The History About The Italian National Football Team: Facts: The Italian national football team is called “Gli Azzurri” and “Squadra Azzurra” because the they play the most of their games with the mediterranean blue shirts. The color is traditonally linked to the royal dynasty which united Italy in 1861, and maintained the official standard and this was decided by the President himself. Italy is one of the most successful national teams in the world history of the world cup, having won four titles (1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006) just one fewer than Brazil. To this you can add: 1 European Championship 1968 1 Olympic Football Tournament 1936

Italy is considered to be on the best teams in international football history. So what makes this team so speciall? Not for just the Italians, but the whole world? What was the recipe to become so successful in the the sport known as Football by the most of the world and as Soccer in others? How have they managed to raise after disasters? How did they deal with the scandals during the championsips in the years 1982 and 2006? These Questions can be answered by going through the Italian national teams history… Origins: The Italian national teams first match was held in Milan actually, on the 15th of May 1910 more than 100 years ago.

Italy played France and defeated them with 6-2. The prize for th win was packs of cigarettes thrown down on the pitch by the 4000 spectators. The first real success in a tournament came 1928 in the summer Olympics held in Amsterdam After losing the semifinal against Uruguy they won the Bronze Medal beating Egypt in the 3rd place match with 11-3. This gave the Italians hunger for more! And more it would be… The first World Cups (1930-1938): In the first World Cup 1930 in Uruguay, Italy declained to participate, although their national team was already a steady and strong team.

Remarkably, on their debut 1934 in the World Cup stage they managed a series of impressive matches on home soil that earned them their first World Cup titel when they won against Czeckoslovakia with 2-1. Still hungry for trophies and fame, determined to defend their title, the Italian team entered the 1938 World Cup tournament held in France. Their first run who ended in a surprising win 4-years ago was confirmed 1938 to not have been an accident as they managed to defend their title and add a new one to their trophy room. They beat Hungary 4-2 in the final match.

Many have rushed to suggest that these two cups were obtained by Italy in a time when th game wasn’t as demanding as it would be after the world war in 1950, and that the competition wasn’t rough back then. That might be true! Football was not at the same level during the 30ties as it will soon be in the following World Cups. But then again, the italian football team didn’t have any more time to develop either during that time. The years after World War II and the tragedy 1949: Wednesday the 4th of May 1949 is and will always be a tragic year in history for all Italians.

Almost the whole team of the Italian Champions Toriono died in plane crash, ten out of the eleven in the ordinary line-up for the Italian National Team were killed in the crash. The plane crashed in to a Hill of Superga near Turin killing all the 31 passangers onboard, including 18 players of the Torino team. The team was returning from a friendly match with Benfica in Portugal when the disaster occurred. Beacause of the fear of flights the Italian National team went by boat to the World Cup in Brazil 1950. Due the long mentally and physically tough journey the Italians did not manage to advance further than to the first round.

The next tournaments 1954, 1958 and 1962 went the same way. Italian National Football were facing a wery dark time in their history of football. The first European Cup: In the first edition of the European Cup 1960, Italy didn’t participate like in the first World Cup 30-years ago. In the second edition of the European Cup 1964, they were not as lucky as they were in their first participation in the World Cup, due they got knocked out by USSR in the second round of the tournament (last 16). In the World Cup two years later 1966 the team again failed to pass the first round.

In mather of fact the tournament ended disastrouas for the favorites. The Italians lost against North-Korea. Pak Do Iks scored the only goal between the teams, sending the Italians home while themselves went home later in the tournament as “David who won against Goliat”. European Champions 1968: The darker period of the Italian football ended 1968 when they won the Eouropean Cup. This was and still is their only win in the cup. 30-years after their last victory in the World Cup 1938, they won a big tournament again. They won the final against Yugoslavia, beating them on their home soil in Rome.

The following 14-years whey wouldn’t get so lucky though they lost the final against the amaizing Brazilians in the 1970s Final and ended up loosing the bronze medal 1978 and 1980. World cup winners for the third time 1982: After a scandal in Serie A where some National Team players were prosecuted and suspended for match fixing and illegal betting, the Azzurri arrived at the 1982 World Cup with a general scepticism and discomfort. But they surprised everybody by winning their 3rd title when they were most under pressure.

The 1982 Football team is considered by many the strongest teams ever to win the World Cup and the manner in which they won th tournament. Mocked and chased by the media they won the final against West Germany with brilliant football and team-work with 3-1. 24 years of no titles (1982-2006) 1988s European Cup enden with a lose against USSR with 2-0 in the Semi-final. 1990 they hosted the World Cup for the second time. They won the Bronze Medal beating England with 2-1 in the match for 3rd place. 1994 they reached the Final but lost against the Brazilians in the enelty shoot-out seeing Roberto Baggio miss the final penalty kick of the match, seeing the ball go over the crossbar. In 2000 they lost another final, now against the French team on Trezeguet “golden goal”. World Champions for the fourt time (2006) The last of the four trophies came recently in the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Going in to the competition after a major scandal like the one 1982 and even worse, several players in the national teams squad were relegated to Serie B. Without a team to belive in and people around the team frustrated, few gave them any chanses of success in the tournament.

But as the tournament went on their pragmatic play and great defending skills earned them a place in the final against a French team that just eliminated on of the favourites for the title, the Brazilians, not allowing the South American team shoot on the French goal, not even once. The final was against Italy and France but came to be revolved around two players. Frances Zinedine Zidane and Italys Marco Materazzi. In the 7th minute, Zidane, playing his last match of the career, was fouled in the penalty box by Materazzi and scored from th spot with an unbeatable shot for the Italian goal keeper Buffon.

But it only took Materazzi 12 minutes to get his revange, scoring the Italians goal with a powerfull header from a Pirlo corner. The game went on and when the game was heading towards a 1-1 deadlock and penalty shoot-outs, Zidane and Materazzi were involved in a incident that ended with “Zizou” head butting the Italian and beeing sent of pitch, in his last game! Italy the eventually won the shoot-out when the “Italian Hero” Fabio Grosso scored the desicive goal in the shoot-outs giving the Italians their 4th World Cup Title and also claired some of the stains the scandal gave them before the tournament.