Italy, oh Italy.

Day -213 WorldCup2018

Italy nil.....Sweden nil.
How would James Alexander Gordon have read that result out? What kind of intonation would he have used? It was a draw, but also a huge win.

Two things happened today. The massively momentous events in Milan meant that for the first time in many people's lifetimes we will see a World Cup without Italy in it. Before that, I read the news of the passing of Tim Gudgin, BBC television's football results reader every Saturday evening since 1995. That news, and the mention of his recognizable voice brought back memories of another BBC legend, and of listening to the football results on BBC World Service Radio many years ago. James Alexander Gordon died in 2014 but the news of Tim Gudgin, coupled with Italy's historic failure moved me to remember a time when I would have supported an Italian win and the highlight of a weekend was waiting for the English results on the radio.

So please allow me my delayed tribute.

James Alexander Gordon was the source of my elation or gloom every Saturday evening. I would sit on the carpet in the living room, waiting for the news on Aston Villa. I had to be close to the huge Grundig unit to be able to quickly reach the tuning dial if the reception went fuzzy and a little bit of toggling would bring Mr. Gordon's voice back. He was known for the constantly fluctuating intonation in his voice, depending on the result of the match. You could hear he was happy for the team that won and dejected for the losing team.

Newcastle (raised happy voice) 2, Leeds (sad, should have done better, maybe next week voice) 0.
So I knew if Aston Villa had won each week before he had finished reading the result.
Aston Villa (neutral, what are you saying there radio man?) 1, Manchester United (high on the Man, bit lower of the -chester, flat on the United, followed by a pause.....and me: what, what, radio man...are you happier for Villa or United) 1. OK, he was trying to balanced there.

Liverpool (it might have been my perception because Liverpool were pretty special in the 1980s, but he always seemed happy to say their name) 1, Aston Villa (no that doesn't sound good....no, no...I thought this was the weekend we would beat Liverpool....damn you, just say it....or let's just say it together) 0.....boom, just like that, a finality to that 0. See you next week. I may have better news for you.

Lying back on that carpet by the Grundig, that was my Saturday evening for many years. Me and John Alexander Gordon, although I didn't know his name.

It was in those early football days that I was in awe of the Italians. Dino Zoff, that was me, my nickname and who I imagined I was every evening up on the roof. Yes, I was an Italian fan for a while until (and I've told the story before) I was educated and converted to an England supporter just in time for Spain 1982. Italy won that World Cup.

Italy also won in 2006 and two other titles before my time. That's what Italy do. Like Germany and Brazil, they win World Cups. They are part of the royalty of world football. It is a massive story that they are not in the World Cup. Even when they finished second in their group I never imagined they wouldn't make it. Spain were close to playing like they did when they were invincible (2007 -2012) and it was no surprise that they topped the group. Italy's terrible performances against Macedonia, Albania, Israel were explained in my head by the fact that they were resigned to second place anyway.

But they are not going at all. Wow. Do I feel sorry for them? No. Did they score more goals than Sweden? No. Will I miss seeing Italy in Russia? Yes. Will I miss Chile? Yes? Holland? Yes? Even the USA. Why? Because that's who I expect to see at the World Cup: the best teams from all over the world. Chile, I think were tired from playing non-stop for two years. But Holland, Italy and the US are just not that good right now. If Italy cannot beat a very ordinary Swedish team than so be it. They have no right to be in Russia.

(While I did read a lot of English postmortems it's interesting reading an Italian-Canadian perspective.)