What comes next for Italy?
Posted by
Juan Arango
If there was one play that encapsulated this nightmare scenario for the Azzurri it was the third goal that was scored on them in the 89th minute by Kamil Kopunek on of the most elementary plays in the football book. Add to that Robert Vittek's 73rd minute rush to the near post; beating a flat-footed Giorgio Chiellini and making the score 2-1.
For any team to allow two goals like these is unacceptable. If that team is Italy, it is borderline heresy.
For a four-time world champion, their performance in South Africa was something that has not only brought dreams of the penta to a screeching halt; but the realization that the end has finally come for the nucleus of this team came.
Italian football also realized that their league has officially arrived to the point to where the Premiership and La Liga have come to.
Although many think it is a compliment, it was not intended to be such. A few years, I mentioned to people that the Spanish national team was not successful based on the fact that the best Spanish players were not the best players in that league. This was more of the case in the big teams that were constantly fighting for the title and playing in Europe.
Cesare Prandelli will have the big task of regenerating a new Italy as players like Cannavaro, Zambrotta, Buffon, Pirlo, Gattuso, and the rest of the old men endured a dishonorable World Cup swansong. He will have to renew and things look like he will have to bring in players like Giuseppe Rossi and Balotelli and they should be the posterchildren of the Azzurri as Brazil 2014 rolls closer.
But what is worse is that there is no one to cover those spots- especially in the big clubs. When you start to look at the top teams in Serie A the reality of players not being up to snuff for the national team has to be blamed on the clubs that hire foreign talent in order to nourish their title pretentions. between the top three teams in the league there were only
If you start from the top, AC Milan and AS Roma only brought four players to the fray. Inter did not have one player called up. The only one that was being considered, Mario Balotelli, whose attitude took him out of Lippi's list .
Juventus, a team that struggled mightily this past season, had the most (six). But somehow Lippi saw these players with his 2006 eyes. An aging and error-prone Cannavaro and an injury-plagued Buffon were no longer the stalwarts that they were during that run in Germany. This performance could thwart the accomplishments of four years ago to a degree. The legacy of this generation of players will definitely be tarnished.
Lippi had to recur to players from Cagliari (Marchetti) and Bari (Bonucci) in order to fill gaps and try to compensate. Why? Well for starters the foreign player has made his presence felt in the league. A far cry of the days when the Big Three were also the feeders for the national team.
As of the moment that Marcello Lippi resigned, the Italian press began to clamor for the implementation of the 6+5 rule. I guess the sky is truly falling for Italian football now.
In the process they neglected the national team. The title in 2006 was more of a lease on life that the old generation had instead of a moment that the federation had to start building for the future. That World Cup win also help hide other issues as we all well know. So in other words, this entire issue was a long time coming. It's like the wound that no one takes care of until the only thing you can do is amputate.
6.24.2010
