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with the hangover of the good life of boarding school still weighing me down heavily and the prospects of an uncertain future looming large.
After years of being spoiled by the easy-going life at a Baptist mission school and the fake cult-hero status that came along with being good at certain things in that closed community, it was now time for a tough dance with reality.
The reality show of the time inside Big Brother’s complex at the mission school was over, for good, and it was now time to reflect on a future burdened by the transformation that would come with adulthood, the tough choices that lay ahead and the loneliness sparked by the detachment from that closed society.
It’s a tough period but, freed from the demands of studying, you suddenly have a lot of time to just hang around at home, going down memory lane about those heady days and wild nights in the heart of the Sanyati forest, and wondering what the future holds.
You tend to watch a lot of television and one of my favourite programmes became a BBC Italia ’90 World Cup countdown magazine show, which used to be shown on ZTV, long before the magic of satellite television swept us away and turned us into SuperSport addicts.
So, I got to know of Paul “Gazza” Gascoigne, a precocious talent that was blooming in English football, and was being touted as one of the players who were set to make a huge impact at the World Cup in Italy and end 24 years of waiting for the Three Lions to be crowned champions of the globe.
Diego Maradona had dominated the last World Cup in Mexico and he was still around and in Italy he would be playing on home soil, given he also worked in the same country playing for Napoli, a team he had transformed from a failed project into the champions of Italy.
The Flying Dutchmen had dominated the last European Championships, and won them with both conviction and style, and the globe appeared ready to see them explode on the world stage and Italia ’90 appeared tailor-made for Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten to go one step better than Johan Cruyff in ’74.
Those BBC documentaries set me up for Italia ’90 and, although it was still January, five months away from the tournament, it provoked the interest inside me and watching the tournament turned into an obsession and I would spend hours reading material on the stars expected to explode in Italy.
I had only been 16 when the last World Cup was held in Mexico and there were a lot of things that I didn’t understand but now, at 20, I was an adult, old enough to play in Italia ’90 had I been blessed with the talent of Gazza and, for me, this was my first true World Cup.
And, my word, it was good.
Roger Milla created memories that will last a life-time, Gazza’s tears, after the heartbreak of a yellow card that would rule him out of the final if England beat Germany in that semi, saw the world crying alongside him, Maradona didn’t explode but he took Argentina to another final and a free-scoring Italian hitman, Salvatore “Toto” Schillaci, came from nowhere to win the Golden Boot.
There were some landmarks and an African team reached the quarter-finals of the tournament for the very first time before the courageous Indomitable Lions of Cameroon fell to the Three Lions of England in a match that had everything, including five goals.
But the defining moment for me came on July 3 in Naples when Italy and Argentina met in a semi-final showdown pregnant with sub-plots, the big one being that Maradona would be playing in the ground, and city, where he had turned himself into a little football god and was virtually worshipped by the locals.
Maradona even went public and asked the people of Naples to back Argentina, instead of their homeland Italy, and observers say there was a muted atmosphere, during this game, compared to the outpouring of passion that had followed the Azzurri’s matches in Rome.
With love flowing for them from every corner, Italy had been irresistible in Rome and had won five times, beating Austria, United States, Czechoslovakia, Uruguay and the Republic of Ireland, without conceding a goal in 450 minutes of action.
Toto Schillaci thrust Italy ahead in the semi-final showdown, before 59 978 fans, in the 17th minute but Claudio Cannigia struck an equaliser for Argentina and a gruelling match spilled into penalties and, after Roberto Donadoni and Aldo Serena had missed for the Azzurri, it was left for Maradona to score and dump the hosts from the tournament.
Maradona converted the spot-kick, Italy were shattered, Argentina went into the final and lost to Germany, but the Italians never forgave Diego and, where in the past they had ignored his drug abuse because he was doing something good for an entire city, the game had changed because he had humiliated them in their backyard.
The system, which had given him protection because he was doing wonders for Naples, turned against him because Italy was bigger than Naples and this marked the beginning of the end for the great Maradona.
Soon a positive drugs test the following year resulted in Maradona being banned for 15 months and the plunge from grace was accelerating at blinding pace.
I will never forget Italia ’90, never forget Milla and his dances and goals, never forget Gazza and his tears, never forget Maradona walking to take that decisive penalty, never forget Toto Schillaci, because it laid the foundation for my love affair with the World Cup.
Everything else that followed has just been mere supporting acts.

The Azzuri and their football
Eight years before Italia ’90, the Azzurri had been world champions when they beat Germany in a classic final in Spain in a tournament that will forever be remembered for the goals of an Italian gunslinger called Paolo Rossi.
They had won their first World Cup in 1934, a tournament they hosted, and which Fascist leader, Benito Mussolini turned into a personal tourney, attending most of their matches and pushing his men to conquer the world for the pride of their nation.
The Azzurri responded and won the World Cup after beating Czechoslovakia in the final but, as with everything connected to Italian football, there was controversy attached to that triumph.
Swedish referee Ivan Eklind, who handled Italy’s semi-final and final World Cup wins, was reported to have met with Mussolini, before each of those big matches, leading many analysts to conclude that many of the controversial calls he made in the two games, both in favour of the Azzurri, were influenced by orders he might have received from Mussolini.
Four years down the line, Italy again were crowned world champions, and controversy wasn’t far away, with reports emerging that Mussolini had given an order to the team to either win the final against Hungary or face death back home.
In ’82, Italy were crowned world champions again but, as is always the case with the Azzurri, controversy was always lurking in the background.
The star of that Italian show was Rossi, who won the Fifa Golden Boot for his six goals, and also the Fifa Golden Ball, given to the best player, for his incredible performance at that tournament.
Rossi was also voted the European and World Footballer of the Year in 1982.
But two years earlier, Rossi’s career looked to be over as he was caught in the infamous 1980 Italian betting scandal, known as Totonero, which resulted in him in being banned for three years from all football activities, and the possibility of missing the ’82 World Cup.
The ban was later reduced to two years and Rossi, who claimed the accusations against him had been manufactured by his opponents, returned just in time to make the Azzurri team for the ’82 World Cup in Spain.
Italian journalists were united in condemning him and the decision to include him in     the team, claiming that he was in very poor shape, but his coach stuck by his decision and reaped huge benefits both for him and his country.
Rossi always maintained that he was innocent and was just a victim of injustice and in his book, “Ho fatto piangere il Brasile” (I Made Brazil Cry), which captures one of his finest moments when his hattrick eliminated the Samba Boys, one of the people who accused him in 1980 revealed that the accusations against the striker were an invention.
The Azzurri did not win the World Cup at Italia ’90, and maybe it was because there was no major scandal in Italy in the lead-up to that tournament, but they came good in 2006 in Germany, when they again conquered the globe, just after Calciopoli, the match-fixing scandal that led to Juventus’ relegation, had exploded.
Tomorrow Italy will play in the final of Euro 2012, hoping to stop Spain from becoming the first nation in world football to win a treble of major championships, and when the Azzurri sing their national anthem, it’s easy to forget that they nearly pulled out of this tournament after the explosion of yet another match-fixing scandal.
The Azzurri have seduced us in recent days and their excellent performance against England, without the goals that it merited, was as beautiful as they come while they smash-and-grab show against Germany, in the semi-final, showed the quality of their lightning attacks and defensive grit.
Mario Balotelli stripped off his jersey, in his moment of glory after firing a thunderous second goal that proved to be the winner, to reveal a six-pack and great physique consistent with an athlete of his status but it’s easy to forget how we came so close to losing such images.
Andreas Pirlo had been excellent in his playmaking role, with a vintage performance that has turned the hands of time, but it’s easy to forget that we came perilously close to losing the chance of witnessing this majestic performance.
Goalkeeper Gigi Buffon has been simply awesome, getting better and better with every game, and was an impregnable Berlin Wall in the game against Germany and could only be beaten from the penalty spot, but it’s also easy to forget how we came close to losing the chance of seeing such grand performances.

How Italy almost quit Euro 2012-06-29
In the build-up to Euro 2012, a match-fixing scandal erupted in Italy and the police stormed several properties, in pre-dawn raids, including the training camp of the Azzurri, and made scores of arrests.
The investigators also questioned Juventus coach, Antonio Conte, whose team won the Serie A last season without losing a game, and whose captain is the great Gigi Buffon.
Juventus’ playmaker is also the great Andrea Pirlo, the heartbeat of the Azzurri engine room, and if their coach could be questioned in a match-fixing scam, it also certainly brought the club’s major figures into the picture.
It soon got worse when magistrates announced they were set to investigate claims by former French star, Daniel Bravo, that he witnessed how a game between Parma and Juventus was fixed in 1997 to allow Juve to be champions.
Buffon was then Parma’s ’keeper and the match ended in a 1-1 draw with Juve pipping Parma to the title by just two points.
“I have never fixed a match myself but, in effect, I have submitted to a fix,” said Bravo, who was Buffon’s teammate at Parma then. “We opted for a draw at half-time by common consent.”
Just before the start of the tourney, Buffon’s lawyer had to dismiss claims that the ’keeper was compromised after it emerged magistrates were investigating how 14 of his cheques, worth over £1 million, were found at a betting agency in Parma.
Italian Prime Minister, Mario Monti, suggested the Azzurri should withdraw from Euro 2012 and coach Cesare Prandelli said he wouldn’t have any problem with that if it was for the long-term good health of the Italian game.
The coach revealed he sympathised with those, including the Prime Minister, who felt Italian football needed to take a two to three-year break from the international scene, starting with Euro 2012, to weed the match-fixing bug from its system.
He also spoke about the possible effect the scandal would have on ’keeper Buffon, who is the Azzurri skipper.
“HOW IS BUFFON’S MOOD? YOU SHOULD ASK HIM,” SAID PRANDELLI.
“HE MANAGES TO HIDE UNCOMFORTABLE MOMENTS BUT, DESPITE THIS, EVEN A PERSON LIKE HIM CAN SUFFER IN A DIFFICULT MOMENT LIKE THIS.”

A Foreign View On Italia
— The Daily Telegraph
Paul Hayward, Chief Sports Writer, in Krakow, June 22, 2012:
Italian football carries shame beautifully. Its latest match-fixing scandal has been reframed as a chance to display the strength of the nation in ‘overcoming difficulty’ and the offer to withdraw from Euro 2012 was perhaps a clever show of humility.
The Azzurri would not be facing England in a Euro 2012 quarter-final this weekend had Uefa accepted the offer by Prime Minister and team manager to pull out of this tournament.
However, much bluff was wrapped up in that proposal from Mario Monti and Cesare Prandelli respectively, it cast the Italian game in a sympathetic light.
Shame’s long cloud may darken the industry these men come from but the tournament offers a glimmer of salvation.
Gianluigi Buffon, their goalkeeper and captain, said at their camp in Krakow: “There are always some difficulties in Italian football, so we are used to dealing with them and we want to fight against them. It’s always hard to have a clear picture without any doubts or problems. Our aim before this tournament was to do better than in 2010 and we wanted to surprise people. Our aim was to make our supporters proud of us, here in Poland and Ukraine and Italy as well.”
“This time it’s worse than 2006 — at least for me,” said Daniele De Rossi, the Roma and Italy midfielder. “It’s more shocking this time, with the police coming into Coverciano and people I know being arrested. We’re going to the Euros with a stain on us.”
Only one, though, is beset by an imbroglio that points, possibly, to institutionalised fraud, six years after the Italian game thought it had moved on from Calciopoli.
Italy’s players have become accustomed to fielding questions on the murk beneath the surface of the country’s fragrant and colourful national game.
De Rossi, the highest paid player in Serie A, says: “The Italian people have a strength for overcoming adversity.”
If England fall in Kiev, we can expect a slew of analytical tracts on the relationship between guilt and redemption. Or, more simply, on how useful a scandal can be.

Amid all this spare a thought for us
The Azzurri, whose country have been weighed down by more match-fixing scandals than all the world’s countries put together, could be crowned European champions tomorrow night, six years after they conquered the world.
They have found a way to derive strength from the challenges that plague their game.
They have found a way to survive through the storm and in a period of six years, they could win both the European and World Cup.
That has helped the world see such beautiful pictures of a Balotelli celebrating without his shirt, of those Italian fans crying in disbelief after their team’s victory over Germany and the sense of nationalism that has swept through the country in the wake of the Azzurri’s good run.
Now, bring in our football leaders, and Asiagate, and see the difference in approach and while the Italians find a way to keep their game alive, amid all the challenges, we are throwing out the baby with the bath water.
Rather than building our game, we are celebrating its destruction simply because we are driven by an obsession to see some of our players being destroyed and some of our coaches and officials being turned into outcasts.
Where Prandelli defends Buffon, and sticks with him amid all the accusations and is rewarded with a vintage performance from the skipper that propels Italy to the Euro 2012 final, there is no coach to defend Washington Arubi and make his case for the national team.
Instead, we have an association that outlaws him from all national team activities simply because they suspect he was compromised in one or two games.
Words like rats, saboteurs, sellouts, you name them, became familiar vocabulary in our football leaders’ speeches every time they get a chance to speak.
Where we have bold leaders in Italian football who can challenge their Prime Minister, when he wants to stop the Azzurri from playing at the Euros, and argue that a good performance for the team would be great for the game and country, we have leaders prepared to send skeleton teams into battles because the World Cup means nothing to them.
Getting this and that guy out of football means everything to them.
While Italian football leaders bask in the glory that comes with a VVIP seat, watching their national team playing in the final of a major tournament, our own football leaders bask in the glory of images captured from media conferences.
Virtually the whole of Italy tuned in on Thursday night to watch the Azzurri beating Germany in the semi-final because that is the power that comes with success and that is what football is all about.
We seem to believe that the whole world will tune in to watch us ban this and that player because, in our flawed beliefs, we feel the entire globe is so fascinated with what we are doing in our football.
In Holland, the national coach, Bert van Marwijk, takes the team to the World Cup final, for the first time in 32 years, and when he crashes out of the Euros two years late, he quits arguing that he has failed in his mission.
Here, we can have our worst start to the World Cup in 32 years, lose a World Cup opening game for the first time in 24 years, eliminate Burundi on away goals rule to just sneak into the last qualifying round of the Nations Cup, and we say it’s all good and we have a great coach in charge.
One fine day, someone will judge us for being so insensitive to this game and all the people who believe in it.
To God Be The Glory!
Come on DeMbare!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chinyamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

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