Twenty minutes after Italy's overtime victory against Germany on Tuesday night — a last-minute win that sent it to the World Cup final for the sixth time, where it will face France here on Sunday — the new Italian prime minister, Romano Prodi, was escorted across the field in Dortmund to salute the team's delirious supporters and then to join the players in the locker room for the celebration.
What did the leader of the country have to say to the exhausted players?
"We sang a few songs together," defender Fabio Cannavaro told reporters the next day at the Italian training camp. "We sang 'O Sole Mio.' "
Yes, at Signal Iduna Park, the stadium known as German soccer's Opera House for its rich acoustics, the team known as the Blues (Azzurri, in Italian) rejoiced with their head of state in an impromptu version of a Neapolitan classic. (Now try to picture President Bush joining the Pittsburgh Steelers for a stirring rendition of a "West Side Story" tune after an NFL playoff game.)
No one will attest to the Azzurri 's singing abilities, but there's no question that, on grass stages all over Germany, they have been in almost perfect harmony the last four weeks and have moved within one victory of their first world title in 24 years and fourth overall.
They have done it with traditional defense. Anchored by goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, Italy has given up one goal in six games, and it was an own goal. And the Italians have done it with a diverse offense — 10 players have scored their 11 goals, the most varied in World Cup play since 10 French players accounted for 16 goals in 1982.
They have done it in dramatic fashion (a last-second goal to beat Australia and two goals late in overtime to oust Germany) and in dominating manner (3-0 over Ukraine and a pair of 2-0 wins over the Czech Republic and Ghana).
Their only blemish was a 1-1 tie with the United States, in which they failed to seize upon a man advantage afforded them early in the second half.
"These boys are something special," said Coach Marcello Lippi, who has been nicknamed "Paul Newman" in the German media because of his silver-haired good looks but probably more closely resembles actor John Mahoney ("Frasier").
"They should be proud of themselves for reawakening the enthusiasm and love for our country."
It comes at a time when Italian soccer has been devastated by a match-fixing and influence-peddling scandal that implicated some of its most prestigious clubs, such as Juventus of Turin. Although the fallout could be felt for years to come, a World Cup championship would certainly soften the blow of the impending legal proceedings.
"We went out there on the pitch with many things going on around us, and now we can celebrate," defender Fabio Grosso, who scored the go-ahead goal against Germany in the 119th minute, told Agence France-Presse.
As the Italians move on to Berlin and the heartbroken Germans prepare for Saturday's third-place match against Portugal in Stuttgart, observers continue to marvel at the drama of Tuesday's semifinal — a far more compelling game than the messy, volatile encounter between France and Portugal the following evening in Munich.
Despite a lack of scoring until the very end, longtime World Cup observers are ranking the Italy-Germany match among the best in tournament history, joining, among others, Italy's 3-2 second-round win over Brazil in 1982 and Italy's 4-3 semifinal triumph over West Germany 12 years earlier.
Although the ending was full of intensity and drama, Italy's subtle composure throughout the biting match stood supreme. The defensive work of Cannavaro and Marco Materazzi, starting in place of injured star Alessandro Nesta, and the gritty effort of holding midfielder Gennaro Gattuso limited Germany's opportunities to just a handful.
Andrea Pirlo continues to energize the attack with his seamless free kicks and deft passing touch, no better than when he danced to his right along the top of the penalty area and slipped a no-look pass to Grosso for the game-winner against Germany.
"It has spread a wave of excitement throughout Italy and throughout the entire world," Lippi said of the semifinal. "It was a beautiful game. ... Now we must take the final step."