Viva il Mondiale

I didn't imagine that I would write a post about football (soccer), especially after this World Cup where Italy doesn't even participate. But in the last couple of days some thoughts have been running through my head so I will try to write them down... and I'd like to be able to do it before the first semi-final next Wednesday... so I have to hurry.

Although I'm not very interested in football anymore, you must know that once, when I was a little girl, I was a huge fan. Above all of the national team of course, but also of Milan, my mother's favorite team, and because of her, also of all of us brothers.

The first memories I have of the World Cup date back to USA 1994 when I was still 11 years old. My friend Miriam and I together with our brothers, had started following the matches in our own way. We cut out the photos of all the players of the national team from the newspaper and made our own kind of notebook. We looked really super savvy doing report cards of the ones we thought were the hottest! It is impossible to forget the Nigeria-Italy round of 16 match that we were watching together. We had already given up on penalties, but then the legendary Roberto Baggio scored that goal almost at the end of extra time and after we had an incredible party!

This was also the time when I first fell in love with a football player. It was Beppe Signori. Lazio player and top scorer in the Italian league at the time. Blond with blue eyes, my usual standard when I was young, oh well don't ask me questions but I was really super in love with him. And not only that, in my fantasy games I pretended to be the assistant coach of the national team, advisor to the head coach Arrigo Sacchi and I was very serious about it: I used to play all the time I had to manage the team's affairs and at the same time be Signori's girlfriend, in short, it wasn't an easy job!

And then of course I remember the night of the final against Brasil. After some family discussions, we decided that we would watch the game even if it was played on a Sunday, since it was a World Cup final. And I remember the sadness of losing on penalties, thinking in my childish mind that it could be a punishment from heaven for not respecting the Sunday law. But I also remember the disappointment of discovering a few months later that Beppe Signori had a girlfriend or a wife or I don't know, but in short I felt really betrayed.

Four years later we jump to France 1998. Even in that case, despite being already 15 years old, I continued to play imagining to be the assistant coach and I even had a new boyfriend. And it was him, Bobo Vieri who thanks to his performances, began his phase of success in that world championship. Thinking about it now that I liked that ugly man, make me really laugh... but it was what it was. And there is no need to talk about the disappointment, anger and all the bad feelings I started to have towards the French national team when they defeated us in the round of 16, which alas, drag on even now.

I was so upset by the early elimination that I remember crying a lot that day. II think it was to feel some confort that I began to follow the championship a lot more that year. In fact, every Monday I used to buy the sport newspaper "La Gazzetta dello Sport", read the articles, cut out the report cards and the most beautiful photos and glued them into a notebook that I kept better than my school notebooks! And it paid off since Milan won the Scudetto that year!

I'm sure my brothers and our friend Fabio (even if he was a Parma supporter) will remember how on the Sunday of the last match we decided not to follow it (again, due to the commandment to keep Sunday holy) and instead went for a walk (with picnic) to the cemetery of a small town near to our house. And later that afternoon we won! These are really beautiful memories, I hadn't thought about it in a long time, I'm happy to have this chance thanks to this post that I'm trying to write. And also I can remember all the players I used to like, like Oliver Bierhoff, Andriy Shevchenko and many more...maybe this is a side of me you didn't imagine...

During the following years, I forgot a little bit about this sport. It's not even worth remembering the Korea/Japan 2002 World Cup, which saw us eliminated in the group stage in the match against Croatia, famous above all for Moreno's criminal refereeing. We watched it at school during an assembly and I can't say anything else. It was just sad.

However, Germany 2006 is a completely different matter. Yes, because if at least once in my life I wanted to be able to experience the thrill of winning a world championship, that year my dream, like that of millions of Italians, came true. The most beautiful thing besides joy and emotion? Gathering at my parents' house with a large number of friends to watch the games, often taking the television out into the garden to be more comfortable. A lot of food, flags, the unforgettable blue icicle with the joy of experiencing this great emotion all together. At the end of the games, like when we were kids, we liked to go out and honk with the car. When we were kids we used to go out with an old panda that had a sunroof. What beautiful memories. I will never forget July 9, 2006. Even though I wasn't in love with any player that year!!

And speaking of football crushes, I can't help mentioning the sympathy I've always had for the German national football team. In fact, Germany has always been my second choice. You will say obvious, often the players are in fact handsome and athletic blonds, but instead I liked him, Mesut Özil, of Turkish origins, who at the time played for Real Madrid, very far from the ideal standard of beauty with those ball eyes a little out of the loop. But he was good, and tender to me and for some reason he reminded me of Portgas D. Ace, my favorite character from One Piece. And I still follow him, well... I'm a real fan what can I do? And I would also like to mention the legendary André Schürrle also known as Guybrush Threepwood due to his resemblance to the famous protagonist of the epic video game Monkey Island. He was a substitute in the Germany team of those years who also won the world cup in 2014, but when he entered in the field he often scored… I was super happy to see him lifting the cup.

And now after all these beautiful stories, let's come to us: the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Very talked about, controversial, perhaps bordering the acceptable. But also a different event, from which is possible to take many ideas for reflection on many topics. However, I will continue to focus only on my routine. Italy didn't qualify so how do I live this World Cup as an Italian? Surely in a multi-ethnic way. Not only am I an Italian living in Spain but I hang out with friends of different nationalities. Ecuadorians, Argentines, Brazilians... but for some years now my strongest bond has been with the country that is perhaps also the main protagonist in this edition of the competition, Morocco.

So I don't wanna hide my total sympathy for this national team. Not only because they are good and are a united team, but also because they represent, in my opinion, positive values. They are making history by being the first team from an arab country to first qualify for the quarter-finals and now the semi-finals of a World Cup. They represent the values of people that are still too often victims of us Europeans' prejudices. Not only for their culture, but especially for their religion. And as a person who belongs to a different religion herself, who although is of Christian roots, has been and still is the victim of attacks and prejudices, I keep dreaming of the moment when we will stop focusing only on our differences and our fears, rather than on the things that we have in common.

And how beautiful it is to see the happiness of Moroccans, not only in their country but also here abroad, celebrating this great achievement? I see myself as a child, waving the Italian flag out of the car window after a victory for the national team…

Now I just have to hope they win against France too (obviously it will be very tough but it's worth believing)!

It was nice to remember these moments. I don't know if at the end of this competition I will be interested in football again or if I will return to my usual routine, but I certainly like to think about the value of sport in general. Regardless of everything that can be "behind it" nowadays, it is nice to see how people can unite through sport and it makes me happy to see when people of different nationalities rejoice in the successes of others. So I hope that however Wednesday goes, the fans will know how to respect each other trying not to politicize the thing too much. I will have to work in the restaurant, but as I did with the Netherlands-Argentina match last week, maybe I will bring my computer to see it, together with my colleague of Moroccan origin. Either way, we will have fun.

Ah, I still haven't said if I'm in love with anyone this time... well I'll let that remain a secret. But about this you can be sure: “number 7 forever”.