Precious witness of time, Italo Cucci He was the Director and special correspondent for half a century of the history and glory of the Azzurri. Going-seeing-meeting-telling he experienced first-hand exciting days for our national team and just as many misfortunes. Still shocked by the match (not) played against the Swiss, he abandons himself to Libero to memories. The melancholic ones, at least, given what the news of the last few hours dictates.
Which footballing misfortune do you want to start from?
“Since the 1950 World Cup, I was still a child and they told me that that painful defeat came in a comical way: for fear of air travel, given that the Superga tragedy was still fresh, the national team moved to Brazil by steamship. It was an endless journey, the Azzurri trained on the bridge of the ship and all the balls ended up in the sea. At the World Cup we lost to Sweden and immediately returned home.”
The first Italian defeat experienced live?
«At the World Cup in Chile ’62. I was there as a young correspondent and, because of a couple of unfortunate articles written by two Italian colleagues against Chile, they made us pay on the pitch. The referee Aston blew his whistle one way in the match against the Chileans. They also beat us, it ended 2-0 for them and goodbye to our hopes».
England 1966: the year of the infamous Korea, the mother of all flops.
“It was the decisive match to advance to the quarterfinals, Fabbri sent his assistant, Valcareggi, to spy on the Koreans’ training. “They move like Ridolini”, Ferruccio declared. Bulgarelli was injured immediately and we played with ten men because substitutions had not yet been introduced. Pierced by a Pak Doo-ik thunderbolt, we went home full of tomatoes”.
Shall we skip to 1970?
“We came in second behind the great Brazil but amid controversy: Gianni Brera, who supported Inter, and other political influences led to the incredible handover between Mazzola and Rivera. Madness. In the final at the Azteca, Pelè himself was amazed to see Rivera, Ballon d’Or, on the bench.”
In 1974, with the defeat at the World Cup in Germany, the concept of Azzurro tenebra was developed.
“It was the national team of the Mexicans who were tired and a bit worn out: Rivera, Riva, Mazzola, Facchetti, Burgnich. In addition, the locker room was divided into clans. The rumor spread that some Azzurri tried to buy the draw against Poland to qualify but Artemio Franchi, president of the football federation, swore to me that it wasn’t true.”
In 1986 another defeat: Bearzot experienced a moment of weakness and sank with his knights who had achieved the feat in Spain ’82.
“After that triumph I suggested to Enzo: leave, accept the offer that came to you from the national team of the United Arab Emirates. But Bearzot, a romantic and stubborn Friulian, did not give up on the Azzurri. In the eighth finals with France he had Platini marked by Baresi, unfortunately it was Beppe and not Franco: 2-0 for the transalpines”.
It went better in 1990 (third) and 1994 (second). No?
“In 1990 we played away in Naples, where Maradona and Argentina were cheering, and we lost because of a blunder by Zenga. Four years later we came in second because Baggino, in pain, missed the decisive penalty because of his less than perfect physical condition. He was forced to play because of pressure from the sponsors.”
At the 2002 World Cup we were robbed by a whistleblower, right?
“Before that World Cup I went to Korea and met the local potentate who was in charge of the event. I immediately understood which way the wind was blowing. In the match against the home team, the referee Moreno shamefully took us out. It was the second Korea in our history. We deserved the first one in 1966, we suffered that one.”
The current dark period of our national team began in South Africa. What do you remember about 2010?
«The conviction that I developed about Lippi. You should never return to the place of triumph, as Bearzot did in 1986. The only great coach who managed to win two World Cups, and in a row, with the national team was Vittorio Pozzo: in 1934 and 1938».
Since then we have won only one European Championship, in 2021, but we have lost three. Then we immediately went out in two World Cups and we have not qualified on two other occasions.
«In 2010 I decided to end my long history as a correspondent for the World Cup and the European Championships, almost as if I foresaw what was happening to our beloved national team».
With a cool head, what do you think of the collapse with Switzerland?
“It was almost a mutiny against everything and everyone. I have never seen an Italian team play, or rather not play, in that way. Apart from Donnarumma and Calafiori, who to save? No one.”
Even less Spalletti? Or does he grant her extenuating circumstances?
«The belief is always the same: you cannot coach the national team with the mentality and strategy of a club coach».
Remedies?
“Entrust the team not to a coach who comes from the championship and who demands time to spend with the players and impose his ideas. We need to put a selector at the helm of the Azzurri. A person who comes from the federal frameworks and who is able to lead the national team in a few days. Who selects, not who coaches.”
Bearzot came from the federal ranks…
“Also Valcareggi. And, strangely enough, one won a world championship and the other a European championship.”
There are few Italian players playing in club teams, a trend that many are making.
“It’s partly true but our wonderful youth national teams, the Under 17 and Under 19, are achieving success.”
The talent of hope to which we can cling?
«Francesco Camarda, they tell me he scored 483 goals in the youth teams of Milan and in the other teams he played for. He is 16 years old but I remember that at that age Renzo Vecchi, known as the Son of God, and Gianni Rivera, known as the Golden Boy, made their debuts in the national team».
