The wait is over
The countdown is over. Tomorrow (at 21pm in Italy, 13pm in Mexico) the 2026 World Cup will officially begin: at the legendary Azteca Stadium the hosts will face South Africa, the first of many matches which unfortunately – as is well known – will not see the Italian NationalItaly's third qualifying flop makes it even more bitter to follow this event, but the sadness can be overcome by dusting off an old story that has a strong connection, among other things, with hunting. We have to go back almost 90 years, when Italy was a very different team from the one that has failed to qualify for the World Cup for 12 years.
The third World Cup in history
In 1938, the third edition of the football event, the Azzurri participated as defending champions. Four years earlier, they had managed to win at home, defeating Czechoslovakia in extra time in the final. The next edition was hosted by France, and Vittorio Pozzo was confirmed as coach. A repeat of the Rimet Cup (as the trophy was then called) was not a given, but Pozzo himself called up a player who would make his fortune, a striker who also went down in history for his great passion for hunting. Silvio Piola was 24 years old at the time but already had nine Serie A championships to his name (with Pro Vercelli and Lazio) and over a hundred goals to his name—in short, a pure striker.
Piola's "heavy" goals
In France, Piola lived up to expectations: in the four matches he played, he scored five goals, many of which were decisive in the title race. In the round of 5, against Norway, it was his last-gasp goal that gave the Azzurri the win, but even more significant was his brace in the quarterfinals against the hosts (3-1). In the semifinal against Brazil, he failed to score, even though they still won 2-1. Then, in the final in Colombes, Piola unleashed a brace that sealed a 4-2 victory that overcame Hungary's resistance. His passion for hunting has already been mentioned, and is well exemplified by a series of significant testimonies. Suffice it to recall that when he signed his first real contract as a footballer with Pro Vercelli, his father gave him a hunting rifle, not forgetting the purchase of a pointer so he could take part in the hunts.
Hunting first and foremost
The most interesting hunting anecdotes from his time at Lazio are two. Before a match for Lazio, he showed up in the locker room only half an hour before kickoff. The reason? He was fresh from a hunt, and his teammates saw him arrive with his boots, rifle, and cartridge belt clearly visible. Then, during an away match in Piedmont (his home region), he didn't hesitate to bring his three hunting dogs with him, so he could enjoy the woods he knew so well after the match. Piola was therefore a great hunter, as well as a champion of pure class: his 394 career goals speak for themselves, and he could have achieved much more for the national team had World War II not intervened, denying him the Azzurri jersey during the period of his athletic maturity.
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