Join Owen Wyatt for our regular wrap of world sport. This week, it’s a World Cup qualifier special, as we consider the plight of Diego Maradona and the battle for golden tickets for South Africa 2010.

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Italians are suspicious of everything, or so it seems. Several of my friends in Milan refuse to eat pasta or pizza outside Italy because they don’t believe it will taste the same.

They are just as circumspect when it comes to soccer.

The Dutch have already qualified for the Euro 2008 quarter-finals and meet second-placed Romania in their final Group C match in Berne on Tuesday. World champions Italy need the Dutch to get a result to have any chance of going above the Romanians by beating or drawing with France.  

The Italians are terrified that Netherlands coach Marco van Basten will put out a weakened side or the Dutch players will try to avoid injury and not give 100 percent. 

Azzurri fans already think they have been robbed by the officials who allowed Ruud van Nistelrooy’s goal in the 3-0 defeat by the Dutch and disallowed Luca Toni’s valid header in Friday’s 1-1 draw with Romania. Incidentally, that was played on Friday 13th and was the 13th game of the 13th European championship. But having said that, the unlucky number in Italy is actually 17…the date of the France game.

All this follows years of conspiracy theories which Italians have dreamt up to explain their early exit from tournaments.  

At the 2002 World Cup, Ecuadorian referee Byron Moreno was blamed for the 2-1 extra time defeat by South Korea in the second round. The Italians were convinced he was under orders to keep the hosts in the tournament. They had no hard evidence, of course.

Two years later Sweden drew 2-2 with Denmark in their final group game at Euro 2004 thanks to a last-minute goal. The result meant the two Scandinavian teams went through while Italy were dumped out despite their victory over Bulgaria. Again the Italians smelt a rat but nothing was proved. 

The fact their 2006 World Cup triumph came in the midst of the Serie A match-fixing scandal was some sort of warped fate, according to many in Italy.

This time coach Roberto Donadoni says he expects old AC Milan chum Van Basten to rally his Dutch troops. Most Italians don’t agree.

Mark Meadows, following Italy at Euro 2008     

PHOTO: Italy fans react while watching the Group C Euro 2008 soccer match between Italy and Romania on a screen at a fan zone in Zurich, June 13. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann

Some you win and some you lose but it looks like almost every journalist and most TV commentators, as well as the Italian players, were totally wrong in claiming Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s opening goal against Italy in Netherlands’ 3-0 win in Berne on Monday was offside.

UEFA have confirmed that referee Peter Frojdfeldt and his assistant Stefan Wittberg were absolutely correct in awarding the goal. UEFA general secretary David Taylor said the ref interpreted Law 11 relating to offside correctly and the reason why is this:

Even though Italian defender Chrstian Panucci was off the pitch after an accidental collision with his own goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, he was deemed to still be in active play and therefore playing Van Nistelrooy onside.

His position is “assumed” to be on the goal-line and therefore Van Nistelrooy had two opposing players between him and the goal when he scored. The law is vague on the issue and Taylor admits it does not specifically cover incidents such as the one that occurred last night.

It also raises a whole lot of questions. If the law is not specific on the issue and open to interpretation by the referee, then shouldn’t it be more specific? Shouldn’t it be re-written?

The officials might have applied the universally accepted interpretation of the law and been exonerated … but is the universal interpretation really in the spirit of the game? You have to bear in mind of course that a defender should not be allowed to step outside the field of play behind the  goal-line to render the opposing attacker offside.

Also, if Panucci had not been injured and lying on his back, and had merely stepped over the line a few feet and then raced back on to the field, he would not have needed the referee’s permission to do so.

On reflection, I agree the referee and linesman were right. But I think the law needs looking at. What do you think?

PHOTO: Players react to Ruud van Nistelrooy’s goal at the Stade de Suisse in Berne, June 9, 2008. REUTERS/Jerry Lampen

World champions Italy had no cohesion, no passion and no luck in their 3-0 defeat by the Dutch, but they also had something else important missing — fans.

The Stade de Suisse in Berne was three-quarters orange with only a small section of the 30,000 crowd speckled with blue shirts. Italian fans have never travelled well but with Milan just hours away by train, it was bizarre that the Dutch outnumbered them so hugely for the Euro 2008 Group C opener.

In the beautiful city centre before the game, the swathes of colourful Dutch fans held a parade and a rock concert but you could count the Italian supporters on two hands.

The lack of support does not excuse the Azzurri’s failings on the pitch, but walking into the stadium the players must have thought they’d been transported to Amsterdam.

The small number of Italian fans also had a bearing on the atmosphere inside the ground when Ruud van Nistelrooy’s first-half opener was allowed to stand. Christian Panucci was adjudged to have played him onside, despite lying down injured behind the byline.

The goal was shown on the stadium big screen but the cries of anger from the tiny Italian contingent barely registered.

One can only imagine the noise the Dutch would have made if the incident had happened in the other box.  

Mark Meadows, Berne

PHOTO: Dutch fans walk to the game with just a few Italians scattered among them.  June 9 REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

AC Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf has pulled out of the provisional Dutch squad for Euro 2008 after falling out with coach Marco van Basten.

That got me thinking about other top players who won’t be in Austria and Switzerland in June. Mark van Bommel said a while back he wouldn’t play for Holland under Van Basten but Ruud van Nistelrooy is back after patching things up with the coach.

Apart from the England players who will miss the tournament because they didn’t qualify, Raul is looking increasingly unlikely to get into Spain’s squad. It is doubtful that both Filippo Inzaghi and Alessandro Del Piero will make the cut for Italy.

Oliver Kahn meanwhile quit Germany after the 2006 World Cup. Is there anyone else you think we will miss at Euro 2008?

If Wednesday’s friendlies involving the 16 Euro 2008 finalists are anything to go by, the June event should be a real treat for the fans, with plenty of goals, near-misses and desperate defending, and the chance of a few shocks too.

Written off by most pundits as little more than a punching bag, the Austrians showed in the first 30 minutes of their astonishing 4-3 defeat to the Netherlands that they might be a tough nut to crack playing at home after all.

A fierce Austrian onslaught coupled with a comedy of errors at the back by the Dutch, never really known for their defensive strength, gave the co-hosts a 3-0 lead before the “Oranje” turned the match on its head.

Poland’s Dutch coach Leo Beenhakker tipped his team to be the Euro 2008 surprise package after their impressive qualifying campaign but the 3-0 defeat by the United States suggests they might end up as mere also-rans.

Poor defending from set-pieces did not cost the Poles on the road to Euro 2008 as they were able to outscore their opponents most of the time but it could undo them at the next level.

Germany made it clear they are rightly one of the tournament favourites with a 4-0 drubbing of Switzerland, the other co-hosts, with Miroslav Klose taking his international tally to 38 goals in 73 matches.

An understrength France will certainly take heart from a 1-0 win over England as will Spain after beating world champions Italy by the same score thanks to a spectacular David Villa volley.

Anyone prepared to write off defending champions Greece may want to reconsider after their 2-1 victory over Portugal in a repeat of the Euro 2004 final. It was Greece’s third consecutive win over a team widely regarded as one of the world’s most talented outfits.

Romania’s 3-0 rout of eastern European rivals Russia and their effervescent performance suggests they have a fighting chance of surviving the “Group of Death.”

Croatia’s famous 3-2 win over England fuelled high hopes of glory among the country’s fans and media but Eduardo’s horrible injury and last month’s 3-0 defeat to the Dutch instilled more modest expectations of reaching the last eight.

England’s conquerors were not impressive in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Scotland at Hampden Park and their current form suggests they will do well to progress to the quarter-finals.

As ever, there are at least half a dozen heavyweights and it seems inevitable that one of them will be crowned European champions on June 29… unless someone can do a Greece. Give us your thoughts on that in the comments.

PHOTO: Klaas Jan Huntelaar (L) scores for the Dutch against Austria in Vienna, March 26, 2008. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger