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| July 11, 2006 | Tuesday | Jumadi-ul-Sani 14, 1427 |
Italians storm streets of Rome
ROME, July 10: Italians launched into frenzied celebrations as their national soccer team won the World Cup final on Sunday to give the country something to cheer about after a run of scandals.
Thousands of fans who watched the match on screens in Rome's Circus Maximus, once the scene of Roman chariot races, leapt into the air and embraced in long hugs when Fabio Grosso sealed the victory for the Azzurri over France in a penalty shootout.
Italy won the shootout 5-3 after the match had ended 1-1.
Volleys of fireworks exploded in the sky over Italian cities, the churches of Rome rang their bells and cars adorned with green, red and white flags sped through the streets, their horns blaring.
“It is a new beginning for Italian football after all the scandal,” screamed Carmelo Rossi in the midst of a hugging and kissing crowd in the old centre of Rome.
Italian football has been shaken by a match-fixing trial involving four of the country's biggest clubs — Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio — who now risk relegation to lower divisions as punishment.
“I think this is good because the image of Italian football was going right down. Everyone thought we were all corrupt,” said Massimiliano Cincotta, a 33-year-old barman on the volcanic island of Stromboli, off Sicily.
Many fans of the four clubs involved in the scandal have been hoping that an Italian victory in the World Cup might soften the hearts of a tribunal which has heard the case and is expected to announce its verdict in the coming days.
“Let's hope that the sentences are a bit lighter now,” said Giuseppe Del Fiorentino, president of a Juventus supporters club in the Tuscan city of Lucca.
“Juventus has had the best players in the World Cup, not only for Italy but also for France and other teams and a club like that cannot be sent down to the third division,” he said.
Four of the 11 Italian players that started the World Cup final in Berlin and two in the first-choice French team are employed by Juventus.—Reuters
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