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Despair In a Minute

This is the anatomy of the beast that is despair:
ten red shirts, fine-tuned, attuned, coming at nine blue ones in disarray, hanging on.
Fire running towards water.

Thiago Motta, his hamstring, and Italy snap.
2-0 turns to 4-0 turns to history.
Briny shirts, teary eyes.                                                                      
Bandwagon jumpers
sworn Spanish fans since circa 2008.

Pathetic. Painful. Despair:
look into it and glimpse its anatomy.

We reach the Final every six years:
1994, 2000, 2006, 2012.
We look towards 2018

Too far away.                                                                                            
Too far away.

Pirlo and I will almost be forty!                                                
Warm middle-age interrupted
Churn of Spanish
production line of
cyborg talent in the distance.

Pass--pass--tiki--taka--churn--churn:
XaviIniestaFabregas--recursive.
More bandwagon jumpers,
The mediocre upon mediocre
supporting
the magnificent.
Pass--pass--tiki--taka--churn--churn

Make the incantation stop.                                                                  
Don't utter.

But say the beautiful:
Balo, black, bicycle
GOAL
Pirlo, penalty, panenka
GOAL
Again!
Balo, black, blistering
GOAL
GOAL

Anatomy of hope:
Straight, limber, and sturdier
flicks away the despair.

We wait for Gli Azzurri.
With hope.

Azzurri, We Love You

Balotelli embraces Cassano as Pirlo looks on

It seemed already decided before a ball was kicked in anger at Euro2012: Germany and Spain, the two best teams in Europe, would play the Final.  On the one hand, you had a German team that had been honed for the occasion, a redoubtable unit that was the apotheosis of speed and precision.  On the other, you had a Spanish team that was destined to keep the ball from everyone by virtue of a biological imperative.  These were two teams with a distinct identity, built and burnished over years of hard work. Even UEFA president Michel Platini couldn't stop from gushing over the prospect, unreservedly admitting that he would like to see Germany and Spain in the Final.  

Italy, though, had other ideas.  On the eve of the tournament, when asked about yet another scandal extending its fingers into an Italian squad--and grabbing his stand-out left-back Domenico Criscito in the process--Italy coach Cesare Prandelli, perhaps exasperated at how people had trained their attention on extracurricular matters, responded disarmingly: "If it suits everyone, we are ready to withdraw from the tournament." 

It was the candour of the response that was notable, incisive.  A tactful man like Prandelli had been pushed and pushed, and the strain was beginning to peek out from under him.  Italy's preparations for the tournament had been chaotic not just because of the scandal, but also because of preparations that exposed, at the time, how ill-prepared Italy were.  Their first friendly against Luxembourg scheduled to be played in Parma was cancelled because of an earthquake, and their second against Russia, a 3-0 defeat, was a humbling insight into what needed to be done.

I, and many Azzurri devotees will agree, am thrilled that Prandelli and Italy are still here, and that no one took Prandelli's suggestion too seriously.  Italy took on Spain on June 10 and Germany on June 28.  Both games should have confirmed that Italy were still outside the very elite, a notch below the two competitors that were to battle in the Final in Kiev, on July 1st. They didn't.  The 1-1 draw with Spain in Group C's opener, and the resounding 2-1 semi-final win over Germany have instead pushed Italy into the Final on Kiev against Spain.  The predictions were only half-right.

Thursday's win in particular stands out as one of the proudest moments in Italian football.  Quite apart from the fact that Italy dismantled Germany (I won't be covering how, here--you all probably saw it) the game definitively established one signal thing: it made Italians, and even some neutrals, fall in love with this Italian side.

Prandelli  during the semi-final

The question has been asked on more than one occasion now, and the answer from many is that this Italy is almost as loveable as the ones from 1982 and 2006.  Up front you have the combustible duo of Antonio Cassano and Mario Balotelli.  The former is here even after a stroke he suffered this past season, and every time he breathes heavily, I get nervous.  But the way he swivelled past the German defenders to set up Balotelli's first goal shows that there is blood pumping unabated.

Balotelli, the unmistakeably real sociocultural response to  Lega Nord and those "fans" who think that a black man can never be Italian, is Balotelli:  the perfectly poised reflexive property that needs no other qualification.  Balotelli is indeed Balotelli, and he is also Italy's great hope going into the Final against Spain.  His brace against Germany definitively heralded his arrival after his stupendous goal against Ireland had hinted at it.

In midfield, Daniele De Rossi, Claudio Marchisio, and Andrea Pirlo have shown that you don't have to have a Spanish midfield to be eminently good: the trio have been the vital signs for Italy.  Pirlo has moved as he has wished, tuning out the raucous atmosphere of matches to let the slow, soothing cadence of his own game guide him and his teammates.

In defence, Gianluigi Buffon, the vociferous goalkeeper who rallies perpetually, has been the clearest expression of this Italy's tenacity.  Remember, it was he who was irate when Italy let Germany have even a glimmer of hope at 2-1, so late in the game. Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Andrea Barzagli and Federico Balzaretti have been playing superbly together, so much so that Prandelli has no intention of reverting back to a 3-5-2.

And then there is Prandelli himself, one of the most likeable characters in Italian football.  A consummate professional, who remains dignified in scandal, victory, and defeat, the 53-year-old has made people fall in love with this Italy, after Marcello Lippi had left it in disarray following the 2010 World Cup.

No matter what happens on Sunday, this is an Italy to be loved.  But I urge the Azzurri to play with the same assertiveness as they have lately.  "We are not afraid of Spain," Prandelli said, and so they should show it.  They have our support.

Forza Azzurri!

Italia, Ricordiamo...

FORZA AZZURRI!

Azzurri: Eloquent, Decisive, and Devastating

Magic...Andrea Pirlo shows how it is delicately done

It was all about the chip.  One hundred and twenty minutes plus penalties, and it was one nudge, one impudent scoop, restrained in economy, expansive in affect that encapsulated Italy's total dominance over England.  When England goalkeeper Joe Hart sprawled across, watching the ball agonizingly sail past him, Andrea Pirlo had punctuated the penalty shoot out with an ellipsis. What he did was simply ineffable.

"Maybe my penalty put pressure on them," said Pirlo, with the same understatement as his penalty.  It did.  It shattered England, and it made Hart's antics to put off Italy's penalty takers seem like he was mentally ill.  The two Ashleys, Young and Cole, could not follow up Pirlo's virtuoso act even with a competent one.  It was men against boys, weak-mindedness against cerebral force.

It would have been a travesty had Italy lost the penalty shoot-out.  Before the game, a conspicuous portion of English opinion had predicted Roy's Boys to edge through somehow.  This team worked together, for each other, for a purpose, we were told.  Their flaws become their strengths, you see.  Their sum is much greater than their parts.  Sure, they didn't have the greatest midfield, and sure they hadn't performed coherently once this tournament, but they knew how to get results.   It was all pathetically wrong.

Italy came at England in waves, passing the ball around--yes, around them, about them, and through them.  Blue shirts swirled around white ones like winding patterns of ink.  At times it was embarrassing.  The statistics make for crushing reading for England.

Italy had 68% of possession and 36 goal attempts to England's 9.  A country whose punditry devotes a good chunk of its time denigrating defensive football that seems, to them at least, to be the sole preserve of Italian football, played not defensive football, but no football at all.  It was a cipher performance.  Glenn Johnson's almost-goal in the first few exchanges receded into distant memory as Italy took ownership of the Olympic Stadium's real estate.

Italy celebrate their triumph over England

Somehow, however, like his players, Roy Hodgson completely misread the game.  Unrestrained in his delusion, he said England had been "heroic."  Misreading is one thing--this is downright illiteracy.

Yet, Italy do have some things to sort out.  Daniele De Rossi's curving shot that hit the post, his subsequent near-miss, Mario Balotelli's inability to pull the trigger, and Riccardo Montolivo's huge miss in front of a gaping goal should have crowned Italy's approach-play.  It didn't, and that, amid all this euphoria, is a concern going into the semi-final against Germany on Thursday.  How Italy would love a Christian Vieri or Filippo Inzaghi right now.

For now, though, it is time to celebrate. It is time to celebrate Pirlo and Gianluigi Buffon, whose save on Ashley Cole twisted the dagger that Pirlo had initially sunk.  It is time to celebrate Alessandro Diamanti, a model of serenity before the clinching penalty.  It is time to celebrate coach Cesare Prandelli, who believed in this team, and who remains self-effacing as ever.  It is time to celberate Gli Azzurri.

Forza Azzurri! 

Grazie Ragazzi...Avanti!

Memory: Montella Decides England vs Italy Friendly 2002

Gattuso (left) and Montella celebrate scoring against England

The friendly between England and Italy at Elland Road, Leeds was played in late March, about two-and-a-half months before the 2002 World Cup.  Azzurri coach Giovanni Trapattoni fielded Marco Delvecchio and Francesco Totti up front, while the midfield was comprised of Gianluca Zambrotta, Cristiano Doni, Luigi Di Biagio, and Cristiano Zanetti.  Gianluigi Buffon played behind a defence of Marco Materazzi, Alessandro Nesta, Fabio Cannavaro, and Cristian Panucci.

Italian expectations going into the World Cup were high, and a friendly against England was a perfect way to fine-tune their preparations--even if Alessandro Del Piero and Christian Vieri were not part of the friendly.

The game was more or less uneventful until the 63rd minute.  Nesta, mostly infallible, surprisingly lost the ball cheaply to Joe Cole, who in turn fed Robbie Fowler for a goal.

However, England's lead lasted only four minutes.  Vincenzo Montella, who replaced his Roma teammate Totti, unleashed a superb high shot from the edge of the area past David James into the top left corner.  Of course, Montella subsequently rejoiced with the classic aeroplane celebration.

But there was more to come.  In the 90th minute, Montella turned brilliantly in midfield and found a surging Massimo Maccarone, who was brought down in the box clumsily by James.  Montella calmly converted the resulting penalty to give Italy the 2-1 win.

Curiously, Maccarone scored the sole Italian goal in a 1-1 friendly draw between the Under-21 sides of both nations a day earlier.  He was also to score the winner in Italy's 2-1 win over England at the European Under-21 Championship in May of 2002.