James Lawton: Italy are fabulously flawed

The thrilling progress of Marcello Lippi's team to tomorrow's World Cup final has shown Italian football at its very best. However, it comes at a time when a catastrophic scandal threatens to undermine the very fabric of the sport at home

Sometimes football's colonisation of the world's emotions sheds all mystery: it becomes a compelling, simple truth. Here is such a time and if there is any doubt the faces of the Azzurri, Italy's national team, need to be studied as they walk into the magnificent Olympiastadion tomorrow evening.

So much of the story of arguably the heaviest challenge ever to face a team in a match of such importance will be reflected in these faces inevitably made moist by the effects of the vast and desperate yearning which will be so visible in the great piazzas of Italy, the square of the Duomo in Milan, the Circo Massimo in Rome and the Plebiscito in Naples. These are cities that normally rarely pause in their scorn for each other but tomorrow night they will be united in a single heartbeat.

In the Olympiastadion the Italian faces will reveal much more than an ambition to win their fourth World Cup when they go against the potentially majestic force of the great Zinedine Zidane's France. They will not begin to disguise a desire woven inextricably into the bruised spirit of their nation. It is for nothing less than redemption for themselves and their people in a game which long ago ceased to be a mere recreation - a game which indeed is supposed to mirror Italian style, sophistication, the very civilisation of the land.

Unfortunately, as a wider world that has always half-envied, half-hated this extraordinary mixture of hauteur and its close relative, cynicism, knows well enough now, Italian football for the moment more than anything mirrors corruption, a life-draining pursuit of advantage and influence in shaping results. The consequence is that this great tournament has never known such a haunting backdrop to the drama and the expectation that every four years are compressed into a single football match.

Just two days after the final a cold administration of justice threatens to devastate four of the Italy's most celebrated clubs - Juventus, Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina - and send them on a shaming journey to the minor leagues. Yet here in Germany the direst reality has been kept at a certain distance by the brilliance of the Azzurri's resolve and nerve and nowhere has an expression of defiance been etched more powerfully than on the handsome features of the star player, Francesco Totti, when he moved his team towards the final with a vital penalty kick.

The whole nation was reassured by the steel in Totti's eyes and the assurance of his body language.

Now he says: "The spirit of our country has carried us forward. We have been playing for so much, more even than the World Cup; we have been wanting to show that, despite what has happened, we are, like the country, good, proud players in life.

"In these last few weeks we have become brothers sharing the same goal. We are all so close now, even the two reserve goalkeepers who are the only ones not to have seen action. The Italian people must know that they we will give to them everything we have."

It would be pretty, but unrealistic, to believe that victory over France - one which has been made utterly feasible by the brilliance of the team's response to the promptings of master coach Marcello Lippi - will heal all the wounds created by the shocking discovery that the once glamorous Serie A had become a cesspit of subverted referees and match-fixing.

But, still, a glorious pause, a suspension of judgement day, has been created superbly by the rising level of performance by Lippi's team, a tide of growing self-belief, and magnificent technique, which reached a soaring expression in the defeat of the hugely motivated German team in their fortress of Dortmund last Tuesday night.

The explosion of joy and, however fleeting, relief was expressed by one Italian commentator in sentiments splashed with tears. "Call us pizza-makers, call us anything you like as long as it isn't parasites, as the Germans said, but the important thing is that we squeezed the heart of Germany and now Cannavaro [Italy's centre-half Fabio and, in the opinion of many professional judges, the outstanding player of the tournament] will go on to the pitch in Berlin like an emperor. Of course, he will nobly celebrate his 100th game for the Azzurri. As he does so we must thank the heavens that we have become again the nation of saints, and poets and defenders."

Cannavaro would make any football nation proud that he was one of their sons but the evidence says beneath the celebrations even he may be pushed to remove significant amounts of the disillusionment now deeply embedded in the average Italian fan.

Outside Italy there may be some surprise at the scale of the effect on the national spirit by a mere football scandal - isn't the whole game riddled with cheating and obscene wealth and an implicit disdain for the people who down the years have unquestioningly supported a vastly overheated industry? But then, as the former Italian forward and manager of Chelsea Gianluca Vialli points out, football isn't an aspect of Italian life - it lies at its core. It does so without any class distinction; it is natural for an Italian of the upper classes to go to La Scala one night and San Siro the next. The local parish priest and Communist Party chief can fight like dogs, but then agree on the beauty of the goal that Fabio Grosso scored the other night to bring down Germany. The German-born Pope has stepped as carefully through the trauma of the scandals of Il Calcio as as he might the issues of abortion or contraception.

Football in Italy as bull-fighting used to be in Spain, is sol y sombra - light and shade. It is heaven and hell, the highest exhilaration and the deepest despair. Joe Jordan, who spent two seasons with Milan after his days at Leeds United and Manchester United, says: "It is hard for someone who is not of the Italian culture to understand the place the game occupies. When I went to Milan the club was relegated because of the match-fixing scandal that also involved Paolo Rossi, the Italian World Cup star. The place was in shock. So many fans were living a nightmare. Yet as a newcomer to the Italian game I couldn't help be fascinated by it. It seemed such a terrible betrayal of so much intelligence and spirit that someone should come along and try to bend everything out of shape."

Jordan agrees with the Vialli theory that the Italian footballer is so much more independent-minded than his counterpart in the English or Scottish game. "In Italy the game is everything to the professional footballer, it is a mark of status to earn your living in that way, and so as long as he plays, the Italian pro is obsessed with the idea of getting better, both in technique and fitness. When he speaks, it is only when he has thought things through.

"Of all the great players I have known in the game I suppose nobody has impressed me more than my young colleague at Milan, Franco Baresi. The coach Arrigo Sacchi built a whole way of playing around this young pro. He saw that in his intelligence and his strength he could make the team - and of course he did that for Italy when he led them to the World Cup final in America after undergoing a cartilage operation in the early stages of the tournament.

"You see what the players of the current squad have done, and then you think of the meaning of someone like Franco, and you feel like crying for Italian football. There is so much quality in their game but now you know there is going to be devastation for some time, and you wonder if things will ever be quite the same."

Jordan's prognosis is confirmed when you go behind the eruptions of celebration that have radiated across Italy. Encountered often is a bewilderment that makes for a certain ambivalence towards even the deeds of the Azzurri these last few weeks. Naturally, these feelings are most intense in supporters of the clubs hit hardest by the scandal.

Aldo Ludari, who like his father before him, has spent a lifetime supporting Juventus, says: "Of course I will watch the final and am proud of the achievements of the team, but when I see the match it will not be the same as in the past. You see, it is a terrible feeling when you realise you have been taken for a ride, that all your beliefs have just been kicked aside."

Cristian Liziero, a young engineer, is a Milan season ticket holder, a fanatic who admits that the game has dominated his life to a worrying degree. "I have supported Milan, have driven up the autostrada from Padova so many times I cannot tell you, but now I sit down and say to myself, 'These people have made my life ridiculous, why have I wasted so much time on them?'

"Yes, I am happy Italy are in the final, this Azzurri could hardly have played better and I'm proud of that, but it doesn't touch the fact that Italian football will still be in tatters even if we beat France. How can you ignore the fact that your team is going to be relegated, that something so important in your life is going to disappear. Normally I spend the summer with my head stuck in the pages of Gazzetta dello sport and trying to figure out who will be the club's next great signing. Suddenly that is over. The Azzurri are giving us a holiday right now, but next week we will be back in a terrible reality."

For such as Liziero one problem is that the despair has not been suddenly triggered by revelations that Luciano Moggi, the former director-general of Juventus, had created a network of influence undermining the competitive balance of the Italian game. For years there has been the drip of conviction that such as Juventus and Milan and the two Roman clubs, Lazio and Roma, were building empires without a hint of concern for the general health of the domestic game.

"For so long there has been reason to believe that Italian football was turning rotten with the greed of the big clubs, including my own," says Liziero. "Now it is laid out before you and it was significant the other day that while the sports paper Gazzetta had 20-odd pages on the Italian victory the front page of La Repubblica led on the scandal. It was as though someone was saying, 'Enjoy the World Cup as much as you like but don't think for a minute it really changes anything'."

Another insight of Vialli is that while in England football is regarded as somewhat like the nice girl next door, not that beautiful but sincere and quite safe, in Italy it is seen as a mistress, something to tempt you into a dangerous affair. Yes, there will be passion and excitement, but also duplicity; things will not always be what they seem. Vialli said this before the worst implications of the charges against Moggi, but then most Italians have always know that there was treachery, and terrible cynicism, at the heart of the game in which they had invested so much of their money - and their emotion.

When the Azzurri last won the World Cup, 24 years ago, it was said that their brilliant coach Enzo Bearzot had broken down the bars which had imprisoned Italian football for so long. It was a new age of Il Bel Calcio - the beautiful game. One recent headline declared: "Quanto sei bella, Italia" - "How beautiful you are, Italy". Yet the shadow of ugliness remains so hard to outrun. The author of Italy's brilliance here, coach Lippi, has already been investigated and survived demands that he should stand down from the World Cup after claims that Moggi had persuaded him to use the Juventus players Cannavaro and Alessandro Del Piero more lightly in the interests of the club.

Tomorrow, no doubt, such realities will be put aside as Lippi embraces his players, one by one, and then reminds them of the glory they can bring to their beautiful game - and their beautiful land. It is a call to pride and freedom - if only for a day.

Shock and awe: How the Serie A match-fixing scandal unfolded

* What are the allegations?

Accusations of illegal match-fixing through interference in the referee selection process have been made against four Italian clubs - Juventus, Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio - who have been charged with "sporting fraud". The allegations surfaced on 4 May after recorded telephone conversations between Juventus' former general manager Luciano Moggi and officials in Serie A were published in the Italian media.

* Who has been accused?

Moggi is at the centre of the investigation after allegedly detaining and berating referee Gianluca Paparesta, along with former Juventus chief executive Antonio Giraudo, for not favouring Juventus during a Serie A game in November 2004. Moggi also allegedly put pressure on Pierluigi Pairetto, the vice-chairman of Uefa's referees commission, to favour Juventus. In another instance, also published in the Italian press, Moggi spoke to Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu, allegedly to persuade him to give the go-ahead for Juventus' game with Fiorentina after it had been postponed following the death of Pope John Paul II. Fiorentina had two players injured and two suspended at the time. Their owner, Diego Della Valle, is also under investigation for alleged match-fixing, along with Milan's vice-president, Adriano Galliani, the Lazio president, Claudio Lotito, and former Italian Football Federation president Franco Carraro.

* What are the likely repercussions?

This week the Italian Football Federation's (FIGC) prosecutor called for Juventus to drop two divisions and Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio to drop one. He asked for points penalties to be imposed on all clubs and suggested Juve's 2005 and 2006 titles be stripped. Juventus would reportedly settle for relegation to Serie B and a points penalty, while the other clubs are still protesting innocence. The stakes are high: Juve could lose £80m if they are relegated and be stripped of their title and Champions' League place.

* How did the investigation unfold?

The FIGC began a formal investigation into the affairs of 41 people shortly after allegations surfaced. Juventus, Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina were ordered to face Italy's biggest-ever sports tribunal - a panel of six judges and 26 officials, including referees - in an improvised courtroom in Rome's Olympic Stadium. A decision has been scheduled for 14 July. Any appeals are due to be heard by 20 July, giving the FIGC time before the 27 July deadline for submitting entries to next season's Uefa competitions.

* Is there more going on?

Yes. The tribunal is not a criminal proceeding, but prosecutors in Naples, Rome, Parma and Turin have launched separate investigations which could lead to criminal charges. Rome magistrates are also investigating the GEA management company - that controls almost 200 players and coaches and is headed by Moggi's son, Alessandro - for "illegal competition with use of threats and violence". Finally, the FIGC has begun investigating illegal betting. Juventus and Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon was questioned by magistrates in Parma in May over an alleged bet on a Juventus game in January. Buffon reportedly admitted to betting on foreign games but said he stopped in October 2005 when the FIGC banned players from betting. The other players being investigated are Mark Iuliano (Sampdoria), Enzo Maresca (Seville) and Antonio Chimenti (Cagliari).

An inglorious tradition

* 1927

An Italian Football Federation (FIGC) investigation found that a Torino official had bribed the Juventus defender Luigi Allemandi. Torino were stripped of the title and Allemandi was banned for life, but was granted an amnesty in 1928 to help Italy win an Olympic bronze medal.

* 1980

In 1978 players from Perugia and Avellino "agreed" to fix a Serie A match as part of a betting scam, which included Milan and Lazio. However, the scheme was discovered in 1980. Paolo Rossi (Perugia), one of the players involved, was banned for three years, later reduced to two. Milan and Lazio were relegated to Serie B, while Milan's president, Felice Colombo, was banned from football for life.

* 1998

The Juventus club doctor, Riccardo Agricola, was found guilty of doping players between 1994 and 1998. In 2004 Agricola was handed a 22-month suspended prison term, which was later overturned on appeal.

* 2001

The FIGC investigated claims that players' passports were being falsified to make them eligible for to play in Europe. Lazio's Juan Sebastian Veron and Lazio's owner, Sergio Cragnotti, were cleared of all charges, but the club was fined. Six other clubs, including Roma, Internazionale and Milan, were fined. Alvaro Recoba, of Internazionale, was suspended for four months, while Milan goalkeeper Dida was given a one-year ban.

* 2005

Having won promotion to Serie A, Genoa's celebrations were cut short when it emerged Venezia had been bribed to guarantee a win in their final game. Genoa were relegated to Serie C1.