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Bachar Bzeih

Lebanon’s Strange Italy World Cup Curse

Lebanon and Italy are neighbors on the Mediterranean sea. Both enjoy some olive oil and a dash of political chaos. But those are not the only things joining the two nations at the hip. In fact, there is a strange World Cup curse that joins the fate of the two countries.

Italy has four World Cup wins: 1934, 1938, 1982, 2006. For the first two world cup wins, Lebanon was not yet an independent nation, but the other two dates denote significant dates in the Lebanese republic’s independent history.



It’s the summer of 1982, the World Cup is being held in Spain. The Italian team is having a stellar tournament, reaching the final against West Germany. The final is held in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Paolo Rossi, Marco Tardielli, and Alessandro Altobelli fire Italy to a 3-1 victory over the West Germans. The Italian president wagged his finger in celebration in the stands.

Tardielli would later recall: “After I scored, my whole life passed before me – the same feeling they say you have when you are about to die, the joy of scoring in a World Cup final was immense, something I dreamed about as a kid, and my celebration was a release after realizing that dream. I was born with that scream inside me, that was just the moment it came out.”

But the screaming and feelings of death were not exclusive to Tardielli. As most of you know, 1982 marked a moment of extreme escalation in the Lebanese war, with Israeli forces invading the country and laying siege to Beirut. The invasion and destruction of Beirut, the first Arab capital to be put under siege post-WWII, still looms large in the collective memory.



Okay. But that’s just a coincidence, right? This doesn’t say anything about a larger Lebanese-Italian football war nexus theory.

Wrong. As a wise man once said “fool me once, shame on you, you fool me but you can’t get fooled again.”

Now let’s snap forward to 2006, the World Cup is awarded to Germany, the losers of the 1982 final. Italy has once again had a stellar tournament, reaching the final after defeating Australia, Ukraine, and Germany. Their opponents are Zinedine Zidane’s France, and the World Cup final is the French champion’s final match. Zidane scores in the opening 10 minutes, slotting a penalty home after a foul by Marco Materazzi. The same Materazzi equalizes a few minutes later, powering in a header from a corner in the 19th minute.

What happens next is forever etched in football memory. In the 109th minute, while walking back from an attack, Zidane and Materazzi had a fiery exchange of words. Materazzi is said to have insulted Zidane’s sister, but whatever was said clearly infuriated the French footballer, leading him to headbutt his opponent right in the chest chest. The referee, who did not see the incident, was informed and gave Zidane a red card. Italy went on to win the final 5-3 on penalties.

What happened in Lebanon in 2006? Right. Another war. The 2006 war started on 12 July 2006, 3 days after the World Cup final, and would last for another 34 days. Close to a 1,000 Lebanese civilians died during this period.



If this happened once, one could call it a coincidence, but twice? There is clearly a cosmic link between Italy’s football success and Lebanon’s fate. Researchers must forget about all other theories of world conflict and international relations, and pour more resources into the study of the Lebanese-Italian Football War Theory. Much like e=mc^2, War in Lebanon = Italy(football success)^2 could be the next big breakthrough in scientific knowledge.

Thankfully, the land of pasta and a dumb leaning tower have failed to qualify for this year’s edition, so we should not have much to worry about. But until the final ball is kicked and Italy is confirmed as non-champion, I will be sleeping with one eye open.