While Italian clubs have cleaned up in European club competitions in the past two decades, the Azzurri have not won a major title since taking the 1982 World Cup in Spain.
Italy lost the 1994 World Cup final to Brazil in a penalty kick-shootout when Roberto Baggio sent his kick into the Rose Bowl stands.
Just as heartbreaking was Italy’s loss to France in the 2000 European Championships.
The Azzurri wereseconds from winning the tournament when Sylvain Wiltord’s goal sent the match into sudden-death extra time. There David Trezeguet scored to give Les Bleus a European championship to go with their 1998 World Cup.
“We were 17 seconds from becoming champions of Europe, and we all know how it ended,” Italy defender Marco Materazzi said. “We were unlucky, and we want to set the record straight.”
NEAR PERFECT
Italy has a chance to finish the tournament without allowing an opposing player to score.
The only goal the Azzurri have conceded was an own goal by Cristian Zaccardo in Italy’s 1-1 first-round draw with the U.S.
AVOID BAD SPIN
Before anybody at U.S. Soccer tries to use the Italy draw as a way to spin Team USA’s performance in Germany ’06, forget about it. Italy is a totally different team and, yes, the U.S. really was that bad.
ITALY SCANDAL CONTEXT
To get a handle on how big the stakes are for Juventus in the hearings on the Serie A corruption scandal, consider this:
Prosecutors want to demote the winner of a record 29 Serie A titles to Serie C for the club’s role in the scandal. That’s like Major League Baseball dropping the New York Yankees to a Double-A league.
Or consider this: As many as seven starters in Sunday’s World Cup final – two for France, five for Italy – could be current Juventus players.
France captain Zinedine Zidane also played for the Turin club from 1996-2001. His first coach at Juventus was current Italy boss Marcello Lippi.
