AN AMERICAN journalist wrote after the United States’ harrowing defeat by the Czech Republic that the team needed “some serious couch time”. By the end of group E’s second round of fixtures it was Italy in need of therapy. However, the nation’s media offered their team not a sofa but the electric chair.
“An Italy of madmen” the headline on the front page of Corriere dello Sport tutted after Italy drew 1-1 with a US side reduced to nine men for almost the entire second half. “Confused and nervous,” was the paper’s verdict. “Italy did little, too little in the whole of the second half. It seemed like (the US) had an extra man.”
Catenaccio, the famous Italian “door-bolt” defensive emphasis, evidently extends to post-match press conferences. Marcello Lippi, the coach, was tetchy. “This was not our best game, we know that perfectly well,” he said. He blamed the under-par display on fatigue after the defeat of Ghana five days previously. It seemed a spurious excuse.
Italian football is teetering on the edge of a precipice, since the domestic game is under investigation for a wide-ranging corruption scandal implicating leading clubs and officials. Before the match, Gianlugi Buffon, the goalkeeper, claimed that the victory over Ghana was anything but strength-sapping: he said it healed the “nausea” provoked by the allegations.
But it does not take much for Italy to come over all queasy again. Gazzetta dello Sport said the match in Kaiserslautern on Saturday was a “cold shower after the victory in the opening match”.
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Lippi may not mind the negative coverage, though, since he seems to relish stress. “We don’t need results that’ll allow us to praise ourselves and rest on our laurels,” he said.
That is spin worthy of an industrial-size centrifuge but Italy habitually sail close to the wind in World Cup group stages. They have lost on penalties or in extra time in the past four tournaments.
Italy played for more than an hour with ten men after Daniele De Rossi was sent off for brutishly elbowing Brian McBride in the head. The Fulham forward said that he was fortunate not to have much feeling in his face anyway, since previous injuries have damaged nerves and he has seven metal plates inserted near his eyes.
De Rossi admitted to acting like “a dickhead”. The red card rules him out of the final group game, against the Czech Republic on Thursday, in which Italy need a point to be sure to progress. The United States must beat Ghana and hope Italy win.
De Rossi could face a longer ban, of up to three matches, since Fifa can mete out additional punishments for violent conduct. Tuttosport recommended extending catenaccio to his selection: “Lippi would do well to shut the door on his World Cup,” they opined.