A Championship Christening
10 July 2006, 16:02
My friend Steve wants to name his first son Trezeguet. He likes the sound of it. Trezeguet McClure. Immediately after the final yesterday, I got a text from him: “Poor Trez” was all it said. Confined to the bench for most of the tournament, David Trezeguet came on in the 10th minute of extra time for Frank Ribery. He had to play with only nine teammates for a long stretch. Then he had to take a penalty. It was well struck, but it hit the bar and bounced out. France lost the World Cup.
The penalty miss, so random and yet so precise, is one of the great tragedies of world soccer. The French may or may not remember Trezeguet’s golden goal that sunk Italy in Euro 2000. They will surely remember his miss, just as the Italians will never forget Baggio’s gaffe in 1994. Trezeguet must now return to his scandal-ridden Italian club Juventus and play with all those gloating Italian champions. In practice he will take penalties against Buffon. He will make most of them, but they won’t matter. This one did. As Trezeguet said afterward, “We know we’ve had a good World Cup, but it was all defined by this penalty.”
France played well during the 120 minutes of open play, particularly in the second half. They got an early goal on a penalty. Malouda fell down in the box near Materazzi. He was very fortunate to get the call. Zidane chipped the ball from the spot. It hit the bar and bounced just over the line. Maybe Trezeguet’s miss was a karmic payback for that first lucky goal (although France should have been awarded another penalty later in the match).
Italy took over and soon equalized. Materazzi was involved again. He jumped high over Vieira’s back and headed Pirlo’s corner home. Then Luca Toni almost broke through, but Thuram made a brilliant saving tackle. The French looked lost on set pieces. Toni latched onto another of Pirlo’s corners and slammed the ball against the bar. Halftime must have been a relief for Les Bleus.
After the break, the plot turned. Pirlo lost the thread. He played long balls that France intercepted. His teammates seemed unable to string together passes, or to move to open spaces. France surged. Zidane pulled the ball backwards and forwards. Ribery made darting diagonal runs. The vaunted Italian defense gave up a lot of space in the middle, but they never broke. (Cannavaro should have won the golden ball.) Instead, Toni streaked forward and scored! No! Offsides. Still 1-1. Extra time was unavoidable.
Marcello Lippi continued his trend of offensive substitutions. Del Piero, De Rossi, and Iaquinta came on in the second half, but none of them provided a spark. Instead, the best chance of extra time came from Zizou. Everyone looked exhausted, but the French captain sliced through the midfield. He played a great ball to Willy Sagnol on the wing, then continued his run. Sagnol sent it back in. Zidane was alone. His header was hard and true, but Buffon was quick. He tipped it over.
I watched the match in a country club in Philadelphia, where we celebrated the Christening of my cousin E.J.’s first son, Cullen. Both E.J. and his wife Stephanie are former goalkeepers. E.J. called me up a few weeks earlier to apologize for the timing. “You don’t have to come,” he said. Then my mom called me and said, “You’re coming to Cullen’s Christening, aren’t you? We’ll have a TV set up.”
We did have a TV, but it didn’t work. We had to scramble. We found an empty bar. My family and I watched as extra time gave way to penalties. My Aunt Connie, like a typical Italian fan, kept saying, “They look terrible. What are they doing?” When the penalties came, we held our breath.
First Pirlo: Goal.
Then Wiltord: Goal.
Materazzi: Goal.
Trezeguet (Trezeguet McClure): Crossbar! Everyone was standing in the empty bar.
De Rossi (Could he redeem himself?): Goal.
Abidal: No problem. Goal.
Del Piero (Surely an Italian will miss one. Surely, it will be Del Piero. History demands it.) Goal!
Sagnol (He must make it): Goal.
Now the last one will win it for Italy. The cursed Italians can win the World Cup with one shot. “Who’s taking it?” my brother asked. Will it be Luca Toni? Iaquinta? It’s Iaquinta. No, it’s Grosso! My brother and I shouted. “Yes, Grosso.” It’s perfect!
Goal! Aunt Connie jumped up and down. Then she turned to me and said, “Does that mean they won?”
The Christening was over. I decided to name my first born Grosso Kelley.
One more note on E.J. and the cycle of history. Before the World Cup began, E.J. sent us an email that read:
“Gentlemen: Please note the similarities between the Azzuri ‘06 and the Azzuri ‘82. If you remember, in 82, Paolo Rossi was at the head of a huge scandal that saw him banned from play for a considerable amount of time; fast forward 24 years and again, Italy are embroiled in a scandal that has rocked the Italian Football Federation.
“In 82, it was Paolo 3 Brazil 2.
“In 06, it will be Luca Toni 12, World 11.”
He was way off. Luca Toni only scored two goals.
Comments
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Before and during the match I was weirdly pulling for Italy. I think because I don’t have a TV and there’s this over-priced French restaurant on my corner and I would watch the games there. They were all yelling wildly throughout the tournament when les bleus played. It was hard to stomach, because the food there is terrible and very overpriced. Anyway, from the Brazil match on I got a bad taste for the French team, mostly due to these patrons and the restaurant. In retrospect, however, I feel terrible about my Italy support. I think I should have been going for France. Do you ever feel like you’re responsible for what happens out there? Materazzi is a jerk, and the headbutt somehow endeared me to Zizou even more, since something was more important than winning to him. It was the ultimate punk-rock gesture; violent and totally self-destructive. Anyway, I loved having your insight on the game Austino. Get ready for South Africa!
— dan · 10 July 2006, 20:15 · #
I cannot support the Italy team because of its well documented links to racist and fascist groups. Buffon publicly admired Mussolini and wears pro-Mussolini t-shirts. And check this out for Materazzi’s own racist background: http://www.edgeofsports.com/2006-07-11-193/index.html
— sandrahn · 11 July 2006, 16:46 · #