A question of roles. The commentator, as we know, must always be a little “biased” when Italy is there or when an Italian team plays in the cups, he must not be a defeatist and is called to give confidence to the listeners but when he can’t, he can’t. We will remember Pizzul at the ’94 World Cup in the USA in the eighth-final match against Nigeria: before Baggio’s equalising goal at the end, the first voice of Rai had a funereal tone, commenting with dismay on what seemed to be a total defeat for the Azzurri against Nigeria, who mocked Sacchi’s national team even by playing the rondo. Then the magic in the 90th minute and the victory in extra time, again signed by Baggio and Pizzul also found his enthusiasm again. Which, however, did not happen to the Di Gennaro-Rimedio couple yesterday in Berlin.
Di Gennaro’s outburst on the TV commentary
Never before had such a harsh comment been heard on a national team match but it was impossible to do the opposite for the disastrous match against Switzerland. Even a usually calm and balanced commentator like Antonio Di Gennaro indulged in scathing judgments. Here are some excerpts of his comment as second voice on Rai1: “Inadmissible, it is inadmissible, no one can be savedit’s not possible, we can never start again” and then: “we thought we had come out of the difficult moment but this team was completely lacking”.
The comments on the vain attempts of the Azzurri were disheartened: “look, in the long run they always get the 3 against 1, Church never manages to skip the manit’s really a difficult situation” and then: “Even from the way they hit the corner you realize how there is no attention and concentration” and finally: “We saw everything, there was a slowness in the marking, which was unacceptable” .
Remedy shouts: “Switzerland is neither Spain nor Argentina”
Even the first voice Alberto Rimedio did not give the Azzurri any concessions: “We have never seen the sparkle in the eyes of the Azzurri, there was never a counter-move, a countermeasure on Xakha” and also: “A match not played by the Azzurri, the attitude was missing: Switzerland is an excellent team but it’s not Spain, it’s not Argentina, this attitude cannot be tolerated by Spalletti”or: “I don’t know if the team could have been tossed around by so many changes, this defeat is painful because the European champions are going out after a very bad match, now we need a total reset because there are the World Cup qualifiers and after having failed the last two appointments we risk a hat-trick. It was an unthinkable Italy, we didn’t expect such a bad match, we didn’t expect Italy to be so far behind”.
The Azzurri fans unleashed on social media
Harsh words that have not gone unnoticed on social media, where comments are pouring in: “In a little while Di Gennaro and Rimedio will curse. I have never heard such a frank and disheartened report on Rai” and then: “I don’t understand anything but I would send the commentator to coach, he has the right verve” and also: “The RAI reporters will soon start with insults” and also: “the commentators rightly expect changes, but no , the coach is also sleeping”
There are those who write: “The commentators’ disbelief almost makes me feel tender” and then: “only the Swiss fans can be heard, ours are dead, they left the stadium and are already heading home…” and again: “In my opinion, Di Gennaro will soon abandon commentary” and finally: “In all this, Rimedio and Di Gennaro on Rai1 seem like the classic death knell that rings out the announced funeral of the national team”.
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