Italy Cries "Conspiracy" While Crashing at Euro 2004

Italy remains a soccer powerhouse, but on recent form, it ain't what it used to be. The side failed in the 2002 World Cup thanks to what can be charitably described as questionable refereeing, but the Euro 2004 failure is entirely an Italian affair. The cry of "fix" at the Sweden-Denmark draw that finished the Italians off is merely poor sportsmanship.

Group 2 put Italy, Sweden, Denmark and Bulgaria together, with only two going on to the next round after each side played the others. Italy, Sweden and Denmark tied each other in the three games they played among themselves, and they all beat Bulgaria. The tie breaker was goals scored: Sweden had 8, Denmark 4, and Italy 3. What had the Italian fans upset was the 2-2 tie at the end between Denmark and Sweden; they claim the two sides connived at a draw and a score that would keep Italy out.

Any one who watched the game would have to disagree. It certainly didn't look staged, and these are soccer players, not actors. Moreover, when Denmark took a 2-1 lead in the 66th minute, national pride certainly exceeded Scandinavian solidarity. Mattias Jonson's equalizer in the 88th minute was a muddle in the goal mouth, unlikely to have been planned.

But suppose there was an anti-Italian plan hatched by the evil descendents of the Vikings. It means nothing. It means less than nothing because weak Italian soccer created the situation in which the "conspiracy" was possible. Italy beat Bulgaria 2-1. Sweden managed to win 5-0 against the Slavic side, while Denmark has a 2-0 victory. Italy played Denmark to a scoreless draw in the first match the two sides played in the tournament. Had Italy won the match, they would have won the group. The same goes for the 1-1 draw with Sweden. The point is that when a team is in a situation where the performance of others is the key to success, something went wrong much earlier.

It is sad that the traditionally powerful Italian side has to leave Portugal in defeat, especially this early on. However, rather than blame the other teams in their group, Italy's soccer stars need to ask why they only managed three goals and one win out of three. Compare their efforts with the that of the Czechs, who beat Latvia and Holland. Their final game against Germany meant nothing to them -- they won their group before the kick-off. And then for good measure, they beat Germany 2-1.


© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.


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