Euro Stories: The coin that gave Italy its only title in '68

It may be curious, and even almost surprising, that the Italian soccer team only has one European Championship in its record. This single title contrasts with the four World Cup titles (1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006) that the Italians have, much more successful throughout their history in World Cup events. This only trophy in the continental championship occurred ago For many years, at the Eurocup of 68, where the Italians had to face, not only the results, but also the luck.A different Eurocup Accustomed to the new formats that reign in the international competitions of the last years, the euro of the 68, also It meant a change for all teams: the UEFA European Championship replaced the so-called Nations Cup, and with it, a new format more interesting for the spectators. made a preliminary phase of 31 teams, divided into eight groups of four teams. The games were back and forth. At the end of this phase, the eight best would face each other in the quarterfinals, also in a round trip. Final Four The format stipulated that the best four would concentrate in Italy to play the semifinals and the grand final, all in one game, and therefore Spain, the recent champion, was eliminated in the quarterfinals against the reigning world champion, England, who advanced to the phase of the best four of the continent. This final phase was played from 5 to 10 of June in Italy, with the cities of Rome, Florence and Naples. The draw determined that Italy had to face the USSR for a place in the final, while Yugoslavia and England would play the other place.The lucky coin With an Italy that had the great Dino Zoff in goal, Fachetti in defense, Mazzola in midfield and the scorer of the tournament together with Janós Farkas of Hungary, Luigi Riva, saw a great opportunity to win the first of their continental titles. In front of 70,000 spectators, at the San Paolo Stadium, Zoff’s Italy could not go from a 0-0 draw against the Soviet Union of the immense defender Albert Shesterniov. After two goalless overtimes, the match had to be decided in the locker room by means of a coin tossed in the air by the referee. The penalty shoot-out did not exist at that time, we had to wait for the 1976 European Championship when the rule was imposed. The champion’s luck began in the locker room when the coin thrown gave him the pass to the final.Final against YugoslaviaAfter a go to the final off the field, Italy would face Yugoslavia who, against all odds, eliminated the World Champion England 1-0. The funny thing about the final is that the toss of a coin was not used to know the name of the champion, since the match ended with a tie at 1. Another rule stipulated that if, at the end of the established time, there was a tie on the scoreboard, the match should be repeated. So it was. Two days after the first game, Yugoslavia and Italy met again and this time Italy defeated the eastern team by 2 goals to 0, a European Championship from another time, with a champion who had to sweat a lot to get his first and only , title of the European competition.