The Italian-American Tragedy
Posted June 28, 2010 by james in World Cup Blog | 0 Comments
There is a new Italian-American Tragedy, and it has nothing to do with music.
Italy was unceremoniously dumped out of the World Cup by Slovakia on June 24th., and then, two days later the United States was sent packing by Ghana.
I have a friend, Al, who is an Italian American. Al lives in Florida, and we met on the golf course. I knew as soon as he introduced himself that he was of Italian decent, so when I told him that my maternal grandfather was Italian, we hit it off right away.
Sooner than later our discussion turned to the impending World Cup tournament, and how both the Italians and the Yanks would fare in South Africa. Al was born in the U.S., but he was knowledgeable and passionate about each of ”his” teams. If these two teams ever faced each-other in the draw, however, he said he would have to cheer for the U.S. first, and then the Azzurri, by a very close margin.
Now Italy, ranked fifth in the world and being defending World Cup champion, was expected to do considerably better than the ever improving Americans, ranked fourteenth. They also had enormously more pressure on them to produce an exceptable result than the U.S. team did. Even if the Italians started slowly, their group, consisting of Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia, was considered the easiest draw in South Africa. The Americans had to face an aging England side right out of the gate, and then deal with lesser known commodities of Slovenia and Algeria.
The Italians turned out to be a confused and even fearful bunch, struggling to tie both Paraguay and New Zealand, and then showing up too late to avoid an unthinkable first round exit after they lost to Slovakia.
The Americans used their “never say die” confidence and pluck to tie the Brits, then should have won their game 3-2 over Slovenia, were it not for a phantom referee’s whistle. Against Algeria, an extra time goal by Landon Donovan sent them into the round of sixteen, only to be run out of the park by the cagey, fleet “Black Stars” from Ghana.
This is where the Italian-American Tragedy takes place.
All the hope, dreams and expectations of a long and triumphant run to glory went down the tubes for Al and millions of Italian Americans in two days.
The 2006 U.S. census claims that there are 17.8 Italian Americans living in the United States. That’s more people than live in half the countries participating in the World Cup. To have one team that disappoints is bad enough, but to have two teams…the pain is lmost unbearable.
Italy’s loss was tragic in the sense that they were defending champions, and the nation eats, sleeps and dreams football. To got out in such an ignoble manner reminds one of Puccini’s “Turandot.”
For the Americans though, the tragedy was even greater…one of chances squandered to make the beautiful game much more beautiful in their native land.
My heart bleeds for my friend Al, and his millions of compatriots. This Italian- American Tragedy is a bitter pill that won’t be cleansed for quite awhile.
