Bella Italia
Materazzi celebrates the World Cup title the Italian way: in a court, pleading his innocence, hoping for leniency. La vita e bella, no?You will not find a bigger fan of Italian food, wine, people, culture or vacations than yours truly. You will also not find many people (outside of France) more disappointed that the World Cup will reside in Italy for the next four years. There is no country in the world that, despite its wealth of talent and history of successes, has brought the beautiful game into more disrepute than Italy. From its contribution of catenaccio to the recent Materazzi fiasco, Italy has consistently let its considerable talent become overshadowed by negative tactics, foul play, and now, even corruption. Tonight the verdicts came down in the Serie A scandal: Juve demoted to Serie B (that would be the next one after A), docked an astonishing 30 points in next year's campaign, stripped of its last two scudettos, and its directors suspended for 5 years; Fiorentina demoted to B, docked 12 points, and its directors suspended for 4 years; Lazio demoted to B, docked 7 points (nothing like looking at the standings a month before the season starts to see your team sitting in last place at -7), and its directors suspended for 1 year; and AC Milan is allowed to remain in Serie A, but is banned from the Champions League this year, docked 15 points in the coming season, and its directors banned between 1-3 years. Very harsh punishments, but appropriately so. A slew of referees, too, most prominently Massimo De Sanctis, Italy's representative for the World Cup before a last-minute suspension, have been hit with punishments ranging from 3 months to 4 years. In a related story, everyone's favorite instigator Materazzi spent the day in Zurich pleading his innocence in the Zidane case to FIFA's governing body. Ahh, what a way to celebrate the World Cup!
posted by MJ at 2:12 PM
6 Comments:
It was a good way to celebrate, turning up in a white suit, a all white rolls and a cheesy grin from ear to ear, knowing he is a national hero.
I completely disagree that the Azzurri didn't deserve this one. They were the best team in the tournament and after getting ripped off by ref decissions in past tournaments, this one is just rewards.
It's funny how many people hate the Italians success, but it's this hate we get that makes this world cup victory even better.
FORZA AZZURRI,CAMPIONI DEL MONDO 2006
10:10 PM
Thanks for the posts.
Did Italy deserve it? Sure - it's hard to win the Cup & not deserve it. Their win over Germany might have been the most impressive win in the whole tourney along with France's win over Brazil. But I was disappointed in the way that Italy won it - playing a bad game in the final (after a good first half), not attacking the way they did vs ze Germans, resorting to defensive tactics, taunting Zidane, and winning on penalties. And then with the fallout from the Materazzi incident and the Serie A scandal, I think it's easy to understand how the Italian victory doesn't sit well with a lot of neutral supporters.
But don't take that to mean that Italy doesn't deserve it. As opposed to countries like Spain & Argentina, who both have as much talent as Italy, the Italians have mastered the art of advancing at the World Cup; they know it doesn't have to be pretty - the important thing is to move on to the next round, whatever it takes.
Also, was Italy the best team? Their best wins were against Germany (in extra-time) and the Czechs (who played a man down for the second half). France flat-out beat Brazil, Portugal, and Spain (all in regular time, all playing with 11 men). And France looked the better team in the final, too.
But again, that's not the point - France might have been the more impressive team, but Italy's got the trophy. 'Nuff said.
6:57 AM
"Both of them were instrumental in shutting down the world-class attacks of Brazil, Spain, and Portugal - holding the three of them to a grand total of zero goals."
Nooo, Spain scored one goal against their game against France, remember? :p
Anyway, I just like to tell you that I absolutely LOVE how you write. Very insightful, and you made me laugh out loud on some of your comments.
Kudos to you! And please don't stop posting! :D
8:39 AM
Thanks a lot for the kind words, as well as for pointing out that mistake. What I meant to say was "zero goals from the run of play" since Spain's goal was on Villa's penalty. My bad.
The more I look at it, the more I think that France was really the best team in the tournament. To beat those three teams (Brazil, Spain, Portugal) in a row is an incredible feat. No team had more players playing at their absolute best (Zidane, Vieira, Makelele, Thuram, Gallas, Sagnol, Ribery, etc). With Italy, you never said "Damn, that's one impressive team" or "I can't wait to see Italy play", but you did with France. For me, champions or not, they're the team that I'll remember the most from Germany '06.
9:10 AM
I guess it all comes down to opinions on who you say ""I can't wait to see ...... play". Each to their own. The Brazil game was the only game I was impressed with by France.
4:13 AM
I don't know how you weren't impressed by France's win over Spain - they managed to contain a dangerous Spanish side for most of the game, giving them possession but few, if any, chances, and killing the game off at the end. Against Portugal, it's fair to say that France looked tired & short of ideas in attack, but other than Barthez's error, did France ever looked threatened? Against a side w/ Figo, Ronaldo & Deco, I'd say that's impressive, too.
6:35 AM
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