OK let me warn anyone who is Italian that this rant is not for you. It will only offend and infuriate you. But here’s the thing it has long been overdue. You see I am a confirmed hater of Italian football and especially their overhyped, overrated and disgusting national team known as the ‘Azurri”.
One of the most successful soccer playing nations and a country that has lifted the World Cup high four times, today they got a lesson in humility and humiliation crashing out o the 2010 World Cup being held in South Africa by losing a must win game to lowly Slovakia 3-2. HAHAHAHAHAH!!!! Oh Joy! Oh Rapture! Oh Ecstasy!
So many of you are going to now ask, why the hostility towards the Italians? Well it’s easy really. For decades I have consider Italy to be the antichrist’s of soccer and the dark cloud that has had more to do with polluting and destroying the great game than all other countries combined. Don’t get me wrong I love Italy as a country. I love the aesthetic beauty and topography of the great land, the food, the culture, the fashion, cars, lifestyle and art and architecture and most of all, it’s great history dating back to Ancient Rome. In fact, Lake Como is my favorite paradise on Earth. But my love affair with Italy ends when we talk footy. In soccer, Italy has done more harm to the game and to me personally than any other country could possibly ever do.
I am Canadian by Greek ancestry but my allegiance in international football is with Germany. I have loved the Germans ever since the early seventies when I was blessed to watch such incredible talents play the game with attacking skill and ambition like Beckenbauer, Netzer and the great goal scoring machine Gerd Mueller. How then am I supposed to like Italian football when they have beaten the Germans nearly every time they have played them since in ways that I just cannot stomach. The 82 final really sticks in my mind as I felt the referee was wearing blue and white all afternoon as Italy’s 12th man on the pitch but hey, that’s sour grapes. For all of Germany’s greatness, Italy has indeed had their number internationally over the years. Perhaps they just know how to bore the German players to death with their defensive minded tactics and gamesmanship? And that is the crux of my argument and hatred towards them.
Italy is the inventors of a defensive minded system called Catenaccio. A tactical system that places great emphasis on defensive responsibilities where securing 0-0 or 1-0 results to Italians is grounds for a parade and a weekend 48-hour party. What kind of a culture prefers caution and a cowardly approach to playing a game that asks it’s player to outscore the opposition. A sport that has so much beauty and excitement when played with ambition, skill and bravery that it only depresses one to think how low the Italians have brought the game with their tactics and social influence.
It really is about cultural differences. Modern day Italians are very cautious people. They are as greedy as the next man but they prefer to take the cautious route on their way to the promise land. There tactics are all about patience and creating a fortress where defending is the artistic element of the game. What a bunch of crap. NEWSFLASH! Soccer is about beating your opponent and beating him by outscoring him just like hockey, basketball, tennis, baseball and every other team sport. To play for a 0-0 draw or be lucky enough to score one goal in a game where you have defended your goal like a medieval fortress is not admirable, not entertaining and aesthetically, as ugly as it gets. But to a nation that is famous for aesthetics and beautiful women and art, it amazes me that they find their brand of football palatable. For me it’s disgusting and nauseating.
The other negative contribution to the game that the Italians have brought is gamesmanship. What do I mean by this term? Well, gamesmanship is a combination of stalling tactics, theatrics, cheating and basically poor sportsmanship that is designed to get an advantage because modern rules and modern referees seem to tolerate it more than they should. Diving, play acting and feigning an injury, stalling with the ball as time is running out in a game, intimidating the referee and performing dirty handed fouls like shirt pulling, intentional kicks, elbows and tackles from behind that are considered tactics in the Italian game to get the job done. Even worse, the game’ governing body FIFA and UEFA seem to tolerate this form of disgusting behavior as they continually let Italian club teams and the Azurri off the hook time after time.
Yes it’s clear, I am bitter. I am not jealous despite Italian success but I ma bitter and I am angry. I hate that along with their negativity, lack of style and cheating that their influence on the game has been so great that their bad habits and style of football has spread throughout the globe and now nearly every country incorporates some or a lot of the same tactics and disgusting habits that Italians perfected but never copyrighted.
Today every country has many divers and shirt puller, Oscar caliber actors and cry babies who seem to get away with murder and when they don’t, they assault the referee with verbal abuse. Today’s modern game has become a battle of attrition where most teams play not to lose as opposed to playing to win. A term infamous in England for Catenaccio is “Parking the Bus”. This has become a common tactic for 80% of all premier league teams who struggle against the very talented teams but what is even more disgusting is when those talented teams also use this tactic against each other or when they go to play in Europe. I’m sick of it and it’s all because of the Italians.
So the fact that Italy was soundly knocked out of this year’s World Cup where they finished dead last in their group is music to my ears and ecstasy to my heart. Frankly, it’s almost as great as having sex with beautiful woman (OK, so that was a slight exaggeration). Good riddance to bad football, and negativity. Good riddance to cheating and lying and all the other bad habits they bring to a tournament. Good riddance to arrogance and attitude and above all, good riddance to bad rubbish.
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