A nation mourns, a nation searches for answers.
Whether it's mothers pushing their infant children in strollers through a sun-splashed piazza, or elderly men standing around the counter at the local cafe drinking an espresso lungo, all of Italy is trying to come to grips with the 'brutta figura' – the 'ugly scene'.
Italy's Francesco Totti: so much for winning the Balon D'Or.
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Italy was sent packing from Euro 2004 on Tuesday, crashing out of the tournament in the opening round even though they earned five points (one more than quarter-finalists Greece and the Netherlands) and never actually lost a game.
It all seems rather suspicious on the surface and Italian soccer fans, who have never heard a conspiracy theory they didn't like, are once again crying foul, convinced that coach Giovanni Trapattoni and his charges were the victims of some covert operation that was executed with perfect aplomb.
The evidence is so overwhelming, they argue, you need only look at the facts:
Italy would have virtually ensured its passage through to the quarter-finals with a win in its final game of the opening round. The only way they would be eliminated would be if Scandinavian neighbours Sweden and Denmark battled to a 2-2 draw.
Italy struggled but eventually dispatched Bulgaria 2-1 thanks to an Antonio Cassano goal deep into injury time, but was knocked out when Mattias Jonson "conveniently" netted in the 89th minute to allow Sweden to tie Denmark 2-2.
Cue the hysteria back in Italy.
Il Messaggero, a Rome-based daily, wrote Wednesday that there was no doubt that this result was a "Nordic arrangement," while Italian television, taking a break from transmitting the endless slew of pseudo-porn that it passes off as game shows, was buzzing with conspiracy theories, further fuelling the national paranoia.
Indeed, there was a conspiracy at work against Italy, one that the Italians hatched on themselves.
It all started in their opening game when Italy showed up and expected Denmark to just roll over and hand them three points. The Danes thoughtlessly deviated from the script that the Italians were reading off of and by the time Italy realized they had a game on their hands and actually had to work for the result, it was too late.
A 0-0 draw with Denmark was a flattering score line for a lifeless Italian side, the game marred by Francesco Totti's disgusting actions, Christian Vieri's failure to put any one of his more than two dozen headers on target, and Alessandro Del Piero's lack of invention.
In the end, though, it wasn't Jonson's late strike against Denmark but Zlatan Ibrahimovic's audacious back-heeled goal for Sweden with five minutes left that ultimately did the Italians in, helping the Swedes earn a 1-1 tie to deny Italy what at the time looked like three points in the bag.
That result set up Tuesday's scenario where a 2-2 draw between the Danes and Swedes would eliminate the Italians, no matter how they did against Bulgaria in a game that never should have had so much riding on it.
Italy's failure to finish off Sweden – or more accurately Trapattoni's failure to stick to his tactical guns – is what conspired to send the Azzurri home.
After playing 70 minutes of attacking, beautiful, free flowing soccer, Trap got the itch and reverted to good, old-fashioned catenaccio – the tactical system in soccer made famous by Italy whereby all the emphasis is put on defending and committing fouls to disrupt the opponents' rhythm and slow the pace of the game down to a crawl.
Three substitutions in the final 20 minutes – holding midfielder Stefano Fiore for goal-scorer Cassano, defender Giuseppe Favalli for midfielder Gennaro Gattuso and winger Mauro Camoranesi for playmaker Del Piero – left nobody doubting what Trapattoni's intentions were.
He was going to sit on that lead and defend it, no matter how many boos rung around the stadium when fans realized Cassano was coming off for Fiore. The plan, of course, backfired, and that's why Italy's Portuguese sojourn was cut abruptly short.
The time has come, my fellow crest-fallen Azzurri fans, to do some deep soul searching and admit that Italy – for all of its talent, all of its swagger, all of its pedigree – is sadly lacking in one key area: mental strength.
Had Italy shown one iota of that particular character trait, we would now be talking about Italy's chances against the Czech Republic in Sunday's quarter-final match.
This notion of the "impenetrable" Italian defence – able to defend even the slimmest of leads against the most potent of offences for hours on end – is, sadly, nothing more than a myth; a conclusion I came to last night as I was commiserating Italy's demise for hours while crawled up into the fetal position.
I give you the evidence: the 2000 Euro final against France, 2002 against South Korea, and Euro 2004 against Sweden. In each of these three critical contests, Italy took a 1-0 lead. All three times, they failed to hold onto it.
The Italian team, to its credit, have downplayed any suggestion of collusion between Denmark and Sweden, Trapattoni himself leading the charge by saying there is an "ethic" in sports, one that he feels the Swedes and Danes honoured.
"Despite what everybody was talking about [conspiracies], there is a sports ethic and I believe it was like that [ethical]," Trapattoni said.
If only he could convince all the conspiracy theorists back home.
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