Northern Ireland v Italy (15/11/2021)

Of course every Norn Iron fan wants to see them display their devastating skills in our national stadium. And it goes without saying that every member of the Green And White Army is hoping that our team will raise their game to match the classy play of the visitors. Many of us are even dreaming of a repeat of that 2-1 home win that sent Danny Blanchflower’s lads to Sweden and condemned the Italians to watching the 1958 tournament on television – or listening to it on the radio. We have plenty of reasons to be cautiously hopeful . In Parma back in March, after a poor first half, Ian Baraclough’s men put on a fine performance and might have grabbed a couple of goals. So bring on the Italians! We fans are looking forward to seeing our favourites try to unlock the most solid defence in the game. Italian defending gave football that word that depresses forwards: catenaccio, which means bolting the door. We are also dreading the lightning dash out of defence and into attack, contrattacco in Italian, which is the often deadly counter attack. We plan to make our own assessment of the current wearers of the much-to-be feared blue jerseys. Are they in the same class as Mazzola, Rivera, Rossi, Baggio and many other superstars? Perhaps they are even better? Bring on the Italians! I can’t wait .

I must have been nine years old and at the age when I skimmed through my father’s newspapers, enjoying the pictures and reading the captions. The cartoon which caught my eye must have appeared in late November 1957. That autumn the whole of Northern Ireland had gone football daft. The Northern Ireland team were just 90 minutes away from qualifying for the finals of the World Cup for the first time. Our fate would be decided at Windsor Park on 4 December, but our opponents were also in with a chance of qualifying and they were none other than the brilliant Italians, winners of the World Cup in 1934 and 1938 and always among the elite powers in the world game. Tickets for the match were more precious than gold dust . The cartoonist whose drawing caught my eye (was it Rowel Friers?) had certainly caught the mood of the country. He depicted a man sitting in a doctor’s surgery. The man is wearing a football scarf and team rosette and is holding a rattle (rattles were essential equipment for football fans in the 1950s; when did they go out of fashion?) . The sign on the doctor’s door reads ‘Psychiatrist’. The doctor is offering the fan cold comfort . The caption reads: “But if a mere letter to the IFA would get me a ticket , I would be going to the match myself!” Some things never change or, as the Italians say, piu le cose cambiano, piu restano uguali. Here we are again 64 years later and fans are still desperate to enjoy the feast of football which is nearly always served up by the Azzurri (the Blues) . The Italians continue to be a huge power in world football . Since their disappointment in Belfast in 1958 they have won the World Cup twice more (1982 and 2006) . This year they are on the crest of a wave after being crowned champions of Europe at Wembley in July.

IRISHFA.COM

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