I thot of starting with 'Yay' or 'Yippee' but thats sounds too lame. In fact i will not even try to capture the joy and elation of Italy's World Cup victory in words.. i cant!
The best team won! Not a bunch of mediocres who can only convert free kicks, not a bunch of jokers who call their tomfoolery on field 'samba flair', not a bunch of kids who play with a '12th man' at home, and NOT a team which disgraces the finals with a dive-earned-penalty and an inexplicable red card. Champions should be above all this.
They came in as underdogs blemished by a scandal, with an unknown striker and fewer stars than any Azzurri in recent history. In the end it wasn't about South American flair or European ruggedness, it was all about Italian pizzazz (forgive the pun). They played like champions - conceding only an own goal and a penalty that should not have been awarded in the first place, and scoring 12 goals with 10 different players (for perspective - the highest tally in these finals was Germany's 14). A solid team, with a lion-hearted defender who should've been the 'Man of the series', a keeper who is God, earned the place in history that they truly deserve.
I was there - in an Italy t-shirt, at one of only two tables supporting Italy in a coffee-shop with more than 100 people. Seeing 20+ tables of sad-looking people, I felt credit was not being given where it was due. So i am making up with this testimonial.
God bless the Azzurri! Yay? Nah.. too lame!
Smoochy
ReplyDeleteYou very conveniently forgot that Grosso went for such an expanisve dive against Australia. To me, that was the worst dive where the Australian didnt even touch Grosso.
I dont deny that they scraped thru the early stages... drew 1-1 against USA in an ugly game and gave Australia the worst possible sucker-punch with a dubious penalty at the death.
ReplyDeleteDiving is a common practice now - everyone does it to win whether we like it or not. But there is a limit to which it can be tolerated. To have the WC final decided by a dive is not acceptable.
Smoochy
ReplyDeleteDiving has become a common practice in the EPL and Spanish League. Either a thing is acceptable or not. You cannot have it both ways saying that it should be acceptable in the League rounds and not in the knock-out rounds.