In the quarterfinals of Euro 2012, the Italians (Azzurri) and English were scoreless after regulation play and overtime ended. All that stood between one of the teams advancing to the semifinals was the dreaded tie-breaking penalty shootout.
I have been a longtime Azzurri supporter, so when my very good friend, who happens to be a die-hard England supporter, invited me over to his home in Beirut to watch the game, I accepted on the condition that at least one other Azzurri fan be invited.
From the onset, the Azzurri attack was much stronger, and they were able control the ball with greater ease. Over the course of the game, the Italian offense made more than 20 shots on goal, compared to England’s four. Nothing is worse than to watch your team dominate the game and then lose it all in the decisive penalty shootout. But that’s the nature of soccer, and that’s why it has been known to drive fans insane.
In the end, Diamanti kicked in the game winning penalty shot and my friend’s household collapsed into a state of mourning, while myself and the other loan Azzurri supporter yelled and screamed so much that I’m sure we woke up entire building. But this is Lebanon, where outbursts of all kinds are tolerated.
After the excitement had died down and we called it a night, my friend turned to me as we were walking towards the door and said in a very suspicious tone, “I hope this does not mean things will begin to heat up around here.”
He wasn’t talking about the heat, as in temperature (Lebanon was already suffering under a severe heat wave and draught); rather he was referring to the possibility of the Italians actually winning the Euro Cup 2012 and what an Azzurri victory would mean for Lebanon. Would there be a repeat performance of 1982 and 2006.
The Azzurris curse over Lebanon began during the 1982 World Cup. I had just finished my studies at the American University in Cairo, and every evening a group of us students would gather to watch the games at Pub 28, a little English style pub that had recently opened in the upscale neighborhood of Zamalik. The atmosphere inside was electric, as rival expatriate fans gathered to support their respective teams and to consume large quantities of the local Stella beer. It was while watching the World Cup unfold, inside Pub 28, that I began my love affair with the Azzurris and their star striker Paolo Rossi.
After serving a two-year ban for “betting irregularities,” Paolo Rossi joined the Italian national squad just in time for the 1982 World Cup. Lackluster in his opening games, Rossi, though, shined by the time the team had reached the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, against Brazil, a game the Italians were not expected to win, Rossi scored a hat trick and sent the “Samba Boys” packing back to Brazil and the Azzuries advancing into the finals. To this day, Italy’s 3–2 victory over Brazil is considered one of the best games ever played.
While I was dodging the odd fistfight and occasional flying beer glass at Pub 28, my future wife and brother-in-law were in Beirut taking cover from bullets and bombs. The Israeli military had mounted a massive invasion into Lebanon to rout out Palestinian fighters. In order to watch the World Cup, my brother-in-law and his friends had to go out after dark and risk getting caught in the crossfire just to find some place that had electricity. Sometimes they took refuge at his parents’ home; other times they watched the game at the American University in Beirut. In the end, my brother-in-law never missed a game, including Italy’s memorable landslide victory over Germany in the final.
On the battlefront, the Israelis encircled Beirut and only retreated after the United Nations intervened. Palestinian fighters were granted safe passage out of Lebanon by ship on the condition that they did not return. The fighting left thousands of Lebanese civilians dead and many more wounded and/or displaced.
In 2006, 24 years after Italy had taken the title, World Cup fever once again gripped Lebanon. Brazil and Germany have always been the favorites for this tiny soccer-loving nation, so it was no surprise that the majority of flags flying on rooftops and automobiles were from either of those two nations. I, on the other hand, continued to remain loyal to the Azzurris, and when I draped a huge Italian flag off our Beirut apartment balcony, my son, who was 11, suggested that I should not advertise my loyalty. He was concerned about the reaction of his classmates, who loathed anything other than Germany or Brazil. My son got even more upset when I plastered Italian flags all over our car.
The rivalry was so intense that kids at the school one time ripped the Italian flags off my car when I had left it in the school parking lot. Another time, after picking up my son, we crossed paths with some of his classmates in another car covered in German flags. Suddenly all the kids started yelling obscenities, which did nothing to help my son’s self-esteem.
As the 2006 World Cup games progressed through the qualifying rounds, it was obvious that Italy was not to be taken lightly. When they came out on top of their group, my son began to feel more confident and his peers started to back down. The final blow for my son’s classmates, and the Lebanese in general, came in the semifinals when the Italians eliminated the host country, Germany, scoring two consecutive goals in overtime.
Instead of going out to watch the finals between Italy and France, we opted to stay home and watch with some friends. The game was exhilarating with many heart-stopping moments, including a red card for the French superstar Zinedine Zidane for head butting Marcio Materazzi in the dying minutes of overtime. Our home erupted in celebration when Fabio Grosso secured the final goal during the penalty shootout. I didn’t even wait to say goodbye to our guests, before I grabbed my son and we headed out into the night, waving the flag and honking the horn as we raced through the streets of Beirut. It seemed everyone in Beirut had abandoned their team of choice and were out celebrating the Azzuri victory.
Three days after Italy won the 2006 World Cup, Hezbollah fighters crossed into Israel and attacked a military patrol, killing three soldiers and kidnapping two others (they died later of their wounds). In a failed rescue attempt, Israel lost five additional soldiers. Following the Hezbollah incursion, the Israeli defense forces mounted a massive air, land and sea attack, similar to what Lebanon witnessed in 1982. When the United Nations finally secured a ceasefire a month later, more than a thousand Lebanese civilians were killed and more than a million others were displaced and the country’s infrastructure lay in ruin.
After the dust had settled, rumors starting flying as to the real reason behind the Israeli attack. Some believed that Israel wanted to weaken Lebanon economically, while others believed that the Israeli military wanted to gauge the strength of Hezbollah. Then there were those who blamed the Azzurris, saying that the last time Italy won the coveted World Cup in 1982, Israel had attacked!
After beating their arch nemesis Germany in the semifinals of Euro 2012, the Azzurris were through to the finals to meet reigning World Cup and Euro champions, Spain. Luckily for Lebanon the Italians didn’t fair so well and lost 4–0.
Even though the Azzurris lost in the finals, a news headline appeared a few days later that seemed to acknowledge their presence, “Israel detonated 3 spying devices in south Lebanon. “
I only could wonder what the headline would have read if the Azzurris had won?