by Adam Bate

*A version of this article appeared as an obituary in the February 2011 issue of Calcio Italia magazine

Some people choose to remember the 1982 World Cup for the famous Brazil team of Zico, Socrates and Falcao. Their silky skills and attacking football certainly captured the imagination. But they were to leave the tournament empty handed. Instead, Italy became champions of the world for the third time. The manager behind that triumph was Enzo Bearzot.

As the Italian manager later said: “Brazil was the most spectacular side. But the Italian team was the most intelligent at the World Cup.” His side actually struggled in the early stages. The man known as Il Vecio – the old guy – was under fire after a series of lacklustre displays but remained faithful to his vision. Bearzot was determined to build on the attacking principles he had put in place since taking sole control of the Azzurri in 1977. He explained: “For me, football should be played with two wingers, a centre-forward and a playmaker. That’s the way I see the game.”

Imposing this philosophy had been a challenging process. The legendary writer Brian Glanville summed it up: “Bearzot worked hard to wean the Italy team away from catenaccio. It wasn’t easy but, bit by bit, he succeeded.”

The turning point came in the second group stage. Bearzot had shown faith in Paolo Rossi, the Juventus forward who had only just returned from a two year ban following a match-rigging scandal. After defeating the defending champions Argentina, his faith in Rossi was rewarded when the striker hit a hat-trick to eliminate Brazil. The 3-2 victory remains one of the most famous games in World Cup history and from that moment Bearzot’s side only grew in confidence.

It was a confidence that came from the top down. Bearzot was calmness personified. Journalist Gabriele Marcotti put a personal slant on it that must surely resonate with an entire generation: “I felt an instant connection with Enzo Bearzot, as if it were my grandad on the sidelines, watching in that fiendishly reassuring, pretending-not-to-care way, but obviously as emotionally involved as if he were on the pitch.”

With a Rossi brace in the semi-final, there was an air of inevitability long before the West Germans were vanquished 3-1 at the Bernabeu. Marco Tardelli’s celebration will be replayed down the ages but the mastermind behind the victory was the quietly determined Bearzot. The coach underlined his relaxed approach when he played cards with the Italian President on the plane back from Spain. Il Vecio had just secured Italy’s first World Cup win in 44 years.

Little in Bearzot’s early career hinted he would go on to lift the World Cup. Born in 1927 in the Friuli region of north-east Italy, he was, in modern parlance, a defensive midfielder and enjoyed a solid if unspectacular playing career. After spending some time as a bit-part player with Inter, he headed south and enjoyed a happy few years in Sicily with Catania. At 26 he moved back north to Torino, a club still rebuilding after the Superga tragedy. It was while there he earned his solitary international cap against the great Hungary side in 1955.

Although there was a brief and unhappy return to Inter, Bearzot saw out the last seven years of his playing career with Torino and, upon retirement in 1964, he joined the coaching set-up at the Granata. It was a journey that would lead to the top job in Italian football.

Bearzot’s route to the Azzurri role was not the conventional one through club management. After a brief spell as coach of lowly Prato, he threw himself into a life working within the Italian Football Federation. A lengthy spell in charge of the Italy U23 side gave Bearzot the grounding he needed and he was later an assistant manager in Italy’s disappointing 1974 World Cup campaign. There was some resistance to his appointment as joint manager with Fulvio Bernardini in 1975 but two years later Bearzot found himself in sole charge of the Azzurri – and began to impose his own philosophy.

In hindsight, the creditable fourth place finishes at both the 1978 World Cup and 1980 European Championships hinted at the success that was to follow in 1982. Naturally, that was to prove the peak of Bearzot’s career. In a period that foreshadowed the later problems of fellow World Cup winning coach Marcello Lippi, Bearzot’s faith in his champions saw them produce stale performances in failing to qualify for Euro 84 before disappointing in Mexico in 1986. Nothing could erase the achievements of 1982 but the inevitable resignation followed and – a brief stint as president of the IFF’s technical sector apart – his career was over.

On 21 December 2010, Bearzot died at the age of 83. Paolo Rossi, the man who shared in the glory of that magical World Cup summer, perhaps said it best: “Enzo Bearzot was one of the greatest figures in 20th century Italy. He was like a father to me and I owe him everything.”

Il Vecio – elder statesman of Italian football… and national hero.