Italian
It has been 20 years since that fantastic night in 2006 when the dream of all Italians incredibly became reality. World Champions
BERLIN – It is the night of July 9 2006, at the Olympiastadion in Berlin the final of the World Cup is taking place between Italy and France. We have never really loved our cousins across the Alps, it is known, but in football terms, we just can’t stand each other. Perhaps it is because the bitter defeat due to the Golden Goal by Trezeguet in the final of the 2000 Europeans still stings.
They are clearly the favorites, they have Zidane, Henry, Ribery and a whole host of champions that gives you a headache just thinking about how to stop them, but we defeated the Germans on their home turf after 2 extra times.
Exactly twenty years have passed since that night, a night that I think anyone (even non-football fans) remembers perfectly as if it were yesterday. Where we were, with whom, what we thought. The celebrations, the joy, the dancing until dawn.
These were very different times. A national team packed with champions now in full maturity but hit hard by the cyclone of Calciopoli, emerging from the scandal of the match against Korea (and referee Moreno) from the previous World Cup and the “Biscotto” between Denmark and Sweden from the last European Championship. A national team united like never before.
Yet it was not the World Cup of the “Stars” like the various Totti, Pirlo, Del Piero, etc., it was the World Cup of the group, of the supporters, of the impenetrable defense despite the injury of the unluckiest Nesta. Our true heroes were Materazzi and Grosso, the men of destiny.
All of this during a summer that was changing the way we all saw and lived football. From the accusations of betting against Buffon, to the ongoing investigations into foreign SIM cards of Moggi and Co., the psychological submission of referees, the Rolex of Roma, the phone taps… Italian football was in the midst of chaos, of scandal, with accusations flying from all sides.
He was good Lippi at taking a team of overpaid “pretty boys” and isolating them from everything that was happening in our country. A bit like Enzo Bearzot did in the victorious Spanish World Cup, the team was protected by their coach and at the same time grew closer, not knowing what future they would have the following season with their respective clubs.
Gattuso that evening stated: “Without scandals we wouldn’t have won“. We probably would have had a good journey, but not won in the end. Football is, and always will be, a team sport, no matter how good an individual player may be, if they don’t have a solid and united group behind them, they won’t get anywhere.
The group, dedication, trust in your teammate, fighting inch by inch, this has brought us to the top of the world. Being 23 and not just the 11 on the field, each one serving the other. And this is what made us triumph in the 2021 European Championship as well. Without champions, but with simple guys willing to help each other and give everything for our colors. Each one is crucial, in their own way.
Something that has not been seen on the field anymore, with the poor results of our National Team, absent from the World Cup for three consecutive editions. An unthinkable situation for a country that has won it four times and only failed to qualify in 1958. And now we are here, on July 9th, still without a Technical Commissioner, without a clear project yet.
Our youth teams perform well in all competitions, but then the boys get lost. They don’t play in the first teams or if they do, they have very little playing time. They are literally burned out at the first opportunity. The reserve teams only work for Juventus and Milan, although often the boys who come out of them are used only as bargaining chips to make money.
The system needs to be completely reformed. It has been almost twenty days since the election of Giovanni Malagò as president of FIGC. But everything is still at a standstill. We are stuck in that 2006. In that unforgettable night. And if nothing changes, we will be for many more years.
