Eight teams have won the World Cup.
Seven of them—Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Spain, and Uruguay—are in North America chasing another trophy.
The eighth, Italy, has the summer off. Its absence is deeply felt in the United States and is causing political shockwaves at home.
Winners in 1934, 1938, 1982, and 2006, Italy is as much a part of the history of the World Cup as Brazil or Argentina. Benito Mussolini’s hijacking of the 1934 tournament established the template for how soccer could achieve political goals. Marco Tardelli’s iconic celebration in the 1982 final remains spine-tingling. Luciano Pavarotti’s gargantuan rendition of “Nessun Dorma” in Rome, alongside Plácido Domingo and José Carreras, is a contender for the moment that contemporary soccer was born. At a World Cup mostly hosted by a country where 5% of the population claims Italian ancestry, the team’s absence leaves a cultural, as well as a sporting, void.
“There’s no logical explanation for it,” Philadelphia restaurant owner Riccardo Longo tells Front Office Sports. “They just choked.”
