Article 4- Euro 00 & Japan/Korea 02
It was the new millennium and the beginning of a new decade. The world welcomed it with great festivities, the claims of the world coming to an end and Y2K was rubbished as we moved from one day to next as we had always done in the days leading up to the 1st of January 2000.
Legendary Italy goalkeeper Dino Zoff was now in charge of the Italian national team. They qualified for the first-ever European Championship to be jointly hosted with little fuss but Italy entered the tournament lying low on the radar with little to no attention placed on them by the pundits.
The young debutants from 1998 like Alessandro Nesta, Fabio Cannavaro, Filippo Inzaghi were now more mature and established as players. Young Gianluigi Buffon was now 1st choice but got injured after his selection for the tournament and had to skip the tournament together with the star of Italy’s previous World Cup campaign, Christian Vieri who not selected due to a thigh injury. Finally, there was Del Piero who was now 2 tournaments old but still young enough to be in the same generation as the aforementioned players.
Zoff added other young players into his selection for Euro 2000, Christian Abbiati, Massimo Ambrosini, Gianluca Zambrotta and Francesco Totti. Zoff could also rely on the experience of players like Maldini and Albertini, two players that were mainstays of the 1994, 1996 and 1998 squads. Antonio Conte and Ciro Ferrara made their return to the Italian squad at an international tournament for the first time since USA 94 and Italia 90 respectively.
Italy made light work of Turkey, joint-hosts Belgium and Sweden as they won 3 games out of 3 in the group stage. Italy found a breakthrough player in Stefano Fiore, a player little known outside of Italy, playing as an offensive-minded link between the midfield and attack. Totti had also enhanced his reputation wearing the number 20 jersey instead of his usual 10 at Roma, playing as a forward instead of his usual playmaker or trequartista role. Del Piero played second fiddle in this tournament to Totti.
Next for Italy was Gheorghe Hagi’s Romania and it was sewn up in the first half itself. Italy’s style of play was typically built on a solid and tight defence, hitting the opponents on the counter-attack thanks to the high-quality offensive players Itay had in their selection. Unlike Cesare Maldini 2 years before, Zoff was not afraid to play with a playmaker and two forwards but it was still largely Totti or Del Piero in the first eleven and not both together.
In the semi-final, Italy played against one of the favourites, the other co-host Netherlands. I remember my classmates writing Italy off on the eve of the match but I was quietly confident and nervous approaching the match. It turned out to be an incredible match, from the start itself, it was Italy’s defence vs Holland’s attack.
Bergkamp hit the post and Holland was profligate with their finishing, Zambrotta was sent off for collecting 2 yellow cards, the first one I felt was harsh. Holland were awarded 2 penalties, one saved by Toldo and the other hit the post. As the game wore on, Italy became more dogged and determined in defence but with very little threat going forward. Holland, on the other hand, struggled to find a way past the Italian defence masterclass.
The match went to the dreaded penalty shootout and if Italy was to win this match, they would need to break the recent negative trend of losing on penalty shootouts as they have done in 1990, 1994 and 1998. Luck was on Italy’s side this time, Toldo was the hero as he saved twice from the shootout while Stam blazed his kick wildly over the bar. Kluivert who had missed his spot-kick during the regulation time was the only one to score for Holland in the shootout. Italy’s penalties were converted by Di Biagio, atoning for his crucial miss in 98, Pessotto and a sumptuous, cheeky chip by Totti, the first time I have seen anyone attempt this. Maldini was the only one who missed for Italy but it had little bearing, Italy win 3–1.
In the final, Italy faced reigning world champions France, the overwhelming favourites to win the European Championships without the suspended Zambrotta. Italy surprised everyone and produced their best performance in the final, taking the game to the French team, creating a few scares for the World Champions before finally scoring first thanks to surprise selection, Marco Delvecchio. Totti was pulling the strings in the game, upstaging his counterpart Zinedine Zidane in the final. His backheel freed Pessotto to deliver the cross for Delvecchio to score.
France then had to huff and puff to break the mean Italy defence down. Substitute Del Piero had two great chances to seal the result but scuffed both attempts. As the match was edging to an unexpected Italy triumph and nervy ending for me personally, Sylvain Wiltord scored to break Italian hearts and mine to bring the game to extra-time. In extra-time, Italians heads had fallen, the legs that had given so much in the semi-final were gone and France took full advantage to win it via Golden Goal through Trezeguet.
A valiant, spirited attempt met with a heart-breaking end. Personally, I felt Italy utilised their quota of luck in the semi-final and had none left for the final and from this experience, I understood that Italy is most dangerous when expectations are low of the team.
Legendary Italian manager and serial winner, Giovanni Trapattoni took over from Dino Zoff and Italy qualified without much trouble for the 2002 World Cup which Italy entered as one of the favourites to win the tournament, the first-ever to be hosted in Asia and the first-ever World Cup to be jointly hosted.
Italy’s reputation as a team and that of their players have been enhanced after their showing in Euro 2000 and the ensuing years. Buffon and Vieri were back in the team and most of the players were at their prime age. There was space in the selection for a young Gennaro Gattuso as well as veteran Paolo Maldini. There was a shout for Roberto Baggio to be romantically added to the selection but despite his quicker than expected recovery from a bad knee injury couldn’t convince Trapattoni to select him.
Italy started off very well with a 2–0 win over Ecuador, Vieri scoring two goals. However, Trapattoni was deploying a conservative 4–4–1–1 formation, a departure from the 5–2–1–2 or 3–4–1–2 used in the qualifiers.
In the second match, Italy played against Croatia, a team I always felt was a bogey team for Italy. Croatia was no longer the team that they were 4 years ago in 1998 where they surprised everyone to finish 4th but have already troubled Italy in the qualifiers for the 1996 European Championships. Italy took the lead in this game but 2 goals in 3 minutes and a defensive approach allowed Croatia back in the game. Croatia won 2–1 to prove themselves to be a nuisance to Italy to my fury as I left home in Seremban for a walk, smashing the gate on the way out.
In the final group game, Italy needed to better Croatia’s result in the other game running concurrently to qualify. Italy got off to a bad start as Mexico took the lead through a rubber header by Jared Borghetti. Italy tried hard to gain control of the match and take the impetus and they were really struggling to do so. They faced the real prospect of being another one of the favourites and big teams to exit early from the tournament until Del Piero stepped up to find an equaliser. Italy drew this game 1–1 as they did against the same opponents in 1994. Like then, they qualified for the 2nd Round by the skin of the teeth.
In the 2nd Round, Italy faced one of the co-hosts, South Korea. The Koreans had already seen off a team that was rated as one of the underdogs to win the tournament, Portugal in the group stage. Italy would be looking to not repeat the embarrassment of 1966 where they lost to the other Korea, North Korea and exited early from the tournament. Italy was also looking to overcome a slow start to go all the way to the final as they did in 1994 or to win the World Cup circa 1982.
South Korea almost took the lead first but Ahn Jung Hwan’s penalty was well-saved by Buffon. South Korea spurred on by the vociferous home support produced a typically high tempo performance, completely not awed by the occasion. The experienced Italy team was looking to deal with the pressure of the Koreans and silence the home crowd. Italy took the lead through Christian Vieri and for a moment, silenced the home crowd.
However, South Korea’s relentless pressure finally took a toll as a long ball in the box was not properly dealt by Christian Panucci and it fell kindly for Seol Ki Hyeon who equalised with 2 minutes remaining. In extra time, Totti was controversially sent off for picking up his second yellow card of the match for perceived play-acting to win a penalty. Damiano Tommasi was then judged to be offside and I cannot be sure whether he really was offside or not but that added to the controversy.
With 5 minutes left in extra-time, Jung Hwan rose high above Maldini to nod in the Golden Goal to inflict an embarrassing exit on mighty Italy. In my opinion, Italy only has themselves to blame for their exit. We had the chances to at least score a second goal to seal the game and qualify but we didn’t take them. Trapattoni was brave to play with a trident of Del Piero, Totti and Vieri up-front but it didn’t have the desired effect. I felt Italy’s conservative approach of sitting back against South Korea’s high tempo style cost them the tie.
I do feel Totti was unlucky to have been sent off but in reality, he had an under-par tournament. I had thought Del Piero’s equaliser against Mexico would unblock his mental block or luck of under-performing in international tournaments but that didn’t happen.
For the first and so far only time, I actually cried after a football result going against my team. It was too much to take after the anguish of 1994 and 2000.
