Group F
Italy
Paraguay
New Zealand
Slovakia
Nickname: Azzurri (Sky Blues)
Colors: Blue, white
Current World Ranking: 5
Manager: Marcello Lippi
Lippi is known as one of the 50 best managers of all time having won multiple league titles and a Champions League title. He was also the Italian’s manager from 2004-06 and steered them to the World Cup trophy. He took back the managerial spot from his successor, Roberto Donadoni, after a disappointing 2008 Euro Cup.
Lippi has raised some eyebrows recently by trimming his provisional squad to 28 players and getting rid of all but 8 of the players that hoisted the trophy in 2006. Still, his pedigree is unquestioned and if any manager can get the Italians to repeat as champs, it’s him.
History: Italy’s history could be summed up in a few simple statements: Defending World Champions; 4 total World Cup Trophies; Second most successful team in World Cup History; 4th best team by win percentage from 1980-2001; Ranked 5th in the world behind only Brazil, Spain, Netherlands, and Portugal; dirty, cheating, fucking Italians.
But despite my own personal opinion, the Italians deserve quite a bit more than just a few compressed statements. To be clear though, I have nothing against Italy or Italians. In fact, I’ve been to Italy and aside from the city of Pisa, which should be more commonly referred to as the earth’s asshole, I loved every second of it; I love Italians and have lots of friends of Italian descent; I love Italian food, and in fact I’m eating a calzone as we speak; I love Italian movies, provided they are in English and star either Al Pacino or Robert DeNiro; and I was fine with the Italian Job. But in spite of my love for all things Italian, I fucking hate the Italian National Football Team. I hate them with every ounce of my pizza-loving soul. But I digress.
International soccer got its start in Italy in the early 1900’s and they won their first of two World Cup titles in the second and third editions of the tournament in 1934 and ’38. Then, despite the success of their two top domestic teams, AC Milan and Internazionale in the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s, the international team struggled mightily, due largely to a tragic plane crash in 1949 that claimed the lives of 10 of 11 players from the starting lineup of the team. They refused to travel by air to subsequent tournaments so the travails of land and sea travel were blamed for their tournament struggles for years after the crash.
The late 60’s and 70’s saw a resurgence for Italy, as they won their one and only European Championship and played well in the WC tournaments of the era. Then in 1982, amid a scandal in their domestic league, the Serie A, in which several of the national team players were implicated in match fixing and illegal betting scams, the team walked into Spain and won the World Cup by beating the likes of Poland, Brazil, Argentina, and eventually West Germany for the title.
From ’82 to 2006 then, Italy entered most every tournament with high expectations and in almost every one were let down in the end and often in very dramatic fashion. As hosts in 1990 they were favorites to win and looked set to do so after not conceding a goal in the first 5 matches only to fall to Argentina 4-3 on penalties in the semis. In 1994 they were again favorites and made it to the final before losing to Brazil, again on penalties 3-2 when their star player, the gloriously mulleted Roberto Baggio missed the final penalty shot having been heavily injected with pain-killers to get through an injured hamstring. Then in 1998 they lost to hosts and champs France, again on penalties. In Euro 2000 they lost again to France, this time in the finals and this time to a goal in extra time, after taking a 1-0 lead down to the wire then conceding a goal in the last 30 seconds.
As we already know, all of the heartache ended for Italy in 2006 as they went undefeated through the tournament, conceding only 2 goals, and only one of which was scored by an opponent. The only blemish on their record was a 1-1 draw to the US in the second match; the match that cemented my hatred for the Azzurri. But more on that later. They advanced in first place out of the group having beaten Ghana and the Czech Republic then beat Australia, Ukraine, hosts Germany, and finally arch-rivals France in one of the most controversial games ever played – the infamous Zinedine Zidane-to-Marco Materazzi head-butt match. After Zidane’s departure Italy went on to beat France 5-3 on penalties to complete their 4th championship.
Now back to my hatred. Italy took the lead against the US before Daniele De Rossi was shown a straight red card for an intentional elbow to Brian McBride’s face that left him with a massive gash on his cheek. For his efforts De Rossi received a 4-match ban and the US went on to get the equalizer, thanks to an own goal by Cristian Zaccardo. Being level with mighty Italy with a one-man advantage coming out of halftime, I thought the US was going to slay a European giant. But then Pablo Mastroeni received a second yellow card for one of the softest challenges I’ve ever seen followed by another sending off for Eddie Pope that suddenly left the US down a man. It became clear to me at that time that Italy was undeniably talented, but among their many talents was an unparallel ability to draw phantom fouls by diving, acting, and complaining to the ref all while tackling and elbowing their way to any advantage they can possibly get. I won’t deny that they are brilliant strategists and understand the pace of the game better than just about anyone else. According to Soccernomics, "Italians know exactly how to measure out the ninety minutes. They take quiet periods, when they sit back and make sure nothing happens, because they know that the best chance of scoring is in the closing minutes, when exhausted opponents will leave holes. That's when you need to be sharpest. In the World Cup of 2006 Italy knocked out Australia and Germany with goals in the final three minutes." There’s no denying that. But I have no respect for the unsavory parts of their game as the most enduring image in my mind from their WC win is that of an Italian player pleading with the ref, as if they did more of that than anything else. Plus, the irony of their victory was the subplot to the entire tournament for them – just as happened during the victory in 1982, some of Italy’s best players were embroiled in a match fixing and illegal betting scandal in the domestic league in which teams and managers conspired to have favorable referees appointed to officiate their games in order to influence the outcome. Ultimately 4 of the top teams in the Serie A were relegated to a lower league, including the champions from the season, Juventus, who were stripped of their title.
Personal opinions aside, things have been anything but peachy for Italy since the 2006 Cup. They lost to eventual champs Spain in the semi-finals of Euro 2008 then didn’t even qualify out of the group stage at last summer’s Confederations Cup all while ambling through a very unconvincing qualification for this year’s Cup.
Players: The Italians, like the English, play their club ball almost exclusively in their domestic league. In fact, only one player on their roster competes outside of Italy. That means their style is unified and refined and they truly play team soccer. But this team is up there in years. They have the pragmatism to leverage that experience but the real question is, do they have the legs to make it the distance in this tournament?
Gianluigi Buffon – Keeper
I feel like this guy has been Italy’s keeper for my entire life. At 31 he’s one of the storied veterans on the team who has an uncanny knack for saving penalty shots as he did all throughout the 2006 Cup and even into the ’08 Euros. He’s been the Goalie of the Year in the Italian league a record 9 times during his career with Juventus. Buffon was also implicated in the scandal in 2006 for betting on matches. While he admitted to legally gambling on sports he denied ever betting on Italian matches and was eventually cleared of the charges.
Fabio Cannavaro – Defender (Captain)
At 36, Cannavaro has earned the most number of caps in Italian history with 132. He’s been an uncompromising defender for his entire career, having played for the likes of Napoli, Parma, and Internazionale before settling at Juventus to form one of the most robust defenses along with Buffon and winning two league titles. But after Juventus was relegated to Serie B following the match fixing scandal, Cannavaro jumped ship to Spanish giants Real Madrid where he won two more league titles and the 2006 FIFA Player of the Year award becoming the only defender to do so as well as being the oldest player. Prior to this past season Cannavaro returned to Juventus since they’ve been promoted back to the Serie A. Apparently he also likes to model in the buff because I had trouble finding a picture of him with his clothes on.
Gennaro Gattuso – Holding Midfielder
Oh boy, do I hate this guy. Just look at him; he looks like he enjoys stealing meals from starving children in Africa. At 32 he’s another one of the veterans on the squad and has a reputation as a bruising tackler. His nickname is Ringhio, which means “Growl”, which is fitting because his temper has gotten him into trouble on more than one occasion. He has more than 70 caps to his name and has played for AC Milan for over a decade, winning one league title and two champions league titles.
Andrea Pirlo – Midfielder
Known as “The Architect,” Pirlo is the pain in the ass to all the engineers on his team. Just kidding. He is known as the Architect because he’s the playmaker on the team who controls just about everything on the pitch. He’s been at AC Milan for nearly a decade where Gattuso’s fierce defensiveness has freed Pirlo up to be the creative player that he is. That same chemistry has worked time and again for the national team and will again be the backbone for the team at this Cup as well.
Prediction: Italy was served up an absolute creampuff by getting drawn into this group. Truly none of these teams should even challenge them but like I said, they’ve been nothing if not shaky in the past few years so it wouldn’t be unthinkable for a team like Slovakia to pull off an upset. Still, Italy should finish first from this group but I really don’t think they’ll be favored to repeat as champions. It’s going to take more than a bunch of diving and complaining to the ref for them to get much past the Round of 16.
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