Azzurri in a fix again

The scenario Italy feared from the start in this tournament was needing a win against Ireland with Spain and Croatia both in a position to qualify with a draw.

In 2004 Giovanni Trapattoni’s Italy team drew their first two, then beat Bulgaria 2-1 but still were obliged to board that Rome-bound plane because the draw between Sweden and Denmark allowed both countries through.

No matter that the two Scandinavian countries have a football rivalry that stretches back almost a century, culminating in the fighting that caused their 2008 Euro qualifier to be abandoned. For the Italians that game was and remains a fix.

Understandable because the 2-2 scoreline was exactly what both sides required and the fans on the terraces in Oporto were waving banners reading: “2-2 e Ciao Italia”. Sweden scored their second equaliser with just two minutes to go.

Gigi Buffon was so incensed eight years ago that he seemed to be calling for international intervention, if not by UEFA then by the UN.

“It’s disgusting. It’s a scandal on a world scale. I feel ashamed but not for us: for the Swedes and the Danes. They’ve acted in a truly filthy way.”

The journalists were reminding him of these words this week when he observed that teams frequently did tacit deals that suited both sides and that it was understandable if not exactly praiseworthy. “Better two injured than one dead,” said the Italy captain – who is now arguing Spain are different, because they are world champions.

“This time no one’s died. We are alive,” he said yesterday. “And there won’t be any need for a UEFA inquiry. Spain won’t be making calculations. There’s a chasm between now and 2004.

“Sweden and Denmark were average sides, qualifying was already an achievement. This time Spain are much the better side and they want to win.

“And also the Spanish have pedigree, they don’t want to be branded as unsporting and have Europe and the world laugh at them.”

We can no doubt expect more of these mind games in the run up to Monday night’s kick-off, and the reality for the Italians is they blew it against Croatia, sat too deep, conceded a goal due to poor marking and couldn’t put the pressure on when it mattered.

“We paid for our one mistake – it’s a shame,” claimed Gianni Rivera, Trapattoni’s team-mate in the great Milan side of the 1960s.

Other veterans are less forgiving. “We should have closed out the match in the first half. The 2-0 was on,” says Beppe Bergomi, one of their winners in the 1982 World Cup. “In the second half we never took the initiative, never launched a good counter. It was enough for the Croats to move Modric further forward and push harder down the wings.”

“Italy are a skilful side but they’re not battlers,” said Stefano Tacconi, who was Trap’s goalkeeper when Juventus won the European Cup. “Against tougher teams we don’t have the physical strength and we can only rely on Pirlo.”

A hint there perhaps that Ireland could yet make the other match irrelevant.