According to just about everybody, other than the Italians of course, it was a fair cop. UEFA, Swedish and Danish players and former England manager Bobby Robson all emphatically argued yesterday that the 2-2 "Scandinavian" draw in Porto on Tuesday night was the result of a perfectly clean match.
Even Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni repeated his immediate post-match verdict that there had been no fix. Yet, there is no convincing a nation that has the twin obsessions of football and the conspiracy theory written into its DNA: "Between Denmark and Sweden a Suspect 2-2", ran the front-page headline of prestigious Milan daily, Corriere Della Sera.
Notwithstanding Italy's overall disappointing first-round performances, there were those commentators yesterday who preferred the conspiracy theory to the uncomfortable truth that perhaps, just perhaps, this Italy was not good enough.
"Addio to the European Championships, as was all too predictable. Sweden and Denmark concocted a tasty little 2-2 for the benefit of all those who believe in Santa Claus, fairy tales and Nordic fair play. That is not to mention Nordic honesty and their superior ethical sense, much more developed than us bad, thieving Italians. This was the result they needed for both of them to go through and eliminate us, so why would they have set about hurting one another?", wrote Giorgio Tosatti in Corriere Della Sera.
Whilst Trapattoni has avoided any suggestion of foul play, not everyone else in the Italian camp was so diplomatic: "The two sides (Denmark and Sweden) played for the draw, that's obvious, but it is equally obvious that it is very difficult to prove such allegations", said Italian Football Federation president Franco Carraro.
Former Italian striker Gigi Riva was equally sceptical, saying: "I could tell you a lot of things about this draw. My impression is that they put on a great show, pretending to be wildly enthusiastic each time they scored. The irony is that they (Scandinavians) are always making allegations and insinuations about us but, in the end, they are much worse themselves".
For the man at the centre of the Italian storm, Trapattoni, these are clearly his last days as national coach. Having miraculously saved his job despite an equally ignominious failure at the World Cup finals two years ago, Trapattoni will not survive this time. With his contract due to end in mid-July he is certain to be dismissed at an Italian Football Federation meeting tomorrow to be replaced, in all probability, by former Juventus coach Marcello Lippi.
At his final Euro 2004 news conference yesterday Trapattoni bravely defended his players, his decisions and Italy's overall showing. The coach angrily rejected suggestions that seemingly out of form players, such as Alessandro Del Piero, had been imposed upon him.
Furthermore, he refused to criticise striker Christian Vieri, whose misses against Sweden probably cost Italy a place in the quarter-finals, whilst he also denied that he had been let down by Francesco Totti, suspended for three matches after spitting at Danish midfielder Christian Poulsen in Italy's opening game.
"Nobody imposed Del Piero on me, he's one of our best players," insisted Trapattoni. "He played well, whilst Vieri had a knee problem. But the performance of the strikers depends on the overall team performance. As for Totti, I don't feel betrayed by him. These could have the championships that consecrated him as a great player . . . but he will have learned a lot, he won't repeat his error."
Trapattoni might have defended his players and might have refused to speculate about a Scandinavian match-fix but Italian paranoia was hardly helped by the news last night that UEFA are considering disciplinary action against Italy.
UEFA lawyer Julien Sieveking confirmed that action could be taken against Carraro and Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon in the wake of statements made on the Denmark-Sweden game. As we said, try telling them in Italy that it wasn't a fix.
