From the elbow to McBride to the penalty kick in the final: De Rossi at the 2006 World Cup

World Champion. The dream we all had when we were kids, the privilege we all wanted to live from the moment we realized those kicks at the ball were meant for something more than simple entertainment.

But the list of those who have already reached this milestone is very short. Natural selection does a lot, cutting in a rather early way the path in the world of football for those who do not have or do not have enough talent.

Then luck takes over. Being really talented, but doing so in a country that historically has a better chance of making it to the final events of the World Cup in favor of predictions is a big help from the blindfolded gods.

these requirements, Daniel De Rossi He had them all. A very talented midfielder, one of the strongest players of the first two decades of the 2000s, the historic number 16 in Rome won the World Cup with Italy in 2006.

But despite being one of coach Marcello Lippi’s patrons, who has seen him constantly pregnant alongside Pirlo in the national team average, his contribution to the Azzurri’s journey has diminished somewhat.

All the slightly sharp elbow fault that was given to a sharp American striker, an idol at home but known only to us due to causing the episode we tell in this piece. But we got there.

The 2006 World Cup for Daniel De Rossi in Germany started off very well. Starting the opening match against Ghana, the Roma midfielder made his contribution to the cause by providing himself to recover balls which would then be cleaned by then AC Milan player Andrea Pirlo.

The latter was the one who opened the match against the African team before Iaquinta doubled the conquest that opened the successful Italian campaign in Germany.

But Daniel De Rossi’s World Cup risks already ending in the second game. The opponent is the United States, a nation that – as he will remember in one of his prefaces that has become a mantra for millions of Italians – has influenced to the point of monopolizing culture and entertainment in our country, but in football we want to lead.

Even against the stars and stripes, Eleven starts out in the best way. Gilardino tops his first and only World Cup goal, paving the way for what appears to be an easy victory which delivers a second-round ticket one early round to the Azzurri.

Then everything changes. In the sixty seconds between 27 and 28, Zaccardo scored a wonderful and somewhat unfortunate own goal, then Italy remained in 10th place.

Uruguayan referee Jorge Larionda runs to wave a red card under the Ostia midfielder’s nose, which represents his early farewell to the match.

The American’s face is also dyed red McBrideopened by an attachment from De Rossi on the rise.

The match ends in a draw, but what worries Lippi and the rest of the Casa Azzurri crew is the decision of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.

there The scorpion Arrive, on time, a few days later. De Rossi was given four days of disqualification for this perfidious gesture.

There is no need to protest, but rather to thank the court for the clemency shown by the leniency. Rounds were supposed to be five rounds, but the penalty deduction applies due to a letter of apology sent by the same midfielder to FIFA and Italy waived the appeal.

Thus, De Rossi will return, and he will have the opportunity to play the 2006 World Cup finals again only if the Azzurri reach the final.

But Germany’s Thirty Days has embraced a magic that only football can generate, and the Azzurri come to the end of a competition between breaks, convincing victories and classic psychological drama.

Under the blows of Libby’s selection, Australia fell first with a penalty that might have been disallowed with Var, but Totti turned it around with skill and coolness.

Then came Ukraine’s turn, thrown by Zambrotta and Tony’s left and right goal, which immediately led to comparisons and comparisons with Paolo Rossi in Spagna 82.

Finally Germany. The hosts, who are simultaneously able to adore and hate us in equal measure, may have more pebbles on the scale of negative feelings toward us since the Fourth of July.

Grosso and Del Piero deployed the Klinsmann national team in injury time, who were already looking to win the World Cup for the fourth time in their history and in front of their home fans.

De Rossi, who at the same time supported and supported his teammates by not skipping a training session, finally has the chance to get back into play.

After an hour of playing in the final against France, where the score was 1-1 due to a penalty kick converted with a trembling spoon from Zinedine Zidane and a corner kick from Marco Materazzi, the midfielder entered the Olympics.

It is a symbolic alternative, and in some ways it is the beginning of what will happen more than a decade later, as his captain in Rome leaves the field for De Rossi: Francis berries.

The score is no longer locked in either direction, neither in the remaining 30 minutes, nor in the additional ones stipulated in the regulation.

This is where Danielle is de russian He separated the pass that allows him to enter more than one club exclusive to the world champions by right. But no one knows yet. Nor is he.

We go to the penalty shootout. against France. A combination that has never been awarded to our national team. Pirlo-Materazzi-de Rossi-del Piero-Grosso is the sequence of those who will take turns from eleven meters against Barthez chosen by Marcelo Lippi.

Wiltord – Trezeguet – Abidal – Sagnol the Four Frenchmen. The fourth, the fifth, we will never know who it will be, because France is missing only one, and the second, by delivery big The match point was achieved instantly after millions of Italians held their breath, tears and who knows what else in the foreground of the international television trend on the face chime in with emotions.

After all, the party in Berlin is all Italian. It’s a party for Lippi, who joins Bearzot and Pozzo. It is a celebration of the golden generation of Italian football, Gil Totti, Del Piero and Cannavaro. An abundance of talent that today seems incredible and perhaps irretrievable.

But it is also a celebration of De Rossi, the world champion at the age of 23, and some other elements that will shape the ranks of the national team in the coming years, close to success in the European Championship in 2012 and playing in 2014 is still today the last world championship that Italy played.

The party revisited today is always able to warm the heart but also to draw a slightly bitter smile on our faces, considering the state of crisis our football has been through more than fifteen years ago.