Wednesday, Jul. 05, 2006

World Cup Blog: The Conflict Behind the Azzurri Victory

By Jeff Israely

Beauty is a sacred value in Italy. And so it is not surprising that Italians tend to join in with the perennial complaints from foreign football fans about the national team's habit of hunkering down in defense and doing whatever it takes — no matter how ugly — to try to outlast its World Cup opponents. Italy often seems more concerned about the bel gioco (pretty play) of its team than actual results. But by kickoff of Tuesday night's semifinal match, the bel paese (beautiful country) was in collective agreement that a victory, any victory, over host Germany was all that mattered.

Following a week of particularly harsh criticism and jibes from Germans — including Der Spiegel's reference to the Azzurri as "parasites" and "mamma's boys" — and a realization that Italy was one win away from the finals, the country was finally fully focused on a team that had already been focused on its singular objective.

And Marcello Lippi's squad delivered with a 2-0 win that featured all what is good about calcio Italiano — and sent this skeptical nation into a frenzy of flag-waving and horn honking into the wee hours of Wednesday. When the Azzurri are in form and in-sync, they are a mix of Latin skill and middle European grit: talented feet, clear heads, utter control and just the right amount of that precious Mediterranean beauty and "fantasia". Their passes are precise, their shots are low and hard, their tackles hard and clean, and even when their opponents have the ball, the Italians can manage to keep them corralled just out of real striking distance.

For those of us foreigners who tend to appreciate the Azzurri more than the natives (who prefer Brazilian-style spettacolo and reserve their real passion for their respective Italian club teams), Italy's on-field approach to the beautiful game is a bittersweet reminder of how great this nation could be with just a tad more efficiency and unity, and a bit less cleverness and concern for the bella figura (appearances). For talent and beauty are not enough in the real world where results always rule.

Of course, not all is beautiful today in this multi-layered land of Niccolo' Machievelli and Luciano Moggi. As the team stands one step away of its fourth World Cup title, an ugly drama is unfolding inside Italian football that threatens to spoil the party. Just below Wednesday's front-page headlines of the Azzurri win was news that a sports magistrate had requested harsh sanctions for clubs and individuals involved in a widespread investigation into referee tampering.

There is now the risk that Italy's most successful club team Juventus — whose alumni include national team coach Lippi, and two of Tuesday night's heroes, goal scorer Alessandro Del Piero and keeper Gianluigi Buffon — could get knocked down to the Third Division and stripped of two of its league titles. Moggi, Juventus's former general manager, is accused of regularly manipulating the system for how referees are chosen. Prosecutors also asked for demotions to the Second Division for AC Milan, another perennial powerhouse that is owned by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, as well as Fiorentina and Lazio.

It is possible that a judge's initial ruling on the referee scandal could come just a day or two after Sunday's final in Berlin. There is a double risk in this coincidence of timing, especially if the Azzurri win: either a harsh sentence will utterly spoil a well-deserved moment of national celebration, or the authorities get swept up in the joy and let those guilty in the league scandal off the hook.

The real beauty would be if the powers that be took Italy's on-field performance at the World Cup as a quiet, results-based model for cleaning up the game off-the-pitch.