An Open Letter To The Italian National Team

Dear Italy,

I have been a fan of your national team since 1991 (or it could be the later part of 1990). I am writing this letter to you to talk to you ahead of the Euro 2020 final against England at Wembley tomorrow or Monday morning based on where I am staying.

In my history as a fan, I have seen you get to two European Championships finals. The first one was in the year 2000 and we were just minutes away from celebrating an unlikely triumph when it was snatched out of our hands and then tragically pierced through our hearts in extra time. I still look at that final with regrets because if only Alessandro Del Piero had put away one of the two chances he had, that goal in the final minutes wouldn’t have mattered. That’s fate and luck.

In 2012, we were royally embarrassed by a far superior team that was at the peak of their powers that day while we were completely out of it. In such cases, you do feel ashamed and have the urge of covering your head in the sand but you got to show class and sportsmanship to applaud the opponents. They were terrific and we were well-beaten.

There were other tournaments where we disappointed despite entering the tournament with high hopes like in 1996 and 2004. We were over-the-hill in 2008 and 2016, we over-achieved a bit. In 2016, maybe if we were on the kinder side of the draw, we might have gone further than the quarter-finals but it is what it is. This is the tale of the rest of my European Championships journey as an Italy fan.

As Italy prepare to face the favourites, England in what is our 10th international tournament final and third European Championship final in my lifetime, I just got to say, bring it home. I am not Italian by citizen or descent but such has been my closeness with the team for 30 years that I feel an attachment to the national team. If you can do it by playing well, great. If not, just bring it home by hook or crook. I feel we are owed one and we are many, many who like me are not Italians by citizens or race but have long supported you. It’s all in your legs, heads and hearts players. For the coaching staff, it is all in your head, heart and words. Forza Italia! Forza Ragazzi!

 

Yours Sincerely,

Ras

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Time For Italy To Prove Themselves

Image
We are on the eve of Euro 2020 and Italy will kick off the tournament for the first time in my time as a fan. In the days leading up to the tournament, there has been a lot of positive attention on the team. Some are tipping them to be the dark horses of the tournament, some are tipping them to go all the way to the final and even winning it. If you have followed the Italian national team as long as I have, you will know that this spells trouble. Whenever Italy has entered a tournament as one of the favourites, they have disappointed for example 1996, 2002 and 2004. The only exception would be 1994 where they went all the way to the final after a slow start. When no one has given them a chance, they have done well as we have seen in 2000, 2006, 2012 and to an extent, 2016. If I apply this logic, it doesn’t bode well for Italy in this tournament. I have not watched Italy play since that unfateful World Cup qualifier playoff elimination by Sweden in 2017 because I have not had any ac
Read more

Supercoppa Champions (Again!) Cover The Cracks

Image
Inter swept past Milan 3-0 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to retain the Supercoppa Italiana. I couldn't watch the match as it wasn't shown "live" in Singapore. It is always great to win a derby in this fashion but the feeling is lost when you don't actually watch the match. We have continued the trend of winning trophies in consecutive seasons which is an excellent habit to cultivate and this victory has proved that there is no doubt that Inter can beat anyone in a one-off match.  However, this victory just papers over growing cracks at Inter. When I see the club President, Steven Zhang get involved in the trophy celebrations, I feel he is not embarrassed. To be honest, his involvement looks a bit awkward as well. The squad is increasingly heading towards degeneration as the best players are slowly getting picked apart and replaced by ageing players. We know the reason why this is the case - the club is broke and they have to sell to invest in the team. The 30-something-
Read more

Routine Inter Win

Image
It’s not often that Inter records a routine win. After all, we are not known as “Pazza Inter” for nothing. This win against Fiorentina away at Stadio Artemio Franchi is impressive for a couple of reasons. One, it came after only 2 days of rest after our midweek Coppa Italia semi-final, first-leg against Juventus. Second, we have not beaten La Viola in Florence since 2014. Strong & Sharp Start To The Game We got off to a great start in this match, we were sharp and incisive in our attacks. Nicolo Barella made the wrong decision with his cut-back and then his shot was saved impressively by Bartlomiej Dragowski. It looked odds on that he would score. In another attack, Alexis Sanchez’s drag-back missed everyone in a white shirt in the box. It looked like we were going to struggle to break them down until Barella scored a goal of great individual quality, curling a shot from outside the box into the bottom corner of the net. Poor Response To Taking The Lead Our response to taking t
Read more