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Wednesday, July 05, 2006 - ore 15:41

RINGHIO, THE GROWL
(categoria: " Vita Quotidiana ")

Io speravo in Ringhio, e Ringhio non mi ha deluso.
Questo articolo è precedente alla partita con la Germania, ma fotografa abbastanza bene "THE GROWL"!

Italy Makes Sweet Music With Help From ’the Growl’

By Jason La Canfora
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 4, 2006; Page E07

BERLIN -- With the Italian national team cruising to an impressive victory over the Czech Republic 12 days ago, clinching first place in Group E, midfielder Gennaro Gattuso raced over to the sidelines to embrace Marcello Lippi, the scholarly coach. Gattuso tried to hug Lippi, it seemed, but ended up smacking him across the face. Lippi nearly lost his spectacles, but was smiling the entire time.

This was simply Gattuso being Gattuso.

"He hit me in face he as he was trying to caress me," Lippi, 58, said through an interpreter, when asked about the apparent assault. "It’s his way of celebrating a goal or a very good result. . . . He’s kind of a rough guy. That’s just how he shows his joy."

In happiness or in pain, Gattuso, 28, provides the heartbeat to the Italian team, a wrecking ball in a midfield otherwise filled with the grace of ballerinas and the skill of virtuoso soloists. Without him, Italy might have lacked the will and determination to reach the World Cup semifinals, overcoming player ejections in two games to meet hosts Germany Tuesday in Dortmund.

Gattuso makes the middle of the field an uncomfortable place for the opposition’s stars to roam and is an integral part of an Italian defense that has allowed just one goal through five games. With midfielder Daniele De Rossi suspended since elbowing American Brian McBride in a first-round game, Gattuso’s presence has been even more vital.

In Italy’s 3-0 thrashing of Ukraine in the quarterfinals it was telling that Gattuso (one goal in 45 international appearances) was named man of the match. He was all over the field, winning balls, making tackles, distributing passes. Gattuso knew he was at the top of his game, and when Lippi first tried to substitute for him in the second half, wanting to rest the dynamo with the victory already secure, Gattuso waved him off. Lippi relented for several minutes before the change was made, a gesture few players could get away with.

"Tonight, Gattuso made everything and he made it right," Teofilo Cubillas of the FIFA Technical Study Group, which selects each man of the match as well as other player honors, said after studying the match. "He recovered many balls, made good passes -- he was everywhere. . . . He was the playmaker of the team."

Since Gattuso’s return from injury in the group stages, there has been little space available for opposing midfielders to exploit. Against the high-powered German attack, Gattuso, nicknamed " Ringhio ," or "the growl," must be at his best again.

Gattuso essentially forced his way onto the national team after an unusual career path for an Italian player. He left modest Perugia of Italy in 1997 for the hard-nosed Scottish League, where he played for Glasgow Rangers. After establishing his reputation with Rangers, Gattuso went back to Italy for an eight-month stop at tiny Salernitana. Then he joined international giant A.C. Milan in 1999 and played his first game for the Italian national side a year later, becoming a mainstay.

In a sport -- and league -- known for playboy figures, Gattuso is different. He has neither the matinee looks of midfielder Francesco Totti, nor the size or scoring touch of striker Luca Toni, but is plenty comfortable in his own skin, front and center in just his underwear and baby oil in a Dolce & Gabbana billboard found all over Germany this summer. He is a direct individual, choosing to answer questions many would dodge with the same bold strokes that define his play.

Gattuso is unwilling to concede much of an advantage to the Germans, who are undefeated in the World Cup and have been by far the most consistent team.

"Most of the stadium will be against us, but we’re used to that from European club football," Gattuso said. "You don’t notice the fans when you’re on the pitch, they’re not playing. Germany or Argentina wouldn’t have made any difference. Is it or is it not a World Cup semifinal?"

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