The Roman Empire in Rapid Decline
August 6th, 2012 by aquappyHeisee
by Panos Bletsos
Fact: Italy made the final of Euro 2012 unaffected by the latest Calcio Scommesse scandal.
Fact: The four-time World Cup winners suffered a hands-down 4-0 humiliation at the hands of Spain in the Kiev endgame.
Fact: Italy has just surrendered one of its Champions League berths to Germany.
Fact: Some of Serie As biggest stars, such as Lavezzi, Thiago Silva and Ibrahimovi, have found France (and not Spain or England) a more suited destination to ply their trade rather than stay in Italy.
Fact: The erstwhile almighty Calcio is decomposing fast.
Italy has been one of the cornerstones of the global game since the late 19th century, not only because of its own success on international level, but also thanks to that extra spice Italian immigrants have added to the flavour of South American football: there are some 30 million Brazilians and another 22 million Argentines of Italian descent, as well as 1.6 million Uruguayans, almost half of the countrys population.
The Rise
After the English introduced the Beautiful Game to the peninsula sometime in the 1880s Italy quickly developed into a major force and before World War II broke out its national side had won the FIFA World Cup twice (1934, 38) as well as the 1936 Olympic football tournament in Berlin. The Azzurri went on to add another two world titles (1982, 2006) and the 1968 European Championship to their collection, while Italian sides have dominated the UEFA club competitions since their inception, back in the 50s: they have won a combined total of 46 titles (including the FIFA Club World Cup and the now defunct Intercontinental Cup) compared to Spains 42 and Englands 35.
And The Fall
Continue reading here:
The Roman Empire in Rapid Decline
- Comments Off
- Posted in All Posts