out, because we couldn’t stand to watch. I’ve seen Italy lose on penalties before, I’ve seen them lose on golden goal, which was just as painful, but this was “the boys” (Totti, Pippo, Del Piero, maybe even Nesta, Buffon and Cannavaro) last chance to win something. And I just couldn’t stand to see them lose again. Because it was penalties, and they’re Italy and they’re flakier than puff pastry in shoot-outs, and really, I just couldn’t stand to see Del Piero upset again. That’s my one abiding memory of Euro 2000, the end of the final and Del Piero’s whiter than a sheet, looking torn between self-hatred and tears, and Paolo, captain, always the captain, containing his own upset, which was there for all to see, trying to comfort him.
The only moment of sporting heartbreak that comes close is when Italy didn’t qualify for the knockout rounds of Euro 2004, and Cassano scored what he thought was the goal that would get them through, only for Zambrotta (who must have drawn the shortest of short straws) to have to tell him that Denmark had equalised so the score in the Denmark v Sweden match was 2-2 so there was no way Italy could go through and it was all in vain, and you could see the light in Cassano’s eyes just go.
And that’s it, all my outstanding memories of Italy were of them losing, in painful, and it has to be said, increasingly painful ways. I just couldn’t watch it happen to them again, but particularly Del Piero. Anyone who’s a Juve fan could tell you why, but it descends quickly into more reciting of the history of St. Alessandro of the broken knee, so all anyone needs to know is that he stayed on the pitch because he believed it mattered, and ruined his career for us. He’s St. Alessandro of the broken knee and I don’t like to see him upset.
So we didn’t watch the shoot-out. But you can’t not watch. So it was decided, either Lossi’s or kindoftrouble’s idea, and I thank them, to watch the live scores on the internet, so we could see the score but not have to see their faces when they lost. Because I couldn’t stand to see it.
Somehow, through forces of magic and mystery as yet unknown, Italy were ahead 3-2. But it couldn’t last, we thought, this was just a prelude to further unpleasantness, made worse because they had been in the lead at some point. Obviously they’d had the first kick and France hadn’t had their third one yet, that could be the only explanation.
Only it wasn’t, because Trezeguet had missed his penalty. Poor boy, poor France. Penalties are a truly lousy way of deciding anything, and I wouldn’t wish them on my worst enemy, never mind a team who’d picked themselves up from the floor to get to the final. I feel kind of sad that it was France that Italy beat because I really like France to, the way they play, the way they are. Such a shame, and such a pity.
And then all the players got to hold the trophy and it was worth it.
Peruzzi got to hold a trophy and he’s the most unfortunately injured player ever, because it seemed like every major competition, about two months before he’d do himself in, in increasingly bizarre ways, and not be able to take part. But how lovely is this quote from Daniele De Rossi - "Angelo Peruzzi was one of the secrets of our success. Only a man of great experience and character can act like him.” I may have to be nicer about De Rossi in future because goodness know he speaks the truth because, again speaking as a Juve fan, Peruzzi’s one of those people you want between the sticks because he’s unflappable.
And then there was a baby goalie, and Italy are producing more of them, and it’s lovely to talk about star young goalies. The same goes for being able to squeak about Barzagli and Zaccardo, young defenders. Then there’s Barone and Oddo, who I feel bad about not mentioning, since like all the Italian players, except the spare goalkeepers, they did get to play if not for long. And that’s what you should do with a squad, if they’re good enough to be in it, they should be good enough to play. Well done, Mr. Lippi, yet again. Also, on a far more shallow note thanks to Massimo Oddo for cutting off the mop that was Cammorenesi’s hair.
Thank you all so very much.
This has taken a long time, mostly because I wanted to make it perfect. I still don’t think it is, but … then again I don’t think anything could be because I never thought I’d see Italy win the World Cup. Which sounds stupid when written down, given how fervently I believed, but I’ve always done that. I hope for the teams I cheer for to do well, but I don’t expect it.
Only they did it.
And I really don’t have the words to describe how fantastic that is.
I can see the reasoning behind why various people say that the best football team didn’t win the competition, because, let’s be honest, the Italian team had more grit that flair. However, the best team did win. Given that the French were at each other’s throats in the group stages, it took a penalty shoot out to stop the German goalkeepers arguing and that the Portuguese, while definitely working well as a team, had a coach who didn’t and doesn’t get on with his senior players, I think that the Italians did remarkably well keeping almost cool heads and playing well together despite the controversy going on at home.
Of course, one of the real reasons I’m so chuffed is that Italy winning is also a victory for my favoured style of football, one with a biting defence, a quick, clever midfield and strikers who can cope with balls being played to their feet as well as to their heads. But in that style of football, the most important thing is the defence; it is the foundation that the rest of the team are based on. Compare that to the attitude of several other countries where it is the attack or the midfield that get all the praise lavished on it (see Portugal, France, England, Germany et al.)
It’s also a totally different style of midfield play to some of the other defensive teams, while there was the occasional long ball and midfield shots in the dark from long range, most of the attacks came from crosses after wing-play or balls through the middle. Which, for me at least, makes for a much more interesting game.
It’s the same with Chelsea, who, though writing blank cheques may have made them, play a style of football I can appreciate. I get very annoyed when pundits complain about their domination but say how good Arsenal and their unbeaten season was for the game. Because either total domination is bad or its good, you can’t say it is good in one case and bad in another.
I’m quite confused as to where to put my words on Marcello Lippi in this, because, as the manager, he’s not part of the team, but he was an integral part of this team, which I think is part of the reason they won. There’s one thing that even his most hardened critics have to say, it’s that he knows how to manage a squad. I mean, look at the way his team gelled, and didn’t complain when they were taken off (or at least had the decency to do it in private if they did do– dear Wayne, please take the hint). In particular I have to admire the way he managed to make a team, which consisted of players from so many different teams gel into one national side. While the problem for the Italian coach has never been quite as bad as it is for the Dutch coach who has to try and keep both the Ajax and PSV halves of his squad happy, as with most teams, there’s always been the problem of balancing the number of people you take from each club. He managed it, taking a team of people, several of whom, including him, were over their heads in trouble because of the match-fixing scandal, and made a team whose joy in playing with each other made their achievement a joy to watch.
One of the pundits made an interesting statement, saying that it appeared to take 12 years to build a good Italian team (won in 1982, lost in the final in 1994, won in 2006), which, if it’s true rather than just a quirk of the statistics, suggests that Lippi is even more of an architect of this than simply just as a coach, because you can’t tell me that his assertion that there should always be 6 Italian players on each club side put out had no effect on the Italian FAs ruling to the same or similar effect. I think it must help the national side to play if there’s a good chance that a number of any 11 you put out have played with each other at some point, because it must make them feel more comfortable with each other. It’s all very well saying that that is the purpose behind friendlies but there’s a difference between playing 7 matches a year with someone and playing say 40 with them. It meant that, for the first match v Ghana, Lippi could surround Totti with Roma players who normally played with him, so they could get on to the end of his passes, and he knew that they could. While it didn’t mean that Totti played well in that match, it probably stopped him from being as abysmal as he was in 2002.
And also, which was the huge shocker, given that he’s an Italian manager, he made attacking substitutions. Okay, they did still sit on one – nil leads, but that’s to be expected, but when the going got tough, Lippi put forwards on. In the build-up to the World Cup there was a lot of talk about how good Argentina could be, and they could, yet in their match against Germany, their coach took off attacking players and replaced them with midfielders, which not only cost them attacking opportunities against a German team whose weakness was its defence, but also meant that they had very few ‘natural’ penalty takers on the pitch when it came down to a shoot out. Whether or not a good manager can win a match for his team might never be proven but a bad one can definitely lose his team the match and Lippi avoided making too many crazy substitutions and a lot of the substitutions he made worked in the team’s favour. Well done, sir, well done.
One more word about the Italian coaching staff before I start talking about the players – how cool was it to see Ciro Ferrara involved with them. This is where I shall make my statement of interests – I am a Juventus fan. Please just indulge me when I start rambling on about Juventus players. Thank you.
Why, I hear you ask, is it so lovely to see Ciro involved? Because he never really got a go at national level, since he played in the same position(s) as Costacurta and Maldini, and by the time they’d moved on, there were Nesta and Cannavaro that he wasn’t as good as. But he always played well for Juventus, and I never saw him give less than 100%, even when he was called back early from an injury due to one of those injury/flu problems that Juve have an unnerving tendency to have. I’m always pleased when players I like do well.
Which is another reason why I was so happy for Italy to win. No other team at the championships contained so many players I like and love and in a fair few cases adore.
For instance, Gigi Buffon, who is one of the best goalkeepers in the world in open play, but has one tiny weakness, but a weakness that is nonetheless somewhat crucial in international football – he is lousy at saving penalties. Truly, spectacularly, ridiculously so. So you can imagine my fear when it came down to penalties because it would have been painful indeed to see a goalkeeper so good that he only let two goals in out of many, many shots; one of those was an audacious Zindane penalty and the other was a freak own goal, lose because of the one failing in his game, one which should have been avoided by the rest of his team actually scoring. Because, with the help of Cannavaro, he marshalled an already strong defence into something nigh on unbreakable. And for once, I didn’t have to watch him scream himself hoarse in frustration at the attack, and in fact, for him, he was remarkably restrained, even when that own goal went in.
This is even more remarkable given that on the eve of the World Cup, he was being questioned about the police in an offshoot of the great match-fixing scandal, 2006 edition. He was released without charge, but for him, more so than the rest of squad, the investigation was hanging over his head. But he kept his head together, saying that it all went away when he was on the pitch.
I always feel that I don’t give Cannavaro his due, despite him being Juventus captain and Italy captain and one of the best defenders going, because I don’t often come out and say all of that. I fear I take him for granted, therefore, at this point, I’d like to come out and say it – Fabio Cannavaro, I think you’re a fantastic football player, and I’d like to say thank you for all that you’ve done for Juventus and Italy. Neither team would have done half as well as it has done without you. I’ll miss you when you go to Real Madrid.
Having said that, I shall now move on to the other boy wonder – well, they’re not boy wonders anymore, but I remember them as such. And I’d like to again point out the reason why I love Italian football, defenders and goalies get to be the boy wonders. (Remembers 18 year old Buffon, Nesta and Cannavaro with an entirely expected fondness.)
But yes, poor unfortunate Alessandro Nesta, who had to miss out on playing most of the matches because he got a groin strain. I feel so sorry for him, because well, him and Cannavaro come as a pair, and one without the other is a bit … strange to me still.
And, of course when I first heard who his replacement was going to be, I feared the worst because, well, I knew Materazzi was with Inter Milan now but I remembered his spell in England and, while he wasn’t as bad as people say, he definitely wasn’t as good as Nesta.
I don’t think I’ve ever been gladder to have my expectations exceeded. While he might have been a little shaky at the back, he managed to get on to the end of Pirlo’s corners and generally cause havoc in other people’s defences. And that was before the final.
I feel it behoves me to say something here about the Zidane incident, except I’m not sure what to say other than Materazzi was a very clever boy in remembering that Zizou has a mad temper and is easily set off by remarks about his family. I’m not going to say that he did something wrong, mostly because I’m of the faction that would so do something like that if it meant my team would win something. I’m also not going to yell at Zidane for reacting, because, well, I’ve enjoyed watching him far too much over the years to start criticising him now. In many ways I find the way a lot of the people I’ve spoken to about this don’t criticise Zidane to be quite interesting, I don’t know whether that’s out of respect for him, and understanding of why he did it or a respect for his attitude of ‘I know it was wrong and stupid, but given what he said, I’d do it again tomorrow’. I also find it quite interesting how quickly Zidane tried to stamp out the rumour that what Materazzi had said had anything to do with his race. Zidane has somehow managed to come out of all of this without losing too much face.
There’s also something comforting in a player who was deemed not good enough for Everton and Spurs scoring a goal in a World Cup final. The photo of Materazzi’s celebration after that goal, is kind of beautiful, because that’s what ecstasy looks like, pure joy and jubilation.
A few words here about Christian Zaccardo – listen, no one blames you, sugar, it was just too much too soon. You’ll be back, try not to be too disheartened. Just a general hint in future, something I was told as an 8 year old – try not to put the ball in the back of your own net. It makes you look silly. And also, be grateful that Italy got past the group stages, ‘cause otherwise, you might well have been in trouble.
I think that encapsulates the problem with Italy, they won the damn thing, but I’m still amazed they got past the group stages. And they’re always like that. There wasn’t a single point in the tournament where I actually felt like they could win a match, they had the group from hell, with the Czechs, who are very good, the US, who are the kind of team that’s hard to beat, and Ghana, whose performance was always going to be difficult to predict. Then the Australians, who are the kind of team that always give Italy problems, quick and physical and just not ready to lose to anyone. This was followed by the Ukraine, who have Shevchenko and some of the best young players to feature at this World Cup, then the Germans, who had an entire nation behind them and then, in the final, the French, who seemed to have some unbreakable hold over the Italians. Although, I have to like the French because they knocked out the Brazilians and the Spanish and I wouldn’t have liked Italy’s chances if they’d had to play either of them.
Now onto Grosso, saviour against Australia, because he had the sense to fall over when tackled from behind in the Australian penalty box. Because, and even the Aussies should have figured this out by now, you aren’t allowed to tackle from behind. And any team are going to exploit that, not just Italy. Although Italy are the masters of what are comically dubbed “the dark arts of football”. I say comically because Italy are no worse than the Dutch or the English and are a whole lot less diabolical than the Portuguese when it comes to diving, evil tackles and general behaviour outside the spirit of the law of the game. Yet they’re the only ones who are ever called on it and, mysteriously, it takes Portugal doing that to England to cause an uproar about the Portuguese. Not that the British press is biased or anything.
I’d also like at this point to quote a Chinese commentator’s response to Grosso being awarded the penalty – “Penalty! Penalty! Penalty! Grosso's done it, Grosso's done it!
The great Italian left back! He succeeded in the glorious traditions of Italy! Facchetti, Cabrini and Maldini, their souls are infused in him at this moment! Grosso represents the long history and traditions of Italian soccer, he's not fighting alone at this moment! He's not alone!
And then when Totti scored the given penalty - "Goooooal! Game over! Italy win! Beat the Australians! They do not fall in front of Hiddink again! Italy the great! Left back the great! Happy birthday to Maldini! Forza Italia! The victory belongs to Italy, to Grosso, to Cannavaro, to Zambrotta, to Buffon, to Maldini, to everyone who loves Italian soccer!".
See, it’s not just me that has no sense of proportion.
The other cool thing about Grosso, scorer of the winning penalty in the World Cup final, is that he plays for Palermo. That’s like someone from Tottenham or Charlton playing for England. People who play for Palermo don’t even usually get picked for Italy. And this unheralded player from an unfashionable team scored the goal that won the World Cup. How cool is that!
That’s the thing about Lippi, he wasn’t scared to make difficult choices like picking Iaquinta and Grosso, but more than that, he didn’t just make squad choices for the hell of it, he made choices that were logical and based on actual performance, not just on the promise of performances. For instance, had Totti not held up after his leg injury, Lippi had a suitable replacement in Del Piero. He even managed to come up with a more than half-way decent replacement for Nesta when he was injured, and that’s the kind of loss of an important player that might have derailed another team.
But yes, to Fabio Grosso, the only properly functioning wing back in the competition, and a man who kept it together when many wouldn’t have done. Thank you.
Now we move onto one of those parts where my Juve-fan disclaimer has to apply –
Gianluca Zambrotta, or as I once described him, someone who would not only kick a man when he’s down, but would take great pleasure in it. With Gattuso, he forms the only real bruisers that the Italians have. However, and I do wish both Juve and Italy would take note of this, he’s not a right back, he never will be a right back, and all that you get if you play him there is several yellow cards, a pressured defence and a very annoyed goalkeeper. And dude, I’ve seen the goalie yell, I wouldn’t want to cause that. I know Calcio Italia insist that he was the best fullback at the championships but that’s only because it was a dreadful showing by fullbacks in general, and Zambrotta does at least know how to defend unlike some of the others.
At least at Juve they don’t put him behind Camoranesi, a man prone to giving the ball away. But Zambrotta did his best, even if he did give me kittens every time he got a yellow because he’s not the type of player to hold back and given who he was playing behind, he really couldn’t afford to.
Since I’ve already mentioned the first half of the gruesome twosome, I feel I should talk about Gattuso next. Before the Juventus v AC Milan Champions League final in 2003, there was a little piece on Eurosport about him, saying that the fans loved him because he gave everything he could when he played, he played with joy and enthusiasm, and that people forgave him his more egregious fouls because of this, because he played with ‘granatia’, grit and determination (spelling possibly slightly out). And it’s true, he’s the kind of player that people like to watch because he’s one of us, but with skill and ability on the football pitch. He was injured and couldn’t play in Italy’s first match, and when asked about it by a journalist, he came out with this “Even if Lippi decided to send me home then I would have chained myself to the team bus. You would have had to call the police to take me away.” And the time that he celebrated one of his team mate’s goals and nearly karate chopped the coach got this out of him, “Seeing as we’ve been working towards this adventure for two years, we were charged up to the hilt. Even if I exaggerated a little, it was how I express my joy. I can’t tell you how nervous I was – I’ve been to the bathroom 12 times this morning”. Oh, he’s a silly idiot, but a loveable one.
If Pirlo was the brains of the team, and Buffon and Cannavaro it’s bedrock, then Gattuso was its spirit, never say die, and never be dismayed. When the German tabloids attacked the other teams, they reacted with annoyance and anger, when they did it to Italy Gattuso’s response was “I don’t know if the Editor of Der Spiegel has some sort of problem because he got beaten up by an Italian as a child or his wife has been cheating on him with an Italian stallion.”
That’s our boy. That’s our man.
I’ve already mentioned the grand puppet master, so here’s my thanks to Andrea Pirlo, who pulled the strings and set up the goals (and scored one too) that won Italy this World Cup. I remember the first time I saw him play, and his pinpoint crosses and sharp free kicks worried me as a Juventus fan, because I realised that AC Milan now had a special weapon in their midfield someone with both the talent to cross the ball to where he wanted to send it and the footballing intelligence to know where it was needed and who was available. He’d just broken onto the Milan team, but he still worried me because Milan would notice that he was good and play him a lot and win.
He also showcases one of the strengths of the Italian team – I was going to say he was their best player of the tournament, but then I thought, how could I say that given the defence and the goalie? How could I say that when the attack got onto those crosses? This was a team effort. But I think he definitely was the best attacking player Italy had.
To the man who pulled the strings on the pitch as Lippi did off, I say thanks.
To Daniele de Rossi, I say, I wish you were Paolo Maldini. Because I don’t think I’m the only one that’s saddened that Paolo never won anything with Italy. And you, Daniele, didn’t really help matters with that elbow that kicked everything off in the match v the US.
The only time I came close to crying, and okay, may have shed a few tears, was when I realised that I’d never now have to say that Del Piero and Totti, and Inzaghi and Buffon and Cannavaro and so on and so on never won anything for Italy. It hurts enough that I have to say it about Maldini, and I’m so happy and relieved and joyous that I won’t have to say it about them, because I love Maldini but I grew up with these players. I really don’t have the words, and even now some time later I’m still dizzy with joy about this.
Now onto a man upholding a fine tradition of being born Argentinean and winning a World Cup for Italy, Mauro Cammorenesi. I’m never sure where to start with him, a man who’ll change nationality but won’t sing his new nation’s anthem (not that there’s anything wrong with that), a man who’s o’erweaning arrogance has caused the Sunday Post (cute and cuddly Scottish newspaper) to go apoplectic with rage, a man who casually loses the ball in the World Cup final when the defender behind him already has a yellow card and things are evenly poised at a nail-biting 1-1 and really, Italy need to score and not to concede another goal… a footballer who’s so talented that he’s worth all that and more because he comes up with moments of invention that are spellbinding and produce goals.
I’m also starting to think that he may have sworn an oath not to cut his hair until Italy went out, and must have started two years ago because, goodness, his hair was a mess and it was a relief to see it cut in the celebration. Dear Mauro, don’t do that again. And stop giving away the ball. But you definitely added a certain amount of “interest” to the final, if interest is understood to mean ‘screaming panic and terror’.
I feel bad that I have nothing like the same amount to write about Simone Perrotta, who was far more competent in his role than Cammorenesi was in his. But Perrotta typified the team, in that when he was on the pitch he did his job and when he wasn’t, he didn’t cause a fuss or a ruckus.
Now onto the attack, who, as is usual for Italian attacks, didn’t produce enough goals. Seriously, the net is not just there to look at. But at the same time, you felt for them, because they were a curious combination of people who failed to live up to their reputations on the international scene, Totti, Inzaghi and Del Piero, and a person who everyone thought was going to go the same way, Luca Toni.
Toni first, because a man who can score more than 30 goals in one season in Serie A deserves to go first. Can I just boggle about the sheer number of goals involved for a bit longer … I’m good. Because wow! Whatever other insults get thrown at Serie A, most people agree that it’s the best league in the world defensively, and from his performances at the World Cup, you can see how he got so many goals. He never gave up, even when the passing was lousy, or when the support was non-existent, if a ball came near enough to him to play, he tried to do something with it. Sure it might not have come off all the time, but he never stopped trying.
He was also an example of Lippi picking form players, not name players. Because Toni, even with his 30 goals was not a name. Most people were wondering if he was a flash in the pan, or if he just got lucky, or what, but Lippi went with present form, not past experience, and it worked.
Iaquinta, when he got to play, did try to support Toni, and acted as a decent link up between the midfield and the attack. I hesitate to call him a winger, but, like Grosso and Perrota, that’s what he basically did.
Gilardino is another player who got on with what he was told to do, which appeared to be run at the opposition defence and panic them. Even when the panic wasn’t enough to let other players score goals he didn’t start yelling or screaming, he just carried on. I can kind of see why so many people seem to love him. There are an unnerving number of people who are wearing Italy shirts with his name emblazoned on the back, and I think he repaid his followers.
It was so nice to be able to see Francesco Totti play semi-well in a major competition after the disasters of 1998, 2002 and 2004 (which collectively lead to the jokes about who to give the ball to when it’s a free kick – anyone but Totti). I’ll never get it, why he can’t play as well for Italy as he does for Roma but when he plays, when he’s really on, like he was in spells in this, oh it’s a sight to see. It wasn’t the biggest contribution but he made it count and oh, he was there when they won the big one.
Okay, so Pippo also barely got to play, but when he did he was effective, and in one piece, and I’m always happy to say that.
Other people who didn’t make a huge contribution but made my heart sing nonetheless – Alessandro Del Piero. I’d still have loved him as much even if he hadn’t scored against Germany, but if you’re finally going to make a contribution, it might as well be to get your team into the World Cup final.
As kindoftrouble, whose eardrums were unfortunate enough to have to be there while me and Lossi went mental, will attest, we didn’t actually watch the penalty shoot out, because we couldn’t stand to watch. I’ve seen Italy lose on penalties before, I’ve seen them lose on golden goal, which was just as painful, but this was “the boys” (Totti, Pippo, Del Piero, maybe even Nesta, Buffon and Cannavaro) last chance to win something. And I just couldn’t stand to see them lose again. Because it was penalties, and they’re Italy and they’re flakier than puff pastry in shoot-outs, and really, I just couldn’t stand to see Del Piero upset again. That’s my one abiding memory of Euro 2000, the end of the final and Del Piero’s whiter than a sheet, looking torn between self-hatred and tears, and Paolo, captain, always the captain, containing his own upset, which was there for all to see, trying to comfort him.
The only moment of sporting heartbreak that comes close is when Italy didn’t qualify for the knockout rounds of Euro 2004, and Cassano scored what he thought was the goal that would get them through, only for Zambrotta (who must have drawn the shortest of short straws) to have to tell him that Denmark had equalised so the score in the Denmark v Sweden match was 2-2 so there was no way Italy could go through and it was all in vain, and you could see the light in Cassano’s eyes just go.
And that’s it, all my outstanding memories of Italy were of them losing, in painful, and it has to be said, increasingly painful ways. I just couldn’t watch it happen to them again, but particularly Del Piero. Anyone who’s a Juve fan could tell you why, but it descends quickly into more reciting of the history of St. Alessandro of the broken knee, so all anyone needs to know is that he stayed on the pitch because he believed it mattered, and ruined his career for us. He’s St. Alessandro of the broken knee and I don’t like to see him upset.
So we didn’t watch the shoot-out. But you can’t not watch. So it was decided, either Lossi’s or kindoftrouble’s idea, and I thank them, to watch the live scores on the internet, so we could see the score but not have to see their faces when they lost. Because I couldn’t stand to see it.
Somehow, through forces of magic and mystery as yet unknown, Italy were ahead 3-2. But it couldn’t last, we thought, this was just a prelude to further unpleasantness, made worse because they had been in the lead at some point. Obviously they’d had the first kick and France hadn’t had their third one yet, that could be the only explanation.
Only it wasn’t, because Trezeguet had missed his penalty. Poor boy, poor France. Penalties are a truly lousy way of deciding anything, and I wouldn’t wish them on my worst enemy, never mind a team who’d picked themselves up from the floor to get to the final. I feel kind of sad that it was France that Italy beat because I really like France to, the way they play, the way they are. Such a shame, and such a pity.
And then all the players got to hold the trophy and it was worth it.
Peruzzi got to hold a trophy and he’s the most unfortunately injured player ever, because it seemed like every major competition, about two months before he’d do himself in, in increasingly bizarre ways, and not be able to take part. But how lovely is this quote from Daniele De Rossi - "Angelo Peruzzi was one of the secrets of our success. Only a man of great experience and character can act like him.” I may have to be nicer about De Rossi in future because goodness know he speaks the truth because, again speaking as a Juve fan, Peruzzi’s one of those people you want between the sticks because he’s unflappable.
And then there was a baby goalie, and Italy are producing more of them, and it’s lovely to talk about star young goalies. The same goes for being able to squeak about Barzagli and Zaccardo, young defenders. Then there’s Barone and Oddo, who I feel bad about not mentioning, since like all the Italian players, except the spare goalkeepers, they did get to play if not for long. And that’s what you should do with a squad, if they’re good enough to be in it, they should be good enough to play. Well done, Mr. Lippi, yet again. Also, on a far more shallow note thanks to Massimo Oddo for cutting off the mop that was Cammorenesi’s hair.
Thank you all so very much.
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Date: 2007-07-14 09:44 pm (UTC)I don't think poor Holly ever will either. Between the two of us we probably caused some significant hearing loss :p
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Date: 2007-07-14 11:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-14 11:37 pm (UTC)