Siena-Lazio/Reggina-Milan: Cynical? Moi?

By: Martha | May 27th, 2007

Reggina boy RAI’s William Tell Overture show was even more insane than usual this week: Not only were they interrupting the game at hand for every goal as it was scored, but they were also trying to cover both Siena-Lazio and Reggina-Milan, with a bit of Catania-Chievo thrown into the mix. The result, needless to say, was utter chaos, with three games sometimes appearing on-screen at once, and everyone at the games and in the studio talking over everyone else most of the time. (There as a lot of “Gianni? GIANNI!” going on.)

And, while it was incredibly exciting for a while — the important games were scoreless, but goals were flying in everywhere else on the peninsula so the Overture played every two seconds, and there was insane suspense in the moments between the song and replay of the goal in question, while you were waiting to find out who scored. As soon as Parma, Reggina and Siena scored, though, you couldn’t help but remember: This is Italy, and surprises rarely happen at the end of the season. I mean, there’s a reason the bookies had Siena and Reggina as heavy favorites going into this weekend: Whether it’s a payoff or simply an “understanding,” everyone who has paid attention to calcio for more than a week is necessarily cynical enough to realize the teams with nothing to play for will lose to those who need the points, if only to ensure the favor will be returned some day, if necessary. (And, if there was any doubt, the sight of Adriano Galiani congratulating the Reggina president AT HALFTIME ought to have chased it away.)

Of course, when Lazio scored, for just a second I thought they were going to throw a giant, honking monkey wrench into the workings of the entire league, a move that would have completed their cruel seduction of me (stupid Romans). But it was not to be. Instead, as soon as the goal went in, they immediately stopped defending, and were leaving so much space at the back you’d have though they were losing a final 3-0 and had to risk everything to attack. The whole thing was incredibly comical because Lazio were practically begging Siena to score, and yet they were incapable of actually putting the ball on goal — it went over and around, but never even troubled the keeper, even from about six yards out. You might think Lazio were exasperated because of the poor defending, but it’s my suspicion they were, in fact, annoyed at Siena’s utter incompetence in front of net. Eventually (after the linesman waved a goal off with an ill-timed — albeit correct — offside flag), Siena finally managed to bundle it in, and everything was right with the world. And by “right” I mean “typically corrupt and twisted.”