Del Piero Mundial
Trap's Italy like the one
of Bearzot, in 1982
August 30, 2001
Raisport (translated by
Alice)
The 1982 boys. On the memory
of Italian football, it's not a generation of heroes, but a generation
of champions. Now, two days far from the match against Lithuania, which,
unless something unexpected happens, should get Italy qualifyed for the
next World Cup, Del Piero agrees with the comparison made by the avvocato
Agnelli, between the 1982 World Cup winner squad and Trapattoni's men:
"Yes, there are similarities and we are aware of this".
The first resemblance with
the Bearzot era is probably the coach character, the perfect interpreter
of the Italian way to approach football. Like the Mundial coach, Trap loves
to pamper his boys and motivate them. Del Piero knows about it, he who
received today a very pleasant compliment. "The Del Piero of the golden
times is back", the coach's opinion. "It's good to hear this, it's important
to me", Del Piero admits. The juventino has been going through a positive
moment: as usual, he tries to keep things calm, but above all he tries
to "clarify once and for all" the debate over his position, as a second
striker or a trequartista. "Me playing behind the strikers is just
a solution at Juve, useful for the Champions League where we will have
suspended men and players missing - the attacker explains -; on the national
team it's pretty much the same situation: I don't exclude anything, I am
ready to play where I'm good at, even though the role I prefer is the second
striker. No, I really don't feel like a 9 and a half".
The juventino really doesn't
like the definition, created by Platini's imagination for Baggio: "In a
certain way, Platini himself was a 9 and a half: Baggio was more of an
attacker, Zidane more of a midfielder, even though Platini says he sees
himself on him. As for me, just call me Del Piero". But Trapattoni holds
for Del Piero, if needed, a Zidane role, and he doesn't want to say no.
Just like the spitir of the Bearzot times: "There are similarities with
the '82 squad, but we don't know what they are - Del Piero adds -; however,
we feel special sensations inside of us: I don't mean only little superstitions,
but really something more".
That victory happened twenty
years ago ("a generation"), and now the azzurri know they've been
"called for something that, on the last 60 years, since '38, only one group
managed to do". Besides, just like that Italy, this one also comes from
a positive tournament, but which had a negative conclusion. And if Argentina
'78 was also useful for the azzurri four years later, why couldn't
the disappointment of Euro 2000 have the same use for these boys? "From
France '98 to the 2002 World Cup - the juventino admits - we have grown;
and the Amsterdam defeat helped us go on, too. A knock which we still feel,
we all left in a very angry mood...".
A little like Del Piero's
personal journey. "From the injury until now, it's been a long way - the
attacker tells -, there have been dark moments in which one could see a
little clearness, now that everything is clear I know that there's a little
dark and I should improve. In some moments, I thought that even the judgement
of some outsider conditioned the opinions about me". Maybe that Godot mentioned
by the avvocato, but then, Del Piero admits, "there was a day in which
everything changed, and only positive things were spoken about me". On
the other hand, how can you not agree that the Del Piero seen on the first
Serie A matchday isn't even stronger? "The goals condition the judgement;
that's not all that matters for me. I wouldn't be surprised if I was the
top scorer, even though the goal isn't my priority".
There's another thought over
what is the priority. "After so many missed opportunities, I would like
to be on the World Cup at my best shape, after a season filled of satisfaction".
Maybe that's all it lacks Italy to complete the comparison with the boys
of Mundial.
.
