A ‘Bad Italian Team’ Advances

The best and worst of classic Italian football was on display Saturday at Stade Velodrome.

A beautiful goal, scored by striker Christian Vieri off a traditional counterattack in the 18th minute, allowed the rapidly tiring Italians to squeeze past the misguided and misfiring Norwegians and advance to the quarterfinals with a 1-0 victory.

But the classic Italian strategy of catenaccio--slowing the play down, having defenders play keep-away among themselves and stringing five defenders and five men across the midfield to head off offensive forays--made the game an unsatisfying exercise that at times drew jeers from even the loyal Italian fans among the crowd basking in the French sunshine.

If the Italian partisans weren’t overwhelmed by Italy’s effort, they weren’t alone. Norway’s coach, Egil Olsen, congratulated the Italians--and then promptly criticized their stamina and overall performance, calling the defeat a “bad match” against a “bad Italian team” and blaming his players for not capitalizing on the Italians’ second-half exhaustion.

“Of course, I’m disappointed. We didn’t play up to our limit and I felt that if we had done that, we would have won the game,” said Olsen, whose team hadn’t lost in 20 games over more than a year and had reached the second round for the first time in its three World Cup appearances. “I’m not very impressed with Italy, either. It was more that we didn’t play well that we lost the match.”

It wasn’t great theater, but it was good enough for Italy to prevail over a Norwegian team that lacked creativity in its midfield and rarely challenged Italy’s flawed defense.

Italy on Friday will face the winner of today’s game between France and Paraguay.

Italy used Fabio Cannavaro and Giuseppe Bergomi to mark 6-foot-5 Norwegian striker Tore Andre Flo, and they did a decent job. Flo challenged Italian goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca with a header off a good cross from Erik Mykland in the 71st minute, one of its handful of good scoring chances.

“We could have done better,” Norwegian midfielder Stale Solbakken said. “It was a difficult match for our forwards, as the Italian defense was very effective. We didn’t manage to score despite having some good opportunities.”

Italy had a few more scoring chances than its opponent. Norwegian goalkeeper Frode Grodas stopped a Dino Baggio header in the 37th minute and made a diving save on a chance Alessandro Del Piero created off a counterattack--but he couldn’t stop Vieri, who has scored a goal in each of Italy’s four games and leads tournament players with five goals.

“I think it was a good game. We didn’t take any risks and we had three or four chances to score,” Italian Coach Cesare Maldini said. “Norway is a very difficult team to beat. We got a good result in this match.

“It was a very tactical game, but we were able to control it very effectively and our goal was deserved.”

Using his speed and cleverness, Vieri took a long pass from Luigi Di Biagio and split two defenders, holding off Dan Eggen to roll a low shot under Grodas’ arm.

“I’m very pleased to be top scorer in the competition, but the important thing is Italy is in the last eight,” said Vieri, who plays for Atletico Madrid. “France is a very strong side, but we don’t fear them--and they have to beat Paraguay first.”

Norwegian midfielder Oyvind Leonhardsen believes Italy probably should fear its next opponent.

“I wasn’t very impressed by Italy. They’ll find it hard in the quarterfinals,” Leonhardsen said. “I think that we had some openings, but we didn’t take advantage of them. It’s regrettable because we could have won, even though Italy is known for being good at keeping the advantage.”

Olsen is likely to brood over this game for a while, describing himself as bitter after the defeat.

“We came here and our first aim was to be among the last 16. But when you are there, you want to go further,” Olsen said. “But our performance was not too well and we didn’t take the chances that we had in the second half. Italy was tired and we didn’t take the chances we had against them.”

Said Cannavaro: “Their coach might be disappointed in us, but the fact is we beat his side. We’re used to playing under these conditions, with people criticizing us, but it doesn’t bother us.”