Italy, The Joy

 In terms of the ultimate joy as an Italy fan, it doesn’t come bigger than winning the World Cup in 2006. The core of the squad has been together since Euro 2000 with a couple being part of the squad from as early as Euro 96. However, at this stage, they were mostly in their late 20s and early 30s. Age and injuries were catching up and it claimed a vital component of previous squads, Christian Vieri. He was replaced by a late developer, Luca Toni. There weren’t many emerging young talents but there were two in this squad, Daniele De Rossi and Alberto Gilardino.

In March, there were a couple of friendly results that went under the radar, beating two big European nations, Germany and Holland comprehensively. Before the World Cup started, the squad was rocked by news of a match-fixing scandal that involved top Italian clubs in Serie A. Many pundits and experts predicted Italy would get distracted by the scandal but I was quietly confident, it would work in our favour.

Group Stage

We got out of our group despite a small blip against the USA in the second game. We beat the Czech Republic, comfortably in the final group stage match to avenge the defeat to the same team at Euro 96. That game also moulded the way the team would line up and play in the knockout stages. Italy had a stable line-up from the knockout stage onwards. Injury curtailed Alessandro Nesta’s World Cup as it did at the previous World Cup. His replacement, Marco Materazzi unlike four years ago, stepped up to the mantle.

Knockout Stages

In the Second Round, Italy faced an adversary that conjured painful memories, Guus Hiddink, representing Australia this time. Australia pinned us back and we found ourselves down to 10 men when Materazzi was sent off for a high foot challenge. I felt he was sent off more for his reputation rather than the actual foul. Just as it seems like we were heading to extra-time, a moment of endeavour from another late developer, Fabio Grosso won us a penalty. On the balance of play, it wasn’t deserved but luck favours the brave. Francesco Totti scored from the penalty spot for his most telling contribution in this World Cup to send us through.

We beat tournament debutants, Ukraine by our most convincing scoreline, 3-0. It was a game where Toni final broke his duck. In the semi-final, we played the hosts and one of the favourites, Germany. We produced a tactical masterclass to curb the host team’s enthusiasm. Lippi then out-smarted his opposite number, Jurgen Klinsmann by making an attacking change in extra-time. Italy turned the tide of the game as they dominated and scored twice for a famous, 2-0 win keeping up a very good record we have against the Germans in tournaments.

Final

The final was a repeat of Euro 2000. We got off to the worse possible start, Zinedine Zidane scoring with a Panenka penalty that crashed off the underside of the bar. I feared the worst at that point wondering how we would respond but we played ourselves back into the game and got the equaliser through Materazzi’s header. Both teams had their chances to take the lead and then there was the famous red card for Zidane as well. As the match went into the penalty shootout, I prayed that for all the shootout defeats in 1990, 1994 and 1998, we would finally get the rub of the green. Everyone’s penalties were immaculate but the fall guy was to be David Trezeguet. For me, that was sweet revenge as he broke our hearts in 2000 by scoring the Golden Goal.

Lippi

Marcello Lippi did a great job galvanising the squad amidst the scandal that rocked the team. Tactically, after some initial trials, he settled on the right one and made the right change at the right time in the semi-final. I really liked the deployment of Simone Perrotta who drifted in from the left to join the attack. It was a pity that he couldn’t score a goal. Compared to the previous squads from 1990-2002, this squad lacked quality depth. There wasn’t a forward that stood out the way Roberto Baggio and Christian Vieri did in previous tournaments but it was the sum of parts that finally brought Italy across the line to the biggest trophy of all, the World Cup.