by Marc Roseblade
The Azzurri of ‘06.
Yesterday, one of the so called “power houses” of world football crashed out of the World Cup.
Italy, ranked 5th in FIFA world rankings before the tournament started, had, on paper, a fairly straightforward group. No other countries; Paraguay, Slovakia or New Zealand are currently in the FIFA top 20.
The tournament was meant to be a swan song for wily old fox Marcello Lippi, but instead his reputation has been tarnished. His legendary status of four years ago is now just a distant memory.
From the 1st game, they lacked passion or commitment. His team were not committed and they lacked a cutting edge in the final 3rd. Some people will blame the coach while others will blame quality of the team, and they would maybe be correct. Antonio Cassano was left at home after an excellent season with Sampdoria, Giuseppe Rossi was also left out after impressing in last years Confederation Cup while big players like Daniele De Rossi did not play to the high standards that made him one of the best defensive midfielders in the world. Antonio Di Natale and Vincenzo Iaquinta are not the standard of Italian strikers that we are used to like Zola, Del Piero and Baggio. The squad was nowhere near as strong as four years ago and Lippi appears to have lost his tactical prowess that made him so successful four years ago.
I believe it is a problem that most European leagues are suffering from a lack of quality in youth players coming onto the first team. Money has taken over Italy since the 1990’s in order to buy success. The Inter Milan team that played in the champions league final in May did not have a single Italian in the line up and the team who finished 2nd in Serie ‘A’ only had one (Daniele De Rossi) in their starting line up.
The majority of the Italian players in the 2010 World Cup squad are from mid-table teams like Napoli, Sampdoria and Udinese. You might feel sorry for Lippi for what he has to work with. It is like asking Fabio Cappello to pick his England team from teams like Bolton and Blackburn Rovers and expect a good tournament in South Africa.
This will be a very dark time in Italy. Heads will role and players will retire to hide from shame, but where will they go from here?
Before the Italians World Cup campaign began it was announced that Fiorentina Coach Cesare Prandelli would be taking over the national team. One of the best managers in Italian football has taken Fiorentina from mid league team to Champions League contenders. From the Azzurri’s point of view, he got the best out of his players – most notably Alberto Gilardino, who was tipped for big things when moved to AC Milan from Parma in 2005. When Gilardino failed to live up to the hype surrounding him at Milan, Prandelli took him to Fiorentina where has 44 goals in all competitions over two seasons.
Prandelli is well celebrated in Italian football and has been linked with top jobs in Serie A, with Juventus most recently linked to making him their new manager. He will need a better quality of player but will most surely call upon Antonio Cassano and Mario Balotelli to give back much needed flair and excitement to the Italian side.
They are down just now, the Italian FA (FIGC) are the root cause of problem by allowing vast amount of foreigners to ply there trade in Serie ‘A’.
A famous name in world football has been brought to it’s knees. Lippi & Co let Italy down, but the Italian FA have let the standard of Italian football drop in the past 15 years and this dark day punctuates their descent. Italy is crying out for the next generation of players as the current generation has embarrassed Italy. Let’s hope Prandelli can bring back national pride in the Euro 2012 qualifiers.
Read more from Marc at My Scottish Football!
