We have seen violence in Brazil, the football riot death in Italy, racism in Spain and match fixing scandals in Italy and even smaller football nations like Poland – not items any one would want associated with a beautiful game. Such issues are nothing new in sport, particularly football. If any thing, at least the violence in football has reduced in various countries and the last football world cup went violence free bar a few tiny incidents. However, there still are countries where the violence is deep rooted and the hooligan impact is big. Evils exist in one form or the other in the sport in most places.

Football is the biggest sport in the world and enjoys unparalleled fan base . A die hard fan may keep watching the game despite the evils though he may strongly be against the given evils. However, that does not mean that football or it’s image isn’t affected by the constant negative news we here about the game. Football still has roads to travel – growth in countries like USA, improvement in standards in Asia, Africa being three of many important areas.

Even for a sport which has inelastic demand in countries like Brazil, or is close to achieving that level of fan support in many other countries, a sport holds a responsibility to remove evils from the game. Football has improved in this regard but there is a lot more to be done – some thing which has to be taken far more seriously.

Was it France-Italy or Argentina-Brazil? The match was played at the pace Barcelona usually attacks for most of the time. I loved the game, not the least because many of the Euro 2008 qualifying has been one sided to put it mildly (13-0 drubbing of San Marino any one?). A whole debate has resurfaced regarding qualifying matches. I have had some interesting talkathons on the topic and continue having them. I do agree with most of what Alan Hansen has already said though.

Coming back to the match - players are always guarded in the world cup finals and big matches as they don’t want to be the one who commits the error which costs their country the big tournament. Yesterday, all the inhibitions were gone and it seemed like France will run away with it after an early 2-0 lead. The Gilardino goal in the 20th minute made you get on the edge of the seat a bit more as Italy weren’t going to take it lying down. In the end, France won it 3-1 and despite the players not being as fast on the reflexes as they were during the world cup final, it was exciting and a match in which you couldn’t take your eyes off the tv screen.

France didn’t deserve to win

France did play better football but if we dissect the match, Italy were very unlucky. The first goal France score in the couple of minutes was the result of the perfect cross from Gallas. Govou then made no mistake in converting that pass into 1-0 from a very narrow angle. However, Gallas was probably off side when he received his pass. I cannot say for certain though as they never showed it from a 90 degree angle in the television replays. Even if we forget that, Italy had two situations in the match when they should have been awarded penalties. No, I am not an Italian supporter and I did want France to win the game. Many more Italians would have been complaining had this been the world cup final.

Impressive - Govou, Coupet and Pirlo

Coupet showed quick reflexes in the little chance he got. He has been over shadowed by Barthez all his career and it is pleasing to see him get some more international football finally. Pirlo was accurate as ever with his passes. The player who impressed me most was Sidney Govou. Coming into the first XI in the place of Saha, Govou was fast on his legs and seemed strong as well. What was most noticeable was him being in the right place at the right time - an easy thing to say but very difficult to achieve during a game. We should be hearing a lot more of Govou for many years in international football.

Was it a revenge?

Not really. In 1983, India defeated West Indies in the cricket world cup finals in one of the biggest upsets. Soon after, West Indies toured India and clean sweeped them. It lead to the glorious world cup winning captain, Kapil Dev, sacked from captaincy. How many people remember West Indies clean sweeping India? People still talk about India defeating West Indies in the world cup final. A revenge can only occur if it is done at the same stage when the same trophy or a bigger trophy is at stake. So if France defeats Italy in the 2010 world cup final, only then can we call it a revenge.

Italy digging itself a hole

Italy’s situation is precarious in the group now lying second from the bottom. Ukraine is also in the same group and Scotland is topping it. Italy’s real battle was to be with Ukraine but with Scotland threating to come into the equation, it can all get very tricky. There are a lot of matches still to go but a good start saves a lot of heart wrenching moments. Will history repeat itself? (Italy hey didn’t qualify for the subsequent Euro after winning the world cup in 1982). Maybe most matches are boring but this is definitely the group to keep track of!

[BBC report]

My thoughts after the 2006 France-Italy world cup final can be read here.

A few people asked me why I had not reviewed day 3 to my surprise. So, despite time contraints, I will try to review as many days of the World Cup as I can from now on even though the posts might be a bit delayed.

Australia vs Japan 3-1

With Croatia and Brazil the other two teams in the group, the team which lost this match could say the world cup good bye. So when Japan scored that goal, which most Aussie supporters won’t even call a goal (as it wasn’t), Australians were enraged. It has taken many years for the Socceroos to qualify and it would have been a shame if they went out this way. So, I felt delighted when Australia pulled back the game with three quick goals in eight minutes. The game saw short passes and plenty of opportunities for both teams. It was quite hot but I wasn’t impressed be either team to be honest. The Australian date with destiny in the match versus Croatia is set though.

Czech Republic vs USA 3-0

When asked who will win the world cup, most people would say Brazil including me. Some would opt for Argentina, Holland, France or even Italy. How many people will give Czech Republic a chance? Despite the FIFA rankings being a joke (proven by the thrashing USA got), you have to stand up at take notice of the Czech Republic. They have a solid mid field and excellent attacking options. Apart from Nedved, they now have the young star - Rosicky!

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For part 11 of the series, I caught up with Angelo Romano from Italy. Angelo, a Computer Science student at University of Pisa was born in Sicily in 1982, the same year Italy won its third (and, as of today, last) World Cup. In his freetime, Angelo acts as manager in the university intramural football league.

I thank Angelo for agreeing to the interview.

Tell us a bit about the Italian football history and the football culture which exists.

Football is kind of religion here in Italy, it is by far the most important sport, a masterpiece of country’s own culture and one of the few things that can actually unite all Italians. The first Italy’s football league ever was organized in 1893; nowadays football is always steady part of Italian daily news, despite the fact it is years there are just three teams (AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus) to compete for the Serie A title. The Italian football culture is basically made of passion, and almost everyone in Italy has his own favourite team. And, like every strong passion, there are several excesses: violence, racism and extreme-wing political infiltrations in Italian football are serious issues which has been longed for years and are still present.

About Italy’s national team, it is one of the most successful in the world: it has won three World Cups, in 1934, 1938 and 1982, and also ended second-placed in 1970 and 1994. Both times it was Brazil to defeat us, and the 1994 final match, played in Los Angeles, USA, is best remembered for having been the only one to end after penalty shoot-outs. In the last 2002 World Cup held in South Korea and Japan, Italy ended its adventure just in the round of 16 South Korea after a controversial match lost 2-1 on extra time to South Korea. That defeat is nowadays viewed as one of the most disgraceful football matches ever played by Italy, and second only to the 1966 1-0 World Cup defeat against North Korea.

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