Italy national football team

From Free net encyclopedia

Template:National football team The Italian national football team is the national football team of Italy and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC - Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio).

Italy is one of the most successful national teams, having won three World Cups and one European championship. The traditional jersey colour of the national team (as well as of all Italian teams and athletes, but in motor sports) is sky blue (azzurro, in Italian), and therefore national team members are nicknamed Azzurri.

1 History
2 World Cup record
3 European Championship record
4 Coaches
5 Famous past players
6 Current squad
7 External links

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History

The first match of the Italian national football team was held in Milan, Italy on 15 May 1910, against France (a 6–2 victory for Azzurri). After avoiding the first World Cup (1930, in Uruguay), the Italian national team won two World Cups straight: 1934 edition, hosted by Italy, won beating Czechoslovakia 2–1 in Rome; 1938 edition, hosted by France, won beating Hungary 4–2 in Paris.

After World War II, the Italian national team did not perform at its pre-war levels, reaching no more than the first round in 1950 (but notice the Superga air disaster, which took away the best Italian players), 1954, 1962 and 1966 editions, and not even qualifying for the 1958 tournament. The match that has more significance, among those played in this period, is the 0–1 defeat against North Korea during the final stage of 1966 World Cup: Azzurri were defeated by the semi-professional North Korea football players and bitterly contested at their return home, while North Korean scorer Pak Do Ik was celebrated as David who killed Goliath.

In 1968, Azzurri won their first major competition since the 1938 World Cup, defeating Yugoslavia in Rome for European Championship title: this is the only major competition final that was played two times, since after extra times (ended in a draw, 1–1), rules required the match to be played again a few days later, and this time Italy won 2–0. Two years later, Azzurri participated to 1970 edition of the World Cup, organized in Mexico; they managed to arrive at the final, where they were defeated by Brazil 4–1, but the semi-final match, won 4–3 after extra time against West Germany, is by far the most influential and celebrated in Italian football history. The fourth place reached in 1978 edition was an introduction to 1982 triumph: after low level qualifications and first round (they advanced over Cameroon because of more goals scored), an under-rated and press-bashed Italian team collected three impressive games against Argentina (defeated 2–1), Brazil (3–2), and Poland (2–0, semifinal), winning the title against West Germany (3–1); cup top scorer was Paolo Rossi, with six goals scored in the last three matches.

In the last fifteen years, the Azzurri played an important role and though they had no major successes, their role on the world stage was somewhat remarkable. Italy hosted the World Cup in 1990. They were the favourites to win and were arguably the best team in the competition, but inexplicably lost the semi-final 4–3 on penalties to Argentina after a 1–1 draw at the end of extra time; later, they defeated England 2–1 in the third place play-off, thus conceding only two goals in the whole tournament. In 1994 World Cup edition, Italy reached the final against Brazil, despite a poor start. They were inspired by pony-tailed midfielder Roberto Baggio, but were exhausted after an arduous campaign. They drew 0–0 at the end of extra time, and lost the subsequent penalty shooutout. Baggio missed the final penalty in a cruel irony. Also 1998 edition is marked by a penalty shootout, lost 4–3 in quarter-final against France. The Italian participation to 2000 European Championship was followed with skeptisism, but Azzurri won an incredible semi-final against home team the Netherlands — Italian goalkeeper Francesco Toldo saved one penalty during the match and two during the shootout, Netherlands players missed one penalty during the match and one during the shootout – a success rate of one penalty scored on six tries — and lost the final 2–1 against France (golden goal), allowing les Bleus equalizing goal 30 seconds before the end of the match. Italy failed in both 2002 World Cup and 2004 European Championship; in both cases, controversial episodes shifted the focus away from the Azzurri's poor performance.

Italy also won the Olympic Gold Medal in 1936 and two Bronze Medals, in 1928 and 2004.

The Italian under-21 national team is very successful, having won five out of the last seven European Under-21 Football Championships (1990–92, 1992–94, 1994–96, 1998–2000 and 2002–2004 editions).

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