James talks about Italy’s WC so far, briefly touches on the Moggi-gate scandal and the Pessotto incident. He then wraps it up with few nice words about our own Matrix.
Italy still searching for cheer
The Azzurri may be through to the quarter-finals, but Gianluca Pessotto's apparent suicide attempt has cast a shadow over a side still struggling to find form, writes James Richardson
Wednesday June 28, 2006
Just when Italian football couldn't get any stranger, along comes the Pessotto affair.
The former Italy and Juve defender's apparent attempt to take his life on Tuesday by jumping from Juventus headquarters has caused shock across Italy and among the Azzurri in Germany, where Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Del Piero and manager's assistant Ciro Ferrara immediately left on a private plane to visit their former team-mate in hospital.
Pessotto - who hung up his boots just this May - had recently been made team manager at Juventus in the wake of the Moggi-gate scandal at the club. Why he jumped, if he jumped, is a question only he can answer, but certainly his fall casts yet another shadow across this most difficult of summers. Last Thursday brought confirmation of the charges facing four of Serie A's biggest clubs in the match-fixing enquiry. If the press is to be believed, the "maxi-trial" which starts this week will end with Juve stripped of two titles and sent down a division, with Fiorentina and Lazio suffering lesser points penalties.
Milan - whose alleged attempts to produce a bargain rival to Juve's refs network by leaning on linesmen have provoked widespread ridicule - are tipped to get off lightest of all, as they'll pin it all on a rogue director. More trials, involving further clubs, may follow.
Meanwhile, in Germany, the Azzurri's attempts to take Italian fans' minds off all the doom and gloom have stuttered. After a fine start against Ghana, Italy failed to beat USA despite a man advantage, then looked sluggish against the Czechs in similar circumstances.
They won the group, but Monday's second-round showing against the Australians - going through on a penalty that was the last kick of the game - has only increased the pressure on manager Marcello Lippi to sort out the side.
"If that penalty had been given against us, we'd all be here talking about international conspiracies", one Italian paper was frank enough to comment about Monday's decisive spot kick.
The last-minute Fabio Grosso tumble wasn't strictly speaking a dive, as Lucas Neill's ill-advised sliding tackle provided a barrier between Grosso and the ball, and having already shaken off one illegal challenge on his way into the area the Italian was perfectly entitled to feel impeded by the second. Still, few in Italy deny that the pendulum of World Cup fortune had for once swung healthily in the Azzurri's favour.
They surely can't count on that happening too often. To unlock their potential Italy now need Marcello Lippi to settle on a formation. A popular conversational gambit right now among Italians is the "just like in '82". Italy, of course, won their qualifying group this time with a game to spare, "just like in '82". Italy also drew a pre-tournament friendly with Switzerland "just like in '82". And domestically, Italy are coming off a major match-fixing scandal, "just like in '82". It all bodes well.
However, one thing that's not "just like in '82" is the constant changing of line-up; if Italy's then-manager Enzo Bearzot hadn't stuck by Paolo Rossi despite his poor group form it's fair to say Italy would never have won that third World Cup.
The lesson for Lippi is: stick with Luca Toni. Sooner or later the big man must score, and until he does he still provides an outstanding outlet up front. Twice now we've seen his trademark move: receiving the ball with back to goal, spinning past his marker and firing off a shot. The first against Ghana hit the crossbar. On Monday it forced one of the saves of the tournament from Mark Schwarzer. The next one might just break his duck.
As for Francecso Totti, that magnificent final 15 minutes and masterful penalty against Australia ("I was just praying he wouldn't try that bloody chip again," said Lippi post-game) must have bought him another crack at the starting role against Ukraine, behind Toni and Alberto Gilardino. If it all clicks this time, look out world. If it doesn't, Italy will surely be found out in the semis, if not before. We'll see on Friday.
Allow me to finish though with a special mention for Marco Materazzi. Hailed by this column as a harbinger of doom should he so much as set foot on the pitch in Germany, "Matrix" instead came on for the injured Alessandro Nesta against the Czechs and gave the performance of his career. He looked like he was channelling Franz Beckenbauer back there, and was rightly rewarded with the man-of-the-match award. Italy will miss him in their quarter-final - and who'd have thought we'd end up saying that?
In this strangest of summers, it truly does seem that anything is possible.