Italian sausage sours German wine

THE chant of ‘Italy! Italy! Italy!’ was the cry by Italian supporters at Tony Roma’s Restaurant and Sports Bar, when the Azurris scored two goals in a World Cup semi-final thriller against hosts Germany which booked the Italians’ place in this Sunday’s final against either France or Portugal.

Speaking with Italian High Consul to Trinidad and Tobago Stephen Webster, after the match, he told Newsday, “It was a very good game, the Italians seemed destined to win it in the first half and although the Germans came back in the second half, the Germans persisted. I think the first goal was a very good goal, it was excellent and the second was just lagniappe. The Germans missed their chances.”

The Consul opted to watch the game at his St Augustine residence since he said the majority of his Italian countrymen who are working at Atlantic LNG based in south would have took in the match down there.

However a scattering of other Italians sought to view the match at a couple of the popular pubs in north such as Trotters and Tony Roma’s. At both places, they were outnumbered by German supporters even though staff at the German Embassy remained at the Embassy on Marli Street to view the match.

Shots on the Italian goal were widely applauded drowning out the reactions of fans to the shots on the German goal.

But the fans at Tony Roma’s just went wild with the first Italian goal and by the time the second was scored, it appeared as though everyone were supporting the Italians.

Most noticeable in the crowd were Robert Giuseppi and his family of Italian heritage who had something extra to celebrate since it was his birthday, and to make sure he didn’t forget it, manager of the outfit, Gregory Farah arranged for his staff to present him with a birthday cake.

In the end everyone more or less went home a happy bunch since these semi-finalists were adopted after Trinidad and Tobago’s exit from the finals.