Terribly Mistaken

And I thought the national Italian soccer team would easily pass to the second round of World Cup Finals. How wrong was I!

From reigning world champions, four years later, Italy has left South Africa ashamed and embarrassed after a final defeat in Group F against Slovakia: 2-3.

In that last game, the Italians only seemed to wake up and even attempt to win in the last ten minutes. Real pressure on the Slovakia goal area happened at the very end. Some problems could be explained because there were a couple key players like the goalie, Buffon, and midfielder, Pirlo, who could not play at all or only for a short time due to injuries. Maybe the coach, Lippi, made a mistake in his original invitations of who should play at these events. For example, Casson, a brilliant young striker was not invited to participate on the national team. He possibly could have scored that much-needed goal that might have tied the game and allowed Italy to move on to the next round. In the end for the Italians, there was a general lackadaisical approach to playing soccer, while the other teams couldn't wait to beat Italy. And they did.

That Thursday match, on June 24, witnessed most of Italy at a standstill. Businesses were all but closed. Everyone was in front of a TV monitor. My neighbors had a party with the husband's friends, all home from work and in the back yard even though it was 4 p.m.

As a funny anecdote, I had to call the phone company that day about a recent bill. Since I called them during the game, I was connected to an operator immediately! This had never happened while living in Italy. I always have to wait at least 5 minutes to talk to someone. Obviously that day, I was benefiting from the fact that the entire country was glued to their TV and not thinking about mundane things like phone service.

Anyway, World Cup dreams have crashed to a depressing end. Italy's head coach, Lippi is getting hassled by reporters back in Italy while trying to be on vacation after the defeat. Italians were now rooting for Ghana, until they were defeated yesterday by Uruguay. Holland is really kicking butt, even beating Brazil. All the usually big players are basically out of the World Cup scene at this point, save Germany. Who will win this 2010 edition? We're coming down the home stretch. Finals are on July 11th. Stay tuned, but alas without Italian players on the field.

Ilaria, Beer and Soccer

One of the official sponsors of the World Cup 2010 in South Africa is Budweiser Brewing Company. They are currently broadcasting a reality TV show, BudHouse, for the duration of the championship with one person representing each country that is playing in this year's competition. During the Modiali, they all live together, watch the games together, talk about soccer, meet the famous athletes and do odd and different things in South Africa, such as riding an ostrich.

I was curious about this house of people and who Bud chose to put inside. A woman named Ilaria was chosen as the Italian participant.

Italy is reigning world champion, but who knows if the title will be defended this summer. We do know that they dominated their first game against Paraguay, but the final score was 1-1. The other traditionally strong teams like Spain and Germany are not performing as well as expected. Brazil will be one to watch, of course.

For now, Italy is in a fairly easy girone (group) so they should make it to the finals without much of a problem. It has to now beat Slovakia and New Zealand in its assigned Group F.

Click here for a YouTube segment of BudHouse after watching Italy play its first game. There really seems to be a reality show for everything nowadays!

At our house, F decided to get us a little keg to drink during the first game. It sure wasn't Budweiser, thank goodness.

Next game: Italy vs. Slovakia at 4 p.m. Italian time on Sunday, June 20.

An Italian Victory?

Inter won the title in Champions League last night. They are a team based in Milan and the competition is basically for the European championship. They beat Bayern Munich 2-0.

You should have heard the fireworks and horns blaring after the game in town. We are not even in Milan. Just the fact that an Italian team took the title was enough for my town to jump for joy.

I didn't even need to watch the game. I could just listen to my neighbors moan or cheer and know exactly what was happening in the game.

It brought back memories of when Italian won the Mondiali (World Championship) in 2006. I could hear the same kind of festivities taking place in the background while I was on the phone with my then boyfriend, F.

Some are complaining about the fact that Inter's roster was almost entirely played by foreigners. So how can this be a victory for Italy? The team trains in Milan, yet its name is short for "International".