GloucesterTimes.com, Gloucester, MA

On Wednesday, Macchia, 77, of Gloucester, spent his afternoon making the drive to Cambridge, where he then took the subway to Boston and spent the next two hours on the North End's Hanover Street standing in line with other rabid Italian soccer fans to have his picture taken with the trophy.

What he and the hundreds of other soccer fans who crowded into the Strega Restaurant didn't know was that the trophy being toured in six U.S. cities by Anheuser-Busch was a replica of the actual trophy awarded to the Italian World Cup-winning soccer team in July.

"I am a little disappointed," Macchia said. "I knew I had to go see the statue because at my age, I don't want to take the chance and not see the trophy before it comes out again in another four years (at the next World Cup tournament)."

The official FIFA World Cup trophy is currently in Rome, where fans will be able to view it this weekend, according to a press release on the Italian Football Association website.

The news that the trophy he paid $5 to be photographed with was a replica disappointed Macchia. No one at the North End event or in the advertisements promoting the trophy viewing mentioned that the trophy was an imitation. The money collected at the North End event will go to charity.

Macchia said he had no idea the trophy was a replcia because it looked exactly like the solid, 18-karat gold, 14-inch multi-million dollar masterpiece created by Italian artist Silvio Gazaniga.

"I made that trip, stood in line for two hours, and paid the money to have my picture taken because I love the sport," he said. "It was a long trip and my feet hurt but the emotion of seeing it made me stay."

A spokesman for Anheuser-Busch, which is sponsoring the six-city trophy tour, defended the use of the replica, saying it will be the trophy that the World Cup-winning Italian team will ultimately keep because the real trophy will be returned to FIFA headquarters in Switzerland.

"The FIFA World Cup winner's trophy currently on display in the United States will be awarded to the Italian Football Association and will remain in Italy forever as a symbol of the 2006 World Cup championship," Anheuser-Busch spokesman Tony Ponturo said in a statement.

Macchia, a native of Avellino, Italy, said he grew up playing soccer and has a deep rooted love for the sport. At the age of 16, Macchia came to United States with his father, Carmine.

Years later, Macchia, a retired lithographer and the father of five, is still passionate about the sport. Macchia admitted that he purchased a new Sony 40-inch television solely to watch the FIFA World Cup in Germany in a larger HD format.

Even after the dissapointment of finding out the trophy was a fake, Macchia said he still would have gone to Boston to see it, even if he knew it was a replica.

"Deep in my heart, I will still think that I have seen the real thing," said Macchia. "It was such a happy moment for me when I saw the trophy. I will hold onto that feeling."