Germany seeking to end Italy curse
It had to be them. It is always them. Last Sunday afternoon, after Germany had swatted aside Slovakia, Toni Kroos was standing in the bowels of Lille’s Stade Pierre Mauroy, trying to be as diplomatic as possible. Would he prefer to face Italy or Spain in the quarterfinals? ‘‘They are both big nations,’’ he said. ‘‘Spain want the ball, Italy defend well. Both are hard to play.’’
It was the only answer the Real Madrid midfielder could give.
In German, the word is ItalienFluch, the Italian Curse. It is responsible for Germany’s 54 years of hurt, dating back to the 1962 World Cup. Eight times, Germany – West or unified – have faced Italy in competitive games known, to the Italians at least, as the Derby dell’Europa: the European derby. Germany have won none.
‘‘I think nothing of things that are dragged up from the past,’’ Joachim Low, the Germany coach, said this week when talk turned to the curse. ‘‘It is cold coffee. We prefer a nice, fresh espresso, and on Saturday we have to make sure it tastes good. We are not afraid of Italy.’’
Kroos, once the identity of their opponents was confirmed, dispensed with diplomacy and opted for defiance. ‘‘Why should I have an Italy trauma?’’ he said. ‘‘I do not have any problem talking about them. So we never won [against them]. We cannot change that.’’
The midfielder is right, of course: Low’s players do not regard any bitter experiences as cause for intimidation, though, so much as inspiration.
‘‘In history, it always went like this,’’ Mesut Ozil said yesterday. ‘‘We would always fail against Italy in great tournaments, but as a player you have to be professional enough to overcome that. We have the pedigree to beat any team in the world. We want to prove it can be different, that we can beat them. We showed that when we played in a friendly in March.’’ The 4-1 win in Munich, doubtless, has bolstered a German confidence best exemplified by Andreas Kopke, the goalkeeping coach. ‘‘We still have a score to settle with the Italians,’’ he said.
If ever there was a time for Germany to break the spell, today should provide it.
Italy seem to know the scale of the task awaiting them, and not simply because they may have to cope without Daniele De Rossi, struggling with an injury, and the suspended Thiago Motta. They also have a remarkable 11 players on a booking already; one missed tackle and they may well miss a semifinal. Surely it will enter their minds.
Worse still, even Gianluigi Buffon, present in both 2006 and 2012, is of the view that the ‘‘gap between the two sides might have grown’’ since they last met in a meaningful match; Germany, after all, are world champions these days. And Antonio Conte made sure to make clear quite how highly he thinks of Low’s team.
‘‘I think they are better than Spain,’’ he said. ‘‘They are the most complete side in the world.’’
Ozil greeted that fulsome praise as a ‘‘nice compliment,’’ but it comes laced with something dangerous. Italy have already overturned Belgium’s feted generation; Conte has masterminded the game which ended Spain’s golden era, too. The Italians might have come into this tournament, in the words of their coach, with ‘‘no credibility’’ as contenders, but they have proven themselves to be exposers of delusion and destroyers of ambitions.
They are the last team Germany wanted to see. Anyone but them. TIMES