The 2006 World Cup in retrospect

Well isn’t life a drag these days. It is insane when you reflect on what has happened in the last  few months. This is a real life horror movie we are all living.

As with most people, I am using all this isolation time to watch things on TV I never had time for. In 2006, I really thought my Azzurris had a chance to win the world cup. They had played some friendlies prior to the world cup against Germany and the Netherlands where they dominated the games and won easily. I was optimistic enough about the azzurri chances to tape all their games. I finally had the time to rewatch them all after 14 long years. 

The Azzurri had been controversially eliminated in many of the recent tournaments prior to 2006. In Euro 2000, Totti’s coming out party ended unceremoniously. The azzurri were leading in the final game against France until an extra time goal by France tied it and France  eventually won it on a golden goal in overtime. In World Cup 2002, the azzurri were eliminated by South Korea when Totti was red-carded in overtime on a supposed dive and they lost again on a golden goal in overtime. In Euro 2004, Totti was suspended for two games after spitting at an opposing player. The azzurri did not lose a game in the opening round but were eliminated on goal differential. 

In 2006, the azzurri were a mature group who averaged in the age range of 28-30. The core of the team had been together for a long time. They had what many believe at the time was the best goalie in the world in Gianluigi Buffon. They also had a stellar defensive combo of Cannavaro and Nesta. They had two of the best fantasistas in Totti and Del Piero. Luca Toni had become a superior cannonieri netting 30 goals in Seria A. They also had a mature coach in Marcello Lippi who had won several titles with Juventus.  Lippi had in turn controversially not selected star players like Cassano and Vieri.

Unfortunately, several setbacks had happened right before the tournament. One was their supposed best player Totti broke his leg a few months before the tournament began. It was a race against time to get Totti fit for the tournament. The other setback befell Seria A and more particularly Juventus in a match fixing scandal. This led to one Juventus player trying to commit suicide. The majority of the Azzurri team were from Juventus including Buffon, Cannavaro, Zambrotta, and Del Piero. They would soon learn that the team would be relegated to Seria B so none of their futures were secure during the tournament. 

After 14 years I was surprised from what I thought I remembered and how different it seemed in retrospect. Each game the azzurri played had a history of its own. Strangely the worst games the azzurri  played were against the USA and Australia. They probably should have lost both games. They got lucky against the Americans when  De Rossi’s red card for bloodying an opposing player, was topped by the Americans by getting two players red-carded. Against  Australia, Materazzi’s red card forced the Azzurri into a cocoon until the last minute heroics by Grosso to get a penalty kick.

In 2006, I thought Totti had not had a good tournament. I blamed it on his injury woes. However, rewatching the games some things became clear from game one to the final game the combination of Pirlo and Totti made for some magical moments on the field. I checked the previous tournaments and the only time they were on the same team was in 2004. Pirlo had not played the first game in 2004, and Totti after playing the first game had been suspended for the remaining two games where Pirlo played. Therefore they had never played a tournament together until 2006 and they would  never play again together. They were both superb passers and when they clicked they had opposing team defences scrambling to defend. Pirlo opened the scoring in the first game against Ghana on a pass by Totti. Totti’s corner had Materazzi heading it in against the Czechs and Pirlo’s corner had Materazzi heading it in against France. Pirlo’s perfect free kick pass had Gilardino heading it in against the USA, and Totti’s perfect pass had Toni heading it in against Ukraine. Against Germany, Pirlo’s dipsy doodling led to Grosso’s memorable goal, and Totti’s pass to Gilardino led to Del Piero’s death blow for Germany.

Some defining moments for the Azzurri were Totti’s fingernail biting penalty kick against Australia, the injury to Nesta that introduced Materazzi to the tournament, and the save by Buffon on Zidane’s header in the final game. However, the reason the Azzurri won was the emergence of Andrea Pirlo. In 2006, he was not an unknown but I doubt many knew how good he really was. It seemed that whenever an Azzurri got in trouble in the defensive zone the escape hatch was pass it to Pirlo. He knew how to escape by dribbling away or making a perfect pass to an open player. Cannavaro was named MVP of the tournament and he was excellent, but without Pirlo I don’t think the Azzurri would have gone far or won anything. It should be noted that in Euro 2008, when the Azzurri were eliminated by Spain, Pirlo was suspended and did not play. He also played hurt in World Cup 2010. 

A very tired Azzurri team played France in the final after the exhausting game against Germany that went 120 minutes. I thought they had played poorly against France in 2006. 

However rewatching the game, Italy dominated the first half and probably should have been ahead by a few goals. France could not handle the twin towers size of Materazzi and Toni. The penalty handed to France was probably a dive by the French player. In the second half, France rebounded as the Italian legs became heavy. An overlooked moment was when Zidane seemed to injure his shoulder. He clearly motioned to the bench he wanted to be subbed. It is unknown if this led to his brain fart in overtime.

The overtime was basically a stalemate as neither team had much energy.  However, Zidane’s soccer career came to a bizarre end when he decided to headbutt Materazzi. Much has been reported as to what Materazzi had said to instigate Zidane. In hindsight, what Materazzi had said has zero relevance to Zidane’s reaction. If you  trash talk a referee you get a yellow or a red card. If you trash talk another player you should reciprocate with trash talking not a head butt. The only defence Zidane can have is that he was tired and injured and not thinking straight. It is also unlikely that the outcome would have been any different had Zidane stayed in the game. The teams were tired and heading to penalty kicks and Zidane was injured. Zidane would probably have replaced one of the defenders who had taken the penalty kicks and both had scored. Trezeguet would still have taken a pk since he was considered one of the best strikers in the world at the time, he knew Buffon having played on the same team, and he had gotten the winner in Euro 2000 against Italy. The result would not have changed.