Italy's Aching Need for European Glory

Facchetti lifts the Henri Delaunay Trophy in 1968

For all of Italian heartbreak at the World Cup (1970, 1994), and outright humiliation (1966, 2002), it is the European Championship that remains Italy's ultimate bête noire. Four World Cup triumphs are an antidote to the four agonizing years previously mentioned, but Italy have won the European Championship only once: in 1968, and even that victory came after a huge dose of luck.

Italy were hosts that year, a year that marked the first time the tournament was called the European Championship instead of the European Nations Cup.  The format of the tournament also slightly varied from the 1960 and 1964 editions: a group phase replaced the two-legged home and away knock-out round.  In the quarter-finals, Italy overcame Bulgaria, setting up a semi-final match against the then USSR.

After they battled to a 0-0 scoreline, and after extra-time couldn't separate the two sides, a coin toss resulted in Italy as the winner.  Incredibly, Italy were through to the Final through a method that made penalty shoot-outs look compassionately fair.

The Final needed a replay to decide the winner.  Italy and Yugoslavia battled to a 1-1 draw in the first game after Angelo Domenghini responded to Dzajic's opening goal for Yugoslavia.  Two days later, the replay saw Italy run out winners as Gigi Riva's and Pietro Anastasi's goals floored Yugoslavia.

It was a European triumph, but it came via a tortuous path, whose turns and twists prevented Italy from getting full credit.  That team had Dino Zoff, Giacinto Facchetti, and Riva, but it was the coin-toss semi-final win that pushed Italy to glory.

Since then Italy have had virtually no luck in the European Championships.  In 1980, for example, Belgium denied Italy a place in the Final by frustrating them to a 0-0 draw in the last game of the Group Stage.  Both countries finished on the same number of points in the group, but Belgium went on to play West Germany in the Final not on goal difference, but on goals scored--three to Italy's one.

In later years, Italy were eliminated at the Group Stage due to a combination of ineptitude and misfortune.  In 1996, Italy defeated Russia in their opening game, and looked to be on course for the quarter-finals.  However, a 2-1 defeat to the Czech Republic in the next game meant that Italy had to beat Germany to ensure qualification.  A draw would only suffice if Russia beat the Czech Republic in their final game.  In the 85th minute, Italy seemed to be inching towards the quarter-finals, as Russia were leading the Czech Republic 3-2 while Italy were deadlocked against the Germans 0-0.  However, Vladimir Smicer scored a late goal for the Czechs to eliminate Italy.

During Euro2004 in Portugal, Italy were left to rely on other results once again--and once again it was all in vain.  Italy had drawn 0-0 with Denmark in their opening game, and could only collect another point against Sweden in their second.  The results meant that Italy needed to beat Bulgaria in their final group game, and hope that the game between Denmark and Sweden not end in a 2-2 (or higher) draw.  Italy beat Bulgaria with Antonio Cassano scoring in injury-time, only to learn that Denmark and Sweden had indeed played to a 2-2 draw.  As news filtered through, Cassano sunk in despair in the Guimares rain.

A tearful Totti after the Euro2000 Final

However, as painful as those two European Championships were, the most excruciating fate awaited Italy in Euro2000.  Not many expected Italy to do well at the tournament being held in Holland and Belgium as coach Dino Zoff was without striker Christian Vieri and first-choice goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon (both out injured) going into the tournament.  However, players like Stefano Fiore, a young Francesco Totti, and the peerless defensive trio of Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Nesta and Fabio Cannavaro inspired Italy to the Final where they took on France.

In the Final, Zoff opted to start with Marco Delvecchio and Totti up front with Udinese's Fiore playing right behind them.  Ten minutes into the second half, Delvecchio struck.  Totti laid a brilliant backheel pass on for Gianluca Pessotto, who crossed in low for Delvecchio to volley home past Barthez. Italy had played superbly up until that point and were deservedly in front.  Even after Del Piero, who replaced Fiore early in the second half, missed two supremely simple chances, Italy looked well placed to go on and win their first European Championship in thirty-two years.

However, a cruel--indeed tortuous--conclusion was yet to come.  With less than two minutes to go, Barthez cleared long up the field, and Cannvaro mistimed his header straight into the path of Sylvain Wiltord, who guided the ball past a helpless Francesco Toldo in goal.  Italian players looked totally deprived of strength and hope after that goal, and it was little surprise when David Trezeguet scored the golden goal winner in extra-time.

That game remains my most painful memory of football--more painful than Baggio's miss in 1994, and more painful than even Milan's farcical capitulation to Liverpool in the Champions League Final of 2005.  Italy came within seconds of winning that tournament, and the way they had played that Final in Rotterdam merited a win.

Between 1972 and 2008, Italy has had little to celebrate in the European Championship.  Here's hoping Cesare Prandelli and his side, against daunting odds, change that in Euro2012.

Faith in Five

Udinese celebrate Antonio Di Natale's equalizer against Celtic

Perhaps it was a rare moment of patriotism, or even a rarer moment of foresight.  When it comes to the club level, Italian football is not normally known for either, and yet what many Italian football fans realized on Thursday, as Udinese played out the dying seconds of the draw that they needed against Celtic to enter the next phase of the Europa League, was that five Italian teams would be in European competition in the new year.  For once, Italian participants in the Europa League, an officially reinvigorated second-tier competition that already seems moribund, put in the graft without any promise of lucrative reward.

Like it or not, as I have persistently written in the past, the Europa League counts just as much as the Champions League when it comes to that well-concealed UEFA coefficient points system, a system that has pervasive consequences for how much money a league can hope to see from the Champions League.  Italy has already lost its fourth Champions League spot, which makes the top three spots in the Serie A coveted real estate.  For this year though, Napoli's searing run through Manchester City has been the apotheosis of Serie A's campaign in Europe.  Quite simply, Milan and Inter have not impressed as much, and that is even after you take into account the Rossoneri's theatrical, for all the good reasons, 3-2 loss to Barcelona.

What Lazio and Udinese have done in the Europa League is crucial work for the Italian bid, leaving Serie A in a position to amass a points total of 15 or greater this year.  Doing so, will let them steer clear of France, who are menacing in fifth spot, but now only have two representatives left in this year's competition--Marseille and Lyon in the Champions League.  Also, if Italy do want to reclaim the third spot in the rankings, then beating Germany this year could be foundational for that challenge.  The Bundesliga only have four representatives left in the competition, and when you consider Bayer Leverkusen are up against Barcelona, Italy's chances to charge ahead of Germany this year seem promising.

Currently, Italy is on 9.500 points (see table below), already about two points behind the total they managed last year.  Remember, a win in UEFA competition for Italy means 2 points (a draw means 1) divided by 7, the total number of positions that Italy is allotted (consider how important, then, it was for Milan to hold onto their 2-0 lead against Viktoria Plzen on Matchday 6, or for Inter to beat Trabzonspor on Matchday 1).

In the Europa League, Udinese have been handed a somewhat easier task of going past Greek side PAOK Saloniki in the round of thirty-two, while Lazio come up against far more daunting opposition in Atletico Madrid.  In the Champions League, the Italian contingent should feel confident.  For one, Napoli and Milan have avoided Real Madrid, and secondly, they are up against sides that they seem able to beat.  Milan will want to avenge the elimination at the hands of Arsenal in the 2007-08 campaign, and they should be optimistic of restitution with a sturdier backline, a competent, at times spectacular, frontline, and a revitalized midfield, which may have problems and some deficiencies, but is nonetheless equipped to play a containing game.  Napoli, on the other hand, will be brimming with self-belief after defeating Premiership champions-elect Manchester City this year to effectively qualify for the knockout stages; surpassing Chelsea definitely does not seem impossible.  Inter's clash with Marseille seems the easiest, and the most conducive to put more distance between Italy and France in the rankings.

With five Italian clubs still in the European pursuit, Italy joins England and Spain in the group of countries with the most representatives left in UEFA competition.  Given that Manchester United and Manchester City have dropped down into the Europe's second-tier, winning the Europa League will be much harder for Lazio and Udinese.  However, the goal should be at least the quarter-final stage for one, if not both, clubs.  As for the Champions League, a sustained run for all three clubs will emphatically put Italy back in contention, and redress some of the European heartache and frustrations of recent years.  There are certainly many structural issues--stadia ownership being chief among them--with which Italy has to contend to bolster its chances in Europe in the long run.  However, while as a brand Italian football may be a bit behind, as a quintessential football product, a result of a school and philosophy, it is still registering.

UEFA Coefficient Rankings taken from Bert Kassies's website