Tag: Vittek

It’s the words we like so much at J’accuse (the Banana Republic)… “We told you so”. Do you remember this post way back on the 6th of May? We warned the superstitious among you that Italy might be in for a bad time. The only two previous world cup tournaments in which Italy walked out at the first hurdle were 1954 and 1966. The league winners in the pre-WC season? Internazionale FC (now known as Inter-cettati).

Four years ago Inter fans were among those celebrating the Campioni del Mondo charade at the same moment that the World Champion team were “relegated” to serie B. This year they celebrated their Champions league “triumph” and other victories they have enjoyed thanks to their having escaped the long arm of the law (until now). Somehow, somewhere there is a little bit of poetic justice. They hang on to the reputation of eternal losers and harbingers of bad luck for the national team. Italy is out of the World Cup in another Inter campionato year. Who knows… maybe Moratti will buy Vittek now.

This is the original 6th May post entitled Superstition:

If you’re an England supporter and ever so slightly superstitious then you should be rooting for Labour. The general election of March 1966 elected Harold Wilson‘s Labour vindicating his early call in order to increase his then slender majority of seats. Four months later England’s football team would lift the world cup for the first and only time.

There’s all sorts of superstitions or quirks related to elections. One has to do with rain. Apparently Labour voters are supposed to be more likely deterred by bad weather – though this theory has been rubbished in practice.

For Italy supporters there’s another interesting coincidence. Three times out of four the team winning the campionato before an Italy world cup success has been Juventus: 1934, 1982, 2006. The odd one out has been Bologna (1938). Inter won a pre-WC league in 1954 and 1966. In 1954 Italy were eliminated in the first round by Switzerland (4-1 in playoff). In 1966 they also failed to pass the first round hurdle when they were eliminated by the memorable Pak Doo Ik goal (North Korea).

I’d hate to be an Italy supporter this year!

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