Mark Worden takes a look at Italy and its exciting World Cup history.
In spite of being the subject of an embarrassing scandal earlier this year, Italy remains one of the great footballing nations. Certainly, when it comes to the World Cup, it's up there with the best of them. Prior to 2006, Brazil had won five of the tournament's 17 editions, while Italy was joint second with Germany (three titles each), ahead of Argentina and Uruguay (two apiece), England and France (one each).
Italy, along with Brazil, Argentina and Germany, is one of ‘the big four’. Until 2006, there had yet to be a World Cup final which had not featured at least one of these teams. Not only that, Italy played a crucial role in transforming the tournament from a minor event into a major international competition. Although it wasn't among the 13 teams that took part in the first World Cup in Uruguay in 1930, Italy put in a successful bid to host the 1934 edition, largely because Mussolini appreciated its PR potential. Italy duly won, with a little help from the referees, beating Czechoslovakia 2-1 in the final in Rome.
John Foot, author of Calcio: A History of Italian Football, tells Italy: ‘Mussolini's use of sport as a form of propaganda was never on the same scale as Nazi Germany and the1936 Berlin Olympics, but the idea was certainly there.’
The English, of course, snubbed the pre-war World Cups on the grounds that they didn't need to prove to anyone that they were the best. Indeed Italy's victory was marred by a subsequent 3-2 defeat in London, in a match that is still referred to as ‘the Battle of
Highbury.’ Nevertheless Italy continued to shine, winning both the gold medal in the afore-mentioned 1936 Berlin Olympics and the next World Cup in Paris in 1938 (beating Hungary 4-2). Says Foot: ‘In many ways this was a greater victory than 1934, as there were no refs to help them and the 1938 team was genuinely the best in the world, even
if cycling remained a more popular sport in Italy until the 1950s.’
The collapse of fascism and the anarchy of the second world war set back Italian soccer a long way. Foot calls the 1950s ‘the lost decade.’ He blames the malnutrition and destruction of the war, which ruined a generation of athletes and, more specifically, the Superga tragedy of May 1949. This was a plane crash which wiped out the country's top team, Torino, which was flying back in foggy weather from a friendly in Lisbon.
As a result, the national team refused to fly to Brazil for the 1950 World Cup, preferring a lengthy voyage by ship. Says Foot: ‘Attempts to train on deck were hampered by things like the ball going overboard.’ Italy went out at the group stage in 1954, while it failed to qualify for the 1958 tournament, losing to the giant killers of Northern Ireland.
The 1960s were also a mixed bag, with the 1962 edition seeing another battle involving the English. This time the Englishman in question was the referee Ken Aston, whose handling of a group game between Italy and the hosts Chile (who won ‘the Battle of Santiago’ 2-0) was decidedly controversial. Italy slumped out of the tournament, an experience that was to be repeated in England in1966, when they suffered a humiliating 1-0 defeat at the hands of North Korea.1970, on the other hand, saw the re-birth of Italian soccer greatness. The team reached the final in Mexico, beating West Germany 4-3 after extra time in the semis. ‘Italia 4 Germania 3’ was such a famous match that it even became the title of a movie. The same cannot be said of the final: ‘Brasile 4 Italia 1.’ Today Nicola Pittaluga is a partner in a recording studio in Milan, but in 1970 he was a 9-year-old boy: "I watched the game at my grandfather's house in the mountains. I remember bursting into tears when Brazil went 2-1 up in the second half and I didn't stop until several hours later. Italy was exhausted after the Germany match and collapsed against Pele and co.’
Italy was mediocre in Germany in 1974, but took the fourth place in Argentina in 1978, prior to winning the big prize in Spain in 1982. The tournament came in the aftermath of another Italian soccer scandal, this time involving illegal betting: Paolo Rossi, who went on to become the tournament's star player, had been banned for two years. The team started badly, drawing all three group matches before beating the favourites, Brazil 3-2, in a historic second round match, and overcoming West Germany 3-1 in the final. By now Nicola Pittaluga was 21, but was back at his grandfather's house in the mountains: ‘It was mass hysteria, this was a small village and yet everybody took to the streets. I think this was the last time the country was genuinely united. There hadn't been scenes like this since the liberazione.
Since 1982 Italy's record has been one of near and far misses. In 1986 they were knocked out by Platini's France in the last 16, in 1990 they hosted the tournament but lost to Maradona's Argentina on penalties in the semis. In 1994, in the USA, they reached the final, only to lose to Brazil, again on penalties. The team that went to France in 1998 was under par, while the 2002 World Cup, in Japan and South Korea, was disastrous.
In defeat the Italians can be even more dramatic than in victory. When the team scraped through to the last 16, after drawing with Mexico, the coach, Giovanni Trapattoni, announced that ‘God exists and he is just’: when they proceeded to lose to South Korea in the next match, he blamed the referee! According to Tim Parks, author of another Italian soccer study, A Season With Verona: ‘He was right about the Ecuadorian ref (Byron Moreno), who was clearly on the side of the Koreans.’ Parks admits: ‘Much as I love Italy, it does get entertaining when things go wrong. The commentators are hilarious!’
