From Sideline Chatter —
The only way Italy would fail to advance in the Euro 2004 soccer tournament was if Sweden and Denmark, also in Italy’s Group C, played to a 2-2 tie yesterday in Porto, Portugal.
They played to a 2-2 tie.
Italy was so rife with conspiracy theories beforehand that RAI, the state-run broadcaster, installed an extra camera behind each goal in hopes of picking up any shenanigans. And Italian reporters drew the ire of the Swedes and Danes by peppering them with questions about a possible fix.
Wrote Jon Brodkin of The Guardian of London: “Giovanni Trapattoni, Italy’s coach, has been a voice of reason, but some of his countrymen have failed to grasp that it would not be the Danish or Swedish manner to strike a deal.
“When Italian journalists asked their Swedish counterparts what the Swedish word is for ‘fix,’ they were stunned to be told that there was not one.
“In Italian, they pointed out, there are about 20.”