Italy will treat final with France like salami: a delicious moment to savor

DUISBURG, Germany (AP) -- They packed all the important stuff when they traveled to the World Cup: pasta, prosciutto and parmesan.
Italy might be hungry for its first World Cup title in 24 years, but the Azzurri aren't lacking the comfort food they're familiar with. As they prepare to face France Sunday, they have everything they're used to -- drama, delirium and distraction.
Last-minute goals, controversial calls and a scandal back home that has prosecutors asking for the nation's biggest clubs to get dumped into the minor leagues. Most other nations would go nuts. But for Forza Italia, it's just another day at the stadio.
No mere mortal
Alessandro Del Piero, who scored the second goal in Tuesday's 2-0 win over Germany, has taken to comparing himself to mythic heroes. Asked why he didn't talk to reporters before the tournament, he gave a unique response.
"I went up on my hill to think like Achilles did before war," he said. "It's not important to me how many wars I fight, but how I fight them."
Francesco Totti, who converted the last-minute penalty kick that beat Australia in the second round, has a tattoo of a gladiator on a shoulder.
For the Azzurri, everything is divided between the ultimate highs and disastrous lows, with little in between. It's just the Italian penchant for melodrama.
After the semifinal win, coach Marcello Lippi told his players theatrically that their story remained unfinished, as if a composer had died before writing his final bars.
"Ora dobbiamo completare l'opera," he said, which sounds far more mundane in its English translation: "Now we have to complete the job."
MSV Arena, the home of MSV Duisburg, has been renamed Casa Azzurri. There are red, white and green banners everywhere, with a gold star in each color -- where will they put the fourth star if they win their fourth title?
The salamis hanging are Italian. So is the coffee. Even the beer.
Nearby is the team hotel, Landhaus Milser. It's co-run by a native of Calabria, and many of the employees are Italian. Apparently to minimize distractions, female waitresses were sent on vacation.
Adjectives
In a hot room at Casa Azzurri filled with more than three dozen television cameras and 100 reporters, Del Piero talked about what it meant to be in the final. "Magnifico" and "bellissimo," he kept repeating.
"It's a fantastic moment," he said. "Undoubtedly, a World Cup is singular. It's one of the three, four dreams you have as a boy."
Seemingly eager to be the underdog, Del Piero proclaimed the French the favorite.
"Because of what's happening to the clubs in Italy isn't happening in France," he said. "Because in France there's not this much media following the team. And unfortunately, because of the tragedy that has afflicted a teammate very close to me."
His first reference was to the match-fixing scandal that threatens Juventus, AC Milan, Forentina and Lazio with relegation. His last was to Gianluca Pessotto, his former teammate on Juventus and the national team, who fell off a window at the Juventus offices on June 27. Pessotto remains hospitalized in serious condition.
Del Piero and Pessoto played together in the 2000 European Championship final, when France scored a tying goal with 30 seconds left in second-half injury time and went on to win in extra time. Del Piero missed two good scoring chances in the second half of that one.
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