英國"The Herald"的報導 - 足球

看到這篇文章真是讓我驚訝
不知道英國跟義大利有什麼仇....
anyway，這也是別人的一種看法...
大家參考一下下吧
(把義大利說得真難聽...)
from: http://www.theherald.co.uk/

World Cup: Italian claims of Fifa plot are ultimate irony
DARRYL BROADFOOT

YOU know something funny is going on when one of the
footballing nations most frequently accused of corruption
is crying foul. Italy, no stranger to scandals of the
match-fixing variety, among others, have looked beyond
their own failings against South Korea and, instead,
convinced themselves that it is all part of a

FIFA plot, the like of which Niccolo Machiavelli would
have been proud.

The prospect of a horse's head being found at the bottom
of the four-poster might not unnerve the Koreans quite
as Don Vito Corleone did that poor film producer Jack
Woltz. The referee from Ecuador, Byron Moreno, may not
be so phlegmatic.

An irate Italian press did everything except call for
the entire FIFA officialdom to be whacked. One even had
the audacity to berate Byron for being "bug-eyed".
Haven't they looked at their own Pierluigi Collina recently?

In a country where theatrics weave a thick thread of
tradition, Perugia's decision to dispense of the services
of South Korea's match-winner, Ahn Jung-hwan, for having
the audacity to do his job suggests that those who
chant 'Forza Italia' have taken it quite literally.
The Italians have gone. Loopy at that.

"Italy counts for nothing in those places where they
decide the results and put together million-dollar
deals," cried La Gazzetta dello Sport in its banner
front-page headline. What?

"Shame on you, gentlemen of FIFA, and your dirty
games," it continued. Gentlemen?

Giovanni Trapattoni's men could have saved a whole lot
of hassle had they bothered about actually tying up a
game that seemed to be won after two minutes when Ahn's
penalty was saved by Gianluigi Buffon. Instead, as is
their wont, they decided to rest on the one goal, scored
expertly by Christian Vieri in the first half, and paid
for their superiority complex. Again.

Seol Ki-hyeon's equaliser was a setback but need not have
been fatal had Vieri, a world-class goalscorer, not then
demonstrated that his right foot is merely for standing
on when he missed from three yards out with the goalkeeper
stranded. Had it been a Serie A match of any significance,
you'd swear there was something fishy going on.

Trapattoni blootered water bottles about his dug-out in
frustration, and his condition was to be exacerbated during
extra time as his side were denied a penalty when Francesco
Totti tumbled. The referee indicated that he had dived,
produced a second yellow, and Totti was off. The merits
of the decision are hard to call. Sure, Totti seemed to
dive, but there was also undoubted contact.

Yes, Damiano Tommasi was onside when he ran through the
defence to score what should have been the winning golden
goal, but how many marginal decisions have we seen being
made erroniously so far?

When gathering all the evidence in favour of the Italian
accusation throughout their involvement, however, it is
easy to see how the paranoid can convince themselves that
their grief has more than a grain of gravitas to it.

A total of five "goals" were chalked off for offside or
fouls, four of which television evidence demonstrated
were wrong. None was more bizarre than the second against
Croatia, when Italy trailed 2-1 in injury time. Marco
Materazzi's long ball forward went into the net unaided,
only for Filippo Inzaghi to be penalised for fouling a
defender who had, in fact, fouled him. Earlier in the
game, Vieri had had another valid score disallowed.

Inzaghi "scored" before Mexico took the lead in the 1-1
draw and it too should have stood, while Vicenzo Montella's
later dis-allowed "goal" was the only one of the five over
which the Italians may not have had genuine grounds for grievance.

It was the Totti red card, non-penalty award, and disallowed
Tommasi "goal" against South Korea which rankle most, though.
Il Giornale, a newspaper owned by the brother of Italian prime
minister and former AC Milan president, Silvio Berlusconi,
warned poor old Moreno somewhat ominously.

"[He] can wander freely in the corridors of FIFA and those
of the Korean government but if he wants to come to Italy
he had better bring a lawyer."

Of course they have justifiable cause for grievance but the
moralists are equally entitled to argue that Italy contributed
to their own downfall and, historically, had it coming to them.

Meanwhile, Trapattoni said yesterday there was no question of
him resigning after his team's second-round exit, the first time
since 1986 that Italy had failed to make the quarter-finals of
the competition. "I have signed a contract. It is not up to me.
I remain full of enthusiasm," said Trapattoni, who has two more
years left on his contract.

A spokesman for the Italian Football Federation said the president,
Franco Carraro, would present his view of the World Cup later this
week, but Trapattoni said he was satisfied with the way his team
had performed and wanted to continue his work.

The coach had to deal with a series of questions about refereeing
from Italian reporters but refused to be drawn on the main issue
that concerned them about the match officials.

"Was it inability or a plot? I don't know," said the Italy coach,
adding that many World Cup referees, "were not used to the pressure
that we are familiar with in Italy". In that perception, perhaps,
lies the key to it all.

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