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There are several reasons why any ethically minded person would find it very tough to cheer on Italy today against Slovakia – or anyone else for that matter.

Silvio Berlusconi, Silvio Berlusconi, Silvio… you get the idea.

My flatmate Marco is Sardinian, and if our after dinner conversations ever drift onto politics back in his homeland – and after a few glasses of wine they inevitably do – it’s not long before his normally jovial countenance is replaced by a quietly seething rage. Tears often follow.

As you are probably already aware, Signor Berlusconi is a veritable shit storm of political dodginess.

Shady dealings, tasteless gaffes, the fact that he owns huge swathes of the Italian media landscape and has used his influence to limit freedom of expression, his appalling attitude to women – not to mention his hateful politics, which have helped foster the rise of the ultra-right anti-immigration Lega Nord.

Want more? He likes it when women call him “Papi”. Creepy .

I could go into much more detail about any of the above, but this is one blog post. Whole academic papers have been written on every disreputable aspect of Berlusconi’s premiership. (For further reading and viewing, you could try Paul Ginsborg’s Silvio Berlusconi: Television, Power and Patrimony or satirist Sabina Guzzanti’s 2005 film about state censorship Viva Zapatero! Also look out for Guzzanti’s new film Draquila, about the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake and the drift towards authoritarianism in Italy.)

So instead, let’s look at how social justice indicators in Italy stack up against today’s opponents, Slovakia.

I’m happy to report (though it’s a hollow kind of happiness) that the figures largely back up my loathing of Berlusconi. According to the WSICF rankings, Italy come 24th out of the 32 world cup teams.

Percentage of GDP given in aid is 0.29%, lower than most of the other leading European economies, and well below the Millennium Development Goal of 0.7%. Inequality is pretty high. For every £1 the poorest 10 per cent earn, the richest 10 per cent get £11.6, compared to £5.9 in Slovakia. Likewise carbon emissions (7.8 tonnes) and percentage of GDP spent on military (1.9%). And despite Berlusconi’s well publicised promotion of women – admittedly a certain type of woman – in politics, the percentage of women in government is laughable: 8.3%.

Slovakia may be 12 places higher than Italy in the rankings, but they hardly cover themselves in glory. Carbon emissions are pretty high for a small country at 6.7 tons, percentage of GDP spent on the military  is 1.7% and the number of women in government is terminal, literally, at 0%.

And of course we can’t totally rule out on the pitch considerations. It’s great that the minnows have punched above their weight at this World Cup but it would be a shame to see the World Champions fall at the first hurdle. Sure they’ve underperformed, but they’ve not plumbed the depths of the French or the English. And, cliché though it is, the Italians are notorious slow starters at big tournaments. Maybe this must win group game will light the Azzurri’s blue touch paper.

So today, in solidarity with Marco and the large numbers of his countrymen and women who have never voted for Berlusconi, I’ll be donning my Paolo Rossi 1982 World Cup replica jersey and cheering for Italy.

Posted in: Italy, Italy-Slovakia, Slovakia

Views expressed here are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the World Development Movement.

This match sees a couple of relative-newcomers to the World Cup. Slovakia (as an independent country) have never appeared on this stage before and New Zealand’s ‘All Whites’ (no, really) have made only one appearance (at Spain ’82) so both teams will be standing at the edge of the playground hoping that the bigger boys don’t foist an initiation ritual upon them. Realistically, both teams are competing for the second place in the group behind Italy but Slovakia, whose ranking is considerably higher than New Zealand, are much more likely to pip Paraguay to the post. So anyone who loves a football underdog should be writing NZ all over their forehead.

Both teams have combative defenders amongst their numbers with neither Martin Skrtel nor Ryan Nelson being afraid of a robust challenge if required (or if they just fancy it). Sadly, any Teesiders hoping to reacquaint themselves with former Middlesboro star Szilárd Németh will be sorely disappointed; he’s not involved in the national squad any more. (Nor are Massimo Maccarone or Alfonso Alves in the Italy or Brazil squads, come to think of it).

The WDM statistics ranks these two as the 12th and 13th most supportable teams and it is quite tough to choose between them. It is noteworthy that income is shared considerably less equitably in New Zealand and that Slovakia spends more of its national income on its military. However, the stand-out statistic, and the one that I will base my support upon, is the fact that the New Zealand government is 23.1% female. Of course, this is way short of the range within which it ought to be but this is considerably better than Slovakia is currently managing and for that reason I will be cheering Nelson and co in this match.

Posted in: New Zealand, New Zealand-Slovakia, Slovakia

Views expressed here are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the World Development Movement.

Group E

Netherlands

Tipped in the WDM office as possible dark-horse winners, despite injury putting Arjen Robben’s participation in doubt, the Oranje are an attractive bet at 10/1. They can also lay claim to being the ethical punters’ choice, being the most generous aid donor at the tournament and one of only two competitors that have met the long-standing target of giving 0.7% of their gross national income as overseas aid. The Dutch give 0.82% of GNI in 2007, edging out, by a mere 0.1%,…

Denmark

…the other country to receive an overseas aid gold star from the OECD. The Danes have the distinction of winning a major championship – Euro 92 – after receiving a place only as a direct result of a UN Security Council Resolution (number 757, which ended Yugoslavia’s tournament before it had begun). They’ve never come close to repeating the trick and, with a strong Cameroonian challenge for second place, may well fall at the first hurdle for the first time in their history.

Japan

The first World Cup to be held in Africa features both hosts of the first in Asia, the joint Japan-South Korea tournament of eight years ago. The Japanese caused England problems last week, but their one goal was the only one in a four-match warm-up schedule, and their qualifying campaign was none too convincing either. Japan enjoys mid-table security/obscurity in the WSICF? rankings, but it’s hard not to like a country where the Prime Minister resigns because he broke an election promise – especially when that promise was to close foreign military bases. Expect another resignation – from Head Coach Takeshi Okada – before June is out.

Cameroon

With Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast) doubtful and his Chelsea teammate Michael Essien (Ghana) out of the tournament, Cameroon’s Sameal Eto’o could be set to be the continent’s hero in South Africa. Pity he doesn’t have the team around him to make a repeat of their 1990 quarter-final run all that likely. 1990 hero Roger Milla’s criticism of Eto’o – that he has performed well for European bosses but done nothing for Cameroon – would be a rather fairer description of the country’s famous rainforests and shrimp fisheries, both of which have been exploited enthusiastically by Western entrepreneurs while the Camerounais suffer the second-worst rate of chronic hunger in the tournament, with 23% not getting enough to eat.

Group F

Italy

The home of this author’s forefathers, it’s fair to say that La Patria is dodgy at best on both a footballing and social justice estimation. The ageing champions will be doing well to progress beyond the quarter-finals, with the Netherlands their likely opponents.

If Italy’s midfield feel a little past their sell-by date, Silvio Berlusconi’s leadership is positively rancid. With total control of the media, Silvio has shifted the Italian mainstream to the right and encouraged the rise of ultra-nationalist groups such as the Lega Nord. The effect is visible in our rankings: Italy’s overseas aid commitment is less than a third of the OECD target, and its economic inequality is worse than any other European competitors’ – except England.

Paraguay

Known to football fans mainly for the heroics of former keeper Jose Luis Chilavert, who – lest we forget – has scored more international goals than Emile Heskey, Paraguay qualified strongly, finishing ahead of Argentina in the 10-team CONMEBOL mega-group.

That campaign featured only 3 draws – a feast-or-famine record that seems appropriate for the most unequal country at the World Cup. The richest 10% of Paraguayans collect over £65 for every £1 earned by the poorest 10%. I wonder what a similar comparison between the richest and poorest players here would look like?

New Zealand

The All Whites qualified for this World Cup – their second – from a group which comprised Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. As a native of the Old Caledonia, whose group included the Netherlands and Norway and whose players are therefore not in South Africa but relaxing at home with a pizza supper, this fills me with rage.

How frustrating, then, New Zealand is top of the Global Peace Index and boasts the kind of legislation banning nuclear weapons in her territorial waters that has been proposed, but not progressed, by Scotland’s government.

I’d love to hate New Zealand. But it would be like kicking a kitten.

Slovakia

This may be the Slovaks’ first World Cup but they look good bets to qualify from a weak group. Plus, be fair, they’ve only been a country since 1994.

The country is has experienced rapid economic growth since the break-up of Czechoslovakia, yet enjoys the most equal distribution of wealth in the tournament and enviably low carbon emissions – less per capita than those of the hosts.

Posted in: Cameroon, Denmark, Group previews, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Paraguay, Slovakia

Views expressed here are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the World Development Movement.