Italy was the other favourite, a tiny bit lesser than England. Reasons: because Italy is always favourite, they were hosts, which always is considered a big advantage, and most importantly – the impressive performance at 1978 World Cup. Against Italy: the team did not play official games since 1978, therefore its strength was doubted, and the Tottonero scandal just unfolding. After 1978 the big news from Italy were rather damaging for the national team. First the soap opera about Paolo Rossi. He was hugely impressive at the World Cup, which immediately created a problem: Rossi was not a star before the world cup. A few years back he was Juventus player, but did not make the first eleven and was moved away. Apparently, Juventus did not have big hopes for him, which created unique situation as a result: Rossi was jointly owned by Juventus and L.R. Vicenza. When he soared to stardom both clubs wanted him for themselves. The bitter fight ended with blind bidding and predictably Juventus won. But Rossi ended loaned to Peruggia as a result – whether moving to Peruggia was a result of complicated legal problems or Juventus did not really trusted the player fit for them is not important. Important is the saga, no doubt distracting the player from his game. Unfortunately, this was not the only problem Rossi – and therefore the national team – was having. The next problem was the issue of foreign players. Import was banned since 1964. The big clubs were not happy at all, but the Federation stayed firm – more important was development of domestic stars. There was no clear argument either for or against: Italian football struggled in the 1970s on every level. Local talent obviously was not so great – hence, foreigners were needed. But if foreigners took the key positions certainly Italian football was not going to improve either. The solution came from unexpected corner: the Common Market, the predecessor of European Union, ruled that citizens of member countries can move and work freely everywhere in the realm of the organization. Italian clubs, especially the big ones, were happy – players were labour, thus, they cannot be restricted any longer, and as soon as foreigners were free to play in Italy, why not all foreigners? The prohibition was dead, the market was open as from the summer of 1980, and the order of the day was ‘get the foreign stars’. The Federation had no choice and allowed 1 foreigner per club. The restriction was not going to last – everybody was sure of that. The end of prohibition unfortunately changed the focus from the Italian players at hand to the race for getting international stars. And then the Totonero scandal started in the spring of 1980, the worst possible time, for investigation soon reached big clubs and national team players. Milan was found involved and guilty, so the new champions were punished with relegation to second division. As for individual players, Paolo Rossi came under investigation. And one of the top scorers at the time – Bruno Giordano (Lazio). Both were suspended for three months, until their court appearance. Under suspension, the players were out of the national team. Now, Giordano was rarely called and hardly a regular, but he was attached to Rossi, the real loss, in order of making stronger case that the investigation hurts badly the national team. Antognoni was also investigated – and found innocent – but Bearzot was grumbling: nobody was safe, hence, it was more than probable that Juventus will be investigated and the national team was based on Juventus. Bearzot called press conference to protest, threatening with resignation, if the national team players were not left in peace. However, Juventus was not under suspicion – but this very fact put fans in arms: Milan’s fans were outraged that their club was punished and the enemy from Turin was let free. It did not matter who was and was not guilty of bribing for the fans of Milan – and Bearzot had new big problem at his hand: unfortunately, Italy had to play two matches in Milan and there was big fear that the local fans will turn against the national team. The atmosphere in the national team was not great anyway – the players worried about the investigation and had difficulty concentrating on the European finals. Which also fueled old media criticism… Bearzot depended on Juventus players. He also favoured older players. The media thought the approach wrong: the Juventus stars had so much success, they no longer cared. They were not hungry. That was the judgment. Bearzot needed new and younger team – but he made only small changes, was extra-careful, and constantly preached that experience was most important. The media continued to attack him, but in the same time circumstances killed their argument. Yugoslavia completely destroyed somewhat experimental Italian team – it worked for Bearzot’s point of view and the media had to agree. In direct practical terms, Dino Zoff was re-established as untouchable goalkeeper – any other was more than a risk. With Rossi and Giordano suspended, there was no point arguing replacing the remaining strikers, no matter how old and in what form. With Milan relegated and some of the squad suspended, there was no other option but using Juventus. To a point, the Tottonero scandal worked in favour of Bearzot.
Bearzot worried, but at the end he repeated his mantra: ‘most important is experience’. And even more so at this moment, because the Tottonero scandal really taxed the nerves of the players.
1
1GK
Dino Zoff (c)
(1942-02-28)28 February 1942 (aged 38)
Juventus
2
2DF
Franco Baresi
(1960-05-08)8 May 1960 (aged 20)
Milan
3
2DF
Giuseppe Baresi
(1958-02-07)7 February 1958 (aged 22)
Internazionale
4
2DF
Mauro Bellugi
(1950-02-07)7 February 1950 (aged 30)
Napoli
5
2DF
Antonio Cabrini
(1957-10-08)8 October 1957 (aged 22)
Juventus
6
2DF
Fulvio Collovati
(1957-05-09)9 May 1957 (aged 23)
Milan
7
2DF
Claudio Gentile
(1953-09-27)27 September 1953 (aged 26)
Juventus
8
2DF
Aldo Maldera
(1953-10-14)14 October 1953 (aged 26)
Milan
9
2DF
Gaetano Scirea
(1953-05-25)25 May 1953 (aged 27)
Juventus
10
3MF
Giancarlo Antognoni
(1954-04-01)1 April 1954 (aged 26)
Fiorentina
11
3MF
Romeo Benetti
(1945-10-20)20 October 1945 (aged 34)
Roma
12
1GK
Ivano Bordon
(1951-04-13)13 April 1951 (aged 29)
Internazionale
13
3MF
Ruben Buriani
(1955-03-16)16 March 1955 (aged 25)
Milan
14
3MF
Gabriele Oriali
(1952-11-25)25 November 1952 (aged 27)
Internazionale
15
3MF
Marco Tardelli
(1954-09-24)24 September 1954 (aged 25)
Juventus
16
3MF
Renato Zaccarelli
(1951-01-18)18 January 1951 (aged 29)
Torino
17
4FW
Alessandro Altobelli
(1955-11-28)28 November 1955 (aged 24)
Internazionale
18
4FW
Roberto Bettega
(1950-12-27)27 December 1950 (aged 29)
Juventus
19
4FW
Franco Causio
(1949-02-01)1 February 1949 (aged 31)
Juventus
20
4FW
Francesco Graziani
(1952-12-16)16 December 1952 (aged 27)
Torino
21
4FW
Roberto Pruzzo
(1955-04-01)1 April 1955 (aged 25)
Roma
22
1GK
Giovanni Galli
(1958-04-29)29 April 1958 (aged 22)
Fiorentina
Almost the final’s squad: from left – Causio, Sala, Cabrini, Schirea, Bettega, Gentile, Maldera, Antognoni, Cuccureddu, Rossi, Zoff. 1978 version, which remained intact in 1980 and except unfortunate Rossi, was actually improved on. Sala and Cuccureddu were the only players out.
Essentially, it was the same selection used at the 1978 World Cup – two years older, but perhaps ripe for success. It was the perfect squad for the moment – no stars left out, except the suspended Rossi. Bettega was perhaps beyond his prime, but still strong. Bearzot’s constantly repeated emphasis on experience masked the changes he made in the team: they were not many, but important ones. By now Collovati and Cabrini were firm regulars. Guieseppe Baresi was also firm team member. That was the next generation – the trio was under 23 years of age, but already experienced. Oriali was more or less the only really new name, but at the 27 he was at his prime. It was not the quality of the team making people skeptical – it was the psychological burden of the Tottonero scandal which made observers to rate Italy slightly weaker than England. Still, Italy was one of the major favourites.