Anthony McIntyre ⚽ Italy finished the tournament as shakily as they had started it.
They arrived with a whimper and went out with a bang. Problem for them was that Switzerland banged them right out the exit door. The Swiss may have rode their luck at times at the back but Italy's shots on goal for the most part were ballooned efforts, the type you would see in Gaelic football when a team takes its points. The closest the Italians came to scoring was when a Swiss defender miscalculated and hit his own woodwork.
In their opener against Albania, they were hit by one of the quickest goals ever scored in the history of the competition. The legendary Italy defensive formation went from famed to failed. They rallied and won but not as convincingly as their fans wished for.
I used to like the Italian side, recalling my avid attraction to them during the 1970 World Cup in Mexico where they, the great Luigi Riva in tow, were simply overwhelmed in the final by perhaps the greatest Brazil side ever. When they lifted the premier soccer trophy in 82, they started out piss poor, and I only began rooting for them after the Germans and Austrians - having reached a score line that would see them both through - staged the Disgrace of Gijón, effectively shafting the Algerians. After that it was anyone bit the Germans.
It had been my birthday earlier in the week and my son is celebrating his today so we opted to hit the local with Andrew who made his way up from Dublin with a bottle of whiskey from himself and Les - as good a birthday present as any! Paddy was there also - my constant soccer companion, both of us being season ticket holders with Drogheda United. Together we have watched some weak performances by Drogheda but this is what you get with local Irish soccer, particularly from a side that is semi-professional, none of the players earning in a year what some supposed luminaries draw down in a week. Irish soccer is a work in progress and nobody expects the sides competing to put in world beating performances. But we don't expect to see soccer at an international level being played on a par with what we see at Weavers Park. I have seen the Drogs put up better and more spirited performances than that Italian side yesterday evening.
The Italian press - the media as there was little pressing on the pitch - heaped scorn on Gli Azzurri. At the start of the competition the Albanian fans were tossing pasta at the Italian counterparts. It was in good spirits unlike what viewers have become accustomed to with that nasty element of the England travelling support base. Against the Swiss the Italians looked as robust as cooked spaghetti, floppy, sloppy and incapable of standing up for itself, its fans and its society. No pride, no passion, no prowess.
When a team's keeper emerges as its best player, there is a problem. A soccer pundit called it right when saying Italy were eliminated and humiliated. When at a post-match press conference a reporter compared Switzerland to a Ferrari and Italy to a Fiat Panda, Luciano Spalletti took the hump. I am not sure the makers of a Fiat Panda would not take kindly to being compared with Gli Azzurri, their product considered unroadworthy. Fabio Capello rubbishing the coach's litany of excuses, with a pithy observation: 'We lost to Switzerland, not Brazil."
Spalletti spent most of his playing career in Serie C, the Italian third division, where the current national side deserves to be.
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The Swiss will Roll over Southgate's boys . Germany or Spain to be champs .
ReplyDeleteLots of talk about Scouser Anthony Gordon moving / returning to Anfield . How much do you reckon he's worth ? There must be better options for the Reds .
ReplyDeleteI think he is a good player. I don't think any of them are worth what they get sold for
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