Saturday, April 14, 2007

Calcio e Coppa del Mondo


I just came back from a soccer match and I kind of realized that it may be important, when going to Venice, to know a little about football italiano.
Well, first of all, let's pay tribute to one of the greatest Italian soccer players of all times: Roberto Baggio! Without his great efforts (he missed the final penalty kick), Brasil would have never won the 1994 World Cup, and we would probably not be the nation with the most World Cup titles: five.
By the way, Italy is the second on the list, with four world championships: 1934 and 1938 (which shouldn't count, because not even my grandparents remember these), 1982 and 2006, which make them tetracampioni del mondo.
Italy also hosted the 1990 World Cup, won by Germany, which is one of the first memories of my early life. I clearly remember their mascot, named Ciao, juggling the ball, which happened to be his head too, which I personally see as a metaphor of the italian stereotypical temperament: always losing their heads.

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