'Anyone but Sweden' campaign rallies Little Italy against its World Cup enemy

Italians care about three things: soccer, cars and food,says restaurateur NickDePalma,so when Italy lost its shot at World Cup glory in a qualifying match, it was personal.

DePalmais part of a campaign by Little Italy's business association inviting everyone to the neighbourhood to party for World Cup, even though Italy is not playing.

It's called "Anyone but Sweden."

The French video, posted to YouTube,shows several locals reliving the pain of seeing Italy lose its shot at being in the World Cup, and then turning on the team that beat them.

For the first time in more than 50 years, the Azzurriaren't taking part in the tournament, after the Swedes beat them 1-0 on aggregate during qualifying matches last November.

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DePalma owns Inferno restaurant at the corner of St-Dominique and Dante streets andsaid the ad had to make an impact.

So, the focus became a shared resentment for Sweden.

"Hopefully they don't win a game," DePalma said.

Sweden's first game is Monday, but the neighbourhood is showing all the World Cup matches inits restaurants andcafs.

The saddest day

The match between the Italy and Sweden was months ago, but the wound is still fresh in the neighbourhood.

"Anger, sadness, it was one of the saddest days," said Carmelo Sansalone, the manager of Evangelista Sports on St-Laurent Boulevard.

"They've lost in World Cups, which we can accept, but not in qualifying. It's unacceptable."

Sansalone saidthe ad campaign is, of course, a joke.

Luring locals and visitors to the party

Not everyone is interested in booing Sweden, however.

Robert DeLuca was sitting outsideCaffItalialast Tuesday, before the World Cup parties took over the neighbourhood,andsaid he won't bother watching the matchesthis year since Italy isn't playing.

But it's not a big loss for him, since he said he prefers tennis and hockey anyway.

The local business association that came up with the campaign, the Little Italy and Jean-Talon market SDC, hopesto boost local enthusiasm for World Cup andbring visitors to the area aswell.

"We want everyone to come feel the neighbourhood's passion for soccer," said the SDC's executive director Cristina D'Arienzo.

She said there's no bad blood with the local Swedish community over the campaign adding that they have a good sense of humour and understand the lighthearted spirit of it.