Not even the victory against Northern Ireland manages to bring some serenity to Gattuso and co. The post-success chaos arises from an image stolen and used to say that the Azzurri are arrogant
A small group of players relaxing while observing the conclusion of the match which must designate the opponent in the final of the playoffs leading to the World Cup. They are behind glass, convinced they are in a free, free, private zone. The strongest team on paper, the top seed, loses and passes the other one. They shake their fists, give each other a high five, turn off their cell phones and disappear from sight. What happened? Nothing.
But that image of Italy’s players not dissatisfied with having to travel to Bosnia and not Wales to secure the World Cup pass has become the case that will animate the long eve of the match in Zenica. Rai aired it amidst the laughter of the hosts and Adani’s alarmed phrase: “You said not to show them”. Too late. In the social media era, that video fragment has multiplied infinitely, generating a reaction from Bosnians who, evidently, couldn’t wait for anything else.
It’s called friendly fire. There is no need to bother with lessons on journalism or professional ethics. It was like publishing an off-air message, an operation which is not prohibited in itself (if there is public interest), but certainly not very friendly towards those who suffer it. Dimarco, Vicario, Pio Esposito and the others didn’t actually do anything wrong: just a very human reaction to discovering that they had to play for the World Cup against an opponent who was less strong on paper than expected. For example, Wales is in 35th place in the FIFA rankings and Bosnia and Herzegovina in 66th.
Raise your hand if you have never felt a sense of relief in your life when you discovered, for example, that you had to take the final exam in one subject rather than another. There is no one, but since Italy is a country of masochists incapable of forming a system, the very human (and private) reaction of that group of players has become the instrument to poison the approach to the match of Gattuso’s life and that of all of us. Or almost all, evidently.
It’s a shame because for the rest of the evening things went smoothly. Italy, which is chasing the World Cup, has united the country (10 million in front of the video and there will be more on the evening of the final), apart from a few misaligned people everyone supported the Azzurri and especially the Bergamo public did so, avoiding unhealthy deviations experienced in the past such as booing this or that for faults that have nothing to do with the national team shirt.
Then that image and the somewhat hypocritical process that resulted from it. It will be patiently explained to our Bosnian friends that there was no arrogance and that our heroes are so scared of the idea of failing to access the World Cup that they will not underestimate anything or anyone. Much less Bosnia which eliminated Wales. All the others, those who enjoy beating each other in the so-called like any rags, should be asked what they did in the secret of their bedrooms. The suspicion is that when they saw Wales go home they also tightened their fists, only there was no friend to take them back to show the rest of the world.
