L'Italia: Campione nel Mondo

It seems only fitting that Italy’s fourth World Cup triumph comes as a result of penalty kicks.

L’Auzzurri hadn’t lost a game in regulation at the World Cup since the opening game of the 1994 tournament to Ireland, and, in two of those losses, the Italians lost in a shootout. The most memorable of the shootout losses was in that same 1994 tournament in the United States, as Italy lost a 3-2 shootout decision when Roberto Baggio’s shot sailed over the crossbar to give Brazil their fourth World championship. Of course, not to be outdone was the semi-final loss to France in 1998 and the stunning quarterfinal loss via a golden goal from South Korea’s Ahn Jung-Hwan in the 2002 tournament. It was no surprise that Italians feared a penalty shootout against this very same French team, but it was the Italians who showed superior determination in nailing all five of their penalty kicks while the French missed one, that one via Davide Trezeguet’s shot that caromed off the crossbar and the post and out of play. Trezeguet’s miss was the ultimate payback for Italy, since it was he who gave the French the victory in extra time in the Euro 2000 Final after the Italians held a 1-0 lead until injury time.

This particular final wasn’t the best of games, but for the partying Italians who win for the first time since 1982, they don’t really care. The game got off to a splendid albeit controversial start, as France’s Flourent Malouda was deemed to have been hauled down in the penalty area by Marco Materazzi’s foot, even though Materazzi’s foot didn’t really make contact with him. The legendary Zinedine Zidane- who would figure prominently later in the game for all the wrong reasons- struck the penalty home in the seventh minute to give France an improbable 1-0 lead and hand Italy their first deficit of the tournament.

However, if France hoped that Italy would collapse like the Brazilians did, they were mistaken. Twelve minutes later Materazzi would make up for his mistake by heading home the equalizer off an Andrea Pirlo free kick. The game was 1-1 before the 20-minute mark, a surprise for many who believed this game would be another 0-0 affair. Reality would set in for the rest of the game, as neither side really generated a lot of chances as the game ended 1-1 after extra time.

This wasn’t to say that the game was devoid of more special moments. The biggest of these moments came late in the second extra time period, when Zidane, for whatever reason, decided to viciously head-butt Materazzi to the ground. Before the incident, Materazzi and Zidane were exchanging words and seemingly laughing, but somewhere in all that Zidane got angry, lost his head and hurled it into Materazzi’s chest. Zidane would be red-carded and probably would have been suspended for several games if this wasn’t his last one, but because the game had barely five minutes left to play, Italy couldn’t capitalize on their new opportunity sending the game to shootouts.

Once the game went to shootouts, it was the Italians who would emerge victorious. Every one of them was poised and confident in taking their shots, with the last goal by new Inter Milan pickup Fabio Grosso- who has made a name for himself at this tournament- to seal the victory. Trezeguet’s miss was the only one in the entire shootout, vindication for an Italian side he beat in 2000.

Perhaps, in many ways Italy’s World Cup victory was a telling sign for this year’s World Cup. The defence-first Italians encapsulated what really was a defensive-minded World Cup, as goals per game were only a shade above the record low for goals per game with a 2.30 average. Worse, the average for the knockout stages was only 1.88 goals per game- after a 2.40 clip during the group stages- with four games decided by penalties and two of those dour 0-0 games- the England/Portugal semi-final and the Switzerland/Ukraine Round of 16 game, the one where the Swiss did not find the back of the net at all. The statistics don’t lie: the knockout stages produced few impressive displays of soccer, a sharp contrast to the electrifying group stages, and while the Germans were excellent hosts, far too many of the games themselves went far below expectations.

There were also many other problems that marred this edition of the World Cup besides there being far too few goals, top of which was incredibly inconsistent and inefficient refereeing. At one end was the “War of Nürnberg”, the famous Portugal-Netherlands Round of 16 match that featured four red cards and 16 cards total, most of which occurring in the second half where both sides decided not to play soccer. At the other end was the Switzerland-Ukraine opening round match-up played after the Portugal-Netherlands game, where obvious fouls were missed, attackers were mugged and, predictably, no goals were scored except in the shootout. Another slight against the tournament was the fact there were far too few surprises in the tournament and, essentially, only one surprise team in Ghana, a team that would eventually be outclassed by Brazil but also done in by the referee’s whistle. There were also far too many question marks that came out of this tournament. Did Australia’s Lucas Neill trip Grosso in the penalty area or did Grosso intentionally run into him just to get tripped? Did Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan really dive in the penalty area or did Brazil’s Juan, who indicated to the referee that it was Gyan’s second yellow card, trip the attacker? Was Adriano really offside in scoring the second goal for Brazil against Ghana or was it a call the referee just missed? Should Luis Figo have been sent off for head-butting the Netherlands’ Mark van Bommel? Was Cristiano Ronaldo really tripped in the penalty area in the Portugal-France semi-final shortly after Zidane scored on his spot kick or was it a dive? Did Ronaldo egg on England’s Wayne Rooney just so he could blow his top and guarantee he be sent off for stomping on Ricardo Carvalho’s groin or did Rooney really lose his cool? Was Brazil’s Ronaldo really overweight to start the tournament, and why did the Brazilians suddenly collapse against the French? Was referee Jorge Larrionda extremely harsh in the U.S.-Italy group stage game or were each of his cards justified? Finally, probably the biggest question of them all: what on Earth was Zidane thinking when he head-butted Materazzi?

In the end, there can be no one who won’t say the best team didn’t win this tournament- the Italians had the superior defence and, ultimately, the superior determination. Their Football Association is in shambles after a match-fixing scandal that will send Juventus down to the third division of Italian professional football in Serie C and may end up sending three other high-profile teams, Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio, down with them. 13 of Italy’s 23 players play for the clubs in trouble and their futures are very much uncertain, even Italian captain Fabio Cannavaro, who said he’d stay with Juventus even in Serie B but nobody is really going to believe him. They deserved to win, and for this Italian-Canadian, L’Azzurri’s victory will be one that will be savoured for the rest of my life. It may only amount to a consolation for a sub-par tournament, but at least it’s a satisfying one.

-DG