Now, Tomas Rosicky and his teammates will have to go all out to beat Italy to give themselves a chance to win Group E, assuming other results go their way. Beating Italy is a difficult enough task, but the Czechs will have to do so without a striker — Jan Koller is injured and Vratislav Lokvenc received his second yellow card yesterday and is suspended.
Arsenal believe they have captured a world-class footballer in Rosicky, and this will be his opportunity to prove Arsène Wenger right. He has been in dazzling form as a schemer and goalscorer, and will be opposed by Andrea Pirlo or Francesco Totti, or both, in Hamburg. Rosicky looks like a bargain. Borussia Dortmund, having fallen on hard times, were obliged to sell him for £8m, far less than he was arguably worth, at a time when he had triumphantly emerged from difficult days.
The past season or two in the Bundesliga has not been propitious for him, partly because of the club’s economic problems, partly because of injuries. Arsenal have already seen him impressively at work at Highbury a few years ago, when he played for his original club, Sparta Prague, in the Champions League.
On the basis of his play against the USA, he looks the complete creative footballer. Not just a midfield player, but a playmaker who can score goals and make them, exactly the kind Arsenal badly need to take over from Dennis Bergkamp. Taking advantage of a naive and confused USA defence, Rosicky took his goals magisterially, the first when he found room to drive past Kasey Keller, the second when he broke through a distracted defence that could only look on.
His burden, when he plays for Arsenal, should be somewhat less than Bergkamp’s. In his veteran years the Dutchman has been obliged to carry a double weight, operating as what the Italians call a “three-quarterist”, just behind Thierry Henry, but obliged as often as possible to make up for the lack of invention in a midfield always muscular rather than cerebral.
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Over the years the Czechs have produced a succession of distinguished “generals”. In the 1930s, there was the elegant Oldrich Nejedly, described by a French critic as “pure as bohemian glass”. He was a conspicuous member of the excellent Czech team who reached the 1934 World Cup final, where they lost 2-1 to Italy. Alas, in the 1938 World Cup in France, Nejedly was the victim of the sanguinary Battle of Bordeaux, against a Brazilian team that took no prisoners in a 1-1 draw. His leg was broken, his World Cup was over, and Brazil won a notably calmer replay 2-1.
There is a sharp contrast between Totti and Pirlo. The combustible Totti made his name with Roma as a goalscoring centre-forward, only later dropping back into the three-quarter position. He missed many months of last season through injury and there was substantial doubt as to whether he would play in this World Cup.
There is no doubting Totti’s balance and skill, or his finishing power, but there must be doubts about his temperament. Time and again in recent seasons he has seemed about to leave Roma, complaining of this and that, only to change his mind at the last moment. In the 2002 World Cup, after Italy had been controversially beaten by South Korea, Totti went back to the dressing room and smashed it up. Two years ago, in the European Championship in Portugal, he spat in the face of a Swedish opponent who had maltreated him.
Pirlo struck that powerful right-footed opening goal for Italy against Ghana and thereby probably settled the nerves and induced optimism to an Italian team expected to feel the effects of the recent corruption scandals in their country. Pirlo has no lack of confidence. Comparing his goal to that scored against Croatia by his Milan teammate, the Brazilian Kaka, he said: “Kaka scored a very beautiful goal with his left, beforehand he chiefly used his right. He has improved at Milan. A fine goal, but I like mine better because I scored it. I’ve looked at it again on TV and it’s made a greater impression on me. They are always telling me to shoot more: they are right. Kaka needs space to explode. Totti can do great things even in a narrow space. However, little changes for me. My job is to get the ball to both of them.”
Italy, like the Czechs, have a distinguished tradition of playmakers. In the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, they had an embarrassment of riches, including key creator in attack, Gianni Rivera of Milan and Alessandro Mazzola, a centre-forward from Internazionale. The manager of Italy in Mexico, Ferruccio Valcareggi, resolved his problem initially with what became known in Italy as the staffetta, or the relay. Mexico were beaten 4-1, with Mazzola operating in the first half, Rivera in the second. But in the final, in which Italy managed to wipe out the early lead given to Brazil by Pelé’s stupendous header, Mazzola played so electrically well that he could not be taken off. So it was that Rivera in the final was given a miserable six minutes.
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Later came Fiorentina’s Giancarlo Antognoni, who did so much to get Italy to the 1982 final. But he was kicked about in the semi-final against Poland and missed the final. I found him sitting right behind me, watching as Italy beat West Germany 3-1 without him.