Newsgroup: it.sport.calcio.estero
Titolo: To Italia, with apologies (by Greg Lalas)

To Italia, with apologies
The Azzurri defied the odds and silenced the doubters
Posted: Wednesday July 12, 2006 12:23PM; Updated: Wednesday July 12, 2006 
12:23PM
I was wrong, Italia. Wrong to doubt you, wrong to criticize you, wrong to 
think that you were overrated, overscandalized and overmatched.
Scusami, Fabrizio. Scusami Michele. Scusami Franco. And, most important, 
scusami Paola, "la mia bella Italiana," who is now thoroughly enjoying 
making me eat all my pre-Cup Italy-bashing words. She is particularly fond 
of the following passage I wrote: "To be honest ... I think Italy will have 
trouble advancing from its group."
Nice going, Nostradamus. Now I owe Paola dinner at Nobu. (I might have to 
sell my laptop to pay for it, but what the hell -- cute Italians don't visit 
me very often.)
But I'd like to say to the Azzurri one more thing: Grazie. Thank you for 
showing us that soccer is not about how much individual talent you possess 
(see: Brazil), but about how the players interact. And thank you for giving 
us something to remember, something even more unexpected and astounding that 
Zizou's headbutt.
Up until the semifinals, this had been, for me, a most bland and 
unremarkable World Cup. No real Cinderella team, not very much good soccer, 
too many cards, too many dives, and ultimately only one transcendent goal --  
Argentine Maxi Rodríguez's volley against Mexico.
FIFA tried to counter the negativity with the glorification of Ghana. It fit 
well with the soccer suits' commendable efforts to promote diversity (even 
while the referees consistently screwed the African teams). But I was amazed 
how many people were "impressed" by the Black Stars in the Brazil match. 
They lost 3-nil! What's impressive about a 3-0 loss in the Round of 16? It 
isn't even a moral victory, when compared with past Cinderella runs by the 
likes of Cameroon and South Korea.
As it turned out, the truly exciting story was the Azzurri. They arrived in 
Germany tattooed with more question marks than Puma symbols: Did they really 
deserve their seeding during the World Cup draw? Was Francesco Totti 
healthy? Were they too inexperienced? Who was going to score the goals? How 
would the scandal back home affect their performance?
There was something about this Italian team that rubbed people the wrong way 
in the beginning. Angered by the match-fixing scandal, irritated by the fact 
that the Italians' ego, external pundits hoped the Italians would collapse 
like vultures waiting for the sick gazelle to expire.
And the U.S. match seemed to bring their hopes to fruition. The Azzurri drew 
1-1 after enjoying a 10-9 player advantage for most of the second half. 
Surely, this was the death knell.
But no, it was more like cardiac resuscitation. The next game, they beat the 
Czechs, comfortably, then slipped past Australia in the Round of 16 (I don't 
care what anyone says: That was definitely a penalty). And in the quarters, 
they strutted to a 3-nil win over Ukraine.
All the ugliness, the kicks when they were down, spurred them on. Their fans 
started to believe and they all took strength from everyone else's 
negativity, like Dark Side siths or Nietzschean übermen -- growing stronger 
from that which did not kill them. Even the apparent suicide attempt of 
Gianluca Pessotto, a former teammate to several of the Italian players, 
didn't get to them.
They arrived at the semifinals having conceded only one goal. Suddenly, 
everyone re-examined them, and what they saw was a thing of beauty: the 
quintessential team, a highly tuned machine, a Ferrari, whose parts fit 
together perfectly.
The entire team played in Serie A -- the very league was under fire from 
magistrates, journalists and FIFA bigwigs -- and they struck a blow for the 
value of having national-teamers playing in the same league. They were 
familiar with each other -- Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo, from the Milan 
midfield; Fabio Grosso and Marco Materazzi, new teammates at Inter; Fabio 
Cannavaro, Gianluca Zambrotta and Gianluigi Buffon, from Juventus (at least 
until Juve is sent down a few divisions later this week).
On defense, their familiarity impressed most. During the final, I literally 
gasped in awe of the Italian defense. It wasn't the catenaccio of old, but 
something more fluid, refined, selfless. At one point, I started laughing, 
like the first time I saw Michelangelo's staircase at San Lorenzo in 
Florence, because sometimes laughter is the only possible reaction to 
impossible beauty.
The indisputable leader was Cannavaro, the captain. He played as if Jupiter 
had possessed his body, particularly after his former Juventus teammate 
Pessotto's suicide attempt. He won everything on the ground, everything in 
the air. He was a gladiator, the perfect spiritual machine -- cold fusion, 
perpetual motion and a heart the size of Mount Etna.
Twenty years from now, when I think back to the '06 World Cup, I will 
remember the following image first: Cannavaro, standing at midfield during 
the penalties, his arms folded, his face as tight and hard as a statue of 
Aeneas. His stoicism held during the first four penalties.
Then, when Grosso's kick won the trophy, Cannavaro exploded, with joy, with 
relief, with pride. And with a certain amount of "up yours" to all of us 
doubters.
And so, all I can say in the end is: Scusami Italia, e grazie mille.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/greg_lalas/07/12/sorry.italy/index.html
-- 
KM 

 I was wrong, Italia.
Bellissimo.
u
-- 
http://ualone.blogspot.com/
Uno sgarrafiesto con Ualone 

 And so, all I can say in the end is: Scusami Italia, e grazie mille.
bellissimo
byebk 

 And so, all I can say in the end is: Scusami Italia, e grazie mille.
Splendido,splendido articolo,poetico.
Campioni del mondo. Ancora mi commuovo.
-- 
Josè - "adoro Totti - (CHE PER INCISO è CAMPIONE DEL MONDO,NdM) - anche
se ultimamente è sempre più il Beckham italiano,ma in Premier non
avrebbe visto palla."

 astrolabio che ha raccolto tutti i gol e vedrete certe gemme.
Come non quotare :)
A proposito, ma te un numero di cellulare che sia di un gestore normale non 
celai? 

 celai? 
Tim o Tre. A te la scelta.
