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TWO SHOTS AT GLORY - THURSDAY JUNE 24, 2010

MIDDLE MAN: Kaeo's biggest Italian football fan, Stefano Virgili, displaying divided loyalties with his All Whites/Azzurri T-Shirt and the flags that fly above his personal pitch. With him are diehard Kaeo Football Club supporters Nelleigh Lawrence (Tokerau Beach, left) and Anna Virgili (Kahoe), Henry the dog (who might well be offside) and Milita the kunekune, named after Inter Milan's Diego Milito.  PETER DE GRAAF

Stefano Virgili, Kaeo's, perhaps Northland's, if not New Zealand's biggest Italian football fan had every excuse for feeling a little depressed after his beloved Azzurri were held to a draw by a bunch of 1,000-1 outsiders called the All Whites.
But nothing could be further from the truth. In fact that result has given him two good reasons to get excited about tomorrow morning's pool games.
In fact Stefano is contemplating a dream scenario that would have been unthinkable even a week ago, that the teams of both his home and adopted countries could qualify for the second round of the Football World Cup.
All it needs is for New Zealand to beat Paraguay and Italy to draw or win against Slovakia, and both teams will advance from group F. Both games kick off at 2am tomorrow.
"Then I'd be totally happy," the football-mad 45-year-old said.
Stefano was born near Milan but moved to Northland with his Kiwi wife Lyndsey Johanson 20 years ago. When he isn't working at their backpackers' hostel at Kahoe, north of Kaeo, you'll find him playing for and coaching Kaeo FC, where he's trying to inject "a bit of passing, passion and style."
He also runs the world's first football tournament every year, on January 1, which kicks off at midnight on his personal football pitch and is about to clock up its 20th year.
While he admitted to some disappointment over his homeland's performance so far, he brushed it off as "a minor hiccup."
Italy is the second most successful team in World Cup history but has a habit of stumbling against lower-ranked teams, which he blamed on the heavy weight of expectation not just to win, but to win by a hefty margin.
He watched the New Zealand vs Italy game in Auckland with Kevin Fallon, who was assistant All Whites coach when New Zealand last qualified for the World Cup in 1982. And while he wasn't exactly praising the All Whites' technique, he was impressed by their doggedness and athleticism.
"If you see a team defend and hang in there for so long, that's not a fluke. That's a lot of hard work," he said.
He was less impressed with some of the TV coverage afterwards, which portrayed the Italians as divers.
"A lot of diving goes on in a lot of teams. It's one of the down points of the game," he said.
But whoever ended up winning in South Africa, the All Whites' success could only mean more exposure and more credibility for the game in New Zealand.
"Rugby will always be the main game here, but soccer's just growing. I hope this gets more people playing and coaching, and leads to more support for grass roots soccer," he added.
As for the outcome tomorrow, Stefano could not see New Zealand losing to Paraguay.
"Anything can happen in 90 minutes. That's why it's the beautiful game," he said.