Italy: Breaking a stereotype

Even though I was barely 9 years old at the time, it was already clear to me that Italy was the country of compromise. Yet, when we came up against Argentina in the final group game of the 1978 World Cup, I understood in my father's words, in the atmosphere that surrounded the event (it was the first time that I was allowed to stay up late and have dinner outside of the dining room) that ­ even if only for a football game ­ things could be done differently.

Italy had qualified for the tournament in Argentina after years of rebuilding. The coach was Enzo Bearzot, a serious person, reserved, not very inclined to drama or controversy ­ the opposite of the Italian stereotype. Italy was in a group with France, Hungary and the hosts, and had had already qualified for the next round when we played Argentina in the final group game that would determine who finished top in the group.

According to the Italian soul – supposedly stingy and adulatory of the powerful – Bearzot should have played his second string in order to take care of his starters, and to not annoy the home team which, among other things, at that time represented a country governed by a dictatorship. To honor their local fans, Argentina had the obligation to win. Also, if they won, they could stay in Buenos Aires for the second round. But Italy didn't have any obligation. Italy could and, according to many, should have not have tried too hard, but should have just thought about the next round.

The writer Curzio Malaparte said it is harder to lose a war than to win it. Everybody is good at winning a war, not everyone is capable of losing it. And, precisely, nobody knows how to lose as well as the Italians, especially when it is grudgingly convenient. But Bearzot was not an Italian in this sense, but rather a well-meaning person who liked to do things right. And so he lined up the best formation possible: when you play a football game, you play to win it, nothing else matters.

That game was thus transformed from a meaningless match in which we had to let the home team parade around us, to a chance to prove that we, Italians were capable of not only losing and bowing our heads, but also of facing life with our heads held up high even in front of more than 70,000 opposing fans in the Monumental stadium of Buenos Aires.

The game was tense and nervous: Argentina attacked with its head hanging down, but Italy defended well and did the right thing in the end: We beat the Argentinians 1-0, proving to be a tough and mature team, the same one that would win the World Cup in Spain four years after.

As told to Africasacountry.