The "Biscotto" (literally "biscuit") is a central concept in Italian football. It's a sum of Italian attitudes towards football institutions, honesty, fair play, and "dietrologia" (the study of what might be hidden -- from "dietro", behind -- another very Italian concept). The term comes from an ice-cream brand, as you would expect from such a food-obsessed culture; specifically, an ice-cream surrounded by two biscuits. The biscuits don't touch each other, but squeeze the ice-cream between them -- exactly like two contenders that won't hit each other, but will manage to squeeze out a third party standing in their way.

For example, say that two teams have to play a match in a tournament, and there is only one possible result that will qualify both them to the next phase of the competition and eliminate a third party. They could make an agreement to make sure the "right" result comes out; that would be a classic "biscotto". Or say that two teams have to play at the end of a season, and one club hasn't got anything to play for, while the other needs the points to avoid relegation (hence condemning another team)... you get the idea. It's basically a combine where a third-party gets hurt.

The Italian football team has been (or it was perceived as being) on the wrong side of a "biscotto" several times in recent history, most infamously at Euro 2004 when Denmark and Sweden produced a 2-2 draw which qualified both Scandinavian nations and kicked out the "Azzurri". If you then consider the 2002 incident (when South-Korean hosts kicked out Italy in a match plagued by a terrible referee), and the penalty awarded in the first minutes of the 2006 World Cup final (on a dive by French player Malouda), you should be able to understand why the Italian press is currently running wild with suggestions of an upcoming "biscotto" between Romania and the Netherlands. The Oranje are already mathematically certain to be the group-winner, whereas Romania needs a victory to stay in second place and kick out France and Italy... something that Holland might like, considering as these two (currently troubled) teams usually become tough competitors in the final stages of a major competition.

The Italian people experienced a long history of political intrigue, stretching back all the way to Imperial Rome; we tend to see daggers hidden in every dark corner, secret agreements struck in the most worthless situations, puppeteers pulling strings in the smallest of everyday occasions. For centuries our political landscape was defined elsewhere, with Italian city-states acting as proxy for various European powers, all the way up to the Cold War. As a result, we tend to be a little too suspicious, and assign to others responsibilities that should really be ours.

If we really wanted to qualify, we should have won (or drawn) against the Netherlands, and won fair and square against Romania. Instead, our men played badly (especially in the first game), and our "lethal" strikers couldn't score even given massive amounts of chances (a defender had to step up and do it). They shouldn't have put themselves in that position in the first place. Once you get to depend on the whims of somebody who doesn't own anything to you, you can't complain about anything that might happen. Life is tough.

(This said, my money is on Romania to win. It's hard to kick old habits, I guess. And the actual ice-cream is fantastic, and so difficult to find in Manchester -- anybody that can send a box over here?)