SWEET! THEY HAVEN'T BEEN FIRST IN ANYTHING SINCE TOGAS WERE IN FASHION:

The Ugly Face of Italian Football: Crumbling stadiums, violent fans, racism, corruption. Italian football, shaken by the death of a policeman in last Friday's riot in Sicily, is in big trouble, say German media commentators. (Der Spiegel, 2/05/07)

With a hint of Schadenfreude in the wake of Germany's semi-final defeat by Italy in the World Cup, German media commentators say Italian football is sinking in a swamp of corruption and hooliganism, and that clubs have let their stadiums crumble in their drive to invest in top football stars.

Berlin newspaper Tagesspiegel even claims that the football problems are indicative of broader decline. It writes: "The violent mob from last weekend may be a problem specific to football. But the fact is that the country's economy is losing ground, government debt is gigantic, the middle class is at risk of decline and the political system is failing to tackle enromous reforms that are needed. The Italians are on the road to becoming Europe's first true losers of globalization -- no wonder the country resembles a pressure cooker."